Person

Oh what a warm early springlike day it is today — I have the balcony door open as it’s about 12C, slightly overcast, with no wind.  It’s arousing a lot of comment, and concern about the summer, as last year’s wildfires have continued to burn underground and we’ve had nowhere near the snow we should this winter, so there’s that, too.  I have a small dog on my feet, who’s snoring gently and twitching every so often with his dreams… little bunny-puppy kicks.  He plopped on my lap when I sat down, then went to eat and is now napping.  Exactly like Don, who is curled up on the sofa also snoring gently and will probably complain that it’s chilly when he wakes up.  He was annoyed last night as his team lost by a lot, although I think he made up his disappointment by watching “spring training” which is, if you believe it, even more boring than regular games, despite the efforts of the announcers!

I had an off day yesterday, as I felt sluggish, not-exactly queasy, not hungry, and so on.  I slept off and on throughout the day, just falling asleep with minimal effort.  Then it turned out that I had “digestive distress” for several hours during the night.  Obviously, then, I didn’t sleep too well; I finally fell asleep around 7am for a couple of hours.  It’s draining.  I also ate some split peas soup that I’d frozen a while back, and it was pretty good… I must remember to let stuff thaw longer before trying to chip out the blocks of ice that it becomes!  It’s really the strangest thing with that soup — I’d made it with chicken, but when eating it, I want none of the chicken!  Next time, I’ll leave that out and just make it with the peas and other vegetables and I can always do something else with the chicken later.

My nurse was around to hook up my IV as usual, and I’m stunned at how much plastic, non-recyclable waste is generated by this process.  It’s considered “medical waste” and can’t be added to the recycling bin, unfortunately, plus some of it is the thin, flimsy plastic that can’t be recycled anyway.  For the IV, there’s the bag with the solution, about 2.5m of tubing, packaging for the tubing, a couple of syringes, plastic wrap, gauze, the bag that the bag with the solution is in, the freezer bag to maintain temperature during transport and the package that holds the IV bags together (each pack holds 2 1L bags of saline, and the packs are packed into another bag.)  When we need to change my dressing, add in the wound dressing kit (plastic case, gauze, disposable tweezers, gloves, wrappings), several foil lined packages with plastic swabs and cleaning solution, alcohol pads, more syringes, dressings (in plastic packaging) and so on.  It’s always a half-garbage bag of waste whenever they are here.  I would like to recycle this stuff, but since I can’t, I just have to go along with it.  We do try to minimize waste, and we also try not to order too many supplies, as I can’t return any excess.  There will be a box dropped at the pharmacy with unused/expired medications, and a few “sharps” (needles) which can’t go into the garbage.  I know, I’m rambling, I just am not thrilled with how much waste we generate.  There should be a better way to recycle garbage.

Auntie needs to brag… my elder niece took part in a Chinese New Year event, hosted by the Chinese embassy, where she sang (in Mandarin) a solo.  They also did a demonstration of dumpling making and a dragon dance, but I’m so proud of her for stepping out of her shell to do this.  

I know this is earlier than usual; I am beginning to feel “my curtain falling” and I will probably head to sleep soon.  I’ll probably have another bowl of soup before I go in, though.  It’s one of the few things I’ve eaten in several days, so I’ll just enjoy it.  I’ll leave the tiny dictator to nap on my toes for a while longer, he looks so peaceful (and he’s not trying to nibble my sleeve or kick over my glass!)  Good night!