Osoyoos British Columbia

So lately I have been pretty heavy duty on my posts so let's lighten it up today. Enough about returning to work, phase 3, UBI, and all that other stuff.

Back in 1990 I spent a summer working in the Okanagan Valley in a small town called Oliver located in the hot southern part of British Columbia. I remember it was so hot everyday that all I did was pay $3 to get in the public pool everyday just to cool off.

Instead of everyone heading down over the border just a 20 minute drive from where I was to get into the U.S. more Americans would be heading north to the Okanagan to get their sunshine and park their RVs. The closest town to the border was a place called Osoyoos. Located just 2.2 miles from the U.S. and adjacent to the First Nations Reserve the name means the "narrowing of the waters" in the local language called Syilx'tsn. 

Definitely a place to retire over 43% of the population are over the age of 65. Situated on Osoyoos Lake it's elevation marks the lowest point in the valley at 967 feet or 276 meters. The average summer time temperature is 17.0 C or 62.6 F making it the warmest place in Canada. Temperatures can exceed 35.0 C at least 17 days during the summer. It is like a dessert because where I was in Oliver it never rained all summer and Osoyoos was the same. Air conditioning was a must.

I have looked for it on google but have yet to find it but from what I heard when I was there they even grew bananas in Osoyoos it was that hot and dry. The one thing I can say that made the heat tolerable was unlike here in Southwestern Ontario their humidity is quite low. That also made the nights bearable for sleeping as well.

Tourism and agriculture are the two main industries in Osoyoos. Irrigation made tree fruit growing possible in this dry arid climate with  cherries, apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, pears and apples all being grown.

For the tourist you have the warmest freshwater lake in Canada being Osoyoos Lake with the temperature averaging 24.0 C or 75.0 F with many beaches to go with it and also some golf courses for the avid golfer to choose from.

With mild winters too wouldn't this be an idyllic place to retire? Only just over five thousand people in total I could handle this place no problem. Golf, beaches, fresh fruit stands everywhere and also I forgot the wines of the Okanagan right there you cannot beat it. The only problem is it is too far away from Ontario. 

When we moved from Vancouver to London Ontario way back in 2000 the wife and I camped there for 3 days. It was pretty nice. Below on the Osoyoos website they have a video cam of an osprey nest live. An osprey is a hawk with a big wing span. You can check other things going on just click
Osoyoos.

Osprey Web Cam

Pretty Much Sums Up Trump's Logic

pic.twitter.com/Sg5lT8A2G5

— 🦦Marie-Caroline🦥 (@NoWay7790) July 9, 2020

If I Were a Waiter Looking for Work Right Now During a Pandemic and Afterwards

Right now being a waiter is not a coveted job to have. If you happen to be working you have to wear a mask to serve guests who are not required to wear one. The reason I say "if you happen to be working" is a lot have yet to be called back to work as indoor dining remains closed as bars.

Add in additional cleaning duties such as sanitizing the seats, serving areas, smaller sections, and perhaps even less hours due to guests feeling  kind of leery about heading back to indoor dining the waiter has to think now about where the best place to work be in a pandemic world when he or she does return.

Here are a few points below as to what kind of dining restaurant I would be looking to work in during these times.

1. I would choose to look for work in establishments that had a bunch of money still left once things open up again. These might be hard to find as many will not even reach first base. For the ones barely hanging on they may start to bend the safety rules a bit. Maybe even have waiters doing tasks they did not do before like deep cleaning after closing. The worst may even have you cleaning the men's and ladies restrooms. Then have you tipping out higher on your sales to cover cleaning products. I see that happening rather than have the people return only to see that added charge on their bill. So check to see how they are working as to safety equipment or PPEs. If they paid a lot of attention to these details they will probably be safe to work in.

2. Look for a bigger establishment such as a hotel where you already have a captive guest where each shift you can work without any fear of being cut in 2-3 hours and sent home or being called off a shift. I see where restauranteurs will rely more on reservations than walk ins to guarantee that everyone who comes to eat has a table waiting for them especially with the tables alternately being used for social distancing.

