Apple Picking And The A Drive Through The Country

On Sunday Neal and I took a drive in the country to see the beautiful changing colours of the leaves.  The leaves are absolutely stunning this year.  Lots of read and yellow leaves so far.  They haven't totally gone from green yet as it's still very warm out.  While we were up north we stopped into a farm to pick some apples.  This is one of the activities we love to do in the fall.  We picked a bag of apples (McIntosh, Courtlands and a few Red Delicious).  I'm going to make some apple sauce and an apple crisp or two.  I think this is one of my favourite fall activities.  I love to bake!

Happy 15th Birthday Corus Entertainment

 Neal and I went to the big birthday party at Corus Entertainment.  Every year they throw a great friends and family day party with lots of things for kids and families of the employees.  The big white thing you see in the photo is indeed a slide.  Yes folks this office building has a slide.  How fun is that?

 Here are the cookies we decorated!  They almost didn't last long enough to be photographed.

 Just in case you don't have kids, this is Franklin the turtle.  His show is one of the many kids shows that Corus puts on the air.

The stilt walkers made balloon animals for the kids.  There was food (burgers, hot dogs, BBQ'd corn, fruit, juice and of course ice cream).  There were games and prizes and tours of the building.  Corus sure knows how to put on a great party.  Happy Birthday Corus!

What I've Learned About Being A Patient In The Hospital

The last few days have not been fun.  As a matter of fact it's been one of the most scary times of my life.  I had a pain in my leg.  I went to the doctor to get it checked out.  The doctor thought it was nothing but I asked her to humour me and do an ultrasound on it.  The next day my husband and I went for the ultrasound on my leg and when they were done the tech asked me to wait in the waiting room instead of sending me home while she called my doctor's office.  As soon as she said that I knew something was wrong.  I didn't let on to my husband what I suspected, so as not to scare him.  Within minutes the tech came back to me and said you must go to the hospital right away and handed me a CD with the results for the ER doctor to see.  They had found a clot in my lower leg.  I was freaking out inside but didn't let my husband know exactly how serious this actually was.  He still had to get me safely to the hospital and he is about as non-medical as can be.  We got to the hospital and reported to the triage nurse.  She took me in right away bypassing the busy waiting room right to the critical care area.  I think by this time my husband was starting to understand how serious this was.  They got me into a hospital gown and sent me for a CT scan of my lungs to make sure there was no clot there.  Thankfully the lungs were clear.  I passed out while they were trying to start an IV since my veins were so bad.  It hurt.  A lot!  Male nurse #1 was warned that he was working on someone with bad veins.  No problem he said.  I can find something.  He tried....no luck.  I started saying it's a little warm I need to lay down.  Male nurse # 2 got the IV started but as he was getting it secured nurse # 1 was actually keeping me from pitching forward in the chair onto the floor.  I'm sure it looked rather comical to anyone watching.  They finally got me onto a stretcher and a passing EMT dropping off another patent got me a pillow.

I lay on that stretcher for hours while they processed the blood results and did the CT scan and got results.  It just went on and on.  Finally they sent me home.  They gave me very little instructions on how to administer the drugs that we had to go and buy just as many of the pharmacies were closing.  Thankfully one pharmacist was kind enough to call around to other pharmacies to find the drugs I need in stock.

This brings me to something I learned....sometimes people will actually go out of their way to help you out when in need.

Something else I learned....while in the hospital the patient needs an advocate.  As time went on with nothing to eat or drink since breakfast and all of the stress, I lost the ability to remember all of the medical knowledge I learned in school.  It's helpful if the patient advocate actually has some medical  knowledge and is calm.

I also learned that being a patient is extremely stressful.  You know the saying that God gives us only as much as we can handle.  Well I am here to tell you that is 100% false.  I was totally overwhelmed. Even though I spent 18 years of my life working in the ER.  Not only did I have a clot in my leg, but my family doctor called my husband looking for me urgently.....one of the test results for my thyroid was dangerously high.  So here are two life threatening things going on in one body at the same time.  I was freaking out.

So when they sent me home with my medications and little to no instruction I had to figure out how to inject myself with the needle at 7 am. into my stomach no less.  It's one thing to give an injection to someone else, but try giving one to yourself.  You know it's going to hurt but you also know you have no choice.  Ya I have to admit I balled like a baby the first time and then got down to business.  I did a much better job at injecting myself than nurse #2 did.  He left a bruise the side of Texas on half my stomach.  Mine was the size of a penny.  Blood thinners make you bruise but his was just plain sloppy.

