Phase 3 in Ontario

For those of you who do not know we live in Ontario. Ontario and the rest of Canada can be quite proud in saying that we have successfully flattened the curve. That being said here in Ontario we are still in phase 2 where we can have restaurant patios open but not as of yet bars, indoor dining, gyms, indoor swimming pools, and gatherings of more than ten. There are probably a few others as well that I may have overlooked.

In Ontario today we had 138 new infections. That out of a total of 14 million people who live in Ontario which if you do the math is not a very high percentage. In fact out of all the reporting centers in the province there are only about eight that report any cases at all. There were about 21,000 tests yesterday which works out to about 0.6% positive test results. So what we have been doing has been working.

Everyone is doing a real good job in this hot dry spell that we are having doing the social distancing and wearing the mask. We ate on a patio the other day and the waitress asked for a phone number in case someone might have had it so they can contact trace everyone who was there around the same time. Where I live in Guelph Ontario masks are mandatory when you enter a place of business or use transportation. Everyone is complying with the rules.

The Ontario Medical Officer has been very slow in getting to phase 3. I know they would all like the case count to go to zero but that is just wishful thinking. They have to soon move on to the next phase. Not to be an alarmist but once we open up some more our cases may spike a bit but sooner rather than later they have to get going and dive into the pool.

The shutdown for some of these businesses has brought in zero income. Some takeout businesses for restaurants without patios but hardly enough. It has been since March 13th when the writ came down to lock it down. Yes some admittedly got help when their landlord signed onto the the Canadian Rent Subsidy Program which lowered the rent to 25% of what they had to cover but that was only for 3 months. In other words April May and June. Now July 1st is gone. What about that rent? There was a survey out the past week saying up to 78% small businesses will not be able to make rent.

We drove through downtown Guelph and there was a lot of small businesses just boarded up. Gone.

Restaurants will disappear soon as well. Nail salons ( forgot to mention those ) , gyms, a lot of retail stores will close with head offices now streamlining the ones worth keeping open and closing the others. Malls will be half full.

Now studies show if people are in a closed area like indoor dining the two meter rule will not really matter because studies show airborne droplets can be sent further than the rule because the air circulation can spread the droplets far. Now if diners are sitting for a minimum of an hour they have a more than likely chance of contracting the virus. Bars will be worse. The young crowd will risk it then catch it unknowingly in a lot of cases and spread it to their close contacts. All we can hope for is for every person in Ontario to be careful and just keep doing what we are doing. In South Korea they killed it then the bars opened and voila! Infections spread up again even outside the main city center of Seoul.

But we have to get on with it sooner or later or there will not be many of your favorite restaurants, nail salons, and gyms kicking around. But then my prediction is these places will have started so far behind and now with the added headache , albeit necessary, of enforcing social distancing and buying PPE equipment and sanitizers what is the profit remaining? Will it be worth it?

Look for a lot of small  businesses that have not yet closed because of the government handout keeping them alive like a ventilator to be extinguishing their dreams this summer. It may just not be worth it. Then you have the jobless but that is for another post.

Oh yes and the movie theatres too!

Rick's Cafe

When I was staying at the Hedonism in Jamaica back in 1985,  and if you want to check out the place you can click on the resort by clicking on the name to redirect you to it,  there was a place down the road called Rick's Café. The location of Rick's Café is known for it's spectacular sunset. One evening I had to check it out.

I do not remember the cliff diving though so I included a video of someone with a lifeguard shirt who has obviously done this before. I did a bungee jump in my last post but I couldn't do this. It has a cool Bob Marley song while you watch him climb high for the jump. The dive to the water is really fast which makes me think this was edited and no one actually does this jump but let's pretend everyone does just for now.

Jamaica is quite a place to visit. It is pretty chill there as you can imagine. Had a nice day trip and scaled up Dunn River Falls which was pretty cool as well. Other than than it was nude sunbathing. eating, drinking, and toga parties at the resort. Below is the video and some photos I snatched from the web site. Like I said I was never big into photos. I wish they had smartphones back then.                      
                                                     Diver Jumping at Rick's Cafe

        

Makassar now but formerly Ujung Pandang

To take a break from my lengthy 3 year recounting of what exactly where I was till now I have decided every other day to post a place where I have been.