3. With an establishment that has multiple outlets such as a big banquet capacity you can make up for shortened hours in a restaurant and do a wedding or other function to make up for it. There might be no need to have to look for a second job if you can be flexible in this manner. Do not forget in a hotel setting you would still have in room dining if the indoor dining had to be locked down again.

4. Do not serve in restaurants where the guests come in are wearing a baseball cap or have holes in their jeans. These people probably have no money and never wore a mask. Working in places like this may be hazardous to your health. Unfortunately this probably eliminates 95% of the restaurants out there.

5. Look at where the rich eat or the 5%. They will not take a chance and eat in an unkept environment. They will only eat where all the staff wear a mask or shield. Why they will do that is because they do not want to catch the virus. They will follow science no matter how uncomfortable it is. They will tip well.

6. Try to find a place like I just mentioned who will hire you and you will get some guaranteed hours and is big enough for you to grow there. The days of job hopping are over and employers now have to find some dedicated service staff who know what they are doing and want to grow.

7. Last thing I would add is now more than ever be proud to work in such an amazing career. If you take this way seriously it can lead you places. Here is your chance to step in and work in a great place and get some great experience. More than ever if you want to separate yourself from everyone else you must  work at places that will make you grow and expand your knowledge. Take courses through your work. Learn.

This pandemic will end one day so sow the seeds now for an exciting future later because that is what awaits you.

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!

To Where I am Today

To finish off my saga of the last three years I went from September to April 2020 without any transfusions but slowly the hemoglobin was not holding firm. It went slip, sliding away till it began hanging around 78 and I had to return to getting blood transfusions. I went for four in a row every other week.

I was finally given the official diagnosis by my oncologist as hemolytic anemia then when I talked to my family doctor she said I was missing one word autoimmune. So I have what is known as Autoimmune hemolytic anemia . You can click on it to know more. The oncologist added it was a non-hodgkin's lymphoma which is cancer but I prefer just to say I have an autoimmune disease. One thing for sure is I was told it is very rare which explains why it took all this time to diagnose.

So now that I know what I have it is a bit of a relief really. I looked up what I can do to help my cause because apparently there is no cure so I have to manage this for the rest of my life.

Well since I have been walking briskly each morning about a mile and a half, drinking lots of fluids, eating more granola cereal and fruit I think that has helped. I have to continue this on throughout the year not just when the weather is hot but during the cold winter as well. Also I am taking a Liver Support vitamin and Vitamin C along with my Folic Acid which helps build Red Blood Cells. I am not taking anything else other than the Iron Chelation tablets so I can get rid of my iron. It still rankles me I cannot seem to budge on that. The last reading was 7550 and it is supposed to be less than 25 if you can believe it.

My hemoglobin remains in the 80's but holding steady. It has been 6 weeks since the last transfusion so maybe I can get on a roll again. I would like to avoid the cyclosporine again because it weakens my immune system which causes me to get things like pneumonia. Especially with a pandemic always present I need all the immunity I can get if I ever get it.

My hope is that I can beat these T-cell fighters over time and be back to where I once was. The doctors cannot really do much else. It really will come down to my self discipline and how I live each day to stay ahead of the game.

Throughout this journey as I think back I can recall a few falls I had during the bad days. Really bad I  couldn't lay down and sleep so I had to try to sit  in the living room. You know now I am better than I was. The past is a blur really. Truthfully my whole life seems like a blur sometimes. So many things that passed that I cannot remember. Maybe that is good because most of the things I remember were great. We cannot live in the past and the good part is we can cherry pick the things we want to remember and forget the rest.

In writing about my experiences with being in hospitals and going through stuff I can now look back and remember most of it. So now it is logged I can forget about it and move on. Thanks for reading and from now I will talk about a wide range of stuff.

