No News is Good News

Dad has been recovering well from his surgery this past weekend. My sister came down from Calgary Saturday and stayed until Tuesday. Dad's sister came in on Tuesday morning and just went back today. Mom has set up camp in Saskatoon with a old friend of hers from nursing training and came back for a meeting in Regina yesterday and was around till three today. The roads were a bit traitorous as Saskatoon got a dump load of snow. Mom did enjoy her rest as she needed it. Dad did develop shivers, high blood pressure, a temp and some chills last night. They did his blood work and put him on some antibiotics. The nurse reassures mom that it is just a unrinary infection and not the kidney rejecting itself. I've been only up Sunday but as mom says they are quite restrictive on the visiting. 12-8 pm but from 1-3 is rest time. I'll probably call him and talk to him, once mom gets his cell phone charged.

I've been putting around working on mom and dad's house. I ripped down the old chimney and some siding and have begun insulating, trying to get it all done before the white stuff flies. Now that my helping is disabled for three months I'll have to find some other help. It's getting cold, but minimal snow, so all is ok, so far.

Kidneys for Everyone!

Well maybe not everyone. But the wait for my dad is over. For those that didn't know, my dad has been needing a new kidney for some time now. (I can't remember when they found out he had a kidney disease, nor what its called) For the last year, I think, he has been on dialysis. He started doing a home dialysis but due to his lack of kidney function he had to commute to Regina for a while. Moose Jaw finally had an opening in their hospital and dad has been going there ever since.

After many test of family to find a match, my brother seemed to be the closest match. Fortunately a donor has come a long and at 9:00 am this morning I got a call from my mom saying that she was going to Saskatoon and dad would be meeting her there. Dad was in Swift Current when the call came in and had a friend to drive him to Saskatoon. As I understand he was going in for surgery today. Hope all goes well.

When on a waiting list for a kidney and you get the call you have 15 minutes to decide whether you will accept or they will continue down the list. Since being put on the list, both of my parents carry cell phones and have moved up the technology ladder.

Happy Halloween

Well Halloween has come and gone. We were unable to be at home as our church was doing a city wide food drive for the Moose Jaw Food Bank, The Better Together Food Drive. It is a project that the church did as part of the 40 days of community. Our small group and couple others did a route on the south east end of town. I was quite pleased with the reaction to the food drive. Mostly positive. Some didn't know about it but were more than happy to go to their pantry and get something. I did have one unfortunate experience in a better end of town where I went to a door and said "I'm with the Better Together Food Drive for the Food Bank and was wondering if you had a bag ready for pick up?" I was shocked at the lady's response "I wouldn't give to the Food Bank if I had a Million Dollars." So here are a few shots of the gym filled with food and some volunteers sorting the food.

Just A Small Pile of Food

Everyone Helps out Big or Small

I also carved a couple of pumpkins for our front step. I had fun with them. I made one puke on the other. Marsha made a sign for the door with the bowl of candy on our door step due to us being out and collecting for the food drive. Unfortunately someone was greedy and also kicked my pumpkins off the front step. Lucky for me, I snapped a photo earlier in the night so everyone could see my work of art.

Marsha's Sign

Puking Pumpkins