The next morning the relief came.....first off, right out of the gate, was home care.  It was the most welcome phone call I got all day.  Someone to help and plan how I would handle things.  This woman got me alcohol wipes and a sharps container and a nurse to come to the house for my next injection.  I was never so relieved to have help in my life.  I'm not one to ask for help.  This woman was gentle and kind and just what I needed when I needed it.  She taught me what I needed to know about giving myself the injections but offered to come back if I felt that I needed her.  They made a plan of attack and took charge.  I had started to feel very unwell while this nurse was at the house just after my injection....it turned out I was having an allergic reaction to my meds.  I was given an antihistamine and the doctor was called right away.  I had an appointment to see the outpatient clinic the very next morning.

The new doctor was amazing.  He and his resident actually listened to me and paid attention.  I wasn't rushed.  The doctor gave me new medications and actually told me what to do and how to take them.  It is now 7 hours after the appointment and I am just starting to feel somewhat better.  Thank goodness.  I still have a long road to recovery but I'm alive to tell my story.  Which brings me to the something else I learned......you know your own body.  If you disagree with your doctor speak up.  Insist on a test even if the doctor doesn't agree with you.  The thyroid test would never have been done if the doctor had gotten her way.  She told me that there is no need for a thyroid test.  Oh really?  My symptoms disagree.  Listen to your body. Speak up for yourself or let your patient advocate speak up for you if you need it.  Sometimes the doctor is wrong!

My Trip To Chicago - Comfort Tours - Aug. 29 - Sept. 1

 Over the long weekend I took another bus tour with Comfort Tours.  This time, to the wonderful city of Chicago.  Our first stop was to the Henry Ford Museum.  I have to admit it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.  I'm not a car person, but they have other things to see besides cars.  As you can see, I was intently listening to an old radio show.

 And here I was teaching in a one room school house.

The statue is of Mr. Ford himself.

At this stop we visited the cultural centre and I took the bull by the horns.  Ha ha!  Inside of the centre, the tile work and stained glass ceiling is just beautiful.  This use to be a library but now the book have been moved to the new library and this is just a beautiful building to wonder around in.

Another stop along the way, is to Millennium Park.  This is one of the many beautiful parks in this wonderful city.  They had some great art instillations and a water feature where we saw lots of people splashing in the fountain on a hot day.  The place was packed as the Jazz Festival was on that weekend as well.

From what our tour guide told us, they took photos of everyday people and projected onto these computer controlled walls.  If you watch closely over a few minutes, the faces change.  The face will blink, frown, smile and finally at the end of the cycle .......

pucker their lips and spit water into the fountain.  It was a really fun art instillation.  Throughout the park, there were giant heads and other cool things to look at as well.  They also had places to stop and listen to free concerts as well.  I love places like this and Chicago certainly had a lot of wonderful green spaces for people to get outside and enjoy.

Here we have The Bean.  It's a really interesting and recognizable icon of the area.  You can actually take a photo of yourself taking a photo of yourself. 

Here is a photo of our tour group with the Chicago skyline as the backdrop.  The beautiful photo was courtesy of some random person walking by.  The people of Chicago were very nice to us, especially when we were lost and asked for directions.

Here we visited the training facility of the Chicago Fire Department.  The reason for the photo was my love for the TV show Chicago Fire.  They actually used this facilty on one of the episodes of the show.

Here is a shot of Wrigley Field for all of you sports fans.  Right next to the stadium are some apartments and some of the residents came up with the excellent idea to install their own bleachers and sell tickets to watch the game.  What a great idea!

Here we took a boat tour to see Chicago from the waterways.  We had a great time, and our guide here was really funny.  We learned about all of the differnt styles of buildings in the area.  One building that I thought was really interesting, was an ultra luxurious condo tower where you can park your boat on the water under the building, then a few floors above your car and then they live on the upper floors.  Not many places can brag about boat paking spaces.

Here is my favourite part of the trip, a visit to Navy Pier.  They have shops and restaurants and a children's museum and in the back you can ride the rides.  If you have time, you can walk along the pier or charter a boat for a nice sail around the harbour.  I really enjoyed myself here and the weather was fantastic.

In the background you can see the huge ferris wheel.  I didn't get a chance to ride it, but I hear that it's a lot of fun and you can get a great view of the city.

My last day in the city I went to the Field Museum.  This is one of the many beautiful museums in the city.  They also have an acquarium called the Shedd.  If you plan to go, you should buy your tickets online ahead of your visit and you will bypass the massive line that can keep you waiting for over 2 hours outside.