Colleen’s Corner

Health update:
The expression, “getting better every day” seems to sum it up nicely. One little setback…today I woke with a head cold. What is with this body of mine?? It seems to be latching on to any old virus that passes by. Oh well.. a head cold is the least of it.

Head cold or no head cold, I am starting a back to work program today. I am going into work, but only for 4 hours.. kind of a test drive thingy. Tomorrow will be a repeat of today. If all goes well, I will be back to my regularly scheduled shifts next Wednesday. I expect to do just fine.

Reno News:
The living room / dining room are pretty much done, the walls painted, the flooring laid. It looks beautiful. We still have the finishing touches to do.. but overall, Roland did a great job.

Today Roland is applying the second coat of paint in the kitchen and next week he hopes to start with the floor tiles. The kitchen counter guys are coming to do the measuring next week and the installation of the new counter will probably take place in 4 weeks time.

We are still living in what feels like a construction zone.. but overall it is going well.

And in doggy news:

Now this is exciting. I have lucked into a Rally Obedience class that works well with my work schedule. Sadie and I will be attending a 6 week beginners class in Rally Obedience starting June 3. I am soooo excited.

Today though, none of my critters are too happy. Both Coco and Sadie are spending the day outdoors while Roland is busy painting the kitchen. Coco, especially, has his little nose out of joint. His little face is squished against the outside of the screen door wearing that sad, “pleassssse can I come in” expression. Sadie tends to take things much more in stride and has gone off in search of a shaded spot.

Bear has been confined to the basement and is being quiet vocal in his disapproval. Every once in awhile we hear the bat, bat, bat of his front paws against the basement door. No.. he is not happy.. not happy at all.

He did manage to escape once but then got stuck in his attempt to hide under one of the beds. (half hidden.. half exposed. How embarrassing is that.. and yes he is on a diet) I was easily able to grab his bottom half, pick him up and carry him once more into the dreaded basement. Poor Bear.

Oh well.. it is a good thing all of these little guys know how to live in the moment. As soon as the paint is dry the doors will open and all will be good. :-)

Tags: renovations

I still seem to be lacking the “get-up” part of the “get-up and go” equation but overall I am feeling much better.

Right now most tasks seem to be done in a half fast manner but at least I am able to make more of an effort and feel I am making some headway. The dogs are happy to be out walking.. the distance covered may be shorter, the pace slower.. but at least we are out and about the neighbourhood once more.

I ventured out to the local mall yesterday afternoon. I wandered about window shopping, lacking the energy or desire to buy, but enjoying the experience of once more being part of the masses.

This morning I awoke feeling the best I have felt in weeks. This I am taking as a very good sign. I see my doctor again on Monday and I am hoping that I will be given the green light to go back to work next week.

This whole experience has been kind of scary for me, unsettling to say the least. I have much and many to be thankful for and now this is what I would like to do… say thank you.

– A huge thank you to the nurses and medical staff who cared for me while I was in hospital. I have heard that nurses do not make the best of patients. I know, at least in my case, that this is true.

One funny story… all the IV’s run on pumps. If there is a problem.. the infusion stops and the pump beeps until the problem is solved. Sometimes it takes a while for the busy nurse to get to the ringing pump. The incessant beeping can drive one crazy especially if you have a head that feels like it may exploded at any moment. Long story short… yes.. I was caught red handed adjusting my own IV pump.. a big “no-no”. All I got was a smile and a little shake of the head. Bless them for their patience and their care.

– To my sons, David and Paul, who came to the hospital even though I had Roland ask them not to… I just felt too sick to see anyone. But when I heard their voices asking questions outside my hospital room door, I felt such relief that they were there. I learned that I need my family.. for family is comfort even when comfort seems impossible.

– And another big thank you to David, for coming over to walk the dogs while I was in the hospital.

Another funny story…. Roland told David that he could give the dogs a couple of treats from the treat bag that we keep in the door of the fridge. Roland had cut up a new full bag of treats that morning. David ended up feeding the entire full bag to the dogs. Sadie and Coco must have been in their glory. I think they were a little disappointed when I came home the next day. I am sure they were thinking, “does this mean uncle David won’t be coming over to give us our treats walk”.

– To the complete stranger in the doctors office who told the receptionist to let me in to see the doctor ahead of her. This is after we both had been sitting in the waiting room for over an hour. I know I was feeling very sick.. I guess I must have looked the part. What can I say about this unexpected act of kindness.. I was deeply touched and so grateful. I must remember to pass this one on at a later date.

