pure love

What is pure, true love?
It is unconditionally accepting what you must do even when it is destroying you. It is letting someone go even though you aren't ready to say goodbye. It is knowing in your mind that you must honour anothers wishes when your heart is screaming in pain.
Today the family honours the living will of IMAG's mother. She made it clear to all for as long as I can remember that she never wanted to be dependent on any kind of medical machinery. Since her aneuerism she has had the best medical care available, but, has not recovered. It is time to do the unimaginable. It is time to say farewell.
To IMAG I say, be strong. We will always be here for you.
To the family I say, my thoughts and love are with you.
To those who don't agree with what must happen I say, agree or not it is her wish. She made it clear and had it in writing. It is her decision and must be honoured. To ignore it would be selfish. We cannot put our pain before her choice.
To the friends that have supported us I say, thank you. You will never know how much we appreciate you and all you have done.
To Muriel I say goodbye. You will be missed. We love you.

swine flu

I tried to ignore it.

I really did.

I wasn't going to say anything about the latest health scare that seems to have the entire world up in arms, or at least face masks.

The unbelievable behaviour of some other persons and countries has taken away my mute button.

I heard of one case where a parent called a school to say "Johnny Soandso is in Mexico with his parents right now. What are you going to do when he comes home?" (Lock him up of course and throw away the key!). Why are we (as a race) so quick to quarantine people who may, just may, have been in contact with someone who had this virus?

Why are some of us willing to slaughter pigs just because they are pigs? Has anyone heard of any real, scientifically verified cases of people getting this flu from eating pork? I haven't.

Why are we so surprised at the spread of this virus? We place ourselves into small tin cans and ship ourselves all over the world. It is bound to happen that illnesses will be shared and spread and even cause some of us to lose our lives. It is no longer a great big world. You can get anywhere in a matter of hours or days. Bugs only take a while to develop and spread.

But an even bigger question in my mind is this. If we could only get the WHO and governments and media types world wide to spend as much time and energy on worrying about and fighting AIDS as they are on this flu, how soon could we put an end to that condition?

diet diary update

Yay!!

I have been going to the clinic since the 6th of March.

I have had my meal plan since the 26th.

Yay!

I have lost fourteen pounds so far. This is exciting. It hasn't been the easiest thing to do, but, no where near as awful as one might have thought.

I am still having trouble eating as often as they want me to. Three meals and five snacks a day is a lot of food. And it is mostly good healthy fresh food so there is always some prep work involved.

I still think it is worth it. Yes, it is a pain in my backside having to measure and write down and track everything I eat. Yes, it is annoying having to drive into Hamilton so often to get weighed and poked and measured and attend lectures.

But my sugar has been great the last few weeks and now my blood pressure has dropped by a significant margin. This is why I am doing this. This is my reason for starting all of this in the first place. The weight loss is just a very happy side effect!

emergency

It's communicators week!

I could bore you with long rambling statements about when and why to call 911...

I could regale you with tales about my co-workers...

I could complain about the stress of my job...

Not gonna do it.

Nope.

Today I have another issue that is boggling my brain...

Why don't people move over to the side of the road to let emergency vehicles pass?

I can't understand this.

What if it was your house that was on fire? Your loved one in a car accident or having a heart attack? Your business being robbed?

Wouldn't you want the fastest, safest response possible?

I know I would.

diet update

My entire reason for starting with the diet clinic was to get my blood sugar and blood pressure levels under control. For some time I had been getting readings that while not terrible were higher than I was happy with.

Imagine my surprise when I met the diabetes doctor this week to be told my sugar was fine. It's my glucose meter that has a problem!

Does this mean I am going to revert to my old lifestyle and quit the clinic?

NO WAY!

So far I have lost about ten pounds. I feel better. I have a little more energy. And I am still concerned about my blood pressure. The testing I have undergone so far also discovered that I have a heart condition. Nothing too serious, my heart just runs too fast. So, yet another pill I am now on for life. And increased doses of some of the others. Too many more and I won't have to worry about counting calories or carbs, there won't be any room for food.

Florence Y'all!

A few years back I took IMAG on a trip to Ohio. See I owed him for a wager we had made when I was pregnant with Thing 1. Bob Seger was touring again so off we went.