As you may have noticed on the right hand side of the page there is a book in which I recount some of the experiences over my youthful years. All these places I saw were not all expense paid vacations but simply a reward for doing something I loved. I never thought I would be able to see such places at any time and certainly not now as I approach the golden years. Having a family kind of puts an end to thinking about going to places like Ujung Pandang now called Makassar.

It was 1995 on New Year's Day I landed in Singapore to work with Renaissance Cruises as a Captain in the dining room. It was my fifth contract with them and I was having a good time. We were scheduled to do 10 day cruises between Singapore and Bali. Usually the stops were all the same but on this contract rather than see the well known places I got the opportunity to catch a glimpse of some others that I never heard of like this one.

Indonesia was pretty cool but some of these out of the way places really gave the tourist a different prospective. There was less commercial spots around where tourists would go to buy souvenirs. Even though this was a port city the locals couldn't care less about the tourists which made it all the better. Although right now I see there are close to two million people who live there and has a bit of tourism going but 25 years ago on that day anyway it seemed pretty quiet. It is a big city in the south of the island of Sulawesi.

In fact all the passengers went on a tour taking them to somewhere else so it was free time for us during lunch. This gave us a chance to check it out.

I never took photos which I sort of regret but a lot of our travels and memories we saved on CD Rom downloaded from our video camera thanks mainly to my wife. She was never with me at this place though to take a photo.

What I can tell you are two things. One is I had my first and only ride in a rickshaw. A bunch of us did that. The second was when we were walking around we saw an outdoor classroom with primary age school students in it. When they saw us walking by they started laughing and pointing their finger at me. The teacher waved me over and explained they thought I looked like a giant. Now it's pretty rare you see a tall Indonesian from what I noticed. I think I looked like a basketball player to them.

Anyway I played the part and signed a few autographs for the kids who were holding out a pen and paper. I think I said make sure you listen to the teacher and do good in school!

That was February 7th of that year. My 36th birthday!

Operation Day

I think I was not quite over the pneumonia but here it was March 1st. We set the alarm to wake us up at 5AM and in the shower I went to give myself a good wash for the second time with this sponge that had I guess this special soap to disinfect the area of my spleen that was going to be cut.

Fasting for 12 hours now I couldn't eat which was pretty standard before submitting to an operation. Arriving to register at 7AM they led us to a room where the stretcher was situated and a chair for the wife. I took a seat on the stretcher after changing into the gown and they took my blood work as usual. I recognized the nurse and we chatted a bit and laughed because usually he is doing my blood work to match for the transfusions I often took.

We were hoping that the removal of the spleen would solve my blood issues because I honestly felt that the enlarged spleen was the reason my hemoglobin, white blood cells and platelets were so low.

At 9Am a nurse came in and led us to the operating table. My wife Soley was given a number to watch a television monitor in the waiting area updating her as to when the operation was over. She wished me luck and I was sped off to the operating room. I didn't know what to expect but I did not expect a big room with many operations going on at the same time.

I transferred myself to the operating table. There were a couple of assistants around me then I saw the surgeon arrive all dressed up looking at the blood work. I saw his face and he sort of had a funny look when he turned to one of his assistants and murmured something about the platelet count. They were making sure that there were some spare pints in the blood bank if I needed them. He came over and said hello with a grin. I asked about the platelets and he turned serious right away so I decided this was not a time to crack a joke. I kept my mouth shut after that.

The anesthesiologist  arrived as they were strapping me down to restrict any movement so as not to interfere with the operation. I felt all secure like I was an astronaut before take off.

I was told that she would be putting me under very quickly timed to last for the time needed but if there was something wrong  I would need to go to ICU and be put under for 24 hours. Not sure why that was but I thought it would have to be pretty serious for that to occur.

All this was new for me having a major operation. Just another life experience I thought to myself. This is interesting to read for those who have never had an operation so I will detail for you now what happened afterwards.

The operation lasted longer than expected and fortunately did not need to use to extra blood that was put aside in case it was needed. I was wheeled out and Soley was last left in the waiting room getting kind of worried as time crept on. It was a big incision closed up by 26 staples right up the center of my stomach.

I waited for a room to be available when the surgeon came over and said that no one could tell me that they had a bigger spleen than I did. He also added that no matter what happens from then on the spleen had to come out.

