Monday, November 14, 2022

Ken asked me the other night if I had stopped sending out my messages and I can understand why he might think that. My last message to you was just before my surgery.

I have recovered quite well from the surgery. In the first few days I was so happy to have Kathryn here to get us started off on the right foot. I had half of my staples out before she left and by the time I had the last of them out I was able to manage without the bandages. That being said I’ve been glued together with small strips that I was told would drop off on their own. I don’t know how many I originally had but I have eight left, some of them hanging by only a thread.

I’m capable of dressing myself and I can almost get my two layers of sweaters on when we go out for a walk. In fact it is often hard to remember that when I’m dressing I’m supposed to be putting my right arm in first, followed by my left and the opposite to take something off. We’ve been out walking on the track – a nice smooth surface – and we’re up to five laps. My exercises are going well and I have good movement in my left arm.

So what have I been doing to fill my days? I received a Diamond Dots kit for my birthday and it was easy enough to do with just my right hand. I progressed from that to some small embroidery projects and I’ve even done a bit of sewing. To be honest though, I’m spending a lot of time on my iPad – playing games, making puzzles and watching my African safaris. I’ve done some reading as well – both “real” books and on my Kindle.

I’m still staying home unless I need to go out for an appointment or our walks so I’ve had to do most of my Christmas shopping online. We are getting lots of packages delivered, sometimes two or three a day. Most of my favourite craft fairs are on this coming weekend but I’m going to avoid them.

We were happy to have Christy here for the weekend but she was quite ill with a cold and flu. She spent all day in bed on Saturday and I was glad she was here as I’m sure she wouldn’t have managed that uninterrupted rest had she been at home. She’s still not feeling up to par but hopefully she’ll give herself enough time to completely recover before she goes back to work.

I didn’t plan to resume my Journal until I’d heard from the Cancer Clinic as to what my options are for treatment. I’m hoping that since I’m writing now the universe will hear and the Clinic will call me tomorrow.

Monday, October 17, 2022

It is getting harder and harder to find things to do that will fill my days. I’m not completely out of ideas but the list is certainly getting shorter.

Yesterday I finished prepping another few projects to work on during my recovery and today I added a few more. I expect/hope to be back to “normal” before all these projects are done but I won’t have the excuse of not being sure what I should work on. I tidied everything up and vacuumed the floor so there won’t be a mess to come back to when I get to come back to it.

The laundry is caught up, the recycling was done today and except for a couple of things to take care of tomorrow my house cleaning is done – well it’s never done but done enough!

I’ve been working on my Botanical Garden this afternoon. I’ll finish up this block either today or tomorrow and then I’ll put it away for awhile. I’ll also be working on my stamped embroidery tonight and tomorrow to see how far I can get on it; I think it’s about half done now.

Kathryn arrives tomorrow evening and then I’ll be tied up with medical “things”. I’ll make sure Kathryn is able to send along an e-mail either Thursday night or Friday to let you know how I’m doing.

Saturday, October 15, 2022

When we moved to Powell River we bought a new box spring, mattress and bed frame. On the same day they delivered everything we returned the box spring as the bed with the box spring was so high that we were going to need a stepladder to get in and out of bed. It still was quite high and was very difficult to get in and out of and also hard to make.

I’ve been practising doing most of my daily tasks with just one arm because the movement in my left arm after surgery will be limited and painful for a short while. Getting in and out of bed was something that I just wasn’t able to master.

Today we had a craftsman friend come by and cut the legs down on the bed. Dan did the kitchen renovations at the Hall and those were spectacular. The bed is about eight inches shorter now and there will be no problem getting in and out of it on my own. I washed all the mattress pads and sheets so that will do until either Kathryn or Pat does them next.

This morning I got some Hallowe’en packages ready for the mail. I mentioned to Pat that the grandkids were probably too old for the riddles I put inside the package but I’m not!

This afternoon I did a “proof of concept” project; it worked fine and took only a short time to finish. I then did the cutting for several more; I expect to be able to sew fairly quickly into my recovery but I thought cutting might be a problem. I have one more project to get prepped and then I’ll do a good clean up in my sewing room and be done for awhile.

Pat is going over to Texada this evening. He has some musicians going across tomorrow to do some recording. He expects to be back on a late ferry tomorrow night.