April 28, 2004
Rules are for stupid people.
April 25, 2004
Sudden Beauty! Does anyone
remember it? It came in a baby blue can unless you required ‘extra hold’ and
then it was hot pink-the same pink that is the new black this spring/summer
season. It’s hairspray, 1970’s hairspray to be exact. I’m not sure exactly
when it was discontinued, sometime in the 80’s, but I know that my Nanny was
devastated. “Not that you’d notice,” she’d say, smiling. “You only like the
expensive stuff. I swear, you were born to the wrong family or switched at
birth with all of your expensive tastes.” We finish the last words together,
laughing. This was a common exchange between us. Me wanting something name
brand or expensive and my grandmother just shaking her head and telling her
stories of frugality.
Sudden Beauty in a can, wouldn’t that be a dream come true? No more going to
bed early for beauty sleep or watching what we eat or spending an hour on our
‘natural’ look each morning. It would be as simple as holding a big momma
aerosol can over our head in the morning, big long spray and voila, sudden
beauty. I hope that you find some sudden beauty in your day today.
April 21, 2004
I now go by the name Ilean. It seems to fit these days.
I am now wearing my space-age cast and it seems to be helping. Moving around
is still proving to be a bit of a pain but I am confident that I may be ready
for Cirque de Soliel in a few weeks. Washing the floors and vacuuming was a
big challenge today and then cleaning the outside windows after…..JUST
kidding. I am forced to take most of the ‘doctor’s’ orders to stay put because
quite frankly, sometimes I just can’t get up and when I do, it hurts and it is
awkward. That being said, the cast is helping.
And speaking of help, I have been overwhelmed by all of the support that I
have received and continue to receive both at home and from outside the home.
Never one very comfortable with asking for help, these past few days would
have been so much more difficult without all of the good Samaritans in my
life. From casseroles to ice caps, stuff to read, yummy snack treats, flowers,
cards, duty day relief, calls and emails of support and especially the
babysitting help. I don’t know what to say except thank you and I owe you all
BIG!
April 19, 2004
CRAP! I tumble for ya!
I’ve fallen and I can’t get up-no seriously, I’ve fallen
and can’t get up. I am now the patient and not very patient. Yes, I am
injured and will be putting one of those ‘out of commission’ signs that you
see on vending machines, on myself. That’s right, since I am immobile, there
will be no fetching or running around by moi for the next while. I don’t know
who is going to suffer more, me or those around me.
It all started innocently enough. My friend Heather and I went to pick up our
daughters at a birthday party at our friend Joanne’s house. Sounds innocent
enough right? Well, I thought so! And I wish that I could tell you that I
snapped my anklebone playing some ball or working out or running, but this is
not the case at all. After securing my daughter in her car seat, I went to
step down from the truck and my foot hit the edge of the driveway where it
just drops a few inches to the grass. This is where my foot rolled over and
also ‘just dropped,’ making a loud snap sound as I tumbled onto the ground.
Major pain surrounds me and fear sets in at the same time as the pain. I am
afraid of the noise and start rocking back and forth on the ground saying, “Oh
my God, oh my God.” Heather comes running around, realizes things are bad and
after ensuring that I don’t need a hospital limousine ride, runs back into the
house for reinforcements. I am in shock and just know that I want to go home
but realize, upon closer inspection of my ankle (it now looks like two ankles)
that I will not be passing Go and I will not be collecting $200. Joanne's
husband Gord helps me into the car and we are off. We drop the kids at my
place and with a frozen bag of French fries on my ankle (could be a long wait
and we may get hungry) we head to the hospital.
Wheeling through emergency we notice that it is not that busy and are told at
reception that we picked a ‘good time’ to come in. I am glad that I was able
to ‘schedule’ my accident at a good time. Being as organized as I am, these
types of things are important to me. Odd things start to happen from here. At
x-ray I am asked to perform acrobatics with my ankle, ouch! From there I am
wheeled to an emergency holding cell. That’s right, a cell. To call it a
waiting room or examining room would be too much. As the doctor comes into
this closet with us, a nurse wheels someone else into the closet from the
other end (this is not a walk in closet) with her ailment and her family. It
is now too cozy in here and I am getting upset. The doctor proceeds to discuss
my confidential information with me in front of these other people. I am not
impressed. Oh well, he was only in the room for about 90 seconds to confirm
that things in my ankle were yucky and that I would need to completely stay
off it for days and then wear the cast for two weeks and then come back to see
the orthopedic surgeon.
Have I mentioned the freakin’ pain I am in! Heather keeps my spirits up and
tries to keep my mind off the pain and the lack of professionalism in this
place they call a hospital. She calls the doctor back in and I ask for pain
management because it certainly wasn’t offered! I am given generic Tylenol 3.
My prescription will be for the real thing because I will be directly paying
for it. Someone else in non-descript hospital garb comes to get us and while
wheeling me to the plaster room, manages to bump my sore ankle. She doesn’t
acknowledge it. She doesn’t apologize even after Heather tells her what she
has done. Her curbside manner is lacking.
