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Issue #1135
Including:

Russ

Carol

Doug

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Hi Everyone. The Ontarion is not available as Greg is dealing with some serious health issues. I know I speak for all of us when I wish Greg and Carole and Adam all the best. Doug

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From Russ

Spring

Just came in from a little exercise outside. It is 2:30PM on Wednesday, February 21st, and the temperature is plus 7C. It is mild and windy, most of the snow has melted, one month from today is the first day of Spring, and I just saw my first mosquito flying about. Sure it wont be my last!

Here, on the East shore of the West Coast of Ontario, Lake Huron is ice-free, and sky blue as far as one can see. There is lots of sandy beach, as the lake level is down about one metre. Big problem for the 'Boat Clubs' around Point Clark - it is an endless task keeping the sand from clogging the channels so boats don't run aground. At the mouth of Pine River where my Niece and husband dock their boat in Summer, they have had to get out and push their boat over the sandbar that consistently blocks the river water from flowing into the lake. Some of the neighbours who have boats complain that they were able to get onto the lake only two times last season!

Glad I don't own a boat. Never did in all my 70 years of living next door to that clean, fresh water. I did, however use my In-law's boat from time to to time. I generally owned an inflatable 'Dingy' we used in place of a boat. It made a good diving platform. Had to inflate it by mouth, and it took a lot of blowing when we owned a long, 9 passenger 'dingy'. Have you ever blown so hard, and long that you got high and felt like you were drunk? In my younger days I probably was a little high to begin with!

I taught my little niece how to swim when she was only a child - now, I'm invited to her 70th Birthday party on Saturday! Would someone tell me where in Hell did the time go?". Someone likened the swift passing of time like a roll of toilet paper.......the closer you get to the end, the faster the paper disappears!

Speaking of toilet paper, did you know they finally came out with recyclable toilet paper? It's only good one side unless you boil the shit out of it!

Uncle Russ.

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From Carol

I was at the hospital for another gastroscope today, I think this was my 6th since May. The surgeon removed the stents and after I recovered from the sedative I was sent down for another barium swallow test. The test showed my leak is completely healed! If it hadn’t healed he would have put another stent in to protect the hole. This is a major step forward. The stents caused me to constantly spit and my mouth to be always filled with slime. I haven’t needed to spit since I got home. My esophagus is sore and swollen right now so I will only be able to clear liquids by mouth for a couple of days but then on to full fluids. If that goes well they will lower the amount of feed I take at night through the feeding tube and start on soft foods. If that goes well the feeding tube will come out, a nurse won’t come every day to change the dressing and I will be out in public again. It will still be awhile before I can have hard foods such as anything with skins and/or seeds, think berries & beans, or anything raw or any nuts and nut butters. It is wonderful to know that I will soon get my life back.

Carol

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From Doug

How’s it going…..

Some people who get cataract surgery get both eyes done at the same time. The upside is that they get it all over with at once. The downside is that they would have to deal with almost no sight at all for a few days, and then have their sight return slowly in both eyes over time. Others, like me, have the eyes done a few weeks apart. The upside is they have the use of one eye while the operated eye has a chance to heal and has at least some sight return. The downside is having to wait to have the other eye dealt with and the fact that the whole thing gets dragged out even longer. That means living with two eyes that don’t cooperate with each other. Some eye surgeons do it one way, others prefer the other way. In my case, the procedures were done 3 weeks apart. During that time I had to depend on the ‘old’ eye, and had to remove the lens in my glasses so the ‘new’ eye wouldn't have to look through a now unneeded lens. Its kinda like the old software has to adjust to the new hardware, so to speak.

My left eye procedure was done this past Thursday. To that end, Ryan and the girls came up on Wednesday evening so he could drive me to the hospital in the city, and of course drive me home again. The girls came along up to Squamish because their mom had to work, Sue would mind them while we were away.

For those concerned about Cataract surgery, I can assure you that my experience with my first eye 3 weeks ago didn’t have to be that way. This second one was as they say, ‘a piece of cake’. I had a good chat with the attending nurse and the physician about my first eye and how it was very uncomfortable. While they would not comment on that, they did promise to get lots of the numbing drops in this time and they did. The result was virtually no pain. Well, you have an extremely bright light beaming into your eye, burrowing right through your head and out the other side, but you can live with that. So, both eyes are done, I’m constantly reaching up to adjust my glasses only to remember that they are not there. I don’t need them any more. (I will need up-close reading glasses but that no big deal at all). This latest eye can already see better than it could before (I do have some concerns about the first eye but it could simply need a bit more time).

Doug

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Have a Good One
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