Note I have a new look on the blog with everything being accessible through links if you care to check them out. It is just fun and entertaining if you have the time.

Hope you  all had a great Canada Day and Happy 4th of July to the USA today!

The Old Nickel Hotel

When I was 18 years old I left school and got a job at Humpty Dumpty Potato Chip Factory as a shipper receiver. The reason why I did not continue with my schooling was my stepfather worked for Air Canada and because he did I had these air passes I wanted to use soon before they would expire when I was 21 years of age.

My friend Robert across the street also wanted to go to Europe so we decided that in June of that year which was 1977 off we would go to Europe. It turned out to be a pretty wild trip for 45 days. We rented a car in Paris and starting from there we toured France, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy before flying back from Paris.

Whenever we arrived to a city that we were planning to stop a while we always wanted to make sure that we located the Hauptbanhof commonly referred to as the train station. There we would pick up maps and learn of local events going on and places to see.

On this one occasion we left from Belgium and headed for the Netherlands. We drove to Amsterdam and found the train station where we parked the Renault 5 we had. Obtaining some maps and finding our way around was our goal.

When we got back outside and looked  around we thought maybe if we just parked the car and walked in this direction there would be some cheap places to stay for a night or two. So off we went not really knowing where we were heading. Seeing a street that looked like it had some places to stay in the near distance we saw a sign saying the Old Nickel Hotel.

Okay we thought let's check it out. We entered and it was pretty clean. Greeted warmly and told of the price we grabbed the room. Pretty simple with a breakfast included. Returning back with the luggage we struggled up the stairs, as it had no elevator, and put our backpacks in the room and hurried back downstairs.

Now if anyone has heard of Amsterdam they have heard of the Red Light District. So the first question we had to ask is, "Where is the Red Light District?'

The receptionist looked at us in surprise then she answered, 'You're in it!' Then as soon as she said that we looked across the lane and there was a hooker waving at us through her window in broad daylight!

Now of course coming from Canada going to Amsterdam is a huge culture shock because everything is so liberal there. In Amsterdam everyone likes to have a good time and they all keep in shape by riding their bicycles in huge bike lanes to handle the volume. Taking in an art museum and seeing Anne Frank's house was unbelievable too.

I had the opportunity to see Amsterdam and stay with a friend in 1988. I flew in through Schiphol and stayed the night before heading to my job in Switzerland a couple of times and saw it again when I worked on the ships.

Yes I think that would be a great city to live and grow up in. The country is one of my favourites as well out of all that I have seen so far.

Below is a couple of pictures of the hotel we stayed at which by the way is still there and I will underneath that include a video of the Amsterdam nightlife where anything goes.

                                      Okay before you watch this pretend you are 18 again

Aiguille du Midi

When I worked in Switzerland 1988-89 I used to work a lot of hours and days in a row but normally when I had days off it was usually a few days in a row which enabled me to go further afield and tour.

One of the places that I wanted to see was Chamonix France. Home of the first Winter Olympics in 1924 it is also the home of the Aiguille du Midi. This is part of one of the highest mountain ranges in the Alps including Mont Blanc. The cable car that takes you to the top of this 12,605 foot (3842 metres ) is in two sections. I remember the ground temperature was in the low 20's but when I got to the top it had dropped to the low single digit.

The cable car taking you up to the top was introduced in 1955. When they started filling that cable car I couldn't believe all the people it could carry. I mean we were 40 people crammed in that big telepherique and when it started it was a jolt. You had to hold on to the hand supports to keep you from falling over.

Then it was crazy steep the ascent. It still is the steepest vertical ascent in the world. When we arrived at the first stage some people chose that to disembark and check the view  but I took the second one to head straight to the top.

When we arrived at the summit the view was amazing! In the summer there is even a cable car that takes you to Italy from France traveling from peak to peak. It actually saves time by skipping the drive through the Mont Blanc tunnel.

