Tim's New Aorta - Pictures

The surgeon left Tim with a sample of the graft that was used to repair his aorta.




The surgeon repaired from right below the renal arteries (arteries to the kidneys) down to where the aorta splits into the iliac arteries in the pelvis. I'm not really sure how long that is but I do know how long his incision is (quite long - 39 staples). The nurse changed the dressing yesterday afternoon and he is going to have quite the souvenir when this is all finished.

Tim Latest Adventure?

This is another 'you might want to grab a coffee before you sit down' post. It's pretty lengthy.

On our way to the hospital very early Tuesday morning, Tim turned to us and with a smile said that he felt like was going on a trip. I think if he knew then, what he knows now, this is one trip he would have passed on.

The whole pre-surgery stuff went well. We met with a nurse who went over a lot of questions that he had all ready answered in the pre-surgery consultation a couple of weeks ago, checked his vitals, prepped him and he was good to go at about 7:30 (surgery was at 8:00). We just had to wait for the anesthetist to come speak with him and then he would be taken to the operating room. While waiting Tim was getting a little antsy. He said that physically he felt great, that he really wanted to do something, perhaps some yoga but what he really wanted to do was run. The anesthetist showed up at about 7:50 and he was great. He explained everything that he was going to do and exactly how he was going to do it. His OR nurse introduced herself, checked the information on his bracelets to make sure they matched what she had, told Tim to give me his glasses, grabbed his arm and down the hall they walked.

Lisa and I went for a walk and grabbed some breakfast. I had asked the surgeon to come speak with me when the operation was finished so we made sure we were back at the hospital well before the 2 hours were up. His surgery was expected to be 2 hours but I was told if it took longer than that not to be concerned. It was about 10:40 when the surgeon showed up and he said the operation went really well and that Tim would be in Recovery for a while and moved to the Surgical Coronary Care Unit (SCCU) later in the afternoon.

Rather than sit around the hospital and wait, Lisa and I went to the mall for a while. She needed some maternity clothes and there was a store at Orchard Park that had some good deals. We spent some of Tim's money, grabbed some lunch and went back to the hospital. We went up to SCCU and there was an elderly volunteer manning the door. I gave her Tim's name and she checked the list and his name wasn't there. She called inside to see if he was expected and he wasn't on the list to come later in the day either. I was getting a little worked up because this volunteer, even though she was probably trying very hard to be helpful, wasn't really being helpful at all. She told us to go see someone in Recovery and kind of pointed down a hallway and said to go that way. We eventually returned to where we were in the morning but there wasn't anyone around and I wasn't going to go through the door that said "No Unauthorized Personnel Beyond This Point" Fortunately there was someone with a hospital badge folding some sheets down the hall a bit and I asked her if she could help me. Within a couple of minutes she had a nurse from Recovery come out and speak with us and both Lisa and I were allowed to go in for a little while to visit with him.

Tim didn't look too bad. His colour was good, he was alert, coherent and talkative. We could also tell he was on some heavy duty pain medication and this was evident in his voice and words. The best was when he asked us what we did during the day. When we told him about our shopping expedition, he asked Lisa if she bought any dresses. Lisa is not a dress person, I can't remember the last time I saw her in a dress. Tim got this dreamy look in his eyes (or perhaps it was his drug induced glassy eyed look) and said in this dreamy-like voice, "Dresses are just so cool. You know, if I was a girl, I would wear a dress all the time." I wonder if he remembers this conversation.

