surgery

Bebbies, doctor’s visit and deer scarer failure

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Today was my follow up with the doctor after my last ER visit. The appointment was in the afternoon, but my daughter and I left early, with plans to have lunch before heading to the clinic.

I am quite glad we left as early as we did!

On the way to the truck, though, I checked on the catio in its new location. My daughter had seen the kittens at the branch pile again when doing the morning feeding, but they soon joined the singleton kitten at the shrine feeding station, so I wanted to see if they were still around.

I found a furry little slug in the carrier.

It moved before I had a chance to get my phone out to take a picture.

It had been completely flattened along the curve of the carrier, snoozing. After looking around a bit, it finally saw me and got nervous, so I left it be.

In wandering through the garden beds, I discovered something.

Every single Yellow Swiss Chard that had been growing between the garlic is now gone. All of it. There’s nothing but weeds left.

The deer scarer did not go off while I was there, even though I set it to 24 hours instead of night only. Yesterday I was hearing it go off constantly, but never saw any critters. I think tree branches in the wind might have been setting it off. I thought maybe the solar charge was dead because of this but when I tested it, it still worked. So I have no clue why it stopped working! Not that it matters anymore. There’s nothing that the deer like to eat left.

*sigh*

Meanwhile, I had been feeling quite good when I got up this morning but, by the time I finished walking around the yard, the pain was starting to come back, and it kept getting worse throughout the day.

*doublesigh*

With all the construction on the highway we would normally have taken, we took the highway towards the town south of us before cutting across. It was a very disheartening drive. There were SO many squished garter snakes on the road! There were some live ones we managed to avoid hitting, one I never saw that my daughter thinks I might have hit and one that I know I missed, only to look in my rear view mirror and see the vehicle behind me run over it. 😭

I wish the “snake fences” that are on the highway nearest the snake dens extended further south. These are fences in the ditches that guide the snakes through tunnels under the highway. These were built in an area so close to the dens that had so many snakes crossing it, it was impossible not to hit them and the highway actually became dangerously slippery from them all. We don’t get THAT many snakes this far from the dens, but it is still a tragic number of snakes never making it to their winter dens. Garter snakes are not at all dangerous and are excellent pest control. We need more of them!

Taking the alternate route did allow us to avoid most of the construction, but there was still a section of it we needed to get through before our turn off. Then we got stuck behind slower traffic. We still got to the area early enough to grab a quick lunch, then continue to the clinic. We left almost 2 hours early, with the drive normally taking about 45-50 minutes. We got to the clinic only 15 minutes early for my appointment.

I was most definitely relying on the walker at this point, and my daughter came in with me. We must have been quite a sight. Me with my walker, her with her cane!

We spoke for a while about how things went after the surgery, leading to the ER visit, and how I’ve been doing since then. I told her I’ve been taking the T3s every 6 hours as instructed, but I really don’t feel it’s making a difference. I had taken my afternoon dose just before going into the clinic, and the pain just kept getting worse as I sat there. We talked about taking tramadol and I told her I did still have some tramadol left, though not a lot. I’d had the tramadol injection at the ER, which did seem to work. I brought up that the ER doctor had suggested hydromorphone and that I might want to try my husband’s, just to see if it worked and if I had any reaction to it. I explained that she had said to take 1mg, and to split the pill if my husband was on 2mg, but that my husband’s dose is 12mg. The doctor was rather startled by that and asked what was wrong that he was on such a high dose, and I explained his back injury – and that the hydromorphone basically just takes the edge off the pain for him.

In the end, she did say that, if I felt the need, to go ahead and try my husband’s dose of hydromorphone! She could not prescribe it to me, though, as she did not have the hand written, triplicate prescription pad needed for it, as a “controlled substance”.

I never got to mention that I already had tried it, some time ago, and it worked quite well. I haven’t tried it again since then because it cannot be taken with the same class of painkillers as T3s. I’d have to wait until any acetaminophen type medication is out of my system completely. That includes the tramadol I still have left.

Meanwhile, we talked about it a bit more and she said she would prescribe some Percocet for me to try. At this point, we’re just on pain management until she gets the results of the biopsy. She did check before coming in to see me, and there was nothing back yet. I already have the 4 week follow up appointment booked, so I’ll be seeing her again in the middle of September and she will have the results by then.

