5C's Que Pasa

More specifically an evolsion fracture of the trochanter.

No not me.  Sadly it is my father.

Late Thursday the hospital did a second CT scan as Dad continued to be in a huge amount of pain and could not weight bear at all.  We finally got the results late Friday afternoon.  Meanwhile Dad has been reacting to his pain meds in a horrific manner which I won’t go into.  Not his fault. They have now been changed.  When my sister called the hospital Friday morning she seemed to believe that things were not as they should be so she took yet another day off work.  We must have spent 3 hours on the phone yesterday at my expense.  Colin and I have an 800 number for clients but have given it to family to use as needed.  Our cost is 25 cents per minute but it is what it is.  Eventually we will cancel it but it serves a purpose every now and then and Colin’s almost 99 year old Mom uses it from time to time.

So I spent most of Friday afternoon awaiting a call via my sisters’s cell from Dad’s bedside to our 800 # where I would be talking with Dad’s appointed doctor.  She explained the results of the 2nd CT scan and mentioned how surprised she was at how strong Dad’s ligaments were.  They stayed attached and cracked the bone.  Basically he needs lots of rest and likely that means he will be eventually be transferred to a rehab hospital ( Norwood ) as he is not currently responding to physio.  He is having some head wound issues and is scheduled to be checked by a specialist on Monday.  He also has a hematoma on the back of his head.  There are a few other issues like the sore throat he has picked while in hospital. She did spend about 28 minutes with me on the phone with 3 interruptions on her part.  One was a phone consult with an on call orthopedic surgeon so we got his opinion right away.  Interestingly she did agree with me that the medical system was no longer about putting the patient number one.  So glad I am no longer nursing.

Dad still believes he will be going straight home but we have decided to just go day by day  for now.  He will find out in due time.  Meanwhile my 18 year old niece goes over daily to feed and spend time with Dad’s ( Mom’s cat ) and to feed the fish. My other sister is hampered with a flooded basement and my brother is ‘busy’!

I had already booked a flight for August 31 to spend 4 nights/5 days going through Mom’s things.  I also was scheduled to do some will revision with Dad on Sept. 3 at his lawyer’s and I had planned to take him in for a new hearing aid on Sept. 4th before heading out to the airport to come back here.

So everything is up in the air.  Of course I will still travel to Edmonton but how much will be accomplished remains to be seen. I have no idea if Dad will be back home by then.

Colin and I had friends over last night for appies/dinner and I kept getting family calls from Edmonton.  It was great to see Pat and Gord but my heart was not totally into the visit.  Heck I never even took a photo of our visit for which I am sure Pat is happy.  We did have a good visit but it could have been better.  Sorry guys.

So now you know why I missed yesterday’s post.

Tags: emergency, Family, friends

Would you believe I have still not spoken to my Dad?  Would you believe that he never got into a proper bed and out of Emergency until 4PM the next day ( yesterday ).  So he was in ER for close to 28 hours.  By the time my sister got there last night Dad was exhausted ( not having slept at all while in ER ) and in massive pain.  He won’t ask for pain killers and just endures.  She didn’t stay long as he needed to rest. Hence the phone call I was waiting for never happened.  Apparently Dad never saw an MD all day yesterday.

She did go again this morning and found Dad in pain once again.  She was able to get through to the staff that even though his pain was a 9 out of 10, that he would not ask for meds and that he just might need them.  Before she arrived physio had attempted to walk Dad around the ward.  Well at 83 years of age, with a major cut on his head, pulled & stretched muscles and massive bruising he had trouble weight bearing and had difficulty moving around.  Her visit was cut short as they took him away for another CT scan ‘just in case’.  She did call me while there but I was out walking for my rehab/physio so I missed the call, but Dad did leave me a voice message via my sisters’ cell.  He sounded good and told me he would be home in a day or two.  Not going to happen!

Earlier today I became more like myself.

Remember me last Thursday. Well I lived with that look all week and hated it.

Now doesn't that look much much better.

The miracle happened because of something called a “clarifying shampoo” followed by 3 conditioners with the last one suppose to be adding protein to my hair shafts during a 15 minute head massage.  I do like this colour but I already know that come October she won’t know what to do.  This colour only happened because she was fixing a mistake.  How can she duplicate this?  I really need to get back to Mazatlan.