His Recovery nurse was wonderful. She said that Tim being able to see us was extremely important for his recovery and when we left she gave us the hospital phone number and told me I could call later to see how he was doing and then again in the morning to find out what was going on with regards to where Tim might be for the day. When I phoned the hospital at night, the person I spoke with said that they don't take phone calls in Recovery and when I explained the situation, she was extremely compassionate and said she would call up and see if anyone was able to speak with me. Within seconds I was speaking with Tim's nurse and she let me know that he was doing good and asked if I wanted to speak with him. I never anticipated being able to speak with him and I cannot tell you how grateful I was to be able to hear his voice. The phone call in the morning didn't go so well. I got transferred all over the hospital, eventually ended up being transferred to the emergency fire line and let me tell you, the woman on the other end was extremely unpleasant and very rude. I didn't get to say anything, she just ranted at me for a minute and then hung up and I had to start all over again. Finally someone transferred me to Recovery and by this time I was getting pretty close to meltdown mode but as soon as I gave them my name, they knew exactly who I was and again, within seconds I was speaking with Tim's nurse who told me everything I needed to know. She even took my number and said she would try to find time to get the phone to Tim so he could call me. Not more than 2 minutes later my phone was ringing. They were waiting for the surgeon to come in and hopefully downgrade his condition so he could be moved to a regular room. If he wasn't stable enough to be transferred he would have to stay there and that would mean absolutely no visitors because they were anticipating a very busy day. I was getting quite worked up about maybe not being able to see him but she called back a couple of hours later to let me know that he was being moved, when he was being moved and where I would be able to find him.

Lisa and I got up to the hospital a little after lunch to find Tim not doing so good. He seemed to be in quite a bit of discomfort and was having difficulty getting comfortable. When we came back he seemed to be feeling a bit better. He thought he even felt well enough to watch the hockey game tonight so Lisa went down to the nurses' station to see what she could do to make that happen. The tv guy had all ready left for the day but because it was special circumstances (the Canucks playing, not because it was Tim!) and there were a few people wanting tv service, they called him back so it could be done. We stayed until he started dozing again and I was going to take Lisa home and then come back up after dinner. I figured I could watch a bit of the first period with her and then head back up to Kelowna and still have an hour or so to visit with him. The game was on the PVR so I could just finish it when I got home later. Well, the traffic was backed up all the way to the hospital and there was no way I was going to be able to get home and then come back before visiting hours were over. Lisa was tired but she said that when I told Tim I was coming back after dinner, she could see that it meant a lot to him so she said why don't we just grab something to eat and then go back to the hospital. We went to Kelseys because we figured they would have the game on. We watched the first period and then stopped in briefly at Chapters so Lisa could pick up a book to read while we sat with Tim.

When we got there, Tim had the TV on, the headphones were on his chest and he was sleeping. He must have watched some of the game but I guess he wasn't feeling as good as he had hoped. We couldn't let the tv rental go to waste so Lisa and I watched the rest of the game (no sound which was okay because there was only one set of headphones and when I put them on, I couldn't hear anything anyway.) Tim stirred once in a while and but slept most of the time. We did not make a sound when the Canucks scored but Tim must have sensed victory because he woke up, asked who scored, watched the replay and went back to sleep. The game ended 2 minutes before visiting hours were over (lucky for us) and we helped Tim get situated with his pillows, gave him a kiss and left him sleeping.

I am hoping to spend most of the day with him tomorrow. I started crocheting an afghan the day before he had his surgery because I knew I needed something to keep my mind occupied and I knew I wouldn't be able to concentrate enough to be able to read. I call it the aorta afghan or aortagan for short. I am just going to sit with him and crochet. When he is able to talk, we'll talk but when he wants to sleep, I'll just sit there and be with him.

How I Spent My 23rd Wedding Anniversary - Mountain Biking

Last Saturday was our 23rd wedding anniversary and we decided to spend it mountain biking the trestles at Myra Canyon. We've been up there a couple times before but haven't been up there since the trestles were rebuilt after the Kelowna fire in 2003. I knew that the trestles were at a higher elevation but I honestly didn't even think about the possibility of snow and ice. The first part of the trail was very muddy but the trail was fairly clear of snow.

The trail started to be snow covered in spots but we were still able to ride through it no problem.

