Everything else is going ok. I spent much of this weekend sleeping. I know, that’s not any news but it’s what I did. I’d get up in the morning, have a little something to eat (this morning it was two zipper skin oranges and some peanuts) and then it’s back to bed for another four to five hours then up again. Now I want to go to bed again. I’m going to try and stay awake though I do have to be awake to call the doctor’s office and find out when my physical is. I had it in my calendar for today. Since today was a stat holiday and their office wasn’t open, I’m going to assume that I wrote it in wrong.

Another reason I want to be up is to take a couple of texts in to school to sell. I went through my bin (mostly) and packed up the school related stuff. Before I closed up the boxes I input the text authors to find out which texts can be resold. Inconveniently enough, only 2 (maybe a third) can be bought back by the book store. Sucks, but that’s the way of school. The rest of the stuff in the bin is office supply stuff and extraneous other things that will find their way into drawers. The books that weren’t texts but were of general interest reading are on a book shelf waiting for me to get around to reading them. I’ve already read Hunting Humans and Stolen Life but there is also Just Another Indian and Thunder in My Soul that I want to read. I also have to return a couple of books to the library. Those ones were at home. With luck, they’ll be the only library books I have out. I’ll check when I return them.

I’m using my old laptop. It’s somewhat noisy (compared to the quiet of most other laptops as the fan needs to be replaced) but it has a much larger screen and that makes me happy. It also has a touch pad that actually turns off (what a concept!) and a keyboard that’s a more standard size. I’m still getting used to it again. I’ll be downloading my address book and old emails from the net book, backing up all the information there and letting Bran do what he wants with it. I suppose it could be sold for a few dollars after everything is wiped off of it. I will miss the matte screen.

I picked a good week to have a physical. My IBS is acting up. Nothing like having something actually wrong to make the check up worth while, right?

That’s about it.

My netbook is giving me all kinds of grief by not working properly. For some reason it’s dropping the connection to the network modem thing. It was driving me batty. It’s just one of a string of issues it’s had since nigh on the beginning (but after the time we could do a quick exchange at the store).

First it was the connector to other video wasn’t working. In fact, it never did work. I figured that was no big deal. I mean, how often was I going to be connecting my computer up to the television, right? Next to go was the ability of the touchpad to be off. I turned it off. The software recognized that I’d done that. However the touchpad itself remained active. Then the backspace button lifted and wouldn’t stay down.

The last was the ethernet connection dying. Bran thought it might be the d-link thing that’s going but Boy was connected. There’s absolutely no reason for it to die. Well, technically it was on hiatus. If I’d started the computer again, it probably would’ve worked as it should have. Sadly, it probably would be temporary.

So I hauled out my noisy old laptop. The first thing I did was figure out what needed to be pushed to get it to try and find the wireless signals. With that accomplished it was a a simple matter of logging in…or so I thought. That didn’t work. It was seeing the signals, it just couldn’t connect. So I thought, hey, we have wire. I’ll just hard wire it into the network and I’ll be going right away. That worked for about 1/2 hour and then the wire connection stopped working. WTF!? I was hard wired into the network. It should’ve been working. But it wasn’t.

Alas, during this whole fiasco Bran was out at Tonight It’s Poetry at Lydia’s. This meant that I had no easy and quick fix to my issues. It had to wait until he got home. Luckily for me, not long after I wound up the wire (and tried really hard not to scream – successfully) Bran phoned for the ride home. I asked him if he’d changed the key for the wireless since I’d changed from the laptop to the netbook. He wasn’t sure, but it was possible. Turns out he did. Big time. So now with the correct key to the wireless my laptop is happily chugging along. I’ve updated my bookmarks on Firefox, gotten the new version, downloaded and installed Twhirl for tweeting, gotten the newest version of Thunderbird going and settled in to some amazing amazement.

I’ve tweeted it, but it remains true. I can’t believe how large the screen of the laptop is. On pages I have to scroll down with the netbook I can just straight up read on the laptop. Sure the laptop is heavier, but it’s also got much more viewing capabilities. The storage is somewhat small too. I suppose I could get a larger hard drive. That could mean replacing the fan that’s making all the noise. That would also mean that the money spent on the laptop could be spent on a new system. Hmm…something to think about in the future. I’m not worried right now. I’m not going to be adding music or much in the way of documentation. It has a D drive that has 30 gigs free. I didn’t know that until just now. I’m not sure what I can stick in it. I’m thinking of dumping the music off this thing. It’s all on the external storage backup unit. It’s not like I need it on this computer. I don’t listen to music on it.