She did start to tell me that she didn’t think she would have good news for me, but with that she meant she expects I will need a hysterectomy. To which I responded YES PLEASE!!! She laughed, because I’d already told her I was just fine with having one. If, however, the tests show cancer, I’m going to have to see a specialist in the city, because the hospital she does surgeries in does not have the resources for that. If she didn’t have to wait for the test results, she told me she could do the hysterectomy at any time, based on what she saw on the camera during the fibroidectomy. She said it’s actually pretty common as women get older.

Even as I was sitting there with the doctor, I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable from the pain. I was till okay to drive to the nearby Walmart, while the doctor said she would fax the new prescriptions to our pharmacy. With my daughter helping out, we picked up a few things we hadn’t gotten during the city trip yesterday. I even finally found a package of assorted grades of sand paper that I had been looking for but couldn’t find while in the city.

There wasn’t much else we needed to get there, and we were soon heading to town to pick up my new meds, with my daughter driving. When we got to the pharmacy, I stayed in the truck while she ran in. She was soon back to let me know they had not received the fax yet. Meanwhile, I had just received a message from my husband. The pharmacy had called him to remind him that he’d be getting a delivery on Thursday. So I asked her to let them know that, once the fax comes in, my prescriptions can be added to the delivery.

Meanwhile, tomorrow, I will phone to see if the faxed prescriptions came in. If they did not, someone will need to call the clinic about it.

That done, we only needed to stop to get more gas in the truck – once again, I stayed in the truck while my daughter took care of it – before heading home.

It took a while, but the pain did finally start to recede and I felt able to go outside and walk around a bit. I tried fishing for kittens after topping up the food bowl in the catio (my older daughter took care of their evening feeding while her sister and I were gone). Theirs gets cat milk added to soften the kibble which, unfortunately, means I spent more time chasing other cats – and a very determined skunk! – away from their food. I was able to stay out until my alarm went off for my next dose of T3s. Which seems pointless. Taking it regularly should be acting as a preventative, which isn’t happening.

Hopefully, the Percocet will work better.

I have to say, I’m feeling increasingly frustrated. My daughter joked with the doctor about how I’m not allowed to do yard work right now. Fair enough, but I need to be doing SOMETHING! There is so much that I want to be doing. The doctor had brought up putting me on bed rest but decided against it. She could see I was already doing that as needed but one of the meds I’ll be getting is the one to stop bleeding, and I can’t be on bed rest if I’m taking that. I would have to mover around or risk blood clots. So I have not been put on bed rest, but I have to NOT be doing anything that that involves physical exertion.

At least I can use the riding mower.

On the way home, I talked to my daughter about some of the things I can physically do, with just a bit of help to set up. Like work on the round cutting boards I want to make out of slices of that elm tree. I want to get those cut, cleaned, sanded and conditioned before the green wood starts to dry out and crack. We’ll see about getting the chain saw out to cut the slices to the thickness I’m after, and she’ll take care of actually lifting and moving the pieces to where I can work on cleaning and sanding them before they can be oiled.

Cutting the slices might be a challenge. My electric chain saw has a 14″ bar. I’m pretty sure the pieces I’m looking to cut into thinner slices are more than 14″ across! The pile of elm pieces is right near an outdoor outlet, so that helps.

We had a solid rainfall last night, and rain off and on today, which was much needed. No rain is expected over the next few days, though, so we should be able to plug in the chain saw and do some cutting, if my daughter is up to moving very heavy pieces of wood for me.

We shall see.

The Re-Farmer

Hard to hold back

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In some ways, I am a really terrible person to myself.

I am doing very well, which means I want to do more than I should, without even thinking about it! I was doing so well, I was able to do a walkabout yesterday evening… with my daughters both joining me to make sure I was okay!

Here we are, past the middle of August, and the sunflowers are just starting to form their heads. In the second photo of the slide show above, the one tomato we have that formed the earliest is finally turning red, but it’s taken so long, the skin looks dried out and damaged. There are, however, a decent number of other Manitoba Tomatoes on the plants, though still very green. The Blueberry tomatoes have quite a few forming fruit, all incredibly hard. There are lots of Orange Currant tomatoes, and they’re the only ones in that bed that have had anything ripen, but only from the same spray of fruit. Everything else is solid green. Same with the Chocolate Stripe tomatoes in the main garden area. We might be able to bring them in to ripen off the vine, but it’s way too early for most of them. Meanwhile, we’ve had some surprisingly cool night temperatures lately. We dropped to 6C/43F last night! Overnight temperatures over the next while as supposed to be warmer. The app on my phone says we’ll get another drop like last night within the week, but that app is also saying it’s raining right now, has been for hours and will continue through the night.

It’s not raining. It’s not even overcast.