Soley had to head back to work and after she left shortly thereafter I was sent to a room shared by three others. Water was the only beverage I was allowed to drink. No food even though I was getting hungry. Took it easy the rest of the day. I had a catheter up you know what and another tube stuck on the far  left side of my belly for drainage I guess. I was able to walk around but with that catheter it was kind of funny when I felt like to pee it would come through this hose.

The next day the surgeon came to check on how I was doing. I complained I needed some food. He looked back at me with shock. He asked if I was really hungry and I quickly replied that I was. Usually people suffer nausea a lot after this type of operation so with some trepidation he gave permission for a liquid diet. So that consisted of some soup, jello, and a juice really.

When the nurse pulled that catheter out of my you know what before she did she asked me to take a bit of a deep breath while she did it. Well I did and was amazed how long this hose was inserted in me. I gasped a bit and blurted out, "Holy cow." Then she said be glad you are under when they put this in. Yes no kidding! The other hose on my left side was pulled out but that was a bit weird because all that was left was a flap of skin that didn't look like it was attached to my body.

Now my oxygen showed it was low probably because of the pneumonia I had that was hanging around from before. On the 5th day I was discharged and happy to be home where I could eat to my hearts content.

So that was the operation. Was it over now? I thought so when the surgeon came in one day and relayed to me that my blood work had improved too. Awesome I thought. I have to be home free now.

Such Fucking Positivity!

Picking up where I left off yesterday my hematologist set up an appointment with the surgeon who had lots of experience removing spleens I was told. That is always comforting when you hear that because who wants someone who has performed a few.

So we go to this appointment and the surgeon starts looking at my spleen x-ray and latest bloodwork then he starts talking about my case in sort of a funny way. He is looking at my platelet count and it is really low with a reading of 70. The normal reading should be anywhere from 150 on the low end to 400. Now the platelets are necessary because that is what clots the blood when you start to bleed. His concern was excessive bleeding that would take place during the operation that would cause a big loss of blood. He explained my spleen was very big and that he would have to cut to get it out. Sort of unlucky but no surprise that an arthroscopic removal could not be done just like the hernia.

In fact low platelet counts contribute to mouth sores. They used to drive me crazy in the restaurant because it was hard to speak to the guests when your tongue was hurting from one of these and my face actually looked twisted trying to talk around the pain.

So back to the surgeon. So talking about the operation  he says yes when he sees the hematologist he will ask her in passing what are you doing Janet and she will know exactly what I am talking about.
Like what? Like my splenectomy is going to be difficult or some sort of huge risk that shouldn't be taken?

Then wrapping up he starts telling the story of how he lost a patient that everything seemed to be fine during the operation but complications arose maybe cause of his platelets and this person passed shortly thereafter. Soley and I left shaking our heads. What did this surgeon know and was not telling us?

We saw him in December and before leaving we picked a day in January. Operation days were Wednesdays so we picked the second Wednesday to go in and get it out. The hospital called and set up a pre-op appointment to just do some tests, sign the all important waiver, and just go over a few things. They gave me two sponges. One to clean the area that was going to be operated on the evening before and the other for the morning of the splenectomy.

January came and I could feel worse and worse. Just going for transfusions, battling with frequent cold sores, and always had lots of mucous in my nose and chest.

The day is drawing near and then we get a phone call to say my operation is postponed a week. What! Someone else needed a splenectomy more than I did basically was the reason. Then the following week it was postponed again. We got into February and it was delayed again. Then I had a day at the end of February booked and it was a go but then I got pneumonia again. I went  to Guelph General Hospital here in town and had to cancel my blood transfusion in Kitchener. I said I was home with pneumonia what was I supposed to do infect everyone getting a transfusion? So I got on some antibiotics and because I missed the transfusion the next time around my hemoglobin had dropped just below 60. I remember this time I went alone and it was cold. Walking across the street from the parking lot was like lifting two sledgehammers for feet. When it gets low like that funny things start to happen to your body.

I got a couple of pints of blood. The operation was now for March 1st 2018. I went for two transfusions the week before. One because the hemoglobin was low and the second one was the day before the operation because the hematologist wanted me to be stocked up.

While there the day before I saw the assistant of the hematologist walking through and I know she saw me so I got her attention and asked her if she wished me luck for the next day. She said to me she has seen too many things and never wished anyone luck but the way she said it was bizarre. Finally I got a good luck out of her.

Well that might be half true what she said as I was to find out later on from the hematologist that she thought I wouldn't survive the splenectomy.

Such fucking positivity!