It then got to the point where we had to push our bikes through the snow. It was fairly compact in the centre but when I stepped over to the side, my leg sunk into the snow to my knee. We didn't make it much further before we decided to turn around and go try the Mission Creek Greenway, a path that runs through the city of Kelowna.

The Greenway was much nicer to ride. From snow to flowers in 15 minutes! It was sunny, the path was clear but there were certainly more hills and stairs than there are at the trestles. I thought it would be more like the KVR trail behind our house where it is a slight grade either up or down but it was quite hilly.

And yes, that is blood on my left ankle. While pushing my bike through the snow I hit my ankle against the pedal (more than once!) and ended up with a few gouges. It didn't hurt too bad until I tried washing all the dried blood off!

What Did I Do In April?

Hard to believe that May is just around the corner and I look back at the month of April and question myself as to what I actually accomplished. It must be an age thing because I can barely remember what I did yesterday!

I bought a new bike (or did I do that in March?) Tim and I had some money set aside for when I reach lifetime member status at Weight Watchers (which was back in December) and I have been thinking and thinking about what to get. Originally I was thinking a ring but I was able to get my jade ring that Tim brought back from Thailand resized and I don't think I would find a ring I like more than this one. I like riding my bike to work when the weather is good but I don't do it very often simply because I have to store my bike in the basement and it is just too darn heavy for me to carry up and down the stairs. I've wanted a lighter bike for a couple of years and it came to me, why don't I use the money to buy a new bike. I got a Specialized Myka and it is so light I can easily carry it down the stairs or throw it in the back of the truck. The seat is little too small and hard so I'd like to get a new seat (or see if my old one will fit on it) but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

We also took a trip down to the coast for the Sun Run. We both took Friday off work and went down to spend a day with Lisa before the run on Sunday. We had a great visit with her and Frank and also got to meet Frank's parents. They seem like very nice people and are very supportive of Lisa and the baby (their first grandchild too.) Frank is a big family man and is very close to his parents and sister and knowing that they are there for Lisa eases my mind about her being so far away. I'm sure if she ever needed anything, they would be right there to help. Lisa came back with us to Penticton after the race for a visit and it was a great visit. Frank came up to Penticton on his own the day before so they were both here. Tim put Frank to work in the orchard pounding posts and I give him a lot of credit. I only had to help Tim put in a few posts and that was enough for me but he was out there for a long time pounding posts.

While in Vancouver we went to the Canucks store (boy was it busy) and stopped at Mountain Equipment Coop. I got a "This is what we live for" 2011 Canucks playoff shirt and at MEC we bought a new tent so I think we are all set for backpacking.


Our friends Glenda and Eric (Sun Run, Bugaboos, Heather Trail) met us at MEC and we all went out for dinner (Lisa too) to this great Thai restaurant on Robson St. Our hotel (Sandman) this year was much closer to the start and finish of the run, which was a lot more convenient than the hotel we stayed in last year. I think this hotel is now the official hotel for any future Sun Run weekend adventures.

The run went well. I beat my time from last year by a couple minutes and I certainly felt much better this year after I was done than last year. It was nuts crossing the finish line. I guess someone ahead of us had collapsed and it caused this huge jam of people. It must have taken us a couple of minutes to go the last 20 meters. And yes, I did take this into account for my final time. I had my Garmin on and I stopped it as soon as I couldn't move anymore and then added a few seconds. Next year I hope to go even faster!


I watched a lot of hockey this month. Well maybe some would think it a lot of hockey but I think it is just the right amount and I am so very glad (and relieved!) that the Canucks made it to the second round. The second round starts tonight and I'll have at least 4 more Canucks games to watch. I joined Tim's hockey pool at work and am very proud to say that I am in second place. Tim is tied for 11th place and he's been complaining that I copied off of him. If I did copy of him, wouldn't you expect Tim to be doing as good, if not better than me. Maybe next year I'll let him copy off of me. Now watch me plummet to the bottom in the standings after bragging about my stellar picks. As long as the Canucks stay in it, I should be able to remain high in the standings but if they get knocked out, I won't have a chance.

