Fred’s Last Trip – the End of his Journey

Fred went into the Palliative Care Unit at St. Michael's on August 22, 2018.

He left us around mid morning, August 30, 2018 after a really brutal battle with pain and opioid toxicity. 

This is the view Fred had out his window

 

 Lo and behold, he was greeted by a big old buck with a marvelous set of antlers but he wouldn’t turn around so we have a marvelous ass.

He spent the entire afternoon dozing between two fir trees out on the lawn.

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 The Party's Over

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It's time to call it a day
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the candles flicker and dim
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The party's over
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It's alright, it's alright... it's all over, my friend

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I’m so going to miss him!

Mid-Year Communiqué - 2018 Has Not Been Much Better!

There’s been good times and there’s been not so good times!!!

They were right!! We didn’t see any restoration until well into the New Year.

In fact, we didn’t actually get back into our unit until almost April.

For over 4 months, our front room was crowded with boxes and we walked into the hallway; past all our major possessions just to bathe our bodies in the guest suit.

 

It wasn’t until we got settled back in that we realized how stressed we felt. I guess the old adage sticks –“humans can adjust to just about anything” – much like the frog and the boiling water adage.

We’re still waiting for the paint around the tub enclosure to be repaired but I won’t hold my breath.

.I can't believe how good normal feels and how quickly we almost made it back there.

Friends dropped in on their way home from the South to find Fred still in the hospital but he did get home before Christmas.

We still don’t know exactly what caused his melt down but he came home and was functioning pretty well.

Touring the BIG box stores became our exercise of choice. It was fun but we have ended up with a lot of extra stuff we probably wouldn’t have under different circumstances.

Our winter was very long and spring was slow in coming but it finally did come and we managed to plant a substantial patio garden. It surprised us that we could pick our first tiny tomato by the first of May. 

 

 In mid June, we did manage to get a mini get-away to a secluded lodge right up against the mountains west of Calgary. The William Watson Lodge was built in Kananaskis Provincial Park area in the 80’s especially accessible to seniors and those with disabilities (https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/6494023/peter-lougheed-pp-william-watson-lodge-brochure.pdf )

View from our Cabin Window

  

Scraggy Mountain Sheep

 

 We found the area where we used to camp before we started our serious retirement travelling in the Lower Kananaskis Lake area.

Murphy reared his unwelcome head again

We enjoyed visits from friends and relatives and our retreat to the mountains, but all this activity took its a toll on Fred. He landed in Emergency the second week in July with intense pain in his lower back. And here we are in August and find ourselves in our next Medical MisAdventure.