Anyway, that’s my adventures into geeking. It’s nowhere near what Mush or Brad do when it comes to geeking, but I did figure out it was a problem with the key, and not give up. I’m glad of that.

And as an added bonus for reading my drivel, here’s a cute dog:

see more dog and puppy pictures

I’m driving a manual transmission car. That’s not the firsts though. I knew how to drive one before this but I’ve gotten much, much, much more practice shifting than I ever figured I would. Bran can’t drive for another 3 weeks so I’m primary chauffeur. I’ve driven to and from the hospital, to and from work, to and from stores, to and from Boy’s work and to and from the highway where Costco is. That’s more driving than I think I’ve done in the past 10 years.

Today was the Costco run. Bran and I went to get some fruit and other essentials that we were running out of or didn’t have to begin with. One was white poultry meat. Another was some kind of spice that doesn’t have salt. Mrs. Dash was the only one of many. The rest had salt as either the primary ingredient, or listed in the top 5. Really, even lemon pepper had salt first.

We got fruit, lots of apples, oranges and grapefruit. The oranges are the delicious little zipper skins (Satsuma or Japanese oranges depending on where they’re grown). The grapefruit are the lovely sweet red ones. Red grapefruit are the sweetest of the varieties. Ruby Red is the best. We eat them like oranges but I don’t eat the hard section skin and avoid the white as it’s mega bitter. The apples, well they’re Gala and Bran likes them. Since he’s the apple eater, he gets to pick.

We also got salad fixings, cucumber, and vine ripened tomatoes. Toast and tomato for breakfast!

We looked at the salad dressings, but they didn’t have anything suitable (or frankly, appetizing in appearance) for us. I’ll be making a light oil and balsamic vinegar dressing for the salad…something good and simple.

I’m never going to make a judgment on a person who doesn’t help their spouse carry heavy things. Bran isn’t supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds and not with his right hand (that’s the hand they did the second angioplasty and stent insertion). Since it was to Costco you know that there was nothing in the cart that weighed under 5 pounds. I had to carry everything in and put it away.

So now I’m sautéing up three breasts (one for each of us – Boy will have leftovers when he gets home), the salad is ready (love the premixes, in this case bibb lettuces and spring mix) and leftover baby potatoes that can be nuked. The chicken is spiced with Mrs. Dash and paprika and sautéed in about 1 tsp of oil and a tablespoon or two of lemon juice. It smells lovely.

Later tonight I’ll package up the rest of the meat so that it doesn’t go to waste.

I don’t like driving. I don’t know if I ever told anyone here, but I don’t. That’s why this is such a difficult month for me. I mean, it’s hard on Bran the most, but it’s hard on all of us in our very own ways. Think about being phobic and not wanting to leave the house, add onto that an activity that is undesirable in a car that doesn’t have an automatic transmission and it’s an arduous time. Happily I’ve not braved parallel parking in it.

Work was ok. I spent a lot of time going through the wire working magazines I got. Two are paper, the other 4 are on disc. There are lots of wonderful ideas for making jewelry that I can hardly wait to try out. However, because Rings & Things shipped me the wrong wire I have to go to Michael’s to get some at retail cost. Ouch. I repacked it up in the original box and sent it back to them at their cost. It’s only fair. I’ll be jiggered (whatever that is) if I’m going to pay for shipping more than once, especially for their error.

I was hoping to have a few weeks of practice before I started milling out the stuff for the Spirit Moves Us: Pagan Crafters Showcase and Sale in late November and CFCR Craftacular on October 29th and 30th. I’m not sure I can do both especially now that I don’t have wire. What a pain! Yeah, cal me a waaaa-mulance, right?

Anyway, supper is ready and it’s time for me to eat. I’m somewhat peckish.

This has been a hard week and a half. Now we all take time to heal.