I wanted to see more of Chamonix so I declined the ride to Italy. I went on a one day off so time was not my friend.

I loved Chamonix and the cable car ride. It was amazing! Below is a picture of Chamonix and a webcam of the view from the summit. Check it out!
                                                           

                                                                   

Chamonix France

                                                             Summit view

A Turn Of Events

Okay so where we left off a few days ago we were holidaying out in Western Canada. I had the splenectomy in March and with some transfusions since then to keep the hemoglobin up I felt that I had seen the last of the tough times and things were on the up and up.

I was taking the Methotrexate chemo pill once a week to get rid of this large granular leukemia that from what I understood was not causing any great concern. I didn't really get the whole story as to how long I had to take these pills for but I thought sooner or later it would clear everything up. The real question for me though was my hemoglobin was not moving up higher away from the transfusion zone. Everything else seemed to be getting better except for this nuisance. Before we left, the hematologist had mentioned the stem cell transplant again which I thought was eliminated but was back as a possibility. That came as a shock and it made me think I wasn't out of the woods yet.

It was becoming obvious my hematologist or you could say my oncologist was searching for some final resolution to fixing my blood issue for good but her hope was shot down quickly by the doctor at Juravinski Hospital when instead of the stem cell transplant they settled on the spleen had to come out.

As soon as we returned home I received a phone call from the oncologist. She wanted to see me on short notice. We went over there and she explained that as was protocol the spleen is sent to Toronto for further examination and the results were not good. Apparently what had apparently been overlooked was that I had some T-cell fighters showing up. This all of a sudden changed the scenario. Already before the visit she told me to discontinue the methotrexate because it was not doing what it should. So now the large granular leukemia was put aside without knowing whether that had cleared up or not and the emphasis was now on what this report detailed.

The oncologist wanted a second opinion so she asked Juravinski Hospital to have a look at this report. But meanwhile no treatment was offered and all I was taking was the folic acid. What was obvious though was this was much more serious.

What was now a new concern was the levels of iron in my blood. The normal is 250 or less but my levels were up around 10,000. How did it get so high was because when we have blood transfusions there is iron in the blood. Your body does not lose the iron. Well with all these transfusions my iron levels skyrocketed. The oncologist was going to get in touch with the local health unit to see that I start getting this iron withdrawn from my body. A nurse was going to be knocking on our door shortly thereafter. Too much iron can wear on your organs especially your liver and heart. My liver was not great to begin with so I didn't need anything else to weaken it.

So the nurse made her visit and brought with her a contraption that I had to attach to an area in my lower belly with a needle looking poke that injected very slowly this fluid. It was not inserted through a vein but a fatty part of my skin. I had to run it for 12 hours straight then unhook it and with some plastic covering  the area of the insertion point rest for 12 hours then do it all over again. The iron would leave my body via my urine. Wow I had to do this not for a day or a week but what looked like months. It was July so the rest of the summer was pretty well shot but at least we got our holiday in before the real fun began. She also scheduled me for another bone marrow biopsy in September only a couple of months away.

Now it was also time to wait for what the second opinion from the hospital might be on the reports.

Meanwhile we still had no official word on whether I had cancer yet so when people would ask me what I had I held my hands up in the air not knowing what to tell them. This was now July 2018, fifteen months into it.

Frustration was getting higher...

Viareggio Italy

Okay as promised every other day will be a travel feature of somewhere I went while working on the cruise ship. Today I will feature a seaside resort in Italy named Viareggio situated on the Ligurian Sea locally referred to as the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Tyrrhenian people were a people dating back to 6 BC.

Located on the west coast of Italy in the wine growing region of Tuscany this was always a great spot. The beaches were great and the nearby streets were full of bars, restaurants, and souvenir shops for the plenty of tourists who used to flock there daily.

I use to go to the beach and take a swim but most of the time I use to grab a nice lunch because one thing I do enjoy is Italian food especially those pizzas. Then have that and down a few Peroni beers.

