A Pajama Day

Well, it's done.
I had my laparoscopic cholecystectomy yesterday. At 11:00, it felt strange to walk into the operating room, rather than rolling in on a stretcher. After several minutes of rather painful searching for a vein in my left hand for the IV, they successfully inserted into the right and 30 seconds later I was out. I wakened around 1:45 and went home at 3.
It hurts to cough, and I need to cough because apparently they also inserted a tube down my throat to keep my airways clear. My voice is rather on the hoarse side.
The four incisions are tender, and lying on either side is uncomfortable, but a good supply of Tylenol 3's take care of that. The doctor had said that some people go to work the day after surgery of this kind, but he didn't recommend it - and neither do I!
John finally got a call to go to work this week -wouldn't you know it -leaving on Thursday. He didn't leave until I was home, though.
And I'm having a relaxing-do-what-I-feel-like kind of day - I haven't spent all day in pj's in a long time! Although I am up to providing simple meals like oatmeal porridge and tea and toast and canned soup, Mom G. has brought over a couple of meals, and some pink carnations.
So I do feel kinda spoiled with it all.

Snow much fun!

We had a fun day today. The Fisher Price house and barn was played with; the dolls got cuddled; a fahion statement was made with several strands of beads around the neck while a camouflage cap was worn on top of the head; and markers and papers were found, too.

In the photo on the left, Naomi is trying to tell a story to a very interested Petra. On the right, Petra found a hat and Opa's shoes to wear, while Naomi counted out straws to drink snow when we got outside.

We tried to slide down the driveway in boxes at first, but they soon gave way to flying carpets instead, so that we could see who could go the farthest.

And we discovered that it is hard to drink snow with straws, so Naomi tried to catch the snow falling from the trees with her tongue instead!

On moving, renovations, grand-kids and snow.........

It was a good day yesterday; Terry and Linda, Matthew, Stevin and Katrina and Naomi and Petra, and John and I moved Mom from room 329 on the independent living floor to room 123 on the assisted-living floor. We didn't think it was going to involve an awful lot, but we were all there by 9am and the last of us didn't leave until about 3pm! The furniture moved down first, followed by the pictures and the clothes and - and -- you get the idea.
But the room is a nice one - it's a little bit smaller, but it has a lovely window that Mom can look out of while seated in her chair. The pictures are up, the plant-shelf got adjusted to the new window and the plants are in place, and the phone is on the table beside Mom's chair.
We discovered that the finish on the coffee table( made from a burr from a BC tree) has actually lifted, making the table unsafe to use, so Stevin is going to put his cabinet/furniture finishing skills to work.

I am realising that where there are children, one needs to have a camera around one's neck! There were several camera moments: Naomi marching to the dining room with her plant for Great-Grandma; Petra sitting in a small box; Petra riding on the cart; Naomi having her lunch right behind Great-Uncle Terry; Petra putting her hands in the box of laundry detergent and wondering at the feeling of the powder; Naomi with her new-found 'homework book for high-school' (her words!); Petra leaning against the elevator wall for the ride up or down - the picture moments go on and on! It's wonderful being a grand-parent! It's a well-worn saying but it's so true: if we had known grandparenting was so enjoyable, we would have had the grand-kids first!

Here on the home front, John and Stevin and Reuben are finishing up with the renovated bathroom at Dad and Mom G's. We had a serious issue with paint colour, though. The shower tiles and floor tiles are two different beiges so the walls need a "bolder" colour to keep the room from looking washed out. Because no-one could make up their minds, the person in the paint store made a suggestion - and although it would have made the room look spectacular, that first coat got covered up with something else! It is now a nice golden yellow.

It snowed a bit again today. People are saying that they're tired of the snow already. I think everyone is forgetting that this is Canada after all, and what is winter in Canada without snow!
Tomorrow, Naomi and Petra will be coming here, instead of me going there, and I hope we can enjoy some of that white stuff! Better remember that camera! I've always said that if it wasn't for the snow, children wouldn't have anything to do outside in the winter-time!

My Dad

If you've been following the posts of my children, you now know about Dad.
It's been a busy couple of weeks: Martin and Emily arrived in Ontario with Maria on the 13th; the Sunday School play was on the morning of the 14th; Dad and Mom were here for that weekend, so that they could come with us to Stevin and Katrina's on Sunday afternoon to meet Maria. For the last several weeks, Dad kept asking when he would get to meet Maria!
They both enjoyed the weekend with us, and of course, fell in love with Maria. And as usual, they enjoyed the antics of Naomi and Petra.
I brought them home on Monday, the 15th. Dad was saying how tired and breathless he felt, but we all attributed that to taking care of Mom, and that weekend he had forgotten to take his puffers along for his emphysema.
Tuesday the 16th, I arrived home to find out that he had been taken to hospital with atrial fib and shortness of breath. After the preliminary routine xrays and bloodwork had been done, it was evident that they needed to dig a little deeper to find out what was causing his symptoms.
After the CT scan on Thursday, they knew what we were dealing with: lung and liver cancer.
The xrays had shown some spots here and there, but the scan made it very clear. It was decided that he could go home as soon as his vitals were stable, and further investigations and treatments could be done on an outpatient basis. But then they decided that it would be better to do everything as soon as possible.
And of course, he was quite upset that he couldn't go back to take care of Mom. I had to reassure him several times that Mom was ok.
At that point, he was given about a year to live, but he didn't want to know the prognosis yet.
A week later, after the bone scan, it was evident that he had less time. The cancer was into his bones as well. The doctors were giving him up to half a year now.
All this time, his bloodwork was quite abnormal too. It was the type of cancer that does erratic things to the blood, and his was no exception. The blood was very thin - meaning there was not much there for clotting. If he were to cut himself, he would bleed -a lot.
On Christmas Day, he looked and felt pretty good. His heartbeat was finally down to a normal level, and the doctor said he could go home if it kept up. That night, he decided to ambulate by himself, and he fell. The next day he was in the acute monitoring area - under observation all the time.
On Saturday, the doctor called me and said we needed to come talk with her. So, Mom and Terry and I received the news that his condition was grave, the plan was to apply to the Elizabeth Bruyere Centre for palliative care, and that he had weeks or less to live. And he still didn't want to know how bad it was or how much time he had left. The doctor told him anyway.
We were hopeful for a few weeks of grace, but it wasn't to be.
He passed on to glory in his sleep on Sunday morning - at a time when we all are usually getting ready to go to church.
A family friend told me yesterday, that he had once told her that if he found out he had cancer, that he wanted the time to be short - his wish was granted!
We're coping as well as can be expected - we were just beginning to absorb the information and the implications, and then he was gone.
Mom's doing well -she's reacting normally and that's good.
The service yesterday was upbeat with lots of singing, and quite reflective of the man he was.
And now life continues - please keep us in your prayers. Mom especially will need support in many ways. I do hope that friends will visit her often - it will be quite lonely for her with no one to chatter at and for her, now! They were married 58 years!

