Shingles

That's right, shingles, and not the roof type either.

Here I thought I would blog about our wonderful little adventure to Vancouver Island with Werner and Frieda, but, that was not meant to be.

Oh, we had a great first day sailing on calm waters, talking, coffeeing, and doing a bit of shopping on the ship--it is a great place for buying earrings--hadn't done that in a very long time. 

And when "something" says, "Buy me, buy me," what is a person to do?

ARRIVAL TIME: 3:30 P.M.

http://rosewoodinn.ivictoria.com/

We arrived at our B&B for high tea half an hour late, but that didn't seem to be a problem. We were kindly served by a young girl. 

Each couple was served a large plate, to be shared, of fruit and baked goodies-very delicious.

I did not take a photo, I thought I had tomorrow and the next day for that. 

Afternoon tea may well have been started by the French in the 17th century. 

 "What a wonderful tradition..."

After tea, we found our own rooms, and settled down for a little afternoon siesta.

That evening, we watched news, played games, and ate crackers, cheese, yogurt, and whatever else we had brought from home--we were still full from "high tea."

Next day...

SYMPTOMS

I woke up feeling too sick for anything. 

Missed out on having a good time with friends--who totally understood how I felt and were very sympathetic--and a great breakfast!

Something was not right. This felt worse than the chemo I had been going through.

Stabs of pain in my head and my right red blotchy eye was closing up on me. It felt like glass was cutting it.

My guess was...shingles!

When you are on chemo, your immune system is low, and therefore much more susceptible to shingles, etc. 

Looking back to mid-October, I had had sharp pains in my head. Deep inside I had the thought, that perhaps I had a brain tumor. Not a nice thought!

I just wanted to go home and be in my own bed.

And, as they say in Low German, "Eine Striep noh Hues!" (literally, one fast way to home)

But as you can imagine, things did not go fast. 

With the sailing home, stopping at the doctor's office and finding out that they were way too full to take me, and then waiting at emergency, which took two hours before I got to see a doctor (in the past I have waited up to 6 hours), and picking up the prescription, yes, for shingles, all took time.

We made it home 

by 7:30 p.m.

PRESCRIPTION

•PMS-VALACYCLOVIR 500MG

-Pills to be taken twice daily

•VIROPTIC

-Two drops twice daily for ten days, and...

Thankfully, I am up and around. 

  I slept for four days--not sure what was in those pills--and couldn't eat for three; Saturday I started eating a bit. Not a very nice way to lose 6 pounds. Had to be careful that I didn't touch the right side of my face and then touch my left side with the same hand--didn't want my good side to get infected as well, so I used a lot of tissue if something irritated me on my face. 

I also needed total darkness--light hurt my eye even more. 

Anyway, I am on the mend, and that is a good thing!

But, get this: 

First they tell me to cut back on salt--my blood pressure is a bit on the high side--and a couple of days before a CT scan, they tell me to load up on salt!

"Some 'things' in life don't make much sense. Do they...?"

So, here I am, watching Cityline, and eating a chicken sandwich with pickles, chips...did I say chips!? TOSTITOS here we come! and...apple sauce made by my new chef whose name just happens to be Peter (:

Spanish Dancer

 "Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain". Unknown

Hilda

PS--Just got a phone call from the Vancouver Cancer AGCY, reminding me of my appointment on Thursday, and, to drink lots of water. "No, you don't have to eat salty things, as long as you drink lots. Salt makes you thirsty."

Well, what do you know. They could have told me that before!

A Walk Through My Garden...

        Para ti, pour vous, für dich, and for you, I write this...

Come. Welcome to my garden. 

  Gently push the white gates, walk through the archway and immediately to your left is my strawberry patch. I see some ripe ones--help yourself, they’re for the taking. Peter fertilized them well this year--neighbour Bill, says, "fentilize," who knows, maybe that's how you say it in Dutch...? Ha! 

This is the path that Peter put down so Bill's wife Rita and I can tiptoe across to each others home for a game and a cup of coffee.

Now follow the path that leads past two young apple trees. But all you will see is just a couple of apples. How sad is that! According to Brian Minter, we didn’t have enough honey bees this spring; I should have used one of my “dormant” paint brushes to pollinate the flowers. I tried that method with the peach tree a couple of years ago, when I noticed that there weren’t any bees around. And it worked! We had a good crop that fall. 

                                  My gardener...Ha, ha.

...and my window washer--that's what he's doing right now.

Beyond the posies: Celosia Caracas (deep Pink), Argyranthemum (lighter pink) and the yellow ones...? lost the tag, and against the wooden fence six blueberry bushes are growing. Come July they will be ready for picking. What has put a smile on my face is when Caleb (grand-son, 8.5 yrs.) has picked some to add to his cereal bowl. They will be there for him again this year when they come to visit. 

I think this photograph was taken at the corner of Portage and Main (downtown windy Winnipeg). 

  Yes, these are our wonderful grandkids--Zachary (11) and Caleb (8.5). Zachary did his grade two piano exam on Monday, June 24. Way to go Zach!

To the right is our larger pond. We had some gold fish swimming around at one point. Then, one day, while we were gone for the day, Helga Pankonin, brought some more from Butch and Renata’s large pond. What a pleasant surprise awaited us the next morning! Sooo many fish! At least twenty-nine now...! But, alas, one by one, they too disappeared. Raccoons became our regular nocturnal visitors. They would come late at night or early in the morning until all the fish were gone. So sad...But a pond covered in screen does not agree with me... 