March Musings

I don't lead a very exciting life which translates into not having much to write about. Maybe others feel I live an exciting life but the truth is, I live a very hum drum existence.

I looked over March 2010's posts and I could simply copy and paste for 2011. I did the same things last March that I did this March. Hockey tournament in Princeton, 5k run. At least I am consistent.

I beat my time last year for the 5k run, not by much, but all I wanted to do was be faster this year and I was. This year was 34:47 (last year was 35:23).

In case you don't recognize me, I'm the one in the light blue. This was at near the beginning of the race.

This is just before the finish line - looking a little worse for wear. Tim came down for the end of the race and brought his camera. I had no idea he was coming and it was just by chance I was looking in his direction. If I had known he was taking my picture, I would have tried to not have such a pained expression on my face. Boy, do I look old. However, there is nothing I can do about that!

Last night was my last Saturday night hockey in Summerland. We played against the guys (Tim included.) It was girls vs guys, normally we mix the teams up a bit but I think our coach wanted the girls to get more experience playing as a team. I started as a forward (my usual position) but got moved to defense where I have absolutely no idea what I am doing. But you know what, I really enjoyed it. My defense partner was great support and helped me a lot with respect to where I should be on the ice. I hesitated about playing defense in the past because I don't know what I'm doing and wasn't confident in my skating ability to be able to go from forward to backward quickly and be able to skate backwards fast enough. It was a lot of fun last night, even with that big goon pushing me all over the ice. That big goon also got a couple of penalties. I don't think they were real penalties, I just think the coach wanted one less guy on the ice to even things up a bit. There is still hockey in West Kelowna for the next 3 Sundays and I'm in a tournament at the end of the month, but then that's it until fall. I'll have to start working on my off-ice conditioning!

With the time change today I am running a bit behind. I have a lot I want to get done today and an hour less to do it in. However, it isn't like I am going to get everything on my list accomplished anyhow. I have a bunch of books to donate to the library and some clothes and household stuff for big brothers and sisters. I've had the stuff sitting around the house in boxes for a couple of months and I guess Tim is getting a little tired of seeing it.

Oh, and there is a big clearance sale at WalMart in West Kelowna so I am planning on going early to hockey and checking out the bargains. If only I played hockey as well as I shopped!

Second Place

This past weekend my hockey team participated in a hockey tournament in Princeton. We hoped to repeat last year's performance where we won the tournament, but this year it was not to be. We won 3 of our games but lost in the finals.



This picture was just before the final game, which explains why we aren't all sweaty and our hair still looks good. It was a fun weekend - a great group of women, 4 games of hockey and lots of laughs.


The only unfortunate incident was that one of our players ended up being taken to the hospital by ambulance. A couple of the teams we played were made up of younger women (girls really) who play a more physical game. I don't mind being pushed around on the ice, but I do mind if someone sticks their stick between my legs and hauls me down to the ice, or grabs my stick and doesn't let go. I'm probably 15-20 years older than most of the players on the other teams and have a quarter of the skill they have so that kind of play really isn't necessary. I end up on the ice a lot on my own, I don't need help getting there. It was near the end of our final game and my team mate was hit, ended up whacking her head on the ice and was out cold. I was on the ice at the time but didn't see the hit, only her laying there after. It was pretty scary. She definitely has a concussion and I'm sure will have one doozy of a headache and backache for a while.


After 2 games of hockey Saturday and 2 games on Sunday I was tired, but still felt pretty good. I decided I felt good enough to still go to women's drop in hockey in West Kelowna Sunday night. What was I thinking?? There were only 6 women there so playing 3 on 3 was brutal. Well, it was more like 3 on 2 because I was useless! But, it was still fun.

Christmas and Ontario Highlights

(When I first sat down to update the blog, I thought I would have nothing to say. Obviously I had more than I thought and you might want to grab a cup of tea or coffee before you sit down!)