What a trip. The November weather was perfect. Sunny, not too much snow! It was Thanksgiving weekend so the roads were not too horrible on the Friday. That's cause all of the people were shopping. Black Friday and all. The hotel was great. The people we met were all friendly, even the ones who realized we were from a foreign land, Canada!

We got lost on the way to the hotel. See the concert was in Cincinnati, Ohio. The hotel (which turned out to be about ten blocks away) was in Kentucky. We stopped for directions in a rather dangerous looking hood. But the only problem there was our own sense of misgiving.

We did some exploring and found my next home.
A perfect little cottage in a ravine. TLC required.

Went for dinner at a local pub/bar in a little town in Kentucky. We asked the waitress for directions back to the hotel and she couldn't help us at all. We were less than 20 miles from the place but she had never been there. In fact she had never left her hometown. Ever. Entire life. She had to be in her mid twenties. The owner however was very helpful. He wrote us down directions that started by asking which way the van was facing and telling me to turn around!
I think he even put in the name of the Officer who would have the radar gun operating in a obviously well known speed trap. Two and a half pages for a ten minute drive. But they were perfect! Landmarks and all.

Saturday daytime we decided to go exploring and shopping. If you ever wondered what the survivors of a nuclear bomb look like, go to a K-mart on the day after Black Friday. Not only did the store look like it had been the victim of a raid, the staff were all shell-shocked! But, again, friendly.

Off to the concert that evening we asked the reception at the hotel to call us a cab. She suggested that we take the tank instead. The tank? Ok. Little scared now! Turns out the tank (Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky), would pick us up right at the door, drop us at the concert and do the reverse after the show for only two bucks each. I am not the worlds biggest fan of buses, but, hey, this is supposed to be adventure so off we go.

At the concert hall I found a new kind of coat check, this one was for your guns. Seriously.

The show itself was amazing. Beer in glass bottles right at your seat. (at the ACC they take away the lids from your plastic water bottles so no one gets hurt). Seger hadn't lost too much for all the years and Alto Reed was phenomenal. We had brought glow necklaces and bracelets along and shared them with the people sitting near us. Three rows on the floor were lighting up the night for all to see! IMAG and I were waving our little Canadian flags proudly. This actually prompted someone to inquire if we had come all the way from Canada to see the show. IMAG responded in his typical fashion with "no, we just like the flag". Another person on seeing same flags invited us, complete strangers, to come party with them after the show. We graciously declined as we were due to check out of the hotel early the next day.

Took the tank back to the hotel. Imagine if you can over 40 drunk and loud over 40's together on a bus. It was just about the most entertaining trip I have ever had, being the only completely sober one, apart from the driver (I hope he was anyway). We accidentally got on the wrong bus and ended up with an extended tour of the area. The last couple off of the bus actually apologized to us that they had only brought the two seater car that night or they would have gladly given us a ride back to the hotel. Have I mentioned yet how friendly everyone was?

My experiences with our neighbours to the south had been limited to New York and Michigan prior to this trip. My opinion of all things American were radically changed! I can't wait until I can once again go off exploring parts of the U.S.A. It was one of those trips I will remember with a smile.

support?

Imagine trying to completely change your life.

Now imagine trying to do it all alone.

I was at the clinic last week for one of the many tests you undergo in the beginning. There were a few people in the waiting room but it wasn't too busy. I couldn't help but notice the woman who was there for her first visit. On this day you get weighed, measured and your breathing is tested. Then you are back to the waiting room. Lots of papers to fill out and you are off to meet the dietitian for the first time. No meal plans yet, just a check in and some more paperwork. Back to the waiting room until the doctor can see you. While you are waiting the reception staff try to book your next appointments so you can get your testing done quickly and get started with your new life.

There are a lot of appointments at first. This woman I noticed is doing her paperwork while her partner is sitting there looking all miserable. The receptionist is trying to book an appointment for her for the next day for some of the tests. She checks with this male and his response? "I was planning on sleeping in tomorrow, make it for some other day."

I feel for her. This journey is going to be tough enough without having someone sabotage her efforts. I wish her all the best.

I can't even begin to imagine how horrible this would be if I had to do it with someone negative around me. It is involved. You have to plan your day. You have to weigh and measure every bite you put into your mouth. You have to write it all down to show the dietitian.

But it works. I really think now before I eat anything. Is it carb heavy? Enough protein? Any fiber? And I thought checking for sugar content was a pain!