Long roads ahead...

I hate to just pop in here and be full of crappy news but I wanted to write this all down.

Two weeks ago a kid who just turned 17 went over the handlebars of his mountain bike and broke his neck. We've known him since he was just a baby and watched him grow up. His parents are separated and neither one of them is the brightest bulb on the tree. The kid had enough challenges in life with the parents he was dealt, often waiting around outside the Legion while his Dad sat and drank. We used to snowmobile with the Dad and the kid would always ask to ride with me. I always let him because I felt he was safer on my machine. He's paralyzed from the waist down and now has a huge challenge ahead of him. I felt sick when I heard about it and wished there was something I could do. They had to do surgery to remove part of his hip bone to attach to his spine to enable him to sit unassisted in his wheelchair. I've been told the surgery went well.

A couple days later a close girlfriend's son who has Crohn's Disease had to be rushed to Ottawa to the same hospital that the other kid was in. He ended up having to have a section of his bowel removed on his 12th birthday. Two out of three of their children have Crohn's and the treatments and frequent trips to Ottawa have been very financially draining on them. The dad had just returned to work - he's a logger and self-employed - and ended up having to take another week off to be with the son. Again I felt very helpless, not being able to go and support my friends while they went through this. His surgery went well and they are hopeful that this will enable him to not have to have the monthly treatments to keep him out of the hospital.

Then, late last week my other girlfriend, who is on dialysis because of kidney failure, developed a blot clot. At first the clot was in her arm and it threatened her fistula (the permanent thing in her arm for her dialysis). Then the blod clot moved to her aorta and threatened her life. Her blood pressure skyrocketed and she stopped breathing a couple of times and it was very touch and go most of this week. On Monday night they didn't think she was going to make it through the night. Her sister, my other girlfriend, was terrified of losing her sister. They're so close. The sister had donated a kidney to her in 2000 but after two years of relatively good health, the kidney rejected and she had to begin daily dialysis. The girfriend with the son with Crohn's and the sister's and I are all best friends. If you remember me talking about the girl's weekend at the cottage in May, it was these girls who were all there.

On Tuesday night the sister stopped by on her way home from the hospital and we bawled our eyes out together. She was so emotionally wrung out from all of this. She told me how her sister had become so afraid of dying and had begged her to take care of her two daughters if anything happened to her. My friend has always been such a fighter and has fought her way through so many surgeries had almost lost her will to live. It was gut wrenching. The nurses said that her blood pressure had to come down or we would lose her. Last night we finally got the call we'd been hoping for and heard that her BP was down and, while she isn't out of the woods yet, she is doing much better. Like the other two, she still has a long road ahead of her.

After my friend left the other night I called my sister and cried on her shoulder for a while. I told her how much I loved having her for a sister and how grateful I was that we are all healthy. It's been a long couple of weeks and I haven't been online much because I was trying to keep the phone line free. I've missed you all.

Last night Jamie called. I can't remember if I told you about him having a car accident a couple weeks ago. He was driving to work in Sudbury and met a half ton truck who lost a tire. His car was a write off but he was not hurt which was the important part. Last night he called to complain about how bummed out he was because he had to give the rental car back and he still didn't have a replacement car. I swear I turned into my Mom and gave him the "Don't sweat the small stuff" speech. He needed to hear it. I know I've been guilty of whining over small stuff many times too but every once in a while we all need a reminder of just how lucky we are when we have our health.

love & hugs...

RockStars & Capri Cults

As promised, here are a couple pics from the concert. There would likely be more if it didn't take me 15 minutes per pic to load them. Stooopid dial up!!! One thing I miss about my old job is high speed internet access!

It's been hot and sunny a lot lately and I ended up having to buy MORE clothes because every pair of pants I owned were dark black or blue. I've been watching what the other ladies at work were wearing and every last one of them were sporting capris! I've hated capris ever since they became popular and swore I'd never own a pair. Well, never say never because today I joined the capri cult and wore my first pair to work. On top of the fact that they were capris, they were beige and I haven't worn beige on my bottom half, in like, ever! I topped it off with a chocolate brown sleeveless tank (another color I haven't worn forever) and I have to believe that they've brainwashed me somehow! What's happening to me? *giggle*

We've been busy at the cottage. We're still having water issues. Two weekends ago we spent $260 on a new pump/motor. This weekend it was $240 on a new pressure tank. Still not working right. It's either an air bubble in the water line that's in the lake or the electrical line isn't heavy enough for the load. I'm leaning more towards the bubble. That means we have to go out in the paddle boat and somehow get the bubble out of the pipe. If the lake bottom was sandy it wouldn't be a problem but it's what I loving refer to as loonshit. Even Holly sinks up to her belly when she walks on it and she only weighs 10 lbs. On Sunday we took the day off and went fishing. When we got back to the cottage I cut the grass and wanted a quick shower to get the grass off me. That's when we discovered that the tank hadn't solved the problem. $500 later and still not right. Needless to say, we were not happy campers.


On the bright side, we managed to get the garden planted, even though one of the neighborhood dogs came tearing through it as soon as I was done. I'm thinking I may end up with a row of mixed vegetables. *grin*

I'm so excited about Niagara now. I've been bored to tears lately and I can't wait to get away and see some people. Things are so different this summer without our friends (the ones who split up) on the other side of the lake. It's been pretty quiet at the cottage. Dusterboy doesn't mind. He's a bit of a hermit while I'm more of a social butterfly.

Work is going well. I haven't been terribly busy and it's driving me absolutelyeffingnuts to have high speed internet access at my fingertips and not be able to use it. It's taking every single ounce of willpower I have not to check up on the blogs from work. I've got about 4 1/2 more months of probation before I'll even think about chancing it. *sigh*

As always, miss you all! *smooooooches* Special hugs for my Buggybaby! Love ya Bug! I'm thinking of you!