01 Nov 08 Tristan & Zachary first Halloween pumpkin carving experience
At first Tristan and Zachary were somewhat disinterested in the pumpkin ritual as they were distracted by that (evil) TV and some usual crapola on Teletoon or whatever….
Tristan and Zachary’s first experience at carving and prepping a pumpkin was fun; ok, granted, it may seem a bit late to experience their first pumpkin carving but such is life. 
They had seen my Ace compression bandage earlier in the day covering my leg from thigh to foot over the vein stripping incision bandages… (no they didn’t see those yet)..
Tags: Food, halloween, Kids, Love, pumpkin carving, surgery, Tristan, varicose veins, Zachary
24 Oct 08 Tristans novice hockey qualifying tryouts tomorrow and the real priorities in life :)
So I sit here (and occasionally walk) while recovering from the varicose vein surgery (a.k.a phlebectomy) and hoping the swelling stays in control with the Ace bandage.
My mom and I shared a very tasty steelhead trout… or steelhead salmon (truite saumonée en français) along with Rosti from Ikea, some stirfried broccoli… and then around 20h40, the phone rang and it was my dearest eldest son Tristan calling.
He sounded in good spirits and very relaxed, recounting his ped day at school where they painted a custom t-shirt (which hadn’t dried yet) and said he was ready and looking forward to the hockey tryouts tomorrow; he is in MAGH-3 and the novice evaluation is to determine which specific level within novice he’ll be playing in. It’s probably more stress for some parents than for the players themselves, but I’ve learned to be zen about these competitive sports (again, more competitive for parents than the actual mini-athletes) and keep in mind that it’s about the love of the game and not just the end result. He certainly loves the sports, whether it’s swimming, soccer, or playing defense or goalie in hockey.
So he asked about my surgery, and mentioned that it was probably “worse” than his tonsil surgery…. I told him that his tonsil surgery was indeed pretty painful and that mine was different; with a spinal anesthetic vs. general anesthesia for his procedure… he asked if I still had my bandages on and I of course said yup (it will probably be important for them to see my bandaged state)…
We both agreed that we wouldn’t be running around or playing soccer tomorrow together 
… then he had a quick chat with Oma (in English and French mixed) before it was time for his bedtime… and as I promised him, I would be going to bed shortly after… so now I check out (with the help of some 30mg codeine :)) and a body pillow and … lui rejoindre dans les bras de morphée durant cette nuit.
21 Oct 08 Woohoo I got the call - surgery time! :) Fast after midnight, Chlorhexidine Gluconate in the AM and no pills
Wooooohooooo….. 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning I go under the trusty scalpel (actually, phlebectomy hooks, I think)… and no food or drink after midnight tonight (I.E. let’s eat drink and be merry tonight!)
In the morning I get to wash with the Chlorhexidine Gluconate (4%) antiseptic soap…. at least on the leg destined for surgery, although I suppose I could use it all over (except eyes and ears as it can cause blindness)….
Tags: Health, surgery, varicose veins
20 Oct 08 Being anxious for surgery - sounds crazy but…
Well, even Tristan commented recently that I need to get this vascular surgery done with… (trust me, I want it more than anyone)…
So if all goes well this time around, by this time tomorrow night I should have received my phone call from the hospital surgery admissions office confirming what time I go in on Wednesday…
According to the doctor, despite it being quite a most severe case of vein stripping, I should be able to walk the day after. On the other hand, the amateur surgeon in me did some searching online, and apparently the day after it is recommended to ambulate the operated leg to prevent ulcers and bruising.
Tags: Health, surgery, Tristan, varicose veins
19 Oct 08 Levaquin, bronchitis, Passchendaele, vascular surgery and time with Oma & boys & the DFW / SO
So the Levaquin antibiotics seem to finally have gained the upper hand on the nasty (acute, as per the pre-admissions physician at the Jewish General Hospital said) bronchitis and accompanying fever etc that has hounded me for the last 3 weeks.
It was a great, relaxing weekend, with an early Saturday rise (somewhat) and the DFW/SO starting a well-needed re-organising of the boys’ rooms and cleanup in general. I had 3 eggs, 10 slices of bacon, 3 toasts with butter for breakfast (appetite is back) and 2 tuna/mayo/mustard sandwiches for lunch. After that it was finalising the cleanup and reorganising and furniture moving around, followed by relaxing and watching “So you think you can dance, Canada” (man, all of them in the top 20 can really groove!… all of them, but the blonde in the blue outfit, mmmmmmmm)…
Then some absolutely scrumptious Lamb Balti and Basmati before heading out for the 22:00 late showing at the ScotiaBank cinema of the new war & romance flick Passchendaele by Paul gross… it was great, if not quite in the “sequence” that we both felt it would be. The second half of the movie has most of the actual combat scenes and as it is a WW1 movie there is very overt and visually intense depictions of how close the combat was in the 1st world war….
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Tags: boys, Food, Health, Love, Passchendaele, surgery, Tristan, Zachary
