Pills and More Pills!

Last night, I woke up with one heck of a sore throat! Now it wasn't the ordinary type of sore throat where it is just sore to swallow; it was one where you had this sharp pain in a localized area as well. I could even press the area of my neck and it would hurt. It was bad enough to make me jump out of bed upon the realization that it was there. It was as if someone simply turned on the pain switch in my throat and said “there, is that bad enough for you!?!”

I thought that I was going to die… at that time of night when I want to be fast asleep, any type of pain will make me want to die! Now, thank goodness for pain pills and throat lozenges. With a couple of Extra Strength Advil (one too many, I might add) and a Cēpacol, I headed off back to bed.

Thank God for chemists who invent drugs… Well, at least the legitimate drugs!

Drugs… Speaking about drugs… I have just started taking a multi-vitamin and 3 Omega-3 capsules per day. Now, when you add this to about 5 other pills I swallow a day, it becomes quite a mouthful every morning. When I was young, all I took was a pseudaphedrine for my allergies. Now with all of my ailments, I sometimes feel like a walking pharmaceutical anomaly.

I suppose that, on the other hand, I shouldn’t be complaining about all the meds I take… at least I have a somewhat healthy life and that none of the drugs I take have any side effects… except when I choke to death when I take all of my meds in one gulp due to running late in the morning. So, in retrospect, I suppose I should be thankful to God for the health he has bestowed upon me.

It also occurs to me that I have been blessed with a job which supplies decent benefits that cover all of my prescribed medications. It is also fortunate for me to live in Canada where health care is not a luxury for few but instead a given for everybody.

So... regardless of my sore throat and lack of sleep last night, I truly am blessed!

My Father

On Friday, we placed my father in a nursing home. It had been a long time coming and my mother, a frail woman, was quickly becoming unable to care for his needs at home. Approximately three years ago, after a car accident, my father was eventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a cruel disease which robs the mind of many of the brain’s functions. Since then, his short term memory has been reduced to no short term memory at all and many of the day to day functions that my Dad had been unable to carry out, my mother has had to pick up the slack.

So, since Wednesday, we had to prepare my father for the inevitable and on Friday the difficult task was done. Since then, my mother has been an emotional wreck and my father has been trying many creative techniques to have us return and bring him home. Needless to say, it has been an exhausting and trying weekend which, no doubt should spill into the entire next week and beyond.

So, if I seem distracted and out of sorts with my blogging, this is why. I have missed blogging over this past month and maybe getting back to it will be a form of therapy for me… Who knows!

For those who are unfamiliar with Alzheimer’s, check out the following web sites for more information.

http://www.alzheimer.ca/
http://www.alz.org/

Reality Has Bitten

I created this blog on October 17th, 2006. I had often wanted to start blogging but never really quite got around to it. Despite not knowing what I was going to talk about, my goal was to post something every day so that by this October, I would have 365 posts to my name. Well, we all know about good intentions but we are also aware that reality bites from time to time. All told, I racked up a grand total of 144 posts which runs me about at 39.5% success rating… or is that actually a 60.5% failure? If this was a test of one of my students, they would be taking this course all over again!

So… How did my year go? I started out with a one-a-day post but by the time the spring arrived I was down to one-a-week. This past fall, I again started up with good intentions but reality got in the way and, as you can see, I have been absent since October 2nd. I have actually considered quitting but I just can’t seem to pull this blog off the Net!

… and so I shall continue… Not because I have to but because something inside me compels me to. Also, when I don’t write, I don’t visit and I must admit that, after a year of bloggers such as LGS, Abbagirl, Becky and Cheryl just to name a few, I start to miss their daily posts. By the way, I just noticed that Time After Time is gone … Anyone know why?

Anyways, A lot has happened to me these past couple of months and, as the summer days quickly become fall days, I will fill you all in on what has been happening.

One Degree of Separation

The other day, a friend of mine recounted an experience of his that occurred when a person asked him if he knew someone simply because they discovered that he was from the same city. I suppose this individual assumed that because he was from Toronto, Ontario, he should know every 4 million plus inhabitants.

Back in the eighties, I attended a university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA. Now, being form Canada, I too experienced many times where people assumed that since I was Canadian, I should know someone who grew up thousands of miles away in another part of Canada. "Oh, did you go to school with "Wendy Smith?... She was from Canada also!" If I had a nickel for every time I was asked a similar question.... Well, you get the idea.

Well... Just when I thought I had heard everything...

Back in my third year of university, while traveling through the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, we were asked a similar question by a lady from Texas who happened to notice that our car was sporting Ontario, Canada license plates. Walking up to us, she asked us if we knew a Canadian friend of her's by the name of Arna Seiman. Now me being the cocky young man that I was, I was ready to ask her if she knew an American from California by the name of Joe Smith as I knew that it would make my point loud and clear. As I was just about to ask her whether she knew "Joe" or not, it suddenly occurred to me that I might indeed know this Arna girl who she had mentioned.

Well... believe it or not, I had actually met this Arna Seiman about ten years prior to that while my buddy and I were way up north at a cottage for a week. While relaxing at the lake we met up with two cute sisters and had quite a memorable week with them... Well, not that kind of memorable! Now after that week, we never saw them again but the uniqueness of her name never left my mind. After confirming further details with this Texan, it was determined that it was indeed the same Arna.

Now, what's the chance of that happening?? One person from Texas, in an American population of over 300 million meets a person in the middle of the Smokey Mountains and asks him if he knows the only Canadian she knows of out of a population of over 33 million and she hits the jackpot?

Needless to say I was floored! I bet you that the chances of me winning a multimillion dollar lottery would have better odds!

One degree of separation... Well, I suppose that anything is possible!