The first thing that Colin said when he came to pick me up ( I am still not driving post surgery ) is that I looked young again. Good answer mi amor.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?  Guess what time it is…….vino blanco!!

Tags: friends, health, repairs, vino

I received a frantic call from the Alberta Health Home Care system yesterday afternoon.  Did I know where my Dad was?  I knew he was out and that he should be home by then.  They were there to take off his elastic stockings.   I told them I would call back.  No answer on anyones cell phones.  Finally my brother called back.  He said that Dad had been take by ambulance over 4 hours ago to a hospital.  He had fallen in the street and that is all he knew.  Why had no one called me?

So I started calling all the Edmonton Hospitals.  I finally found him.  He had been waiting in Emergency for close to 4.5 hours and had yet to see a doctor.  Plus my younger sister was with him.  In fact she was with him at the time of the incident.  He had accompanied her to an appointment and on leaving the building his walker went flying and then he followed landing on the left side of his head and onto his left side of his body.  For some reason she did not notice the three steps that went down to street level 🙁 He only sees with one eye and when you are pushing a walker you can’t see in front of it.  So off he went by ambulance.

Long story short once he was finally seen by an MD he has a CT scan, an MRI and numerous xrays.  Fortunately nothing was broken but he was traumatized enough to be admitted to hospital.   However the hospital is full so he is still in emergency over 26 hours later.  No one came tell me how he is doing as it breaks all the privacy laws.  I can’t speak to him.  Finally my sister is going back tonight and I will then get an update.

At one point last night when there was talk of severe trauma I started looking up flights but I really am not able to fly yet nor function on my own.

I really would like to be done with all the drama and stress in my life right now.  Meanwhile poor Dad.  I asked my sister to call me from his bedside later tonight so I can at least speak to him.  You can imagine what was going through my head last night, first Mom and now Dad.  There has to be a reason all these things are happening when I can’t be there, but I have no idea what it could be.

Tags: emergency, Family, health

Tis the season and we are busy eating as many cherries, apricots and peaches as we can.  So fresh and so very tasty.  Sadly it remains very hot and that brings thundershowers and lightening strikes.  It is always hot and dry here in the Okanagan Valley but not usually for weeks and weeks like this in the 30’s day after day.

Colin is busy, lots of jobs lined up and more coming which is great.  However his exterior photography always requires perfect blue sky.  Keep your fingers crossed.  The other day we lived in a smoke haze because of the number of wildfires that have been started by lightening.  Fortunately most are under control.

Found this in my camera today, taken at the Mission Hill Pink Martini concert. Can you see Colin on the bottom left? He was the only photographer allowed to get up close even though he was not suppose to be working that night.

My very own paparazzi, now on the right. He did finally settle down and enjoy the concert with me.

I am still dealing with my skin rashes.  I went in to the medical clinic to get my cocoa/caffeine allergy test results. Normal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Fortunately my MD was on vacation so I was able to see yet another MD who believes my problem is likely auto immune related and ordered up all kinds of blood work.  Sometimes breaking down in tears in your doctor’s office can be a good thing.  The results from these tests will help the allergy specialist I see next week to help diagnosis my situation.

Meanwhile it seems that since moving here, the girls have changed  their lifestyle.

Carmeh has declared the bedroom her own room. She never went on the bed in the last nine years but now we can't get her out of the bedroom. If not on the bed she is on the floor playing with the toys she has dragged into the room. It is the only carpeted room in the house.

Other than meals or walks Carmeh can only be coaxed out of the bedroom when she needs to hide from the sound of thunder. Either here or in the RV her most secure hiding spot is between the wall and the toilet.

Caeli meanwhile just likes to laze about and finds the strangest places. Here she is between a plant pot and my walker and tons of spider webs.

Her newest location is under the stool the girls use to get up on the bed. She seems to create her own dog house wherever she can.

Enough for now……

Tags: CJPS, Kelowna, The girls

We just couldn't stop laughing.

We were all very very happy.

We didn't just laugh and eat and drink vino but we did discussed many different things and enjoyed some live music thanks to Colin.

We were all very relaxed. No one wanted the party to end.

I have to say that our happy hour went over six hours !!!!!

Tags: friends, music, vino