We've been home from our Ontario trip for over a week now and I figured it was time to update the blog. This Christmas was the very first where Lisa did not live close enough to be able to spend the day with us at home so Tim and I decided we would go to her. We took the bus down to Vancouver on Christmas Eve and spent most of Christmas day with her and her boyfriend Frank and then flew out to Ontario Christmas night.

Our bus out of Penticton was late leaving and when we arrived in West Kelowna to change buses, imagine my despair to find out our bus was full and had all ready left. The bus driver dropped us off and said that another bus should be coming by, but to me he didn't sound all that confident. Of course, I spent the next 15 minutes or so until a bus did come by fretting and getting all worked up. An empty bus did come by to pick us up (there was only 7 of us) and we headed off. The weather was extremely foggy and then rain, rain, and more rain all the way into Vancouver. I was very glad we decided to take a bus rather than drive ourselves. We arrived later in the evening and Lisa and Frank picked us up in his big truck. I don't know anything about trucks (except that I had to haul myself up into this one) but Tim seemed quite impressed.

Christmas day was wonderful. It started off with cinnamon buns - good for Lisa for continuing the Christmas cinnamon bun tradition - and I have to say, her cinnamon buns were amazing and beat mine hands down. She even had cream cheese icing! Of course the coffee was excellent. Being a Starbucks employee, my daughter can certainly make a good cup of coffee (and I got a coffee press and a pound of coffee for Christmas!) I also got a pair of absolutely beautiful silver earrings that she had bought at Ten Thousand Villages (a fair trade store).

Lisa and Frank

Frank drives a dump truck and another highlight of my Christmas morning was sitting in his dump truck. He turned it on and boy is that thing loud! Tim not only got to sit in it, he got to dump the load of water that had accumulated in the back from all the rain.

We then all headed downtown to go skating at the outside rink at Robson Square. Lisa has been taking skating lessons and she is becoming quite the good skater. Now we just have to get her some hockey equipment and she will be all set. She lives close to an arena that offers lots of opportunities for beginning women hockey players.

Of course, being the safety conscious individual I am, I have my helmet on.

We then went out for lunch and I was amazed at the number of restaurants that were open. I had the best $2.50 hot dog!

Lisa forgot to take the hamburger out of the fridge for the Christmas dinner meatloaf so we drove around and found this Chinese grocery store that was open. We all went in and I swear, it was just like being back in China - the smells, the crowd of people and all this live fish, crabs, shrimp and other unknown sea creatures (and then there was this box of fish heads...) Tim just thought it was the best thing.

Dinner was excellent and after dinner Lisa and Frank took us to this park where we were able to go for a little bit of a walk before they dropped us off at the airport. It was so nice to spend the day with her and Frank and get to know Frank a bit better.

The red eye flight was uneventful and I was even able to sleep for a bit. It was a little difficult because the arm of the gentleman beside me kept falling onto my leg. We got into Toronto at 7 a.m and Tim's brother Mark and our nieces Jazmine and Jade were there to greet us. They dropped us off at Tim's parent's house and we had most of the day to rest up for the big Boxing Day dinner for the entire family. Again, it was a great dinner. (I'll just say now that all the food was amazing and I definitely ate way too much but boy, was it good.) and "steal the present" was the highlight of the night. I still feel bad about taking the remote control helicopter away from Jade, especially since I didn't end up with it (thanks to a steal by Caine.) I did end up with a set of mixing bowls and a Durham Mental Health Services umbrella and cloth bag. The umbrella must have been the gift of 2010 because by the end of our vacation, I think everyone had one!

We spent until Jan. 2 in Port Perry and it was fun watching the jr. hockey games with the family. What was even better was playing our own hockey. Tim's parents live on Lake Scugog, which was frozen, and a neighbour had cleared away some snow and we were able to get out there with our skates, stick and a ball. We were also able to play some outdoor hockey on a small pond in Whitby close to Mark, Tammy, Jazmine and Jade's house. I would like to thank Jazmine and Jade for getting out there and playing with us - it certainly was a lot of fun and one of the highlights of my vacation.