– Thank you to all my friends (online and in real-time) who sent well wishes and good vibes. Your kind words and kind hearts did much to raise my spirits. Thank you.

– To my sister, Dianne, who phoned every single day from Victoria, BC. What would I do with out you Di. I would be lost.

– And last but never least, to Roland.. where do I begin. Thank you for being there, for your support and caring hands, for your patience and understanding. I am so blessed to have you.

I feel as if I am living in a bit of a limbo state right now… not sick.. not better. The headaches and vomiting have subsided but a lethargy remains that is new to me. Much of my day is spent horizontal, mostly on my comfy couch starring blankly at some show on the tube.

To read would be nice but my eyes seem to tire easily. Books and my computer I can only seem to tolerate for short bursts. Light itself is still bothersome but I am not suffering nearly the aversion to it that I did in the beginning. Those first few days light, any light, would send stabbing jabs of pain searing deep within my brain. In the hospital my bedside curtains were closed tight, all lights that could be, were turned off. Now I wear sunglasses when outside but overall this symptom is greatly reduced.

There are many other improvements. For one thing the videos have stopped. For the first five days I felt as if I had my own little “YouTube” in my head. Every time I closed my eyes a psychedelic video would begin to play. For the most part they were a swirling interchanging mass of colours but occasionally weird and sometimes scary stories would unfold. Sometimes I found myself to be a character. Every time I opened my eyes the video would stop. Every time I closed my eyes a new one would begin. Sleep was near impossible. After five days the videos ceased. The relief was tremendous… I knew a hurdle had been cleared.

Today I truly am feeling much better. The fever is history.. the thermometer is once more reading 37(C). If only this tiredness would find its fill. I have decided that if I don’t start doing little bits of stuff my lack of movement will only add to my already decreased energy levels. Therefore I have decided on a game plan that includes little tasks to accomplish intermixed with short periods of exercise.. mostly yoga poses, nothing too drastic.

Thankfully the days have been sunny so I have been able to enjoy some outdoor patio time. It is nice to sit back and watch as our spring unfolds. I have checked all of our trees and all seem to be bearing buds that show the promise of opening soon. Even my new little Amur Choke Cherry seems to be doing well after its first winter in our yard. Fingers crossed for this little guy.

One of the highlights of this time of year is the sudden variety of birds in the yard. Many are old friends happily welcomed back but some are new to me. One in particular I have never seen before. It is a little guy, about the size of a sparrow only with a war-paint-like stripe across both of its cheeks. The strip is a bold white with what looks to be a yellow dot marking the end of the colouration. Does this ring a bell of any sort.. I am going to have to research this on-line. I only saw this little bird once.. and am hoping it was not merely one of my videos in replay mode. :-)

———-

post note:
I think I found the name of the bird that I saw.
I believe it was a White Throated Sparrow.

I noticed the first inkling of what I thought might be a tension headache while enjoying my Mom’s birthday celebration dinner last Tuesday evening. (86 years young.. yay Mom!) It was a lovely dinner.. all the kids were there and the talk was fast and lively. Much of the banter being tossed about focused on baby jokes and baby news.

By the time we got home, the first headachish twinges had matured into a full blown assault. I decided to swallow some Tylenol and went straight to bed. About 4:00 in the morning came the first signs of uneasiness in my gut.. followed very quickly with vomiting, almost volatile in nature (sorry to be so graphic. Perhaps this post should have a warning disclaimer at the top). By morning the now bounding head pain and the unrelentless vomiting were unbearable. Stunned into submission, I let Roland take me into the hospital.

At the ER triage desk I was quickly assessed. As well as the headache (somehow not nearly a descriptive enough term) and the vomiting, I had a fever of 38.5(C) degrees. I was immediately whisked away to a quiet treatment room and within an hour had both a cat scan of the brain and a lumbar puncture performed. The CT scan was negative and the preliminary results of the puncture showed NO bacteria. Therefore, I was diagnosed with Viral Meningitis and started on a barrage of medications to help relieve the pain and the nausea. Sadly, relief of the symptoms was minimal and the remaining three days and three nights are a bit of a blur… a scary time for me and my family.

