Month: September 2020

The day after Rosalie came out of the hospital I had a reaction to my colonoscopy. The 811 nurse on the phone told me to go to the emergency right away. Now we had a dilemma. If I was admitted Rosalie would be left alone. She can’t drive for a few weeks, until she heals and can turn her neck. So she couldn’t drive me in and then go home.

This is where good friends are invaluable. I called Barb and Dave and they agreed to babysit Rosalie for me. As it turned out my problem was not as urgent as the nurse suggested but it needed attention. The doctor at the hospital (female, about 4’10” 18 years old) said it was not the colonoscopy but something in my stomach. I thought perhaps a bleeding ulcer.

She sent me home with instructions to call my family doctor (male, 5’9″ about 50 years old.) I had a phone conversation with him and he suggested that the problem was indeed a temporary complication from the colonoscopy. I was somewhat relieved. I asked him why I was having so many dizzy spells and he told me that I had lost about a pint of blood during the procedure and needed to build it up again by eating steak and taking iron pills. I had no iron pills so substituted it with a glass of Guinness. Yes, it is good for such an emergency.

I had volunteered to build a deck for the neighbours and that’s when I noticed the dizzy spells most. After the steak and Guinness, they lessened a lot. Anyway, I seem to be back to normal now and firing on all three cylinders.

Rosalie is still doing well. She has had a few headaches but the incisions don’t seem to be too painful. She tries to do too much of course but does need a little exercise. I suggested cooking, cleaning and dishes. It’s lucky she can’t move too quickly as I was able to duck just in time.

We are still doing well and looking forward to being back in Mexico. We estimate about early November. It seems though that a lot of people we know aren’t going this year because of the Covid. We still have friends down there and it will be quieter without all the tourists. Although the Mexicans need them.

We’re doing really well!

I got the call at 7:15 this morning to come and pick Rosalie up. For once I wasn’t up early and she woke me.

I hurriedly showered dressed and had some tea before going. I planned on being out of the trailer by eight-thirty and was only ten minutes late leaving. I used the GPS as it gave me a good estimate of what time I would get there.

On the way I gassed up and pulled off in Nanaimo for a Mc Donalds breakfast. The trip was to take about two and a half hours so I settled in for the drive.

I called Rosalie when I got to Victoria and told her that the GPS said I would get there at 11:08. She promised to be waiting. I arrived two minutes early and had to wait a further five minutes for her to show up.

On the drive back she seemed to be a little down so when we got to Nanaimo we picked up here prescription and I suggested that we go visit Peter and Suzie for a few minutes. That small stop-over did wonders for her and bucked her up a lot.

When we got home I realized the enormity of having an invalid wife to look after. I put on something to eat and sat down. Then, the first demand came. “I need a pillow”. I got the pillow. I served up our meal and sat down; “I need a napkin.” I got the napkin and sat down again. “The lights are too bright would you turn them down.” And so it went on. I think she sits there thinking things up to annoy me. I love my wife dearly but I was beginning to think a few more days of freedom would have been nice.

She looks a bit banged up so I have to make allowances and look after her for a while. She has trouble swallowing still but the Doctor said this should be better soon. She can’t move her head too much and her leg is quite sore still. Overall she’s in good shape and it’s great to have her home again. despite what I said earlier.

Well that was stressful, I don’t want another day like that one.

I’ve had several calls and texts from Rosalie today. On one of the calls, she told me that her tongue wasn’t working right. At first, I saw this as a bonus but then I realized she could still talk. She is having trouble eating though. She can’t push the food to where it needs to get chomped. One of the doctors assisting in the surgery told her that they had to move her tongue to one side so they could do the procedure. So for now her tongue leans to the right a bit.

She’ll be allowed to come home tomorrow if she has a good night. She had better be, there are dishes to be done.

I’ve been inundated with texts and emails which I have tried to reply to. My apologies if I missed anyone.

This is the day Rosalie has to have her carotid artery surgery. It didn’t start too well. We locked up the trailer and got in the car only for Rosalie to find that she had forgotten her mask. We went back to the trailer and tried to enter through the bedroom door as the sliding door was still waiting for a new lock. I turned the key and guess what? The lock jammed so now we couldn’t get in at all. Oh well a problem for later.

We left at eight-thirty and drove to Nanaimo so that I could pick up some breakies. On the way, Rosalie was getting text messages from all her fans wishing her well. It was nice to see.

Dropping her off at the hospital was really hard, seeing her going through the doors without me to hold them open for her. I got through it though and now the waiting began.

I got home and the tech was there to fix the door locks so I could at least get in to the trailer.

The waiting was horrible. Not knowing what was going on. And then at 6:20 I called the hospital and they told me she was in recovery. A few minutes the surgeon called me that the surgery went well and Rosalie would be able to call me in a few hours.

I’m a wreck at the moment but will give update each day. The surgeon said she should be home on Wednesday.

We seem to be really busy these days. Rosalie has been getting check-ups and lots of phone calls in readiness for her surgery on the 14th. She spoke to a pharmacist, a nurse and an anesthesiologist. She also had to get a pre-surgery checkup as well as Xrays and lab work. Because of Covid 19, when the day comes, all I can do is drop her off at the hospital in Victoria and go home until she calls me to come and get her two or three days later. No visiting; too bad!

Meanwhile, I’ve been making a fence for the veggie garden to keep out the bunnies, squirrels and cats. I wanted to electrify it to keep out the slugs as well but Rosalie wouldn’t let me.

It seems as though Alan the squirrel has decided not to come back. So with him (or her) gone and not too many blue jays around we need a new wildlife pet. I thought we had a good lead as Rosalie found a large toad in the yard. It seemed to have a bad attitude though as it stuck its tongue out at us. Unperturbed, I tried to feed it a few peanuts but it didn’t seem too interested. So, until it either changes its attitude or learns to like peanuts we’re still looking.

Repairs to the trailer are slowly getting done. The hot water tank has been sorted out as well as the slide. We still have a few other minor problems and they will be back to take care of them later.

We’re still trying to get rid of a lot of our stuff from the storage unit as well as other junk that isn’t needed anymore. Putting it at the side of the road with a free sign seems to help. We’re also selling the motor home that we only bought last year. We realized for various reasons that we really didn’t need it after all.

Our neighbours Bruce and Mary Ellen need a new deck so because I love building them I volunteered to do it for them. I made up some drawing and they got their park building permit. But now we have to remove the old deck. Bruce made a start but he doesn’t do ladders so that’s where I come in. I spent some time trying to find a way to take it down without climbing on the roof. I think I have a system worked out so we’ll see. We’re also going to move their trailer forward about twelve feet so they’ll get more sun.

In my spare time, I’ve been playing with my Fire Stick to try and find free movie sites as an alternative to Netflix and Prime Video. I found a few good ones with good quality video. Some have ads every fifteen minutes or so but they’re not too intrusive. ‘Tubi’ seems to be the best, we’ve watched a couple of good movies on it.