Monday, June 9, 2008 - Is it really Junuary??

Dear Bloggy,

Ok, has this rain and "wet Spring" not gone on long enough? It's pretty bad when everyone is referring to this month as Junuary!! Grrrr! I think we are long overdue for some dry, warm weather and that we all have been patient enough! They are now saying that the sun should start coming out on Wednesday and it should actually start getting back to the normal weather temps for this time of the year, by Thurs. Hmmm... does anyone believe "them"??

Well, just thought I'd check in to thank all who were concerned about my Friday night's nasty, NASTY bout of food poisoning. Whew!! I don't wish that on my worst enemy! Not that I can think of any enemies I might have, but if I have any, then I don't wish food poisoning on any of them! That is truly one of the worst things a human body must go through!!

But, I was fine on the weekend and yesterday, Sunday, I actually was out and about and (gasp) enjoying the World BG International Triathalon that had our neighbourhood closed down to traffic. I have never been big on these athletic kind of events, but I must admit, I was getting into the "atmosphere" of the crowds and how everyone came out to support the athletes even though the weather was not cooperating. Hehehe... I'm a sucker for crowd support :)

Anywho... yesterday morning I had an acupuncture appt. at 11am, followed by a reflexology appt. I love it that this doctor has his clinic open 7 days/week because it makes it very convenient to have these appts. on a Sunday. Now, the only problem on this particular Sunday was that the clinic was not only on the bike route of the triathalon, but very close to the start/finish line (hence the crush of media from all countries, the crowds, etc.) Now, this was not particularly a problem for me since the clinic is literally a short 3 blocks from my apartment, so I did not have to depend on taking the car out of the carport, or even on any buses since ALL traffic was blocked for the whole day in the neighbourhood... including buses and taxis. Hahaha... I just had to watch crossing the street since the streets were all fenced off but in between groups of cyclists whizzing by, they would let pedestrians cross the street... and I did have to cross the street to get to the clinic ;)

After my appts., I watched the Elite Female Athletes biking event for awhile and it was kind of neat... they are incredibly fast when they go by. I then went home and looked up the event on the internet, of which, there was a live 'commentary' of the event. By the time I found it, the women's event was over and they were just starting the Elite Male Athlete's event. I was watching them do the swim portion (the event consisted of 1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of biking, and 10 km of running) and hearing about who were the favourites, etc. Well, wasn't it exciting when Simon Whitfield of Victoria, BC (Canada) came out of the water first?? A little trivia there... his wife is in the hospital this weekend about to have their baby and he literally waited until the last minute to get over to the mainland... got here 45 mins. before the race so hadn't even seen the course before he started!

Anywho... I thought to myself, this is downright crazy!! Here we have an International event, which is a huge deal with top athletes from all over the world competing, right outside my front door and a block away from my back door ... and the admission is free! What the heck am I doing inside, on the computer when this is going on outside? Just as I was thinking that, Toby, my neighbour from across the hall came over to get Bridget and take her for a hike and said that they were going to head into Stanley Park but away from the crowds (Bridget is not big on crowds or loud noises), so I figured this was a good time for me to go check out the action while Bridget went off with Toby.

Well, am I ever glad I went out! In hindsight, I would have kicked myself for having missed this. The crowds were wonderful and so supportive. And I was actually very surprised to be in the middle of a kajillion different languages. It was on the news that this event brings in about 60,000 people from around the world who come specifically for these world triathalons and I figured this was probably accurate. It's quite exciting to be in the middle of everyone getting excited and calling out to their favourites in their own tongue. Hahaha... and there I was, rooting all of them on!! I got right into it :D

Here are a couple of pictures I took...

This was taken outside the front door of my acupuncturist's clinic. This is one of the corner's the bikes had to go around after zipping down a hill on Davie Street.

Ok, I had now gone home, checked the internet, decided to come back out... so this was taken out my front door and just down the street (whereas the one above was out my back door and over about 2 blocks).

The fellow in the lead, in the blue and red outfit, is Gomez from Spain. He won the Elite Men's in 1 hour 49 minutes and I forget how many seconds... but he was well ahead of the pack by a good bit. He basically could have walked the last kilmometre in and the rest would not have caught up to him... but he went at full tilt. I would imagine it wasn't just about winning since he knew early in the game he would win, but was in it for the timing.

