Hot and Healthy

Hi everyone,

Finally we have summer. It has been HOT for three days in a row! We can almost hear our cucumbers growing. The tomatoes are turning red on the vine, and we're only a couple of days away from eating some home-grown corn on the cob. Everything cries out for water, so the hose has been put to use every evening.

Lew had another MRI a couple of weeks ago, and a follow-up visit with the oncologist on Monday. Everything is good, and we felt that the Doctor was very pleased with the outcome. Lew's thyroid problem has been corrected, and he is now looking and feeling healthy once again. It has been a long year of medical nonsense, but the end result seems to be what we were hoping for.

I have had some problems with my hands, particularly with fingers "locking up". We happened to have dinner about a month ago with my cousin who is a local plastic surgeon. I took my opportunity to complain to him about my hands, and he said he would be glad to give me some steroid injections to make them feel better. So I had that done yesterday. Although one wouldn't expect instant results, I can already tell that things are going to be better.

The next thing on the agenda is a trip to Calgary next week for me to attend the Canadian Sleep Institute to determine why I am doing such a lousy job of sleeping. By coincidence, we will be bunking at George and Janet's, and they are expecting Betty to arrive on Thursday. So we hope to have a good visit with all of them.

A picture recently received from Kathy shows Aunt Merle out in the sun with Betty. She is looking really, really, good. Can't keep an old dog down!

The past few weeks we have been picking wild berries and cooking and canning. Attached is a picture of the production line.

We were lucky to find several apple trees in a vacant lot nearby where we picked a wash basket full. Six pies and four apple crisps are tucked in the freezer. After an afternoon of chokecherry picking, we have 15 jars of choke/apple syrup and a garbage can full of chokecherry wine brewing. Also made some apple jelly and apple cider. This all happened at the same time as the prune plums and pears came into the stores, so of course we had to get a case of each of those and can them too! If there is a war, we have our bomb shelter stocked!

Lew plans to head to the cabin on the 13th since hunting season for elk is on. He'll likely spend ten days out there. Has to be back on the 28th for a Bridge Tournament that lasts till October 4. By then I hope to have the garden all cleaned up and packed away so that we can leave home without any tag ends.

Looking forward to our week in Victoria over the Thanksgiving weekend. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we won't hit the rainy season. But if we do, so what? We have good people to visit with and won't have any trouble being indoors with them if that's all we can do. And after all, Value Village is indoors, isn't it Carolyn?

That's all for this post.

Overdue Blog

Hi to All !

July has been a crappy month weather wise here in Toontown. The garden is progressing slowly, but our peppers are way behind due to lack of heat and sunshine. Lately, however, the peas and beans have been prolific, so we've had some great feeds of those veggies, along with some swiss chard and beet tops.

Lew has been for a few more tests, but no results yet. But we suspect the hyperthyroid problem has been solved. He's now doing 45 min daily on the treadmill at various speeds totalling almost 3 miles. So much for potential heart problems. Phyl suffers from SADS, so all the dark cloudy days have not been good for her - but she "endeavours to persevere".

We had Phyl's cousin Lawrence stay with us for a few days. He's from the Lower mainland in BC. They had a few days to reminisce together before he journeyed down to their old stomping grounds in southeastern Saskatchewan. Nice guy, Lew met him last yr at the Jacobs reunion in Ontario.

Lew's 65th occured this July 15th. Phyl threw me a great party at a local rib joint. Most of my closest friends were in attendance. Very much a pleasant surprise! We aso had a little party at home with a very large dairy Queen Ice cream cake. Took us about a week to eat it all!

Phyl's brother Eric is visiting from Toronto, along with a couple of classmates from BC and one from Saskatoon. As it turned out, Phyl was also a classmate of these folks as she went thru school at the same time as Eric in spite of being a yr younger. Small school, needed to fill up a class so Phyl was promoted, so to speak. They all had a nice reunion at our place.

Phyl and I spent a couple of days at the cabin, primarily to fetch one of Lew's snowmobiles back to Saskatoon, and also to get some flat rocks for Phyl's garden pool which will be going into our yard this fall. Lew bought a new machine, so he's selling off his 2 older sleds.