Looking at the weather radar, the system is passing to the north and south of us. We might get a bit of rain in about an hour and that’s it.

I was able to sleep last night, and even sleep in, as my younger daughter took over the morning routine. She made sure the catio food bowl had a generous amount of cat soup to lure the babies (I have not seem or heard them at all today), and she watered the garden. We talked about that for a bit and the potatoes will no longer be watered so the soil will dry out and they can be harvested.

Which won’t be by me.

Later in the morning, she and I headed out to town, stopping first to pick up a parcel at the post office that turned out to be three parcels. I’m really amazed by how quickly my husband’s Tei Fu order came in! This time, he got some oil as well as the lotion that my daughter will test out. I was up to driving, but my daughter ran into the post office so I didn’t need to get in and out of the truck.

Our first stop in town was the pharmacy so I could get my post-op prescriptions filled. My husband has a refill scheduled for delivery tomorrow and I was hoping to pick that up, too, but I was not allowed to. Being a “controlled substance” it was too early for a refill. Idiotic and frustrating. Both my daughters had refills to get filled as well, with one of those also being a “controlled substance” that had to wait until it was almost gone before it would be refilled – which means it would have been out completely if she waited for delivery day.

While we wait for the prescriptions to be filled, my daughter got a wrist brace for her sister and I ended up getting a thumb brace for myself. I wore it only for the afternoon, and it has already made a world of difference.

Wandering around the store started to be a bit much, though, and I didn’t want to push myself, so I sat in the waiting area for most of the time. My daughter got the meds for herself and her sister faster, so she paid for the wrist brace (their meds were both covered 100% by our province’s pharmacare insurance) then headed out to another store while I waited.

My meds, being new, got a discussion about instructions with the pharmacist. The antibiotics need to be taken every 6 hours until the bottle is empty. The number of days is a bit off, since I wasn’t able to fill it yesterday so, in theory, I’d already “missed” several doses. The other is to stop bleeding. I can take it every 8 hours, but only as needed, and the fewer I take of that, the better. It’s the same thing my older daughter has a prescription for, and she had asked if I was getting it. The prescription was hand written in a short hand, so I had no idea until the pharmacist named it as she gave it to me. My daughter was very happy to hear I got this prescription, because it works incredibly fast and well. It’s highly unlikely I’ll need to take it for more than a day or two.

Once done at the pharmacy, we decided to go to the grocery store for a few things; bread, eggs and milk, mostly. We ended up getting more, of course. They had several cuts of steak, plus beef roasts, on sale for prices I haven’t seen in a very long time. I ended up getting two packages of steaks for tonight, a small roast plus a seasoned pork roast that is always a good price. Pork is about the only affordable meat right now.

Before we could finish going through the store, though, I had to give my daughter my cards and turn the shopping over to my daughter, so I could head to the truck and sit down. I had only been walking around, using the cart as a walker as I usually do, but I could tell I had started to push myself too far and needed to sit. My daughter did the driving and, once we got home, I took my new meds and lay down pretty much right away, making sure to set a timer and an alarm for the two different lengths of time to the next doses.

The girls took care of all the stuff I normally would have done at least part of. My older daughter also cooked the steaks for supper, finishing off the last of our store bought potatoes, together with cabbage and beans from our garden, to go with it.

It was deliscious.

Before supper was ready, I felt well enough again to go outside for the evening cat feeding – promising my daughters I wouldn’t do anything else!

Then my older daughter saw me through the kitchen window, dragging the hose across the yard, and sent my younger daughter running. I was just taking it to the catio to refill the water bowl for Slick and her kittens, but they were afraid I was going to start watering the garden or something! 😁

My daughter stayed with me while I finished and brought the hose back, and we got to talking about how Sprout’s little one has gotten so talkative!

It has a squeaky little meow it gives off while waiting for us to distribute the kibble. It is so nervous about eating, and I’d had to use the hose to chase off a big skunk that had scared it way, just by being there. This poor baby is all alone. Mama doesn’t stay close to it anymore, and it’s too scared to come to the house, so it has formed no “friendships” with any of the other cats. If they come by to eat, she runs away, so we try to get them to eat from other bowls, instead.

Once the cats were fed and watered, my daughter chastised me until I went back inside. 😄

Along with the meds, I’m under some pretty strict instructions on what I can and can’t do. No lifting anything over 10 pounds. No “strenuous activity” for a week… I suspect digging up potatoes counts as “strenuous activity”. Apparently, I’m supposed to be eating a “light diet” or things like toast or soup until I can tolerate more. I have had zero issues with what I have been able to eat. The steak dinner my daughter made REALLY hit the spot! Of course, there are also the warnings to look out for that, if they start, I am to get to the nearest ER immediately.