Silly me!! Hahaha... I thought I might just slip over to the Finish Line to watch the rest come in... but as you can see, I wasn't the only one who thought that might be fun ;) I don't like the claustraphobic feeling of being in a "mob" so decided that I would pass on trying to get to the Finish line :)

But what a fun way of spending a Sunday. Since I couldn't get out of the 'hood by car or bus, my option was to stay inside or come out and enjoy the event. Since Sports are not my thing, I hadn't really thought about it, but I'm now glad that I did... it was very enjoyable! Now, the winners of the race(s) will next be competing at the Olympics in Beijing... and here they were running literally feet in front of me ;)

Now... as for my own news about the surgery... we are getting closer ;) I still can't get passed Ditzy-Doodle, the receptionist, but at least she is now aware. I went out for coffee with my good friend, Ian Forsyth today. Yep, the two of us did a PNW Coast trendy thing to do... met at a Starbucks to yak and watch the pouring rain ;) When I got home, there was a message from Ditzy-Doodle... but all the message said was "Hi Cheryl, this is XXXX from Dr. M's office. Could you give me a call when you get in. It's with regards to your surgery." Aha!!! Do you think it may finally be a surgery date?? Could she not have said so?? Of course, I called right back. It was 3:50pm when I called her, but alas, I got the voice mail. Obviously she had left for the day. All the more reason, could she not have said, "Hi Cheryl. Just calling to let you know we have a date for your surgery. We have you scheduled for XXXXX. Could you call me back to confirm that this date works for you?" But noooo... now I have to wait until tomorrow morning and hopefully I will get through to her and not get the voice mail.

So, where we stand... the hospital did call me on Friday and I have an appt. with them on Wednesday at 12:30pm for my pre-admission appt. This is the appt. where they get the paperwork done, the consent forms signed, an appt. with the anesthesist(sp?), blood work done and an explanation of where I go, what I do, what I can expect, etc. on the day of my surgery. I'm then assuming that the call I got today was to give me an actual surgery date. Yippeee!!!

According to the gal at the hospital that I talked to on Friday when we were setting up the pre-admission appt. time, the "expected" stay at the hospital will be for only 2 days... and then I come home for the rest of my recovery. But that recovery should be very quick since the surgery itself will be done laparascopically. Wow!! I can actually start thinking that this adrenal gland that has the problem is soon going to be removed completely and I won't have to worry about it!! How exciting is that??? :) :)

Meanwhile.. it's practice time!! :) Tomorrow (Tues), Bridget and I will be going to the TUTS office in the afternoon. When we get home, Dr. Joan (Bridget's Vet) will walk over to my apartment. She is coming to get Bridget and take her back to her place. This will be Bridget's first sleepover with Dr. Joan :) Dr. J., who is also a very good friend, not just Bridget's veterinarian, will be looking after Bridget both times I'm in the hospital. So she suggested we do a practice run tomorrow night. Bridget has no problems going with friends for walks. Hehehe... this past 18 months, she has had so many different doggy walkers that to her, anyone who puts on her leash means they are her walkers :) They will walk over to Joan's condo which is about 6 blocks from our place and Bridget will be most happy to go into her house and check it out. And it shouldn't take her too long to realize that she is going to spend the night with Joan.

Hahaha... it will be ME that is going to feel weird tomorrow night! I will be going over to Steve's for dinner and we are going to watch tonight's Canadian Idol and tomorrow night's... plus I'm going to show him a few things on his computer since he's a newly converted to Mac user ;) Then, when I come home, I'll be coming home with no dog in the car and no dog hogging the bed!!