Phyl's car was rear-ended on an open road by a lady from BC. Ended up no one hurt, but SGI is writing off our 2003 Aerio. So today Phyl went out and bought another 2003 Aerio - same colour,but a few more bells and whistles, but also 30K km more on the odometer. Unfortunate, but crap happens. At least we think we got a fair settlement from SGI ( our provincial insurer), and were able to come out not too far in the red on the deal. The mounties charged the other party, so she won't be so fortunate.

That's us up-to-date for now.

Love to all,

Phyl, Lew, and Melissa

World Travelers Return Home!

Hello there,

I finished work on May 20, and have no plans to go back. Retirement suits me just fine!

Lew’s treatment for hyperthyroidism seems to have worked, and he is feeling better every day. He now has some energy, generally looks better, and has given up wearing his nitro patch. We think he’s on the road to complete recovery.

We are just home from five weeks’ holiday visiting the girls. First, we loaded up our cargo trailer with my piano, sewing bench, antique kitchen table, and some other goodies and drove to Hudson (near Montreal) where Leslie lives. She needs furniture to fill up the six-bedroom house she and Trevor bought last year!

Traveling was good, and we arrived there in less than four days. The kids had a long list of “to do’s” for us, so Lew and Trevor did a bunch of plumbing while I went out and dug up the gardens. There had been about ten years of neglect, so the long-handled spade we took got put to good use. I could likely go back every year for ten years and dig before I ever caught up with all the work. Leslie isn’t the frantic gardener I am, but I tried to teach her a little about “maintenance”.

We stayed a week then flew from there to Finland to visit Lindsay and Jukka. We got to see their new condo. It’s pretty small, but works well for the two of them. Of course, the bathroom and sauna uses up a whole lot of space that I think would be better used for other things—but saunas are a must in Finland. The condo building is brand new, and they were able to pick out their own décor, tiles, etc. We enjoyed spending time with the kids and Jukka’s family. His parents are very fine people, so it makes me feel satisfied that Lindsay has a good family to support her. She was sick with a nasty cold while we were there, but she determined to show us a good time anyway. Yesterday was their first anniversary, and it just seems a couple of days ago!

After a week, we flew back to Montreal. By this time the little garden I had planted for Leslie was poking through. She had the week off, so she and I planted some flowers, but generally we just relaxed. Trevor was working, so Lew just hung out and rested. My Mom flew down and spent a few days with all of us in Montreal. Then we hooked up the trailer and the three of us headed back. Mom has become a new woman since she had her knee replaced. (The next issue is seeing if we can fix up her hearing.)

We spent a night with my cousin south of Ottawa then headed to Lindsay, Ontario where we visited with Fraser MacDonald and Gail Dagneault. Their oldest daughter, Alyssa, is two weeks younger than Leslie. They are still operating their art-work business “Summerberry Signs”, named for their stay in Summerberry, Sask. It was a very enjoyable couple of hours.

From there we drove through to my brother, Eric’s cabin at the lake near Orillia and spent two nights there. Lew was pleased to be able to go sailing in Eric’s 14-foot sailboat. Then on to Elmvale for brunch with my Aunt (Mom’s sister-in-law). From there, we bombed straight through to Portage la Prairie. Mom had never been back since she moved to Saskatoon, so she tried to catch up with some of her old friends. We had coffee with her next-door neighbors, but there was no one else around when we phoned. Next morning we went out to the Re-cycle Center that Mom and Dad had helped to set up. There, she met a lady that she had known while in Portage.

We drove up and down the streets of my old stomping grounds, Grenfell, but didn’t stop to visit. By the time we got there, my Mom was quite sick with a head cold/bronchitis, and Lew and I were both catching it. We didn’t think we needed to spread it to anybody. Things in the old town haven’t changed significantly. I see that the house I built on the Main Street is still up for sale.

We arrived home on Thursday to lots of yard work. Mom had been over for the first three weeks that we were away and did an amazing job of keeping the weeds picked and the garden watered. She had to cover the tomatoes and peppers five nights to keep them from frost, and was busy telling us that nothing was growing. However, when we got back, there was an amazing surge of growth. We’re eating up the lettuce and I pulled all the radishes yesterday. There are a couple of tomatoes with nice big fruit on them, so it looks like we’ll eat again this year.

I’m not feeling great. Sinuses are draining and a very sore throat with lots of coughing. Lew is coughing, too, and has a runny nose. I guess that’s penance for having had a great holiday. We’ll spend the summer pretty close to home. Lew has a bridge tournament here at the end of September. Depending how things are going, we may take a quick trip out to Victoria in October.
Do take care, and hello to everyone.