He hasn’t had the second stent put in yet. They planned it for today and had him fasting in the morning, but something (probably an emergency procedure) pushed him off the schedule. We’re hoping for tomorrow. He was feeling somewhat low tonight so I texted him offering him a sugar free cake with a file baked in it. At any rate, hopefully tomorrow will be the magic stent insertion. That would mean if all went well, he’d be coming home on Saturday.

They’re still trying to poison Bran. Night before last, for supper, they gave him (a diabetic) sweet and sour chicken on white rice. Yeah. The nurse hunted down a meal that Bran could eat without sending him into a diabetic coma. He got cream of wheat again as well. What is wrong with these people?! They’re supposed to know what the fuck they’re doing and yet they make such frequent mistakes I have to wonder who’s running the show. A friend of ours is in another hospital in town. She has a severe wheat allergy. She got cream of wheat too. I guess it’s their way of cleaning out patients. Kill them.

I have a bit of a full day tomorrow. I have to pick up a package from the post depot. Then I have to get a script filled and request the pharmacist fill one of Bran’s. Then it’s off to the university to have the department head sign my withdrawal letter. Then off to visit Bran…unless he’s downstairs having the stent put in. If he is then I might just go home, leaving Boy there, and get more sleep.

I’ve not mentioned Boy much in all this. He’s been exceptional. Not that it’s unusual for him to be so, but even more than the usual exceptional-ness. He’s gone to visit his Dad on his own, is cooking for himself because I’m not home to do so, and is generally helping out a whole lot which reduces my stress levels considerably. He’s been the joy of joys of my life. He’s also helped me hold myself together. It distresses him to see me distressed and he does his level best to ease things for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better son.

Today I went to training at the CSC training centre. It was presented by two police officers (one from Saskatoon, one from RCMP in Regina) and one CSC analyst. It was all about organized crime and street gangs in Saskatchewan. It was an extremely interesting presentation by three very intelligent and savvy men. Saskatchewan has it’s share of the well known gangs like Hell’s Angels, but vastly outnumbering them in membership is the Aboriginal gangs like Native Syndicate, Indian Posse, former Crips now Cash Boyz, and Terror Squad. Some of the gang members, some rather high ranking members, have come through the centre for urinalysis or as part of their reporting requirements. We’ve never had trouble with them, but the potential issues are rather scary. We never house known and active gang members at the house…thank goodness, but we don’t have control over who comes on for extra reporting requirements.

Anyway, after that it was my regular shift. Thank goodness everyone was in a good mood. One guy is going to find out the hard way next time I’m on evenings that doing his laundry in the evening means getting it done before 11, not ignoring it and then “remembering” that it needs to be dried for the next day. It’s all about responsibility. He’s always trying to get away with short cuts and special exemptions. Tonight I was just too tired to care. I won’t be so forgiving next time.

In a few weeks I’ll be going to a “Creating Choices” thing at Wanaskewin. This one will be focusing on women prisoners somehow. If you google Creating Choices you’ll encounter a document created by CSC (Correctional Services of Canada) in response to the scathing Arbour Commission Report (that you can also google) about “certain incidents” at Prison for Women at Kingston Penitentiary (aka P4W). Of course, being a large bureaucracy they’re very adept at making it look like they’re making progress in terms of positive change without actually doing anything. Canada went from having a central prison for women to having 5 prisons for women as well as healing lodges (low security prisons for Aboriginal female prisoners that should be focusing on Aboriginal traditions and healing). The healing lodges are all on reserves.

Anyway, I hope it’s as interesting as today’s stuff was.

I’ve decided, after talking it over with Bran, and much thought and consideration (redundancy can be fun too), to withdraw from the graduate studies program. After Dad died it became somewhat pointless and now with Bran becoming sick it’s just one more pressure on me to try and deal with.

I was going to take a year off to consider my options, but the requirements to get that year off are far too intrusive on my privacy to even consider. As someone who’s been on welfare and had that department’s nose in my life, I have no wish to have another bureaucrat decide things for me. So I’m going to print up the withdrawal letter tonight, get the department head to sign it and turn it into the grad studies people and be done with it. Maybe I’ll regret it and try again at a later date, but somehow I doubt I’ll want to.

Now I’m home after 16 hours of work. I’m trying to wind down but it’s not working very well. I guess I’m over stimulated or something. I’d love to have a cup of coffee right now but that would screw with my sleep and it’s stupid enough right now.