So, that's about all the news for now. Here is a picture of my two kids... the two gray divas:

CB, the cockatiel has her wings clipped. For those who have met her before, she is a multi-handicapped bird. She can't fly, but she certainly can waddle/run on the floor and she is fearless. She figures that wherever Bridget is, she should be too. She follows Bridget around ... but Bridget totally ignores her. Bridget knows she's not allowed to chase or bark at CB, so she just avoids her and tries to pretend CB is not around :)

Ok... I better get a move on! Robyn and Graie, who used to live upstairs in the apartment above me, moved back to Montreal last August. Waaaaaaah!! But they are back in town for a visit!! YAYAYAYAYA!! We are waiting for Nathan to come home from work (he should get home about 7:30pm) and then Robyn, Graie, Mimi, Nathan and I are going out for dinner, just to a neat little Chinese Food Restaurant around the corner... ok, up the street 3 blocks and then around the corner :)

Sooooo... adios for now!! As soon as I know for sure when that surgery date is going to be, I'll come back and post it here :)

Cheryl

PS: Forgot to mention!! The new iPhone will FINALLY be available in Canada July 11th!!! I'm soooo excited! It is a newer version than the ones that were/have been sold in the States for around $400. Hahahaha... I don't have $400... but the new 8GB in Canada will be in $200!!! I can't afford that either... but I will find a way :D :D LOL!!

Saturday, June 7th, 2008 -- Food Poisoning!

Dear Bloggy,

This is going to be a very short post just to let everyone know I'm still around and haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've been meaning (as usual) to update Bloggy, but have been busy with offline activities. Things down at the Park are starting to get busy since it's only about a month from now and we open both shows!! WOW!!

But alas, I was going to do an update to the blog all about that, and the frustration with the one admin support person I was dealing with. But then, last night I came down with the most vicious bout of food poisoning. I had met two gal pals, Lynda Boyd and Teryl Rothery for lunch yesterday and I had the Shrimp/Scallop Fettucini Alfredo. It was DELICIOUS!! But obviously there was something off, either with the shrimp, the scallops or maybe the sauce itself... but did I ever suffer last night!

It's going to take me some time to get over this horrible feeling, where at 3am death seemed like a pretty good option!

I am much better today, as is the way with food poisoning. I'm just left very weak, so I am taking it super easy today. Bridget and I are just lounging around in bed and napping when we can. I have to admit, I have attempted two loads of long overdue laundry... but I may have to get help from the neighbours to bring it back up to the apartment. Toby has just headed out to Safeway to do a little shopping for herself, so she is going to pick me up a few things.

I should be 100% recovered by tomorrow... and it will be a long while before I probably eat shrimp/scallops in a sauce again ;)

Meanwhile... I do have the pre-admission appt. at the hospital next Wednesday. Still not set date for the surgery but it is going to be in July. From what I gather, as long as it can be done laprascopically, it is going to be much easier than even I had already thought it would be. The expected time in the hospital is only 2 days... even I had thought it would be longer than that... but let's hope that expectation is correct!! :D

Ok... back I go to lay down and watch a movie with my sleepy schnauzer :D

Cheryl

Monday, May 26th, 2008 - A new week

Hiya Bloggy,

Well, hahaha - let's see if I can make this a short entry! I know I have tried in the past and have yet to succeed so I'm not sure why today would be any different ;)

First order of business... the surgery. No, I do not have a date, but Dr. Gill did get a hold of Dr. Meneghetti, bypassing the front desk. Where we stand right now is that Dr. Meneghetti is booked solid for the next month, so we are looking at the beginning of July. He is in high demand, which is also why we want him to do the surgery since he is the cream of the crop when it comes to this kind of surgery. I could go to another surgeon who doesn't have the same reputation and I have to admit, I don't want to risk that. Dr. Gill did assure me that I don't have to worry about these extra weeks because the adrenal tumour has been stable for so long. Dr. Gill has always known what she was talking about so if she says I don't have to worry, then I'm not going to worry.

Bridget is also getting better. She is now on a prescription "medium" fibre canned food, whereas earlier this past week she was on a prescription "high" fibre canned food. Needless to say, the high fibre definitely did the trick and stopped the diarrhea she was experiencing... and the medication (1/2 pill twice/day) seems to be clearing up the inflammation. She no longer seems to be in any kind of pain or discomfort (phew!). She will have to stay on the food and meds for awhile longer, just to make sure it is cleared up.

I am just about to pack up a lunch and then Bridget and I will be heading down to the TUTS office to volunteer for the afternoon. I can't believe the shows will both open in just over 6 weeks!! Yikes! That means, summer will be here!!