By late Friday afternoon the war raging within my body started to subside and finally I was able to get a bit of rest. On Saturday, still terribly weak but no longer clinging continually to a barf bowl, I was given the word that if I felt I could manage, I could go home. Since the meningitis that had taken hold of my body was viral and not bacterial, IV antibiotics were not a treatment option. There was not much that they were doing at the hospital that I could not now do for myself at home.

I phoned Roland. I was home within the hour.

Now, one week later I am at home, still very weak but inching towards recovery. My doctor tells me it probably will not be as quick as I would like and that I am off work for now.. to be reassessed in 2 weeks time.

I must admit, I thought once I was home I would be up and at things in no time. It is a bit of a bitter pill to acknowledge that I am not. Last evening I had a bit of a set back and today will be a little more cautious on pacing myself.

Rest, plenty of fluids and the treatment of presenting symptoms is the main treatment modality. I have no choice but to follow the rules.

I am certainly way better than the morning I entered the hospital but at the same time, I am a little shocked at how weak and sick I still feel. I am realizing now how easy it is to take good health for granted.

Roland says that this is a time for me to learn to practice patience.. especially in regards to myself. Even more impressive is that he is dropping these pearls of wisdom while he paints the living room walls. :-)

Smart man.. my Roland. As usual.. he has me counting my blessing. :-)

Today was exciting. Roland placed our new light fixtures in the kitchen and our old but new chandelier (for lack of a better word) was rehung in its spot in the dining room. The ceiling practically sparkles with the new coats of paint. It all looks so clean and fresh.

Two sets of track lighting now illuminate our kitchen. The light they provide is different from what I am used to and at first I was not sure if I liked it. But the more I experience it .. the better it looks. Now I am in love with it and am increasingly excited about all the changes that we are making.

The dining room chandelier is the old one but with a new look.

Before it was a golden, bronze colour. Now it is a more modern pewter colour that will go so well with our newly painted walls (still to be realized in the future tense). Roland spray painted the light fixture using a textured spray paint. He did a fabulous job.

Yes, my world would be a much darker and gloomier place without the touch of my handy and handsome husband.

Tags: hubby, renovations

I first heard of this personality test some years ago and had completely forgotten about it until my blogging bud, Anvilcloud with his post, The I of ISJT, once more peaked my curiosity and sent me off to MyPersonality.com.

This is a fun site that uses some well known psychology to help determine your personality type as well as the categories of intelligence you may (or may not) excel in.

Not too surprisingly my personality type is ISTJ (introverted, sensing, thinking, judging). The multiple Intelligence test indicated that I am a Naturalist and Intrapersonal.

I pretty much agree with the findings but what I found fascinated me the most was actually where I scored the lowest in the multiple Intelligence categories, namely.. verbal, linguistic intelligence. My score was only 40% and this placed this category smack dab at the bottom of the list… so low in fact that it is not even displayed on the badge… but can be seen here. It was not the low grade itself, but the accuracy of it that grabbed my attention.

This is indeed my stumbling block in intelligence.

For as long as I can remember I have found it difficult to communicate effectively using verbal language, yes even when speaking my first language, English. I am not sure why this is but it has always been this way for me.

Sometimes I wonder if it is related to the fact that by the time I was 11 years old, I had attended 11 different schools in three different provinces. My dad was a cattle buyer for a large meat packing firm and he was frequently transferred to various prairie cities… a year here.. 6 months there. Mom and us kids always went with him, and I am glad for that, but it did mean a lot of new schools, many of them with different curriculums and varying teaching methods.

Over all I was a good student.. but my spelling was and is atrocious and my grasp of the English language has always been lacking. Did my mish-mash of schooling in my early years account for this? Maybe some, but probably not all. More than likely.. it is just who I am.

I am an avid reader and have no problem with word recognition and comprehension… but articulation is a whole different ball game. The words just refuse to roll off my tongue and often come out garbled or mispronounced. The funny thing is .. I hear them correctly in my head but on the trip from my brain to my tongue something is lost. Strange isn’t it.. but oh so true.

Then of course, my thoughts go in circles and I wonder what came first, my tendency to be an introvert or my inability to quickly carry on a conversation.

I am so in awe of those that have a quick and easy grasp of the spoken language. I love to hear them talk and would love even more to be able to banter back and forth but because of my perceived inability to follow suit.. I quickly and easily take on the role of the listener. Which I do enjoy.. but often wish for more, I admit.

