Another wonderful day!

We were treated to another beautiful walking day with springtime temperatures and colourful displays of fallen leaves. The ducks at McGuire Lake quacked out greetings as we passed by.

Our walk was enhanced by conversations with friends as we did the usual circuit around town. Arriving at the coffee shop we were surprised by the sweet sound of harp music played on a celtic harp.
It was a magical moment!

Returning home we decided to gather some of the leaves to mulch around the rose bush. The sun was still shining, the squirrels were chattering and the resident pheasant was squawking. It isn't winter yet!

Our 18th gathering

What a great weekend gathering!

We celebrated the 18th gathering of our Womens' Discussion Group's with a road trip to Kamloops. After checking in at the Riverland Hotel, we walked to the Art Gallery for a tour of the current exhibition and the administrative facilities with the newly appointed Chief of Staff, one of our Discussion Group members. 

The hot tub and pool were waiting for us after a wet walk back to the Hotel. Later we gorged on delicious homemade creations including an amazing Mexican soup and several bottles of wine. Sinfully decadent desserts were prepared by three of our group. Discussions on a variety of issues, a team competition quiz and further discussions followed until after midnight when we finally crawled into bed for a brief snooze.

It wasn't easy to rouse ourselves in the morning but the view from the breakfast room was breathtaking, overlooking the river and across the arid hills of Kamloops. Over coffee, toast and muffins we planned the day's shopping excursion.

After a successful shopping blitz, our weekend wasn't complete without a "tailgate-leftover-dessert" diversion! Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate before heading home. It was wonderful. Thank you ladies!

Winter White

There is a sure sign of "winter white" on those hills!

The forecast says that we could be driving through this mushy stuff tomorrow.

So glad that we had our winter tires mounted yesterday.

Great news!

We received great news today from Dr. Leco at the Cancer Clinic. 

John does not need radiation treatments!

He who does not do things the way others do!

Sheer determination! That's what it takes to maintain his status as "he who does not do things the way others do"!

My patient kept me busy yesterday, running back and forth to the kitchen for preparations of tea, broth, ginger ale and lemon water. At 12:30pm he consumed the first package of Purg-odol followed by copious amounts of clear fluids. At 7:00pm he drank the second brew of Purg-odol. We waited while he drank more tea, ginger ale and even ate a small bowl of clear jello.

Online research had indicated that the "usual" response time was 1-4 hours. By 11:00pm, after the CBC news, I gave up. It was obvious that my patient was doing his usual routine of "not doing things the way others do". Climbing into bed, I resolved to call the hospital in the morning to cancel his colonoscopy. That was when things started to happen...11 hours after the initial dose!

We were both suffering from sleep deprivation this morning when I delivered him to the hospital. It wouldn't take much sedation to ease him through the procedure. Nurse Ratchet is waiting for the pickup call.

Evening shadows

The new deck

The railings might have to wait until next spring!

OMG

Why is it that my patient never seems to do anything the easy way?

The surgery on Tuesday involved removal of growths in five locations around his head. One of the incisions refused to heal. Nurse Ratchet was called on to replace the dressing several times, including at 4am when she was called to duty. It looked like a knifing had taken place. Blood everywhere! So, when that new dressing overflowed again at 10am, we headed for the ER. Their answer was to apply pressure bandages and a complete head wrap, under his chin and around the top of his head.

When I returned from grocery shopping at 3pm, he was dripping blood again. This photo shows Nurse Ratchet's version of the head wrap after she cleaned him up again. By 4:30pm he had developed another serious leak!! Once again we drove ourselves to the ER. This time we had the good luck of meeting Dr. Tran who put in two sutures. The dripping seemed to miraculously stop and we headed home again.

My patient is now relaxing in the TV room, minus a head wrap and we are both hopeful that our sleep won't be interrupted by the need to call Nurse Ratchet into action!

The return of Nurse Ratchet

Nurse Ratchet is on the job again! My patient had five excisions on his head yesterday and came home with a variety of bandaging. He was doing okay until he bent over to refill the ice cube tray and started them all bleeding again! So...his overnight was spent semi-upright in the TV room chair. I noticed this morning that his left eye is swelling and blackening so he is sure to scare all the dog walkers on our morning walk around McGuire Lake.

We are still enjoying sunny days but very cold temperatures!!