April 30th, 2019

He's on the road to recovery! Yesterday was the big esophagectomy surgery for Ron. His surgery was at the short end of normal as far as time goes. I was home for about 3 hours before the surgeon called.

I did a few quick errands on the way home, then prepped and painted our “new” front door. I found it on Facebook for 50 bucks last week. Saturday, 9 young men and boys from our ward at church came over and did an amazing job on our yard. One of the men spent the entire day fitting and hanging the door for us. We now have a proper steel exterior door instead of the nasty hollow core interior one that I had taped shut all winter to reduce the wind blowing through it.

I have heard from Ron's nurse in ICU twice now. She says he's doing well, but has some discomfort from the chest tubes. He is expected to get out of bed and into a chair later today. He's got a few tests coming up to make sure there aren't any leaks at his surgery site. I expect to hear from the man himself later today!

I will probably putter around the yard a little bit and maybe do a little bit of sewing. I am not ready to get too far from the phone just yet.  The next big project for me will replacing the jigsaw puzzle-like ceramic tiles and gross carpet with painted plywood plank flooring. I will probably start that one tomorrow. I am being closely guarded by one of the dogs and one of the cats; they will not be happy when I fire up the brad nailer. wish me luck!

April 22, 2019

I managed to get some reusable produce bags stitched up during the rainy days this week. I also finished a dress for me to wear on the warm beachy days coming up.

Ron's doing a little better every day. He has even been able to put on a little bit of weight this time. Unfortunately, I continue putting on weight too. I am slowly ridding the house of the Oreos and other junk food with my stress eating. I am hoping to turn things around once I can get outside more often and Ron's health issues are closer to resolution.

We had a really nice visit with Ron's sister, Jan on Saturday. She said it was the first time she'd been to Gabriola in about 8 years. She also remembered playing kick the can in the park in front of our place as a teenager.

Ron's due for surgery on Monday morning. Between now and then there's a bunch of medical appointments to attend to. One will be by phone, but the others are in Cumberland to the North and Victoria to the South, so we'll be getting lots of road time in this week.

April 7th, 2019

Many of you know this was General Conference weekend for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Every six months we are able to receive guidance from the prophet and our other leaders. There's no assigned theme or topic, but it usually seems that one or two evolve over the weekend. I noticed the two great commandments (Love God and Love your neighbor) we're discussed several times.

I also always have a few little quotes that speak more loudly to me than others might. Sometimes they make me laugh, sometimes they give me a new perspective, and sometimes they are a reminder for me. Here's a few from this conference.

"We can rationalize all we want, but the fact is, there is not a right way to do the wrong thing." - Becky Craven

"As for punctuality, a late pass will always be lovingly granted to those blessed mothers who, with children and Cheerios and diaper bags trailing in marvelous disarray, are lucky to have made it to church at all. Furthermore, there will be others who unavoidably find their ox in the mire on a Sabbath morning. However, to this latter group we say an occasional tardiness is understandable, but if the ox is in the mire every Sunday, then we strongly recommend that you sell the ox or fill the mire." -Jeffrey R. Holland

"Feasting upon the scriptures is not just reading them. It should bring us real joy and build our relationship with the Savior." - Takashi Wada

Fortunately, Ron is doing marginally better. He is once again able to swallow a small amount of liquid (he's counting ice cream as a liquid). Hopefully we can get the weight loss under control again.

We saw this on one of the ferry trips and thought it was pretty funny for some reason.

We have had a few good rain showers interspersed with brilliant sunshine. I am so grateful we get to hang out at home for the next week or so. I am hoping to  get a good chunk of yard stuff done this week before the next bout of running between medical appointments.

April 4th, 2019

We have been trying to lay low and recuperate this week. Ron is still exhausted and has bouts of nausea. Since he has been better about taking nausea meds on a schedule, the tummy upset doesn't seem to be as prevalent as last week. He is slowly getting some energy back, but can no longer swallow much of anything. I'm pretty sure he has lost more weight this week, but we don't know for sure, as he's managed to avoid stepping on the scale.

We had to make a couple of trips to Nanaimo this week for tube feeding stuff and prescriptions, but we should be able to hang out at home for the next 10 days or so. The Nanaimo trips just wipe Ron out, even though they are short ones.

We have a flurry of appointments after the middle of the month in preparation for his esophagectomy at the end of April.

The pollen clouds are probably not helping Ron's energy level, but the blossoms are beautiful. I will probably be doing a minimal vegetable garden again this year, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. Our horticulturist neighbor and friend brought us some lettuce and bunching onions that I have planted in pots outside the kitchen door. I imagine I will be able to begin picking a few leaves soon.

We are supposed to be getting more April showers soon. I hope so, the water/fire situation isn't looking too good for the Island at the moment.