One thing Viareggio is famous for though is their ship yards where they built super yachts. Yachts that were bought by billionaires not just millionaires. I use to walk around where these yachts were moored and just gaze at them. I have mentioned this before but if I had to do one thing more that I didn't do was to be a waiter on one of these ships. Of course it wouldn't be just serving food as I am sure there would be other duties to fulfill as well.

I took a gander at some of these shipyards and below is a video taken of the inside of one of these super yachts. I will say this it is no wonder they needed ten staff to work on one of these. Just click on the link below where I have also included a map of where this seaside resort is. You may want to check it out if you are in Tuscany Italy one day.

Meanwhile I think I will go back to listen to my Eros Ramazotti tape while you look at this video. In fact I will even leave you a link to that as well.

Viareggio is top left where there you see an indentation

Grand Hotel in Viareggio

                                                             Super Yacht Video

                                                              Eros Ramazotti

Year Two of Three

Okay the splenectomy is done after what has been a year deciding whether I qualified for a stem cell transplant and plenty of blood transfusions. I had undergone plenty of procedures to check on my body to see if there was anything else wrong, had pneumonia a few times, and then in the end it was decided that I should get the spleen out.

Up to that time I was not taking any medication. It was basically let's get the stem cell transplant done to start all over. Anyway they still couldn't figure out what was causing my hemoglobin to drop.

The two liver biopsies showed conclusively that on my liver there was some damage so on my follow up visit with the hematologist I was prescribed Methotrexate. This was to get rid of the Large Granular Leukemia they noticed. I was to take this chemo pill once a week and the other six days take a tiny Folic acid pill. Apparently we lose a lot of Folic acid when we go through anything related to chemotherapy and it is essential.

As soon as I was discharged figuring everything was under control I planned for a two week vacation out to the West Coast. We would be staying with friends for nearly a week in Victoria BC where we could show our boys where we got married and lived etc. After Victoria we would then go to the Rockies visiting Jasper especially because I spent some time there working as a waiter.

It is funny to note but shortly after the operation we had an appointment with the surgeon to have him check me out and remove the staples. He removed most of them but then said there were four he did not want to take out. So he asked Soley if she would mind to save us a trip pulling them out herself. It was a staple remover that was specially designed for such a task. She said yes she would do it and so he gave us the stapler and we said goodbye. Four days later she removed the last four staples.

The only problem was that after about a month my improved blood results took a turn for the worst and with the hemoglobin hovering up and down it seemed every couple of weeks I had to get another blood transfusion. So that was disappointing. It wasn't over as it appeared at least to me the spleen had been left there too long and now the pains of neglect were taking over. My bone marrow appeared to not be up to full force. My liver was not great either. So I was just hoping that time would straighten this out.

Before our trip out west the hematologist advised me to get a top up with a blood transfusion just before we departed. Then she brought up the stem cell transplant again. I replied that I just had my spleen out to which she replied I could still get one with or without the spleen.

I shook my head. This was becoming her dream now not mine. I was psyched up for it the first time around but again I thought. It had definitely lost it's shine by this time.

Off we flew out West. Had a great time and spared no expense. Seeing our good friends again after 18 years was fabulous and we had planned our trip perfectly. I was taking the chemo pill and Folic acid.

The only thing I couldn't do was walk fast enough to keep up with the others. We skipped breakfast to go straight to the airport on departure day

and my only episode was while in line I started to get queasy and funny looking. The security saw that and allowed me to jump the queue and find a seat in the terminal. After a couple of hours nap I was better again but the skipping of breakfast was not a good move.

When we got back I went in for blood work and my hemoglobin was down but only to 72. So I was not surprised it was down but it was not tragic. When people have lower hemoglobin they say the body fights through it and manages to get use to it. Well after climbing hills and driving a lot of kilometers I guess my body was getting used to it.

I got the transfusion again then I got a call from the hematologist...

The Wife Enjoying Jasper

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!