...This spring we saw a family of six raccoons trying to catch something that wasn’t there--the parents must have remembered the “something” from their past. 

Last week we saw one huge one making it’s way around the inside of the pond. 

The time was 5:30 in the afternoon and he didn’t seem to care that we were observing him from the music room window. He must have been very hungry...

"No luck, old boy...!" And so he meandered away.  

On the right side are growing the Zapallito plants that my brother, Juan and wife Marta, sent me in the spring. It's a green squash almost like a zucchini but round and VERY delicious! Stuff them, bake them, and oh so good! 

 The peach tree is growing beside our covered deck protected by the overhang. In the Fraser Valley we have to keep our tree sheltered from the rain--the leaves and peaches don’t like getting wet.

 She always needs "fixin'" after the coons have come for a visit.
 The “Ina” water fountain statue--she came named that way--we bought her in 2008, at Cannor Nursery, on Chilliwack Central, after my sister, Erica, died of breast cancer at the age of 65. To her I added my mom, who died of Lymphoma in 1975, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while visiting my brother, Juan. She too was 65...As you have guessed, I do not like the number 65!

Bending toward the pond is the Weeping Cypress Tree that Peter’s siblings gave us in remembrance of Erica. 

        Alex and Martha chose a very appropriate tree at Minter Country Gardens, in Chilliwack.

...Today, I too feel like that weeping tree. The thoughts that chased around my head as Peter and I sat in the doctor’s office: Another x-ray...?; Will I have to have my lung drained...?; Will I have to stay in the hospital?   

 • Monday, June 24--After seeing Dr. Connors, I did have to have an x-ray, and in less than an hour they had the results. It showed that there was fluid buildup around my right lung--same as last June--and the reason for all the pain I have been experiencing these last few days. And so, my second round of Bendamustin and GA-101 is postponed till next week...? Did he say that a CT scan might be helpful to see what’s going on in there? Tomorrow morning we will hear from the doctor. 

• Tuesday, June 25--And now it’s today. And so we wait, and wait...and wait...for the phone to ring...

  We just got a phone call from Dr. Connors. He and the radiologist compared the x-ray with my last CT scan and they came to the conclusion that the pain I am feeling is a “healing” response to the chemo treatment; things are shrinking. So tomorrow and the next day we will go ahead with chemo. That’s all very good news, and all I have to do is take Advil for the pain to get the inflammation down.

• Wednesday, June 26--9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.--chemo.
• Thursday, June 26--9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.--chemo

  In the mean time we are in Douglas Lodge B&B, on 13th and Cambie. It’s nothing to “write home about,” but it’s a five minute walk  to the Vancouver hospital when I'm feeling well and it took longer, when my side was hurting.

I am sitting in a brown wicker chair, the computer on the other, and Peter is lying on the bed--propped up by four fluffy white pillows--eating nuts and reading the latest Mennonite.

But let’s forget about today and continue on our path. The first pond that “Peter built,” is to the left. The water-fall flows from a large, flat, horizontal gray rock, into the pond, close to where the white water lilies float and are in full bloom right now. This pond is much smaller but also much deeper. No raccoons dare come here, although in the past, we have seen the “shy,” long-legged heron standing right next to the pond. Wow...! What majestic lift off! Their wing span must be six feet wide, or more. 

A couple of rocky steps up and past the French bistro 
table--which we haven’t used at all this year because, first of all, we really haven’t had that much sun, and secondly, if you are on chemo, you’re supposed to stay out of the sun--and right behind are the metal sculptures that we bought and brought home in the trunk of our car a number of years ago, all the way from Altona, Manitoba, designed by our friend and artist Ken Loewen. 

And...onto the deck. Here, where we can sit on my cushiony swing and take it all in. We’ll rock a bit and enjoy the warmth of friendship, and if we’re lucky, of sunshine as well. (Vancouver is cloudy and rainy, and I'm sure so is Rosedale).

From where we sit you’ll see hanging baskets spilling its colours in profusion...colours purple, pink and yellow--this years colour theme. 

  Sure, the deck needs painting, but today, if you are here, it’s far too nice a day for work. Relax and let’s enjoy a cup of coffee/tea. I still have some ginger cookies in the house or perhaps in the trailer...?

"Colour is all around us and things don’t always go the way    we want them to, but..."

"There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

                  

  How sweet is this! I took these photos in the spring on one of my PEDEGO trips along Bustin Rd. Marg Bartel's comment: "You must have been thinking about me, because those donkeys belong on our old farm on Bustin Road." Thanks, Marg, I made the correction.

PEDEGO is pronounced like the short e in elegant or hello.

Take good care and we/Peter will be planting some more flowers so you can walk through our garden from now on. I wonder how much I should charge...??? Coffee is included, of course! Just kidding, about the charge!!!

Hilda

PS--What we have feared has come true: Minter Gardens is CLOSING ): This from Andrea: 

Click below

Chilliwack’s Minter Gardens set to close in face of falling revenues and increasing rain www.theprovince.comAfter 33 years of welcoming garden lovers, the Minter Gardens is preparing to shut its gates. “Minter Gardens has been a huge part of our lives,” said Brian Minter, the face of the Chilliwack show gardens, who co-owns the property with his wife Faye.

If you would like to leave me a message, just press ANONYMOUS or send me an e-mail, like a number of you have done. Thanks.

And now, back to my book: Paris, by E. Rutherfurd. I did an update in my Book List blog--on the right hand side. 

And if you took the time to read all this, you will need a rest as well.

Love to you,
Hilda