The struggle to verbally communicate is diminished somewhat with old and comfortable friends where I don’t feel that pressure for a quick and heady response. I still feel the lack of words.. but the pressure is lessened. My friends know me and for the most part we merely laugh at my jumbled mispronunciations or better yet, ignore them.

All very interesting to be sure. In a way I sometimes think of my blog as my turn to speak. Not only does it give me a medium to practice my language skills and my ability to express myself, but it allows me to say many things that in a verbal environment might not be articulated so easily.

Another reason I so appreciate this computer age.. and a double yay for spell check. :-)

———-

post note: My dad was also an atrocious speller. He always used to tell me that not being able to spell was a sign of superior intelligence. :-)
Love you Dad. Miss you.

Watch out YouTube.. there is new competition out there. As of very recently, pro-members of Flickr are able to upload and share their favourite videos right along and next to their favourite photos.

The videos on Flickr do have their limitations. The length can be no more than 90 seconds and this, depending on your perspective, may actually be a good thing.

In reality it seems the concept is not so much to take over the YouTube or Google Video market as it is to add another dimension to the photo sharing aspect of Flickr. The videos that are up loaded to Flickr can be tagged and placed in Sets along with the corresponding photos.

As may be expected there has been some notable opposition from a number of die hard photo enthusiasts but personally, I like the idea.

Wanting to check out this new video option, I uploaded a little video that I had made about a year ago. I was very pleased with the speed of the upload and the ease of embedding it into my blog.

So here I present to you.. Coco and his New Toy

Tags: Coco

My computer time has really taken a back seat the past couple of weeks. With our living room / kitchen renovation just underway there does not seem much in the way of leisure time and when I do have a free moment I seem to lack the mental capacity to do much more than slump in front of the TV in a near vegetative state.

Week one of the renovation has gone well. Not surprisingly we did not accomplish as much as we had hoped for .. life just seems to get in the way. But the living room and most of the kitchen are bare and much of the wall prep has been done.

Supplies have been gathered. Ceiling paint, both latex and oil (for the popcorn ceiling), are there and yesterday Roland picked up our laminate flooring.. a light maple. It looks beautiful.. even in the boxes.

The dogs and Bear are loving the extra room to run around in. Sadie especially is very curious about all that is happening and tends to stick her big nose into everything. Just trying to help, I know.. but she may have to spend a little more time outside than she is used to once we start painting. All we need is for her big schnoz to find its way into a can of paint. The mere thought has me shudder.

Bear loves all the new interesting stuff piling up in the middle of our living room. Every box and every pail is scanned with a very discerning feline nose and whisker. Once it meets his approval.. he is off to once more catch up on his napping. This reno stuff is exhausting, especially when you are in charge.

With the living room being bare and all the blinds removed, the house has an echo quality about it. You might be able to imagine what it is like when Sadie, and then Coco, think they have spotted an intruder through the now curtain free living room window. The house practically vibrates with the barking that follows. ++ big sigh ++

This weekend Roland and I are both working, so all work on the house is on hold till next Monday. We have a nice little sitting area with a TV set up in the family room so we do have a place to go and just veg… that is if we can get to it. This area of the house has always been Bear’s domain. He loves the fact that it is now jam packed with extra furniture to explore and lounge/hide in.. but he is more than a little p*ssed annoyed that “The Canines” now also have free reign. On the other hand.. Coco and Sadie couldn’t be happier to finally be allowed deep into kitty territory.

The blessing in all of this is that we are under no pressure, time wise, to complete the task. We ( OK.. mostly Roland) will be working at it as we are able to.

If this week has taught us anything, it is to take one day at a time and just see how it goes. All ready we have found that Life has this way of stepping in and messing up the most thought out plans.. and fortunately for us.. that is OK.

Tags: renovations

telephone conversation between my two sons
(as told to me by David )
  

“RINGGGGGG ”

David: “Hello”

Paul: “Hi.. I have a present for your new baby”

David: “ok?? what?”

Paul: “A cousin :-0″

David: What!! your kidding me.. put BJ on the phone!

BJ: “It’s trruuue. :-)”
  

So there you have it… yes it is true. I am going to be a grandma AGAIN. Both of my sons and my daugther-in-loves are pregnant. Both are due next November.

Oh Happy Days!!!!

Tags: babynews

photo courtesy of Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve

I don’t seem to have much time for anything computer related these days.. but I had to make note of my first Robin sighting .. which was today. :-)

And from a Robin of a different feather, this quote:
“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!” ~ Robin Williams

Tags: Spring