5C's Que Pasa

….of a visit.  So much done in so little time.

First I would like to thank Colin for surprising me and you with yesterdays blog post.  I can’t believe he got 10 comments.

The day before I left I made us a smoothie as well a large crock pot of soup. I think I put too many veggies in the pot as it turned out to be a stew. I just want you to know he had other food group choices 🙄

I chose to use wheelchair service at both airports coming and going and I am so very glad I did.  I would not have made it otherwise and what a treat it was.

I haven't been on a plane in three years so all this fancy Live TV was rather interesting. You get to check your speed, altitude and watch the plane move along the map. Our wee lake is the one below the W in Winfield mid shot. I had a great view taking off and as we turned over the bridge giving me an opportunity to realize once again what a beautiful place we live.

I was able to snap this photo as we turned, our lake is marked by the red arrow. In fact our house is at the tip of that red arrow. Our area is called Lake Country, look at all those lakes.

The action started ( not really ) when I arrived.  My sister got lost picking me up at the airport and was 45 minutes.  In her defense there is a huge amount of construction happening and many signs are missing.  Wow, Edmonton is a growing city.  We managed to stop at a breakfast place for a quick bite.  I had been up at 5AM and needed food to function for the rest of the day.  I almost fell out of my chair at the price of an omelette, $17.98 for one omelette and 2 coffees. So we split the meal as I wasn’t going to eat the toast.  I was a good sister and gave her half my frittata. I guess that is what they call an omelette in Edmonton.

Meanwhile our parents were heading out to the Dr’s office where we would meet them.  By the time we got there ( allowing 7 minutes to eat our meal ) they were already seated inside the office waiting for the Dr.  Phew I made it!  Mom and Dad have a wonderful new GP and he spent close to 90 minutes with us.  I really felt sorry for all of those waiting for their appointments with him.  Many things became clear to me as I took copious notes.

They cannot continue as they have been but steadfastly refuse to leave their home.  In the end that is likely to be okay as they are not able to move into an assisted living facility.   Mom is at the point that she requires daily assessment by an R.N. or a doctor. Otherwise she will have to move to a nursing home.  It seems that a good deal of her recent problems are coming from a lack of information being passed onto the right people or action being taken on her blood pressure results, reactions to medication, etc.  Some referrals have been made but those are 6 -8 weeks away.  I spent hours making lists of to do’s for Dad.  Perhaps and assisted living facility with acute care can be found in Edmonton.  I can do that research from here at home.  We did a lot of talking that night.

They have been married for close to 61years and love each other very much. It is an extremely stressful time for them.

Dad is her caregiver but he can no longer lift her if she falls and he can’t hear her half the time even with his hearing aide.  This was the only photo I took as I was busy calling here and there and making lists and seeing the pharmacist, opening up her bubble pack pills and removing some and adding others.  They do have Home Care that comes in twice daily but for less that 10 minutes each time.  So the one thing I was able to arrange was for an RN to come in daily for one hour at their expense  to do what is called a Wellness visit.  Mom has so much wrong with her and is on so many meds including a very high amount of pain meds that her situation can change quickly.  I had a long conversation with the RN manager who will assess them tomorrow and filled in some background.  I also cleaned out 1/2 grocery bag of old medications.

It was really difficult to leave yesterday.  So hard not to live in the same city but I do have urgent things requiring my attention here in Kelowna.  But first I had a stop to make enroute to the airport.  My wonderful massage therapist who winters in Mazatlan happens to spend the other half of her life in Edmonton.  So I was able to get a wonderful healing massage before getting on the plane.  The last massage I had, happened to be by Mary in our RV the night before we left the Isla on April 7th.  So here it is just over 5 weeks later I have my first Canadian massage by Mary but in Edmonton.  You just never know what life will bring you.  I totally forget to take photos of her really neat house.

Then the gong show began.  My sister had driven me from my parents place to Mary’s and from there I was on my own.  I took a taxi from her place to a nearby hotel which was fairly uneventful if you don’t count the seat belt that you have to open the door and reach under your seat to put it on or the window that does not open or the fact that the driver forgot to start the meter for several blocks so tacked on $2.00 at the end.  From the hotel I was picked up right on time by the airport shuttle I had booked.  They got out and came to carry my bags to the van.  It was already full of people so I had to sit in the middle of 2 others.  The one fellow insisted on sitting on the end.  It was 5 PM and  rush hour!  The fellow on the end was panicking as his flight left at 6PM and the lady on my other side had a flight at 6:30PM.  Hmmm I thought you were suppose to check in 90 minutes ahead.  My flight did not leave until 7:45PM ( more about that later ).  Halfway to the airport traffic came to a standstill likely due to an accident ahead.

We were positioned about 1.5 miles from a ditch that cut thru a fence to a gravel service road. The shuttle driver veered onto the shoulder and drove 'quickly' to this deeply rutted ditch. Having travelled to India twice and lived in Mexico I knew what he was about to attempt. The incline down and back up were steep. Despite my seat belt I almost went flying.

Was it worth taking this risk to get people to the airport on time?  I began to lose confidence in the driver when he stared speeding up the gravel road, the dust was flying and you could not see oncoming traffic on this narrow lane.  We did pass the accident on the highway and it did not look good.  Meanwhile we reached a stop sign and were behind two dozen vehicles.  I wasn’t quite sure where we were, someone said we had to cross the Devon Highway to get back onto the airport road.  At this point we could see some planes in the distance but crossing a busy highway at rush hour was not an easy feat.  While snaking our turn up to the stop sign the driver got out to pee!!!  Yes to pee, I guess he could not hold it any longer and no I did not take a photo.  You might say we were both relieved once we crossed the highway.  Then the race began, we were flying at top speeds to the airport.   People were shouting out their departure times ” 7 minutes”, “10 minutes” and this shuttle driver was trying to accommodate them.  Finally we were down to the “45 minute” person and then me.  I said drop her off first and take me around again to my gate.  I was never so glad to get out of vehicle in my life.  Once my heart stopped pounding I went to check in.

As I was being wheeled to the gate I noticed that my flight had been delayed an hour.  I was the one who had allowed sufficient time to get to the airport in the first place.  Sigh! What to do?

I had the attendant wheel me into a restaurant with instructions to pick me on in 90 minutes and I indulged myself. Indonesian stir fry veggies on rice with shrimp on top and a lovely salad with chick peas and walnuts. Oh of course, the requisite glass of wine, a lovely Pinot Grigio from Australia. It was a generous 9 oz. our that cost the same as the meal itself. For me it was totally worth the $32.00. I deserved it after the last two days.

What better way to pass time in an airport especially if you are in a wheelchair?

I was on the wrong side of the plane to see our house from the air but did catch a glimpse of the snow covered Rockies.

I was happy to get back home to my sweet husband and the girls who went crazy when I got here.  Today has been a long day and this a long read.  Just checked in my parents and all is well today.  Time for me to go relax a bit.

Tags: 319, Duck Lake, Family, food, Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, travel, Wine