Today, I'm suffering big time with arthritis pain... damn that arthritis!! But, I figure we can handle going to the TUTS office because, it's not as if we will be doing a lot of physical moving around. We will come home in the later afternoon and Bridget will more than likely go out for a nice long walk with Toby. Me, I'm going to get dressed and ready to go to a benefit concert that will be held at the Stanley theatre. A bunch of theatre (musical comedy) friends are involved with putting it on, and the proceeds will be going to the BC Cancer Foundation. So a good cause and it should be a fun evening!

Oh... and the big success story this weekend -- after years of whining about my clothes closet in the bedroom, I finally bit the bullet and went through the closet!! I did a huge weeding out of clothes... the to the tune of having 65 empty hangers by the time I took stuff out. I am in the process of folding up these clothes items as they will be taken to a Women's Shelter. My neighbour, Jenn, is taking a load of her own, so will take mine with her load. I can actually move clothes around now in the closet... something I couldn't do before. I still have too many in the closet, but it certainly beats what I've been having to go through all these years... I'm THRILLED to have this done!! Hahaha... it took me two days to get through what I did get through... so that could also explain why the joints/arthritis is acting up big time today!! :D

Ok... I'm not sure that this could be considered a short entry by any stretch, but I think it's shorter than normal!! :D

Ciao for now!

Cheryl

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 - No Surgery News

Hiya Bloggy,

Nothing new to report on the surgery front. I have to admit, I'm getting a little antsy here... not because the surgery is making me nervous, but because I don't have news yet of when the surgery date will be. I understand that the surgeon has to schedule according to priority/emergency, etc. and I don't have a problem with that... I just would like to know a date. But the problem is, one can't seem to get past the front desk, the admin support person who handles the phone calls for the surgeon. Now, I have a real problem with the front office saying that they were answering the phone yesterday, when I called numerous times and only got the voice mail message... but couldn't leave a voice mail message because the mailbox was full. Her response to that was because people leave multiple messages which fills up the inbox and she is spending her time responding to the messages. Well, personally, I don't buy that at all because IF this is the case then there's a very basic problem here... if people ARE leaving multiple messages then it's because their messages are not being answered in a timely fashion. This is the basics in office management 101.

The thing that annoys me to no end... this is not a case of the medical system letting one down, but it's an individual in an office that is the spoke in the wheel that is broke. Now, I'm feeling (which I'm sure a lot of other patients are feeling the same thing) that you don't want to rock the boat because the surgery is too important to be going and p*ssing anyone off. But I think that I may have to talk to my oncologist and see if she can find out more since I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Will let you know what happens.

Ok, other news is that my poor, darlin' little Bridget has colitis. Oh, I can soooo relate to her distress! Once again, last night, we were up all night while the poor dear had the runs... thank goodness our weather has turned to the nice and balmy spring temps we've come to expect. When you are outside at 2am, 3am, 4am, etc.... it's nice not to be out there in the cold and wet. But it's heartwrenching to see one's little fur-baby in distress.

But, Dr. Joan to the rescue. She examined her and it looks like Bridget has come down with colitis. Intestinal upsets are common with the schnauzer breed, although Bridget has never had any history of tummy problems in the past...not like this. So, Bridget's now on Metronidazole for a week. This med acts as a anti-inflammatory (for the inflamed intestine), as an antibiotic (in case it is bacteria caused) and helps with the diarrhea. So far it seems to be working fine... the little one is in no distress today. She is also on a new prescription diet, which is a high fibre canned dog food. She is eating it, although not that much (mind you, she has never been one to eat a huge amount of food anyways)... and has to be fed 4-6 small meals/day rather than 1 or 2 larger ones. This, of course, is to make sure her intestines aren't having to work hard or that there is too much food sitting in her tummy at any given time. If I find she doesn't really take to this food, then there are other kinds that Joan says we can try her on, but for the next 7-10 days or longer, she is not to have her veggie treats or her regular diet.