So far, though, I just had that while where I could tell I’d pushed myself, and lying down was sufficient.

The down side of feeling so good after the procedure; I REALLY need to force myself not to just get back into my normal activity levels!!!

Meanwhile, my timer just went off… time to go take the next dose of antibiotics…

The Re-Farmer

A surgery update

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I am so glad we left early. Three constructions zones on our route, slowing us down.

We still got there well before my registration time. They took me in for processing and prep almost immediately, and it wasn’t long until I was in a stretcher, waiting to be brought in for surgery.

I fell asleep.

Twice.

After several hours, the doctor finally came by to let me know that there had been an emergency that came in and everything got delayed. She had one more person ahead of me, before I could get done. When I heard a nurse telling someone it was past 3:30 (my check in time was 11:45, but we checked in almost half an hour early), I asked someone to call my daughter and let her know about the delay. She was more worried about the surgery than I was.

The surgery itself took only about an hour. While in recovery, I was informed they did find and remove something unusual. I’m to go back to the doctor in four weeks for a follow up, test and biopsy results. I got a prescription for antibiotics and something to control bleeding, if necessary, that they wanted me to fill right away, but our pharmacy would be closed long before we reached town, so I will do that tomorrow. Meanwhile, I was given instructions for home, and what to look out for that I would need to go straight to the nearest ER for if it happens.

They kept asking me what my pain levels were like, on a scale of 1 -10. My response? A half. Maybe. Just a dull ache. Pain, of course, can be a relative thing, and compared to the past few months, there was almost no comparison.

After my daughter wheeled me to the truck, we made a quick side trip for some take out so I could eat and hydrate on the way home, since I wasn’t ready to be going in and out of the truck yet.

We also took a different route home, allowing my daughter to detour two of the three construction zone.

As for me, I feel absolutely fantastic. I am so happy!

It’s still possible I might go for another, more major surgery, depending on the biopsy results, but I suspect I won’t need it.

I can’t believe how much better I feel already. Wow.

My daughter, meanwhile, as informed me that she will do the morning routine. I am banned, no matter how good I might be feeling. 😂

I get to sleep in, in the morning.

What a novel concept!

The Re-Farmer

Morning baby, barely made it and one more day

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One more day.

I am so looking forward to surgery.

Not just for the surgery itself, but so that I can start taking my supplements again.

I got hit with a Charlie horse last night, somewhere around 2 – 3 in the morning. It actually started with the top of my left foot, the tendons yanking my toes and ankle up. As it got worse, I managed to fling off the three cats that were using me as a bed, sit up and grab a tube of Tei Fu lotion. The tube was more empty than I expected, so I had to fight with it, while my foot was painfully cramping. I ended up with way more than I intended on my hand, what actually turned out to be a good thing.

I got some on my other hand and raised my knee onto the bed so I could start rubbing it into the cramp, only for the position to trigger more cramping in my thigh. I ended up with cramping in my entire left leg, from the tip of my toes to my hip, with my right leg starting to threaten. I had enough lotion to apply to both legs, pre-emptively preventing any cramping in my right leg.

That Tei Fu lotion is gold.

The frustrating thing is that the magnesium, potassium and zinc I’d been taking to prevent this in the first place is off limits until after the surgery. I was eventually able to get myself up and hobble to the bathroom to wash my hands before I took some painkillers. My older daughter was awake and working, so I messaged her and she came down. I didn’t need any help by then, but she stayed and we talked for a while, and she made sure to let me know I could message her at any time if problems started again. Thankfully, it did not and I finally got some sleep.

When I got up a couple of hours later, I saw my husband’s light was on, which means he was driven awake by his own pain. I popped in to talk to him about what happened, mentioning that I was going to be starting my last tube of Tei Fu. The last time he ordered some, he got 4 tubes, and I’d given one to my younger daughter. She recently mentioned to me that she had been out for a while. My husband immediately went online to order more. He was thinking to get in on a monthly subscription, but I don’t use it that often. My daughter, however, might do well with that, until she has her own surgery, which may be months from now.

I was able to get another hour or so of sleep before I finally got up for the day and headed out to do the morning routine. I got to feed the feral baby.

The kitten now comes out and meows when I start putting the kibble out. It still won’t let me near, but seems to be catching on to the routine and understanding that I’m there to leave food, not try to hurt it.