It's beginning to look like Christmas!

It's been awhile since I last wrote!
We had a lovely time in Dartmouth - a quiet sort of vacation. John did help Martin out at the church for a couple of days with some electrical and then some plumbing work, and he helped Martin get some electrical stuff done in the house, too.
The baptism of Maria was special -check out Martin and Emily's blogspot for pictures and the video.
I had another gall bladder attack on that Sunday night, which put me out of commission for Monday, and I didn't really start feeling myself again until late Tuesday.
I do have a large gallstone and am now opting for gall bladder removal. I finally saw my doctor this week, who has to send the referral to the surgeon, who will then set up an appointment to see me so that we can set a date for surgery. I hope I can last until then. I most likely won't be getting anything done until the new year.
So now we are into December and trying to get ready for Christmas. The guys are attempting to finish off the upstairs room next door, so that we can have the Geertsema clan over on the 27th.
I'll have to pick out some paint chips tomorrow . . . .
And I finally started cleaning house so Christmas decorations can go up! I stayed home all day today to do this!! Christmas CD's on and snow outside . . . .
My parents are coming for the weekend, and that means clearing things so there's room for more people to move around in here!! Every time we speak with them, they ask when are Martin and Emily coming to Ontario? They arrive with the baby this weekend, and will be visiting Steve and Katrina on Sunday, so there's the opportunity for them to meet Maria.
The Sunday school program will be presented during the service Sunday morning, and that will be nice for them to take in, too.

a sleepless night

After such a great day with Naomi, I was quite ready for bed and fell asleep quickly. An hour later, though, I woke up and woke up every hour thereafter. I was in pain. It felt like a vice was around the bottom of my ribs. By 8am, John took me to the Brockville General. My suspicions were correct: I was having a gall-bladder attack. After a strong dose of pain killer, x-rays, etc., I was allowed to go home, but I'm to go for an ultrasound tomorrow to find out exactly what the problem is. I am on a strong pain killer for the next couple of days, and I have to watch what I eat. No fun.

hurricanes and fun

Another Saturday, another little girl. This time, Naomi came with her Dad and spent the day with Oma. After they left, Opa said it looked like a hurricane had come through!

We first played with the Brio train track, nibbled on fruit gel candies, had no room for lunch, coloured, drew on post-it notes and stuck them on the walls, played outside while it wasn't raining, played outside when it did start raining (in the sand pile!), had a bath (to wash off the sand!) in the container that usually holds the tracks, and in between, Naomi played with the house and barn and baskets with things upstairs. We ended the afternoon with watching the heffalump movie. I watched her watching more than I watched the movie. Her giggles and excitement over the antics of the characters were delightful! As you can see in the photo, her "friends" had to watch as well, and "kitty had never seen the movie before". What really warmed Oma's heart, though, was her comment while she sat in her "tub". At that moment, she was facing the shower wall and wasn't aware that I was in the room. Her words - "I always have lots of fun when I'm here." Naomi, Oma sure loves to be with you, too.

a different kind of day -

While John and Mark worked all day on getting the heat on at Dad and Mom's, I took it easy. Which is strange for me. Typically on a Saturday, I would be doing some laundry, some baking maybe, yardwork, maybe some housework, etc. - I don't usually have much sitting down time.
Today - I checked out several things on the net, managed to do a couple of loads of laundry, and did some knitting. I finished the afternoon with Shannon. She had come along with her Dad and spent most of the day with Grandma. They made a dollhouse out of a box and they baked some carrot muffins.This afternoon, she watched some of the Heffalump movie on our tv, played around with some of the toys here, and then we did some arts and crafts. And when that was done, we sang and danced to an old LP record of Kid's Praise with Psalty the song book. The song Heaven is a Wonderful Place especially makes the feet want to move! I find that I really enjoy the kitchen island -it's great for dancing around on our slidy floor!

a precious jewel

Maria is precious - no doubt about it! I feel so blessed to be the Oma of not one, not two, but three precious girls! Thank you, Martin and Emily for letting me spend the weekend with you! Here are my favourite photos of this past weekend:

time to breathe

I had almost forgotten what it is like to be at home. I left work early yesterday, frustrated due to the lack of a personal computer and not knowing exactly which direction to go with projects. As I ran a few errands, I realized that it has been ages since I've done the things at my leisure during daytime hours!
Today, I've been taking my time with getting ready to go away for the weekend. Yes - this Oma decided 2 weeks was long enough to stay away from Maria, and of course, Martin and Emily. I'm flying out this evening and will return Monday. :) :) :) :) :)