So, tonight I am watching American Idol and Bridget is snoozing comfortably. So it's actually possible that I might get to sleep tonight. Joan just called a few minutes ago to see how our little patient is doing... all is well for tonight :)

Tomorrow, I am taking the car in for it's regular maintenance, which is kind of a joke since it was due for it regular maintenance in February... 2007!! The only thing in my defense (and I know there really isn't any excuse for not having someone take it in for me) is that I have been driving it very, very little over the last 18 months, so it's not like it's been getting a lot of useage. But, even I know that it's not good for a car to be sitting without it's maintenance. So I am taking it in in the morning and will let Bridget stay home for a few hours and then I'll come back and be with her.

Let's see... the only other thing I have to comment on this week is that I got together with my friends', Doug (who lives across the street) and his sister, Julia (who lives in Williams Lake further up North of Vancouver by about 6 hours, in BC). We were childhood friends, so it is always great when we get a chance to catch up. I see Doug often, but don't get to see Julia all that often because she does live a ways away. But Julia and her husband Ken, and I, got to meet up in Hawaii this year. They and their children/grandchildren will be vacationing in Pt. Roberts this summer, so we will be able to get together at that time, assuming I'm not in for Surgery #2 by then.

Anywho... I think I mentioned in the last blog entry or two that we were finally expecting some beautiful Spring/Summer weather, which we got over the weekend. Here is the view from Doug's apartment across the street from me:

As you can see, he is a lot higher up than I am (21st floor) whereas I'm only on the second floor and I'm facing a different direction. But the view is spectacular, especially when the weather is co-operating! :)

Ok... as far as the local flowers go, Spring has been here for a little while... it's just the weather and temps that have taken their time coming around. But here we have some rhodies and tulips that are in the little park next door to our buildings. I love these rhodies because of their pink and white colouring... and the fact they are so huge!

This is a picture of the tulips next door. I have to admit, the City and Parks Board really do a fabulous job of the city gardens and when it comes to the tulips, I guess I've sort of taken them for granted since there are so many throughout the city. But, as Julia pointed out, some places around BC, further north, have a shorter growing period so their tulips don't get to be this size.

This is the view looking down from Doug's apartment... down on the Inukshuk. For those who don't know, Vancouver will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics and the logo for the games is based on the Inukshuk, which is a welcoming symbol in our native culture. So here we are, looking down on the Inukshuk and it looks soooo small from up here.

Meanwhile, this picture was taken back in the Fall by my friend and neighbour, Nathan. It is the same Inukshuk, but taken at sunset closer to ground level. Ok, he's on the ground when he took it, but at street level, whereas, the actual Inukshuk, is lower, down by the water:



I'm going to close this entry with that beautiful picture by Nathan...it is one of my all time favourites. Now I'm either going to take Bridget out or get in touch with Jenn and see if she and Lexi were planning on going out soon.

Ta ta for now!!

Cheryl

Friday, May 16th, 2007 - Queen Vicki's Birthday Long Weekend

Dearest Bloggy!!

Happy Queen Vicki's Birthday!!! Hahaha... WHY we still celebrate a long, dead Queen Victoria's birthday is beyond me, although it's great to have a long weekend so any excuse is a good excuse. But what is particularly thrilling about this one is that Vancouver and the surrounding area is FINALLY getting the weather they deserve and is so long overdue!! SUN SUN SUN!!! And warmth, warmth, warmth!!! Temps are going to get up into the high 20Cs (mid - upper 80Fs)!!! Yipppeee!!

Now, the reason I'm running into bloggy for a few seconds on this gorgeous day is to report on my little darling Bridget since folk are sending emails to see how she is doing. I guess, I kind of mislead people into thinking she had a little tummy bug...nothing serious. Well, maybe that's what it appeared to be at the time I wrote the blog entry, but it turned out I had one VERY sick little schnauzer for a 24 hour period. She was violently ill starting at midnight on Wednesday... having already had bouts of diarrhea and vomiting earlier in the day. Our timing was off too because Bridget's Vet, Dr. Joan, was out of town for a few days... but the clinic was fabulous since the girls there all know Bridget. And we got to meet Dr. Dirk (ok, Dirk is his first name, but I can't pronounce his last name, so he is Dr. Dirk) yesterday.