From left to right: Jazmine, me, Mark and Jade. Just prior to this picture being taken, Mark and I had won the game against Tim, Jade and Jazmine.

New Year's Eve was spent at Mark and Tammy's watching the hockey game and again, having more delicious food. I'm still dreaming about that squash stuffed with risotto and cheese! Jade quite likes Christmas crackers and we all had to pull our crackers and everyone had to wear their crowns. I felt very honoured when Jade gave me a very special crown to wear - much nicer than others.

Notice the squash!

Mark was able to arrange using his LCD projector at work so Tim was able to show everyone our pictures from the Bugaboos, Moab and his trip to Mt. Robson. We then played Taboo and I was very impressed with Tim and Mark's Taboo skills. By the time we finished the game and had a hot tub, it was quite late getting to bed and with our 5 km Resolution Run on January 1, more sleep probably would have been beneficial.

The Resolution Run was a family affair with Mark, Tammy, Jazmine, Jade, Tim and I participating. It was raining and the race took us through a developing subdivision so it was quite muddy in spots. We all did great and the best thing - we all now have matching jackets!

Left to right: Tammy, me, Jazmine, Mark, Tim and Jade.

We spent Jan 2nd until the 5th in Tillsonburg visiting my side of the family. My mom was able to arrange for me to have lunch with her and my Aunt Lyn and Aunt Betty and it was so nice to spend time with them. I have always enjoyed the company of my mom and her two sisters and one of my fondest memories while growing up was taking the train to Toronto with them and shopping for my graduation dress. The food at my mom's was excellent - especially the burritos and the cheesecake and pineapple upside down cake... yummy. We had a good visit with Aunt Betty and Uncle Fred (and thanks for the egg salad sandwiches - especially since I found out my Aunt Betty doesn't even like egg salad and remember - the Christmas decorations are under the bed!) and with my Aunt Lyn and Uncle Al. It was also fun watching the Canada vs US jr. hockey game at my mom's because she spent most of the game with her eyes covered asking us what was happening! (She really didn't want the US to win.) We are hoping to go back to Ontario again in August and I think on that trip I will try and spend a few days at my mom's by myself. It would be nice for just the two of us to spend some time together.

The last couple days were spent watching the gold medal hockey game at Mark and Tammy's (and again eating delicious food) and Tammy had arranged for us to play a lacrosse game with her team. I had played lacrosse once before with Tammy the last time we were in Ontario but this was a coed team so Tim could play as well. Tim and I practiced in the afternoon and to be honest, I was a little concerned about my lack of skill and I didn't think Tim was all that skilled either. He must have just been holding back so I didn't feel so bad because once we were playing the game, he was running all over the place making and receiving passes,and shooting on net. To me, he looked like he had been playing for years. I was pretty proud of myself in that I did scoop the ball off the ground once and successfully pass it to someone on my team. It was fun and I would play again with Tammy if I have the opportunity but I don't think I'll ever become a lacrosse player. Skating is so much easier than running!

Our last night was spent with Tim's parents and his brothers and their wives. It was a fun evening, full of laughs and an excellent way to end the trip. It was quite snowy on the morning we left and the drive to the airport was a little scary. I don't like the 401 at the best of times and when there is poor visibility and snow covered lanes, I like it even less. We made it safely to the airport but our flight was delayed for 90 minutes due to the weather. I was a little worked up that we would miss our connecting flight in Vancouver but it ended up that flight was late as well so everything worked out okay. I seem to get worked up about a lot of things needlessly.

It was good to get home. I think the dog was very happy to see us and the chickens probably didn't even notice we had left! Now life is back to same old, same old - work, hockey, work, more hockey (you get the picture!)