No sign of Slick’s branch pile babies this morning, though she came to the house for breakfast, as usual. I do hope she hasn’t moved them!

I did my morning rounds and should have picked some bush beans, but didn’t have a container, so I left it for later.

I might have to get my daughters to do it. They’ve been taking over most things for me today. My younger daughter was kind enough to make breakfast for me when she found out I had started to do it, but had to stop before anything was ready to actually eat.

I didn’t push myself at all this morning, but as the time wore on, I started having issues with my left arm. All the joints from my rotator cuff to the fingers. Then the abdominal pain started to kick in.

*sigh*

One. More. Day.

My younger daughter was able to come down and do my arm with diplofenac at joints, then I did my lower abdomen myself, along with my left hip, which now hurts pretty constantly. The abdominal pain kept getting worse instead of better. I still wanted to go to the general store and post office to pick up a parcel and another 40 pound bag of kibble, so we wouldn’t have to worry about it while I was recovering. When the post office re-opened at 2pm, I got my daughter to drive me. When we got there, however, I was no longer up to getting in and out of the truck, so I gave her the mail box key and my card for the kibble.

She got the mail first, and came out with two larger packages. I was only expecting one. The larger box was quite beat up, and part of the contents was broken through.

It turned out to be the blower I’d ordered for her forge! The one my husband had received a message offering a refund or a replacement blower, and tracking said was still at customs!

I checked before starting this post and, according to the tracking, it’s still at customs.

After dropping the boxes off in the truck, my daughter went back in to buy the kibbled. When she was done loading it into the box of the truck, she gave me my debit card back and told me it hadn’t worked, so she paid for it herself.

I had done some banking earlier and there were no issues. It wasn’t until I went to put the card back in my wallet that I realized, I had given her my Visa instead of my debit card. The cards look identical, except one has my name on the front, and the other on the back. The general store is not set up to take credit cards.

Oops!

Once we got home, I was able to take the mail in, as they were quite light, but I could barely walk from the pain. I was still able to open up the bashed up package, though, which had a piece of metal sticking out one side!!

Thankfully, the blower is not something easily broken. Even the foam around the opening was broken, but there aren’t any dents. Of course, my daughter got the handle on and we tested it right away.

Now, all she needs is fuel for her forge and some steel to practice with – and we have scrap steel all over the place – and she can start doing some blacksmithing here at home!

Once we were back, though, the pain was still getting worse, so I took more painkillers and lay down.

My older daughter, meanwhile, took over another project for me. She first went out to give that old bathtub a thorough scrubbing. Then, once it was fully dry, she used the enamel paint I picked up on it. She has since been able to put on a second coat.

With the condition of the tub, we know it’s going to have lumps and bumps, and the paint might have trouble adhering. I’m not too worried about it, though. It’s going to be used to soak and wash filth cat beds and blankets. I just need it to not be rusted out and flaking, and to hold water.

My daughter will be adding more layers over the next few days, giving it plenty of time to cure in between, pretty much until the can is empty.

All this, in between making a supper of ribs and roasted cabbage from our garden. She wanted to make sure I ate very well, before I have to start fasting at midnight. The house smells amazing right now.

As for me, the pain did finally start to subside while I was lying down, but then the bleeding suddenly increased. A lot.

We’re doing laundry now.

One. More. Day.

That prescription I was given – the “safer” version of what my older daughter is on – has done nothing for me. I may as well have not been taking it. It should have at least reduced the pain, and there shouldn’t be any bleeding at all.

Hard to imagine that all of this got trigged by taking an anti-inflammatory that had been so helpful for my arthritis!

One.

More.

Day.

The Re-Farmer

A Garden Friend, and an update

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I have been out for much of the day, between my medical appointment and the stock up shopping. The stock up shopping will get its own post, later.

This morning, I did the outside cat feeding and my morning rounds, as usual.

Gouda was missing this morning. I do hope I see him when I go out later to water the garden!

I didn’t water this morning, but I did check everything out. While adjusting the melon vines, something moved.

A long, skinny something.

An adorable garden friend!

I just saw the tail at first, and I thought it was going under the mulch but, when I went around the other side to check on the other melon vines, I spotted the head. I was very happy to see the garter snake.

Eat up those slugs and bugs, my slithery friend! Just leave the frogs alone, please!

My appointment with the doctor was at 11:30, and it takes about an hour to get there. I left almost 2 hours early, knowing there was construction along the way. It also gave me enough time to stop at a gas station to pick up an energy drink for the road.