We still don't know what caused her to be so violently ill. If she actually had picked up and ate something on one of the walks, although I didn't see her do that, nor did Jenn or Toby when they took her out. She DOES eat grass a lot but not to make herself sick... but because she loves grass. I did notice Tuesday morning she was eating a lot more grass than normal and I kept making her stop, but she was bound and determined... so whatever this was may have actually started Tuesday.

Anywho... starting at midnight, she was vomiting violently every hour or so, so I was up all night with her, changing towels/bedding, making a huge pile of laundry to do. Hahaha... as I'm typing this, I'm STILL doing laundry, although I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now... one more load and I should be totally caught up with every towel and linens having been cleaned :)

She stopped vomiting yesterday morning at 7:30am, but was one tired puppy. I took her in to the clinic in the morning because she didn't seem to be interested in drinking anything... her poor tummy was just too sore and worn out. Of course, wouldn't you know it.. as soon as we went into the clinic she went right for their water bowl :) Dr. Dirk did a thorough examination of her and he was so gentle and sweet with her. He said that she did appear to be somewhat dehydrated so gave her an injection of 100cc's of saline solution just under the skin (her body would absorb it and this was easier on her than hooking her up to an IV and giving her a saline drip for a couple of hours. That was going to be one of the options... that I leave her there and they do this, but Dr. Dirk didn't seem to think that would be necessary... that she would probably start feeling better very quickly with the 100cc's. He also gave her an anti-nausea injection which would make her feel better that she would not be feeling that sick to the tummy feeling and gave her an injection of antibiotics just to be on the safe side.

By the time we left the office, she was getting back to her little diva self! Of course, she was very tired and sleep is a good thing. I kept her with me all day... we went to the TUTS office in Stanley Park and I had her bed, blanket and packed some chicken and rice for her. I had to slowly introduce her tummy back to food, so chicken and rice is nice and bland, but still appealing to her senses. I gave her a spoonful every hour and her tummy kept it down. When we got home, she got half a cup, and her tummy did well on that and she was quite content with that. I gave her a half cup this morning and will be packing up some to take this afternoon.

Dr. Joan called this morning to see how she's doing... and advised to continue feeding small amounts throughout the day. Even if it means she's getting somewhat less than her normal amount of food, it's better to do it this way in small amounts for the next couple of days.

But I'm pleased to say, she is doing just fine today... and the danger/scare is now over :)

As for me... I don't have a date yet for the surgery, but the admin gal at the surgeon's office said to call back on Tuesday and she will get the information from Dr. Meneghetti (he was in surgery yesterday and today and of course, this is the long weekend)... so hopefully I'll find out on Tuesday when the date will be. I still have a thousand things I want to get done before the surgery date... which I'm sure is going to be that first week in June.

Ok... enough babble!! I am going to get that load of laundry out of the dryer and then Bridget and I are off to enjoy this gorgeous, gorgeous weather!!

Ciao!

Cheryl

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 - Sick little Bridget

Hiya Bloggy,

Well, not much to report on my medical update. I did have the pre-surgery assessment on Monday and that went just fine. Basically, what the surgeon was concerned with is, after all is said and done, having gone through 8 months of chemo and 6 weeks of radiation therapy, was my heart strong enough to now undergo 2 surgeries (or even one). So a wonderful doctor, Dr. Kahn, did my assessment, went through my medical history, what kind of symptoms (if any) have I had recently with my heart, etc. The end result being, she had to weigh the risk factors and decide what risk factor I had for having a potential heart attack or stroke while on the operating table. She said that I'd be happy to know she thinks I am a very low risk factor so I have the green light to go ahead with the surgeries. So yayayaya... this is a good thing! I want these tumours OUT OF ME!!

So, next step is for Dr. Meneghetti's office to call with the surgery date and that will be my first surgery... getting rid of the adrenal gland/tumour. So, stay tuned, I will obviously be posting here that date, once I know it. If all goes according to plan, that surgery will be done laparascopically which means the recovery time will be much quicker than if it has to be done with the traditional longer surgical cut.

