I am excited about Choreography Camp for Cheer next week!
He said
The week had no sooner started on Monday morning before I was thrown a curve ball. Having the day off I was out on a little bit of a longer bike ride in the morning, that I actually ended up riding right by the Mom & Dad’s place. I texted them that I would be going by their place and if they wanted to wave from the balcony I was giving them advanced notice. The fact that I hadn’t heard anything back from them wasn’t odd as it was 7:00 am in the morning after all. I snapped a pic when I got in front of their place and sent it to them.
About an hour after I got back home, while I was in the shower getting ready to take Dad to a Dr’s appointment, I got a text from Mom saying that Dad had a fall and wasn’t able to get up, and that Paramed was on their way. I put it into high gear and got right over to their place. Dad indeed was on the floor, a little confused, cold and in pain. We managed to get him to stay situated in order to make sure the back pain wasn’t more serious as he wasn’t sure if he had hit his head or their was any sort of neck injury. Shortly after I got there, Paramed was there and taking care of Dad.
His leg that he has had all the problems with infection in the past was again looking bad—it was bright red and he was running a fever. Very quickly it was decided that he should go to the hospital and what we assumed would be admitted to treat what looked to be a return of an infection and some cellulitis. I did my best once he was in Emerg to call in and get the updates throughout the day, and eventually it was confirmed, he did have cellulitis again, they were going to admit him and get him on IV antibiotics to treat the infection. They were going to run some bone scans as well as some X-Rays in order to check where the infection had gotten to.
The good news is after 24 hours in the hospital, we started getting updates from Dad directly via text, and with every message he was sounding better and better. Tuesday evening I was able to actually visit him and drop off some stuff that he needed. And by yesterday, there was some talk of when he could be discharged and back home with Mom. Now, it is sounding like he will be there for 3 or 4 more days, but he is in good hands and it is important that the infection gets cleared up before we get him back to his nest.
The other big thing this week was crossing a significant milestone in my fundraising for the Great Cycle Challenge. I ended up in the month of August concurrently raising funds for two cancer charities: Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer and the Great Cycle Callenge. I had already reached my fundraising goal for the Ride to Conquer Cancer, but the Great Cycle Challenge – new to me this year – I was a bit off my goal. Wednesday this week through the help of a long-time donor they launched a matching funds campaign which double every dollar I was able to get that day. And that incentive worked because friends and family rallied that day, and before a penny was matched I reach my goal. That meant I was able to qualify for Guardian Level which got me the GCC Jersey!
Other than that, this week I was able to get back to the trailer Saturday after work and meet up with Danielle and Emelia who were already there. We had a great time at the trailer – albeit short – and I was able to get some Great Cycle Challenge kilometres in on the G2G today to the tune of 25 km. But the absolute highlight of the week was sitting around the fire last night under a clear, summer sky and being able to see shooting star, after shooting star as the Perseid Meteor Shower put on an amazing display. That was a pretty great way to end what was a pretty wild card week!
She said
This was a mentally draining week! Add in that we have Doug back in the hospital we have been trying to put things in place for our family getting a new doctor after loosing out doctor without notice.
After a lot of calls, emails and help from friends and even strangers online (our neighbourhood FB group) we have secured a doctor. And the best he is in our neighbourhood! Monday Emelia and I with for an appointment and met him. Immediately we were happy with how things are run there, how accessible they are, how thorough he was. Emelia thankfully was instantly comfortable with the new doctor and openly chatted about things she was dealing with and spoke about what help she needed. The level of relief cannot be expressed. It has been so stressful not having a support for Emelia especially as some of her supports we cannot get without a family doctor. So that is one big stress off our plate.
The rest of the week was assuring we have more supports for Emelia and working on a plan with her doctors.
By the end of the week after a very long and busy work week as well as balancing a bunch of personal stuff I was more than ready to head to the trailer Friday night with Emelia and just relax. The weather this weekend was absolutely perfect and with all the rain we have had lately the river was fast and high so we got a few trips down. The second trip down was adults only and Steph, Justin and I beached ourselves to have some grown up beverages and just chat. It was honestly what I needed. Shortly after we got off the river John messaged me that he was on his way. We had a great dinner, chatted by the fire and spent the night watching the shooting stars.
Hoping this week is less stressful than last week.