New X-ray

Last week I went to get another x-ray and have my cast changed. Now I have an air cast that eventually I will be allowed to walk in. You can see all nine screws in this x-ray.

January Update

Well I guess I'll have lots of time to add things here as I had a fall just before Christmas that has put me on crutches for the last two weeks and now eight more weeks.

The story so far...
On December 23rd, after my second yoga class of the week, I was carrying Grace down the stairs using both arms and I slipped about five or six steps from the bottom. Grace seemed fine, but the impact and the deformed ankle I came face-to-face with let me immediately know that I was not fine. I pulled myself over to where the phone is, taught the kids some new expletives and got Liam to hand me the phone. I called 911 and soon an ambulance crew (4 people - the regular crew, a student, and a paramedic on her first day back after mat leave) and 2 police officers were in my decorated living room. My brother came over to look after the kids and I was on my way to the hospital.

Since I had eaten breakfast, they couldn't knock me out to reduce (undislocate) the ankle, so they gave me a huge dose of narcotics (with an antidote at the ready in case I stopped breathing) reduced it a little and put a temporary cast on it. Though it was x-rayed immediately, it took the orthopedic resident about 5 or 6 hours to come down and decide that it needed to be aligned better. This time they knocked me out with a drug similar to the one I'd had 10 years earlier when I dislocated my shoulder. A couple of hours later it was time for surgery. I opted for the general anesthetic over the spinal block as I wasn't too interested in hearing or feeling anything. I woke up with yet another cast on and some serious hardware. I went home on the 24th and spent Christmas on the couch with my leg raised. Luckily we were ready, so I don't think the holiday was too impacted for the kids. Of course, we didn't make it to the cottage as we planned.
In the hospital they told me that I'd be non-weight bearing (on crutches) for four weeks after my follow-up appointment. I had that appointment 2 days ago and they told me that because of a long screw connecting my tibia and fibula, it was going to be 8 more weeks non-weight bearing!

That means I'll be home - work would be a little hazardous on crutches: I couldn't get there without catching rides from people, and snow complicates things. I did get a much lighter fiberglass cast at that follow-up appointment, and the cast technician suggested getting a hands-free crutch. Today I got the crutch from a medical supply rental company. Hopefully I'll be able to get used to it so I can be a little more useful around the house.

Kathy and Sean's Wedding

We have been keeping this under wraps for a long time as my family is not the post-everything-on the-internet family so it was not my place to advertise this special occasion...but here are a few photos from Saturday. Unfortunately, we hardly got any photographs and Grace was not very receptive to posing for photos that night.

Congrats Kathy and Sean - we are so happy for you and wish you a long and wonderful life together!

Fall Walks

Grace loves to take walks with her stroller.

Fall Family Days

A few weeks ago we went to Brantford for the weekend for a wedding and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary. The kids enjoyed seeing their relatives. We got some great pictures on town square in Brantford as well as Grace with her Great Grandmother Beth.

Pears

Well that was a first - I tried to hot pack pears this afternoon with mixed results. I'll wait to see how they last. Maybe I could pack the jars tighter if I cut the pears into smaller pieces. I also had my first lid failure of the year.

Wellington S.P.A.

Brasserie Dieu du Ciel! - Corne du diable

Salsa

I just finished my fourth batch of salsa for this year. This is my 4th year of making this salsa with pretty consistent results using a recipe from Canadian Living Cooks at Home. I'll have to see how spicy this batch is - I used jalapenos from the East Lynn Farmer's Market.
The shelves in the basement are beginning to get full with my other preserves form this year including: strawberry jam, peach jam, plum jam, tomato puree (from a bushel of San Marzano tomatoes), oven dried tomatoes, and peach chutney. I'd like to do something with beets, make some applesauce and perhaps do some pears.

Back From the Cottage

We got back from the cottage this week and we certainly enjoyed the continued hot weather after missing it for most of July when we were out west. Grace enjoyed sliding down a small plastic slide into the water and the boys enjoyed exploring, swimming, fishing, watching wildlife and lazing around. One quiet Sunday afternoon we even had a bear come sniffing around looking for berries.
We had good visits with our cousins on Papa's side of the family with many big dinners with all the leaves in the table. This week we got our classrooms ready and Grace adjusted to her new caregiver, "Nanny Maria!"