Another Unemployed Person !

Hi to All !!

This is Phyl at Trevor & Leslie's home in Montreal enjoying a little retirement party !

More to follow soon !

NUKED AND WIRED

Finally, finally, finally. The answer to wait, wait, wait.

Lew had his nuclear thyroid treatment on Tuesday morning. He is now "radioactive" and can't cuddle and kiss, can't lick my spoon, and has to flush twice. Hopefully the long-awaited drink will be the answer to the misery he's been suffering the past two months. Whether it's coincidence, luck, or the drink working quickly, he has managed two full nights without having an angina attack. Today he decided not to put on his nitro patch, and at suppertime has still had no "twinges", as he calls them.

Today he went to get his Holter monitor, so he is now wired to a heart monitor for 24 hours. Somehow we doubt that anything startling will be found. The one part of him that has remained strong seems to be his heart (and that can be taken both ways!).

Tomorrow we both pay a visit to our physiotherapists. Lew will learn what kind of exercises he will have to do to get his shoulder and arm working the way it should following the cancer surgery and radiation. I've been taking treatments for a couple of months now for screwed up sacroiliac joints. I guess that's what comes of thinking you're 16 when you're closer to 61.

Two more work days! Whahoooo! Now, if I can dig through the snow I'll be able to finish planting the garden. No, it's not really THAT bad, but, yes, we've had snow today! My poor tomato plants are two feet tall and blooming, but they're still in their little greenhouse with a light bulb and blanket on. Even at that those that touch the plastic are a bit touched by the frost. We need the moisture that we're getting, but that's all the good I can say for the weather we're having right now. Thankfully, the really nice days have fallen on the weekends. But soon, it won't matter to me. I'll just take them when they happen.

The trailer is all ready to be loaded up for Montreal. Now that Lew has had his treatments, we are feeling more confident that we will actually hit the road as planned. Whatever follow-ups he needs can happen when we get back. This time the doctors can wait for him!

Happy Victoria Day to everyone,

Phyl and Lew

Happy Mom's Day to Everyone Who has had the Joy of Motherhood

The best to all Mom's on this special day.

Because of this lady, I get to say "Happy Mother's Day, Mom":

And because of these ladies, I get to be a Mom:

---And the bonus is that we're actually having a beautiful sunny calm day that simply calls out to me "garden, garden, garden".

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

What a lovely Easter weekend it has been! The yard is all tidied up. The lawn chairs are out on the back patio, barbecue has been cleaned and serviced, and the compost grinder repaired and back in action. Today (Monday) I even dug up a couple of flower beds and took all my seedlings off the windowsills and put them in their little plastic greenhouse. The 14-day forecase promises that it isn't going to freeze solid. Today was a balmy +20.

The only thing that puts a damper on the emergence of spring is Lew's inability to fully enjoy it. He is simply feeling rotten. He continues to lose weight, is getting shakier by the day, and has no energy or strength to do anything. Other than going out to play bridge, and cooking simple meals, he pretty much only watches TV. It's a good thing we've had the Masters and the Men's Curling to watch!

Tomorrow he sees the cardiologist and we're hoping he gets booked for a thyroid scan this week as well. Now that we've narrowed the problems down to angina and overactive thyroid, we're anxious to get the scan done and treatment started. We're still planning to travel this summer, and want him to be on the upswing so he can enjoy the holiday.

He's terribly frustrated at not being able to putter around in the shop or the yard. Even after he starts feeling better, it is going to take a couple of months to get back to normal. I think he is secretly glad that I am pretty independent and am able to take on the "man" things that he can't do at the moment.

My mom is doing really well after having her knee replacement, and is walking better than she has for the last couple of years. My Aunt is doing great for 92, and I've been trying to convince her it's warm enough to go outside and walk around her building. They were both over for dinner on Friday evening and enjoyed the season's first barbecued steak and some real homecooking.

Otherwise we had a very quiet weekend. It has been nice to have a phone visit with Betty, and a couple more with Carolyn. It helps us keep up with what is happening with Lew's family. Hope everyone is doing well. Will try to keep the blog updated as Lew's medical saga continues.

Cheers,

Phyllis and Lew

I wish I could lose weight at the rate he is doing for about a month! But I don't want all the other nasty symptoms along with it. I'm looking forward to some serious gardening to get some muscles going here.