Not gas, though. The price has gone up to $1.819

Ouch.

In the end, I got to the clinic barely 10 minutes early. Once I got there, I realized I’d been there before. Several years ago, my brother and I had taken my mother to see a specialist in this clinic. Not the same doctor, though. I don’t think this one was even there at that time.

Once there, I had three pages of forms to fill out, on top of the medical history form they had emailed me that I’d submitted. Some of the info I’d sent them was already inputted into these forms. It’s always strange filling these out. Too many questions have answers of … no, not in my medical history, but yes, and that’s why I’m here!

I barely finished those when I got called in, first to get my vitals. My height and weight, anyhow. The BP machine failed, so they just skipped it.

When the doctor came in, things went very quickly and efficiently. She had some odd information on the file, just as a date for when all this started – which was my birthday. So I explained how the first symptoms were there quite a while ago, but not something that stood out enough for me to remember exactly when they started, the progression until I found myself with a reversal of menopause, then catching on to this being a rare side effect of the anti-inflammatories I was taking, and how it all subsided as soon as I stopped taking them, but haven’t gone away completely. She was wondering why I hadn’t gone to a doctor earlier, and I had to explain that we live in the boonies, it was winter, we got snowed in, and I had to cancel a couple of appointments because our truck broke down.

Then we went through what tests I’ve already had done, the referral to a specialist in the city and a biopsy that I no longer need, since I’m seeing her now, instead.

She confirmed that all the tests except that one ultrasound, have come back normal.

She then said she wanted go get me into the OR as soon as possible, because I’m coming up on 60, and this should not be happening. Normal test results notwithstanding.

She knew of an opening in mid August – another doctor got a cancellation or something – and she wanted to book me for that. Otherwise, the earliest would be the end of October.

I took the August date.

She walked through the procedure with me – basically, she needs to get a camera in there to actually see what’s going on – what procedures she will be doing, and what she might be doing, depending on what she sees at the time. I got some instructions, signed the consent form, and will get more details when the hospital calls me. I’ll find out then if I’ll be overnight, or if it’ll be a day surgery. I’ve got strict instructions on an 8 hour water only fast, with the water being cut off 3 hours before surgery.

I also got requisitions for blood work and EKG, to be done today or tomorrow. Since I was doing the stock up shop after my appointment, it wasn’t going to be today, so I’ll do it tomorrow. I’m expecting to do the Costco shop tomorrow, and the town I drive through on my way to the city to get to the new Costco has a hospital and lab. I can stop there in the morning, then keep going to the city when it’s all done.

As for today’s stock up shop, it was rather different doing it in this area rather than in the city, but it worked out. It’s starting to cool down, though, so I’m going to head out and water the garden while it’s still light out.

The irony of all this?

I’ve had zero pains today. Not even mild pains.

So very weird.

But then, all of this has been very weird from the start!

The story of my life, really!

😄😄

The Re-Farmer

Surgery went well!

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We didn’t need to leave until 11, so the morning was our normal routine. As usual, I started off feeding the yard cats, and got to see these two again.

Colby looks like a real scrapper! That white and grey is so big, I’m starting to mistake it for one of the three from last year that are really small!

Yesterday, I happened to be in the right place to see Sprout lying in the grass in the outer yard, nursing these two, plus the tortie. The calico is definitely the shiest of the four. The orange one, Colby, is the bravest. Last night, I saw him at the top of the ramp into the isolation shelter. Just a little while ago, while gathering bowls for the evening kitten soup feeding, I spotted the tortie inside the cat cage, inside the big no-longer heated water bowl that’s been repurposed as a food bowl in there. I didn’t see it when I brought out the kitten soup bowl, though Colby, was back again.

Last night, after I mused about how far behind parts of our garden is this year, I did go and look at last year’s photos. Wow, are we ever behind this year! At least with the winter squash and melons. At this time last year, the winter squash in particular were getting huge, and by the middle of the month, I was taking pictures of the developing squash with my hand for a size reference. I get a strong feeling we won’t have any winter squash or melons this year! The transplant shock, plus those bugs on the winter squash, followed by that one unpredicted cold night, has really done damage. The eggplants were set back, too; last year, they were in full bloom by now. The peppers are going okay, though, compared to last year, at least.

I’ve also definitely lost at least two of the summer squash that got transplanted out, including one of the White Scallop squash. Last year was a bad year for summer squash, but I think this one might be even worse!

I was done my rounds early enough that I took a quick nap before we left. I knew that if I didn’t, I’d be falling sleep while waiting for my daughter to come out of surgery!