Now... as for my little darlin'. Oh, what a sad day she had today! This morning, she got sick to her stomach... no major big deal. Sometimes dogs get a funny tummy just like us people and they get sick, bring it up and then feel much better... or so I thought. When I figured she was ok, I then went off to work to meet the gang from work for lunch (thanks, you all... that was great seeing you all again!!! And much thanks for the lunch!!!). When I got home, Toby, my neighbour from across the hall, left a note that she had taken Bridget out... so phew! I didn't need to dash home... Bridget was with the neighbour. Well, the two of them got home about 10 minutes after I got home... and poor Bridget! Toby explained that when she had come over to get Bridget (about 30 minutes before), the poor darlin' had had diarrhea on about 4 different spots on the rug. She (Toby) cleaned it up and cleaned the spots on the rug, then took her out... where she tried to go some more outside but was obviously empty... but was straining to go. She had a little bit more and that's when Toby notice a couple of drops of blood. Ack!! Needless to say, this freaked me out. Being that it's Wednesday, the animal clinic where Bridget goes was open until 8pm... but Dr. Joan had called me on Monday to tell me that she was going to be out of town for about 4 days and did I know yet when I was going to be in the hospital... so I knew she wasn't in. But Char was there and calmed me down. She said it definitely sounded like Bridget had an upset tummy or even a touch of colitis and with having the diarrhea, it is not uncommon that there would be some blood from the straining and irritation. Had she eaten anything today? I said no.. I knew with an upset tummy it was best not to feed her until it calmed down. Good. She suggested giving her some broth, or ice cubes or anything to keep her hydrated since dehydration would be the biggest concern... then in the morning, try her on a teaspoon of rice with some chopped up hardboiled egg. If she keeps that down, try it again in about an hour and see how she tolerates that. If she is having problems with that, then I am to bring her in. But so far, she is doing much better. We've been taking her out every 1 1/2 hours and she is definitely over the diarrhea now... and has been sleeping comfortably this evening.

My goodness, if it's not one thing, it's another!! But I'm certainly relieved to see her resting comfortably. Hehehe... when Jenn and Lexi came down to take her out for a quick, short walk just to do their business about 10:30pm tonight...

... when they got back, Lexi decided to help put Bridget to bed. Here Lexi is getting Bridget's bed ready for her.

And here is Bridget, sound asleep after her friend, Lexi went home. She is definitely resting comfortably.

It is now going on 1am, so I'm about to crawl in bed with her... and hopefully we shall both wake up in the morning and she will be back to her little diva self.

Nitey-nite!

Cheryl

Thursday, May 8, 2008 - No news is good news :)

'Morning Bloggy!

How goes it with everyone out there in cyberland? Can we believe it's May already??? For those of you who live in Vancouver or the lower mainland area, I'm sure you all can relate to me when I say, "WHERE IS OUR SPRING???" Every now and again, we get a lovely, sunny, spring day and it's actually WARM outside... so we all get excited, only to have the clouds roll in the next day and it gets chilly again. I know, I know... there is no need to complain about our weather when you think of folk elsewhere who still have snow lying around, are getting tornadoes and a whole variety of extreme weather... but it sure would be nice to have a stretch of gorgeous, spring weather that Vancouver is so well-known for!

Oh well, besides the boring weather... life is pretty good these days. I can't believe that it was just last week that we got the results from the biopsy and my whole world turned upside down... but then Sharlene and her team came up with a plan before telling me of the biopsy results, so my world righted itself again. Phew! I can't imagine what I'd be going through if she had told me the results and they didn't have a plan set up yet. There are absolutely no words to describe the terror of being in sound body and mind and to be told you have 2 years or less to live. I know, we all have probably gone through the guessing game of, "If you were told you were going to die within a year, what would you do with the remaining time you have left?" Then people think and say they would travel, or spend the time meeting up with friends, old and new, or ... and the list goes on. But believe me, when you are given that kind of news, you don't have the mind capacity to think of the fun things you are going to do... at least, in my case, it was pure just pure shock and terror. Like I say, there are no words to describe the feelings. So for those who say, "Oh, it wouldn't bother me... I'm not afraid of death", I say, "Poppycock!!!" It's easy to say that when there is no reason to think your death is near... and it's also easy to say that if, heaven forbid, you were to die suddenly... if it happened so quickly you didn't know what hit you, then there would be no time to be afraid. But, when you are feeling just fine, physically, and you are told this is what the prognosis will be, depending on the result(s) of a test... well, the word "terror" doesn't even come close to what a person goes through.