We are on to important things now-finances. I feel bad for individuals that
can’t afford or don’t have extra insurance, to cover the numerous things that
OHIP no longer covers-like my state of the art removable cast and my crutches,
both of which I need and were prescribed. With all of my new hardware, we try
to get out of there but are unwillingly entered into a game of cat and mouse.
We are directed back to the closet that now has 2 patients in it and one is
wearing a mask. I refuse to sit on top of someone in there and wait in the
hall. Someone involved in the dispensing of drugs tries to wait us out. I
think that they are waiting to see if I will get sick of waiting for my
prescription and just head home for the much hyped hockey game. I do not and
my advocate at this point, Heather, goes to the desk and pleasantly reminds
someone that I am waiting for a prescription.
Paperwork in hand, we are on our way and I am soon at home, sitting still in a
chair with my ankle propped up on a zillion pillows and a bag of ice' straight
up.' Although I am not to move for 3 days, I turn down the offer of a
pack of Depends (thank you Joanne for your attempt at humour). So many
instructions to remember and follow. I am to use my crutches sparingly
and carefully to avoid ‘pit sores.’ Ice on the ankle every hour for 20
minutes. Keep the foot elevated. No pressure or weight on it.
Sit to put cast on. Inflate it, deflate it. Don't wear it to bed.
But I will be okay. I have great friends and lots of support AND hopefully I
will be 'well' enough for a spring pedicure in a week or two!
One more thing. The Senators won big last night! Go Sens! Tune in to CBC Tuesday night and watch them 'bag the Leafs.'
April 13, 2004
13 is my lucky number. It started as my basketball jersey
number way back when and just stayed with me. Traditionally, it is considered
an unlucky number but for those of you that know me, I do not scream tradition
on a regular basis. Some of my not so traditional actions include but are not
limited to: going to a Toronto Blue Jay’s game instead of the prom in Grade
11, not going to my university convocation and eloping instead of walking down
the aisle. These are all actions that I do not regret and I did them because
that was what I wanted to do at the time. I often go against the grain.
Sometimes it is intentional and most times it is not. A therapist would
probably argue that there are a lot of reasons in my past for bucking
tradition on a regular basis but I prefer to think that I am just doing what
works for me.
This brings me to my latest ‘activity.’ Trying to forge ahead with a writing
career. I am not sure what really defines the ‘career’ part other than being
able to make a living from writing or having things published from time to
time, both of which seem more out of my reach than usual. Always someone who
‘made the team’ or was captain, and someone who usually succeeds when trying,
I guess I don’t deal the best with rejection. That being said, I am confident
that once I have more experience with it (I don’t want too much mind you) I
will get better at it. But for now, I am on a learning curve.
So yes, it is the 13th today and I found out that a fiction piece I sent out
did not make the cut. After four months of waiting, it is a bit disappointing
and after I get over a few days of self-doubt about my writing abilities, I
will pick myself up, dust off my fiction piece and send it out again. Oh, and
on the way to the mailbox I will buy a lottery ticket!
April 12, 2004
Last night I attended the Ottawa Senators playoff game against Toronto. Since I am from Toronto and used to cheer exclusively for the Leafs, it is a match-up that I rarely miss. Living in the nation's capital and having several players living right in my neighbourhood, I have a vested interest in how our Sens do and lets face it, today's Leaf's are not what they used to be. The Wendell era is long gone and the team plays a much different 'game' than they used to.
At last night's game the energy was astounding! Out of control in a good way! Everyone waving their white Sens towels (thank you Eugene (new owner with deep pockets) for taking it up a notch in terms of entertainment at the Corel Centre). My friend Joanne and I had a girls night out at the game and had a great time (thank you Vodka triple sec) and while our almighty Sens didn't win last night, they certainly tried their darndest with 37 shots on goal compared to Toronto's measly 17 (maybe this was because some key Toronto players were spotted at the movie theatre only hours before the game when they should have been napping instead of watching Hellboy, shhh, don't tell Mr. Quinn).
Other than the fact that Eddie was hot in goal for the Leafs, it was agreed all around that Ottawa outplayed them and just couldn't get it in the net. Also, the rumour that all Leafs attend theatrical drama classes at Ryerson as part of their regular training, was quite apparent last night. There will be tough competition for the part of the swan in next season' s production with all of the dives in white last night. That being said, we couldn't buy a goal and everyone knows it's too late to buy a referee. That's already been taken care of.
See you Wednesday. GO SENS!
April 6, 2004
"Pack a lunch and be prepared to dance." Smart advice from a smart and more importantly, funny woman. This is the advice that Ellen gives out to people coming on her show. I think that it's good advice for everyday life and while I don't usually pack a lunch, especially if it is nowhere near lunchtime, I am going to try to be ready to dance at all times. I think that it will help lighten the load of the seriousness of life, often the unfairness and just generally, the everyday stresses that life has to offer.. Hopefully the dancing will turn more negatives into positives. For example, last night after dinner I decided that I was going to dust and vacuum while wearing my new ipod and listening to all of my favourite music. It was lots of fun and while I did get a lot of dusting done, I never did get to the vacuuming because I ended up rearranging the furniture, much to my husband's chagrin. But when all was said and done, I was happy:) So, turn on some music, dance a bit and be happy!