We ended up on the road shortly before 11. My poor daughter was fasting, and was so very hungry! The surgery was booked for 12:30, and we got there shortly before 12. We went to the outpatient clinic first, where she registered and got her paperwork. Then we went to the day surgery section on the second floor. The staff found that, while she was on their list, for some reason her chart wasn’t printed out yet, so we sat down in the waiting room while they took care of that. Which took no time at all, and she was soon passing my her glasses and phone, etc. as they took her in to be prepped for surgery.

She told me afterwards that everything went very smoothly. She was even complimented for not being at all nervous about it, as they strapped her down to the “crucifix” operating table. The staff and the surgeon were all really nice, too. She REALLY appreciated the pre-warmed blankets and towels they used on her, too!

While that was happening, I made a quick trip to the nearby Walmart to get a few things. It started to rain while I was inside. I always bag my purchases at the truck, so I was standing in the rain, filling an insulated bag, when my phone started ringing.

My first thought was that it was the hospital, and why would they be calling me so soon? Did something go wrong???

Nope.

It was the home care office. Not the usual coordinator, but someone who was covering for her at the moment.

She told me that this morning’s home care aid got to my mother’s place 10 minutes late. When she got there, my mother told her she’s already taken her pills. The aid opened up the lock box and this morning’s beds were still in their bubble, of course. I told the coordinator, my mother has a secret stash of her pills somewhere. The coordinator told me something like that had been reported. As for my mother taking them herself after the aid was only 10 minutes late (which means she arrived at the time she was scheduled to leave, rather than the time she was scheduled to arrive), she would have decided the aid wasn’t going to show up at all. I told the coordinator that my mother believes that the aids don’t show up sometimes, because they want her to die. That’s something I’d already told the regular coordinator before, so it’s probably somewhere in the file. This is why she snuck out and hid one of her bubble packs.

I asked if my mother treated the home care aid all right, and was told nothing was reported about any such behaviour. After clarifying with me about the medications, she said she would make notes for the file, then follow up with the aid.

Meanwhile, I got a message from my older daughter. The land line had rung, but she never got to it in time, and she was worried it was the hospital. So I quickly told her it was home care, then finished bagging things up and got out of the rain so I could explain further.

That done, I quickly updated my siblings on our group chat, then went back to the hospital. I still had about 2 hours to wait, and I just stayed in the waiting room.

Where I dozed off again!

Why am I always so sleepy during the day, but can easily stay up all night?? It’s not like I’m in my 20’s anymore!

After about an hour or more – my daughter would have been out of surgery and in the recovery room by then – I started hearing a strange noise from the bag of my daughter’s stuff beside me. Her phone was ringing! So I answered it, using my hotel receptionist voice. 😄 Even though I identified the phone as my daughter’s, and that I wasn’t my daughter, the person on the other end launched into their reason for calling. I don’t think she caught on that I wasn’t my daughter!

It turned out to be a clinic in the city. My daughter has been referred to an endocrinologist about her PCOS, and they were calling about an appointment they have for her. I was in no position to take anything down, and explained that I was in the hospital, and my daughter was coming out of surgery just then. We eventually worked out that they will send my daughter a letter with the information, plus they will call back to follow up tomorrow. The appointment is in October some time, so there’s no rush on that.

Not long after, my phone rang. It was the surgery staff, letting me know my daughter would be ready to leave withing half an hour. When she found out I was already in the waiting room, she asked me to go to the main entry, where they have wheelchairs available for patient transport to the vehicle. Standard procedure, and I already knew where the wheelchairs were kept, so off I went.

Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of options. There was the extra wide bariatric wheelchair. I wasn’t going to use that, because they only have one. There was another wheelchair that was so low, it had to be for a child. Then there was another, but it was so narrow, it was probably also for a child, but at least her feet wouldn’t be dragging on the ground. So that was the one I took.

When I got there, the person behind the desk immediately asked who is was for, and I told her. She then went to take it, to go get my daughter. When she saw it, she commented that she didn’t think my daughter would fit! I told her, I wasn’t sure, either, but I didn’t have much choice.

When they brought my daughter out, she was in a completely different wheelchair. 😄 She had her discharge papers in hand, and a package with a couple of cookies in it. She inhaled those as soon as she got into the truck!

As I was pushing her out of the hospital, she showed me her incision site. I couldn’t believe how tiny it was! She said she was also feeling really good, but for safety reasons, she wasn’t allowed to walk out on her own. She had to be careful not to use the hand or arm, because it wasn’t hurting at all, and her mobility was really good.

