Kouchibouquac

Happy long weekend! I'm spending the weekend reading through the proof of the book to finalize all the changes and try to make sure there isn't anything I've missed - hopefully nothing too major. I've read through the book so many times that I feel like my brain just blends it all together at this point.

Last weekend, we went to Kouchibouguac for a bit of a mini vacation, rented a cabin beside the park, and went snowshoeing and rented fatbikes. There was no snow in Springhill or Moncton and we drove up in the pouring rain so we were nervous about the conditions. Thankfully, there was still snow in the park. It was a bit icy the next day after the rain but there was enough to enjoy.

The fatbikes were lighter than I had pictured them being and while it was a workout to bike in the snow, it wasn't too bad. My legs were tired but mostly because I haven't been on a bike since last summer.

Whee!

Amy sent up her camera with Mom and Dad (she wisely stayed home out of the wind) so I could take pictures while everyone else sat in the car. Dad and I went out and took some snowy star pictures after the sun went down. The advantage of winter is that you don't have to wait until 11pm for the stars to all come out, we got back to the cabin in time for Dad to catch the last of the Leafs overtime game. The disadvantage is the risk of frostbite while standing around taking the pictures. 

Eagle on the river!

Frozen ocean.

Happy February! I recognize I've been MIA the past few weeks. I have finished my book edits and they're off to Nimbus! Now the Nimbus editor reviews everything, adds the pictures, and does more edits (mostly for spelling mistakes).

January seemed to fly by with working on my book and promotional information. I made it downhill skiing once at Wentworth and cross country skiing a few times before we lost all our snow. I'm hoping it will come back but only in small amounts at a time so I don't have to shovel too much.

It seems like I spent most of the time trying to get over the cold I got at Christmas. I tried to be paranoid by washing my hands a ton but I still got sick. And it has lingered on for weeks. And then it rebounded or I got another one last week that really knocked me out. It's basically been a month of getting my energy back and then losing it again.

I know this isn't much of a blog post but I just wanted to say that I'm still here. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

It's the time where everyone reflects on their past year and thinks about plans for the next year. I had made some goals for last year, most of which I failed to complete.

I had set a goal to improve my handwriting and I had some success in that. I got out many books from the library on calligraphy and did all the practice sheets. I made some success and made some pretty cards. However, writing like that is so slow so I don't do it very often.

My physical goals went okay, I did yoga frequently. The yoga with Adrienne Youtube channel put out monthly schedules which really helped my motivation. I didn't cycle 500km this summer, I found it much too hot in July and August to go out very long but I did get in over 300 km (mostly all in June).

I also didn't get my 50 days of hiking in, I was 9 days short. However, I did some very long overnight hikes which I think made up for the fact that I didn't do a lot of shorter hikes. It's hard to know when setting a goal in January what the summer will be like.

I've set some goals this year as well. I would like to finish a fiction manuscript, I haven't had much practice writing fiction so it's a bit of a stretch for me but I would like to try. I have so many ideas and figure it's better to put them on paper rather than to continue to think about it. At least I can say I tried.

Physically, I'm sticking with my daily yoga and a  goal of 500km of cycling in the summer, hopefully it will be a bit cooler to be outside.

I've also started a "temperature quilt" where I sew a certain colour square depending on the temperature outside. I have a range of colours depending on the temperature and I hope by the end of the year I'll have a fun spiral rainbow quilt. Some people do it by crocheting a row of a blanket each day but I'm trying to limit buying new crafting supplies and I have a lot of fabric. We'll see how it goes.

Birthday!

It's my birthday! Yay!

I had an great day eating too much food and playing board games. I'm grateful to my donor every year that I get another birthday and looking forward to my 33rd year around the sun!

Amy update

I've spent a lot of time in the past two weeks driving back and forth to Halifax. I did have a clinic and haematology appointment but also Amy has been hospitalized for the last two weeks. Her clinic appointment was much worse than mine, her lung function crashed out after getting a cold, even with being on oral antibiotics, and the doctor said it was time for IV antibiotics.

Once admitted, the x-ray showed some pneumonia and a terrible lung infection. I got sick immediately after handing out with her for a day and was paranoid I was getting pneumonia but thankfully my cold has stayed all in the sinuses.

I went up to Halifax for my respiratory clinic last week and stayed a few extra days to do Amy's laundry, bring her coffee, and go out for a few meals. I had to return home to work for a day before zooming up again on Friday for my hematology appointment (everything is fine) where Mom, Dad,  and Isaiah joined me later that day.

Amy was able to leave the hospital with us for a few meals and a bit of shopping. On Saturday afternoon, while she told us to go away so she could nap, we went for a skate on the Halifax Oval. Something we all talk about whenever we visit Halifax but it so rarely happens. It was quite warm out but the ice held as we zoomed down one side of the oval and then struggled back against the wind.

Amy has been fine without that many visitors because the IV medication has knocked her out and she uses her precious down time to catch up on sleep. We're all hoping for a pre-Christmas discharge but as of yesterday, she's developed hives as a reaction to the medication so the doctor's may want that to calm down before discharge. Also, another week of IV medication (once it can be started again) would help make sure the infection is actually gone.

The big discussion now is "what about Toronto/being listed for transplant?" Amy had been stable for so long and the doctors were happy to keep things as they were as long as possible but now with this crash, it's all going to depend on how her lung function rebounds after the medication.

If it goes back up to where it was (around 30% predicted volumes), it didn't sound like the doctors would start the work up but if there isn't as much improvement as hoped, the doctor will start ordering the tests. That may mean the teams keeps her in hospital a few more days as it's easier to get the scans and the blood work done while in hospital. But maybe not because there are people camped out in the emergency department waiting for her bed.