So, I think it's taken me the last 10 days just to get used to the news that we have a plan and that these two surgeries that I will be going through may give me a second chance. Even though I no longer need the anti-anxiety/panic meds I was on while waiting for the results... those panic/anxiety attacks did take their toll. I have never been a big fan of the telephone. I find, if you were to talk to everyone you communicate with in a given day, but do it by telephone, then I would have to be on the phone 24/7... so I've always had an aversion to using the phone. I prefer to see folk in person to talk and when that is not possible, then email or the written word, works so much better for me. Well, after the anxiety/panic period... I find I really dislike the phone even more than before... now I think it's almost a phobia. I think, somewhere in my psyche, I relate the phone to the whole doctor/medical thing. Appts. are made by phone, phone calls to say the test results are in, phone calls to make appts. for various tests, etc. So I have found that I now just avoid the phone and realize this is more a phobia right now. Hopefully, this too shall pass :)

Ok... so what's new? Hmmmm! Not too much on the surgery front. I have completed the blood work and EKG that the surgeon had ordered. He was going to get a copy of all the various CAT scans/ultrasounds and go over them before requesting the pre-assessment clinic get in touch with me. The clinic will then go over all the various scans/test results and decide if more are needed or any are needing updating, arrange those and once that is all done, a surgery date will be scheduled.

Meanwhile... I have been joining my friends, Jill and James down at the TUTS office in Stanley Park. For those who do not live here, TUTS = Theatre Under The Stars. If you go back in the blog to the summer, this was a super magical time for me. I was going through my chemo treatments AND involved with TUTS. I found then (as I have all along) that being involved with the theatre IS so much a part of my life, that it is actually a healing process in its' own. Especially with TUTS because we are situated right in the middle of one of the most gorgeous parks you can imagine.

So, like last summer, being involved with the process of getting ready for the two productions this year is just as magical for me as when we are right in the middle of the productions. I was trying to explain this to a friend the other day and I don't know if it's because the environment is so darn gorgeous, the fact it's the theatre I'm involved with, the fact these are friends who are putting these productions together, or if it's a combination of all of these things... but when I'm down there, it's a total escape for me. There is nothing to remind me of doctors/specialists/diagnosis'/hospitals/etc. Since I feel fine, physically, when I'm down there, it's like being a totally healthy, normal person like everyone else... and I love it! And I can take my little Bridget with me, so does life get any better than this?? :)

Here are a couple of pictures of our "place" that is so magical :)



Here's the theatre! Ok, it's not nowhere near ready to open for the summer yet, but you can see that work is being done on it. Notice the area covered in the blue tarp? That's the top of the orchestra pit... it is being totally rebuilt right now because, over the years and being exposed to the weather elements, the wood was rotting away. Likewise, the front of the stage, referred to as the "apron" is being rebuilt. AND we are getting a new roof. This is all being paid by the Parks Board, since they are responsible for maintaining any of the building structures in the park.

Here's the TUTS office. Hehehe... you can see where the climbing "greenery" that climbs up the walls of the building is looking pretty bare right now... but that will all fill out with leaves and greenery as we get closer to the summer. To the right is a staircase going up to the porch/deck area... this is for the restaurant/bar that opens up come late spring. There's the little doorway/stairs going down... that's our office.

Here's the front yard outside our office door. We will keep the door open and this is what we look out to. Pretty hard on the eyes, isn't it?? :)

This is another view of the "front yard". You can see where the theatre structure blends in with the greenery of the park... so the theatre is basically across from the front yard of the office :)

This is the sidewalk/pathway that takes us from the office straight down to the theatre building itself.

Well, darn... I had a couple of pictures of Bridget to add here too, but I guess they are still on the camera. I'll get them up next time.

But, it's time to grab a bite to eat, then I do have to run to the doctor's because of this stupid sebaceous cyst that has formed on my back, about 6-8" above my left hip. Just what I need... to add to the mix :) Then I'll come home, pack up a lunch and some doggy snacks and Bridget and I will head back to the Park :)

Until next time... you all have a great weekend!! :)

Ciao for now!

Cheryl