Once at ground level, we made a side trip so she could use the washroom. As I was looking out the windows, I spotted something moving around.

Something very familiar looking!

They had a grog in their flower garden!

Interestingly, it was only eating the thistles, not the flowers. We had one summer where we had about 5 or 6 groundhogs in our yard, then they basically disappeared. It was really nice to see one again. I did pause at the reception desk on the way out to let the staff know they had a groundhog in there, just in case they didn’t already know. They buggers are adorable, but they can do major damage!

I brought the truck around for my daughter and, once she was settled in, checked to see how she was feeling. Was she up to eating? I knew she would be hungry, but straight out of anesthesia is not always a good time to eat. She said she was famished, so we headed over to a nearby Subway I knew the location of. Just a few bites into her food, and she told me she was feeling SO much better. Post op, they had told her a number of things to watch out for and, if she had any of those symptoms, to get to a doctor right away. This included feeling light headed or nauseous. Which she was feeling, but she was pretty sure it was because she was hungry. It was. Once she started eating, it all went away!

From there, it was straight to home. As we were driving, I updated her on the calls I got on both my phone and hers. As we talked about her referral to endocrinology, I remembered to asked about her referral for a reduction mammoplasty; I knew she had a call about that, and that is why she has an appointment with our regular doctor on the same day that I do, next week. Since I had my own done in this province, I was curious to know how much things have changed. It turned out there are only two doctors in this province that does them. One has his own clinic, while the other is new to our province, and is in one of the city hospitals.

The one with the cardiac clinic that wouldn’t accommodate my husband’s disability, then ghosted him on the phone appointments.

So… I’m thinking going to the doctor with his own clinic would be worth the extra time on the waiting list.

Which could be a year or two!

When I had the ball rolling for mine, the clinic told me they wouldn’t even book appointments past 6 months, and anything before 6 months was booked solid. I was looking at a long wait for surgery, but I was also put on the cancellation list, and my doctor at the time flagged my file as urgent, because of how much pain I was in. I ended up getting in due to a cancellation, within a couple of months. Hopefully, they will be able to do the same for her, but I don’t know that they’re allowed to flag files like that anymore.

It’s good that my daughter is finally getting all this stuff done. Now, if I could just talk her sister into starting to see a doctor, too!

My daughter may have been feeling good after her surgery, but it still took a lot out of her, and she dozed off on the ride home. When we got to the gate, she started undoing her seat belt to open it. I just looked at her, asking, are you up to that?

Nope. She wasn’t. But she was in the passenger seat, so it was automatic! 😄

Now that we’re all inside and settled in, she decided a nap on the couch would be a good idea!

I’m so glad everything went smoothly. She’ll probably start feeling pain more as things wear off, but for now, she’s mostly just feeling drained. I’m still wildly impressed by how small the incision is. Squidly has been evicted! Once it all heals up, it’s going to make a huge difference for her, to be able to use that hand without pain.

Meanwhile, it has still be raining, off and on today. It isn’t a lot, but enough that I don’t need to water the garden this evening. The yard cats got fed as soon as everything was settled in. I’d picked up more pumpkin seed, so I’ve been able to add powdered pumpkin seed to the kitten soup lately, though the adult cats are certainly getting their share. Hopefully, that will help get rid of any worms they might have. I suspect that’s why some of the really small cats and kittens are as small as they are.

Eyelet is so much like Button was in that respect. I have been putting the 4 friendly kittens inside the old kitchen to get a chance to eat the kitten soup before the adult push them away. Only Eyelet and Sir Robin like to stay and eat. Havarti and Grommet will eat a little, then they want out. Eyelet has discovered the plastic couch that’s in there, so when he’s done, that’s where I’ve been finding him. When I picked him up today, his pupils were so dilated, it concerned me. That’s what Button’s eyes started to do, to the point his irises are almost completely hidden. So I used the flashlight on my phone to test, and was happy to see his pupils slowly undilate, before he started blinking and trying to look away. That was a relief.

So that’s where were are at now. It looks like the rain has stopped for now, and it’s been blessedly cooler. It’s supposed to get really hot again in a few days, but I should have at least one cooler day to get some manual labour done outside! Thankfully, I don’t have any scheduled outings for the next while. Unless I get called to do my mother’s med assist, I should be able to get some decent progress in.

We shall see.

I’m so happy my daughter was able to get this surgery done so quickly! It’s going to make a big difference, once everything is healed up.

I’d say it’s been a very good day.

The Re-Farmer