He’s got some irony happening there. They’re monitoring his blood sugars because they aren’t coming down. However, they’re not feeding him right. Get this, instead of using low fat mayo for a ham salad they used orange juice (Hello! Sugar!). He gets a couple slices of regular whole wheat bread. (Hello! Carbs! Sugar!). I’ll be taking him slices of our whole grain bread so that he can eat that instead. Not only is it lower in overall carbohydrates, they’re slow carbs (less quickly converted into sugars). I’ll also be taking him nuts and some apples. Another reason his sugars aren’t coming down is he can’t do much physically. The farthest he’s been allowed to walk is to his commode (I have to tell you about this one, it’s great!) so he’s not burning any of the sugars his body makes. He also can’t take his metformin because it interacts with the dyes used in the angiogram so they’re trying to control things with insulin.

When he gets out he’ll be doing small increments of exercise, building up to 60 minute walks each day. He was told to walk on level ground. We had a good laugh at that considering we live on a hill. No matter which way he goes he’s going to have to talk up a hill. The only major dietary change will be having to watch fat intake. That’s easy enough to do when one is cooking for oneself. Of course, trips to KFC and A&W are going to have to disappear for the most part.

While we were there I gave him a back and neck massage. He was complaining of a headache at the back of his head so I worked on his upper and middle back as well as his neck and scalp muscles. While it didn’t get rid of all the headache, it helped reduce it. Not long after that he was sleepy and wanted a nap so Boy and I left.

From the hospital Boy and I went to Go 4 Sushi (a rather unfortunate name for a sushi place on the prairies – with lots of gophers). It was expensive, $25 each, but it was tasty. It has the same or similar quality as Nagoya, but Nagoya costs a bit less and has a wider variety of choices of every type of sushi. They also have a buffet we could have eaten from. I didn’t see that until we were nearly done eating. Again, if I’m going to do a buffet I’ll go to Great Buffet for the same reasons as doing sushi at Nagoya…cheaper and wider variety.

Then we drove home. I’m getting better at driving the car. When Boy and I first got in the car getting into first gear was a trial by whiplash. By the time we were on our way home my shifts out of first were much smoother. Now I have to learn how to not roll backwards from a stop on a hill when I’m shifting into first.

That’s another change…Bran isn’t allowed to drive for four weeks after he gets out of hospital. That means that I’ll be doing all the driving to everywhere. I’m going to get a lot of practice. It makes me wish we had a car with an automatic transmission. I’ll also be using Boy to do laundry. We’ll be doing that next Saturday morning. I’ll also be taking the car to work until Bran gets out of hospital. I need to have the ability to leave work quickly if the need comes up.

That’s the news from here. Thank you for all your good thoughts, prayers and the like. Bran appreciates them (yes, I told him) and is heartened by all the care…as am I.

He’ll have to wear a medic-alert bracelet from now on. We’ll have to take it to a jeweler to get the chain lengthened. They gave him a heart healthy breakfast and lunch. Sadly they weren’t diabetic healthy meals. This means he hasn’t had a whole lot of food today. Hopefully supper will be better for him.

Right now he’s in the CCU in bed 9. He hopes to be transferred to a regular ward but doesn’t know when that’ll happen. Probably not until tomorrow at earliest since they’re not letting him put his legs over the side of the bed yet. Tonight the nurse is going to let him get up and do some stretching. That’s all the physical activity they’re allowing for now.

There’s no word on when he’ll be getting out. The cardiologist will be installing another stent in an artery sometime before they cut him loose. Bran doens’t know when that’s going to get done. It looks like it’s going to be a while though.

We kept our visit short as I was finding myself getting agitated and that was affecting him.

If you’re going to visit him keep in mind that they only allow 2 visitors at a time. I don’t know what the visiting hours are, a quick call will tell you that. Also keep in mind that RUH parking lots are also expensive…usuriously expensive.

I shall be going to visit him in a little while. I’ll let you all know what rules CCU has around visiting and which room he’s in. I’m sure that he’ll enjoy getting visitors.

Now I’m off to pack up some toiletries and such for him. I don’t know how long they’re going to hold onto him, so I have to plan for a bit of a stay.

Thank you, friends, for your concern and such. I’ll be sure to let him know.