Blue? Monday

Hello Polar Vortex!  I’m happy that I’m not out West at the moment, where it’s a super cold -40, but Ottawa was at -20C this morning, warming up to -11… Jerry is happily shredding his “chew proof” toy and has detached the legs and is now working on one of the side seams.  It hasn’t been a month since Christmas, and while he really likes it, it definitely doesn’t rate as “chew proof”!  Don is watching Buffalo play football after they had to dig the stadium out from over a metre of snow!  It was somewhat unusual to watch snow piled that deep, with kids trying to find the chairs and build snowmen — while on this side of the border, there hasn’t been a flake of snow!  The snow all came off Lake Erie and just avoided anything north of the Canadian border!  We’ve had a big dump on the weekend, and promises of more to come.

I had a little hiccup yesterday — I think I mentioned — where my IV slowed down tremendously.  It should have been 6 hours, and instead it ran for 18, and still didn’t empty.  I went to bed still hooked up and woke up a few times in the night to check.  The nurse thinks that I may have had either a kink in the line or else a small clot at the tip of the PICC.  Either way, she gave it an extra flush (Oh, that stuff gets into your taste buds and the back of your throat and it tastes vile!!) and today’s infusion went more smoothly.  I’m  done with hydration for this round, which is good, because it’s inconvenient to have to push a pole when I need to go to the washroom or into the kitchen or anything.  I know the cycle well enough to know that this is my “low” period, where my immune system is at its worst, I actually feel drained and I just want to sleep all day.  It doesn’t last; by tomorrow I’ll have a bit more energy, but it does frustrate me a bit.  I’m seriously tempted to reschedule my doctor’s appointment on Thursday on the grounds of cold and too many upcoming sessions, but I’ll decide tomorrow morning.

I am suffering a dose of tabanca.  I’m usually not in Canada at this time of year; I’m usually in Trinidad soaking up some sun and lots of love from family and friends, but this year, like far too many of them lately, I’m here watching the piles of snow and rolled up in blankets and sweaters.  I’d really prefer to be at home moaning about the sauna-like heat and nagging Joanne, Kristin and Jay about drives to the beach!  Even better — since my appetite is working again — stuffing my face with all the many goodies that I can’t get here.  I have fantasies about fish-and-fried-bake; alloo pies; a good Creole meal, replete with a dark stewed chicken or BBQ chicken, heavy carbohydrates (rice and macaroni) or curry crab and coocoo or… the list is quite long, and it’s not helping me to list them all off!  Best of all would be spending time with all the people that I miss, just liming and catching up.  Instead… well, I won’t make myself too miserable.

I’ve been invited to my little niece’s dance recital, scheduled for Father’s Day weekend.  It would be entertaining to see her, as the videos from last year showed that she had a blast at her first one!  Both of the small people are enrolled in gymnastics, and I understand that my nephew has more fun with it, and is often having to be persuaded to let others have a turn, as he enjoys it so much he wants to do more and more.  My elder niece messaged me to let me know that she’s chosen her subjects for next semester, and she seems pleased with the options.  One was not her first choice, but she thinks it will be useful both for her degree and any career she chooses, and the other is one that I’d have chosen if I were giving advice — I didn’t, but I’m glad she picked it anyway.  She also registered to do a leadership course, which was a weekend event, and I’m particularly pleased about that as she’s missed so many “normal” teenage activities due to the pandemic.  Very pleased with her, as ever!

That’s it for tonight.  I’m trying out a new grocery delivery service, which has the downside of being late with deliveries — their window was 3-6pm, they showed up at 6:30 — and they used 1 bag per item, so I have a pile of almost a dozen bags, most of which have only 1 item in them.  No points for environmental sustainability, although they used paper bags (plastic ones have been banned here for several months, except, somehow, for fast food delivery!)  My support worker, who’s awesome, has offered to come back to help me pack the groceries as I get out of breath lifting even a bottle of milk!  I’m just waiting on her now.  So I’m off to get ready for her, and we’ll put things away.  Good night!