Well, it's not next week - or the week after. Joan's first meeting with her physiotherapist is May 22 - the day before her neurology appointment. She'll probably be meeting the occupational therapist the next month. She's in the study, though, which means sessions starting next week, running through the rest of May. Can't say I'm thrilled - the OT is the one that orders the hand brace, so that's yet another delay on that. But it's better than nothing. I've been told the labour shortage has hit the children's hospital particularly hard, because most people moving here are young people who either come with young families, or start them soon after they get here, and I believe it. It's so....incredibly...slow. Though, they've just promised some rediculous sum of money for healthcare in the last budget - they updated their numbers based on $78 a barrel. It allowed them to invest billions, and still eliminate the healthcare premium as of January, 2009. If you want a job in healthcare, now's the time to come to Alberta! That and construction. They're investng a ton, both municipally and provincially into roads and infrastructure. Want a great-paying unskilled labour type job, pouring asphalt? We're the place to be! Oh, and mechanics - we just paid $69 for an OIL CHANGE because there's such a shortage! Even the Chicken Shack is still loooking for someone. They've been hiring since last September at least - $15/hour. The 7-11 starts at $12, including benefits and retention bonuses. It's crazy! And they've done so much frantic home building, that housing prices are expected to fall this year, including rental prices, which aren't even all that bad. Our place is awesome, and only $900/month. (Though, the little war-time type bungalows in our neighbourhood sell for $700,000. Or at least, that's what they've been listing at. They sit for months on end at those prices, so they must be coming down.) The only downfall of Calgary is it's a two-industry town - oil and construction. And it's all based on oil sands - the oil they've been pumping is almost all gone, which means our entire economy is based on oil being at least $60/barrel. If it ever falls below that, or even gets too close, this place would be a ghost town. Nice thought. But it's good while it lasts!
Anyway, I'm off to get a GST number. I tried and failed yesterday. We don't have a printer anymore, so the guy on the Revenue Canada number said to pick up a form at the Calgary tax office, and we can fax it back to them when we were finished. Well, sounds great in theory - it should absolutely be that simple, shouldn't it? So, I pack up the kids, and make the dreaded trek downtown. Anyone who's been in downtown Calgary feels for me right now. It's the most ludicrous downtown in the world. The main street - Centre Street - is cut in the middle of town, by the freaking Calgary Tower! And it's not like the road that runs into Queen's Park, where they've built a ring road around it. No. it's just smack in the middle of the street, and you have to navigate through a maze of narrow, one-way streets to get around it. It's ludicrous. Who planned that!? Anyway, we finally got there, then had to hunt for the parkade, then find a spot inside it, get the kids out, find the elavator, get into the lobby, find Revenue Canada inside a ginormous Government of Canada building. We finally got there, only to be stopped by a security guard. I'm a Canadian, in a Canadian government building, trying to conduct legitimate Canadian business, in a Canadian agency, and I'm stopped by a guard, who asks me what I want. "I just need a form," I squeak. Five women behind desks are staring at me. "Over there," the guard says. "WHAT do you need?" asks one woman, visibly annoyed by this intrusion. "I need an RC1." (That stands for Revenue Canada 1. As in, Form #1).
"What's THAT!?" she barks. "It's the new business form," her neighbour whispers to her. "Oh. We don't do forms here," the first one says, handing me a photocopied sheet outlining all the ways I can get the form - none include stopping by a Revenue Canada office. I can get one mailed to me, but she warned me that it's very, very slow. How nice. In fact, I can't even bring the form back to them once I finally DO get it - I have to send it directly to Regina. I really wanted to ask what exactly they DO do there, but didn't. I was the only non-employee in the room. There were five clerks and a security guard. Seriously, what DO they do? The whole fiasco could have been prevented if they'd just publish their phone number. Online, the office description said "service by appointment only", but it gave no phone number to make an appointment!! Ah, gotta love government waste in action.
So the business is off to a rough start. But the kids are doing great. John is still missing family. He's started calling me "grandfather," and pretending that I'm his grandpa. It's not so bad at home, but he did it all through the grocery store yesterday. We got a few strange looks, to say the least. He's such a goofball. he's really grown lately. he's become really tall and skinny all of a sudden, so a lot of his pants are loose. He had on a particularly baggy pair to get groceries in, and somewhere in the pasta isle, I hear. "Mom! Look at me!" I turned around to see him with his pants down around his ankles, and he giggling like a loon. Thankfully, no-one else saw! He's potty trained, by the way! he's in underwear 100per cent of the time. He hasn't wet his bed in almost two weeks, and has even been pooping in his potty! Everytime he does it, he comes up to me and says "mom, I have a surprise for you!" When I ask what it is, he whispers "it's something brown." Then we head to the bathroom for the great unveiling.
Anyway, he's up now, so I'd better go.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
the continuing saga
First, a confession. The camera, alas, is "a little bit broken" as John would put it. That's kind of why there hasn't been a new photo in a while. The cover has come off the battery area. I'm still working on it. In a pinch, I'm thinking duct tape will do the job.
I'm hoping to have it up and running by Saturday - I'm taking the kids to a family expo thing that sounds pretty fun. There's a petting zoo, story time inside a whale, inflatable bouncers, a potting shed, a craft corner, and all sorts of other interactive stuff for kids. It's all free - it's paid by exhibiters trying to lure parents to enroll their kids into summer programs. Everyone who has anything for kids will be there, from schools to the library. Should be a good source of inspiration on things to do with John. We've found lots of things, but no perfect fit yet. What he really needs is preschool, but it's expesive and we're not willing to give into that route just yet. But he does need some more stimulation in his life. He's so incredibly bright and social. Seems a shame to have him out of school. I so wish they had JK here!
More good news for Joan - I got a call from the physio clinic! It was a therapist who phoned, to asses what kind of services she's going to need. She gave me some neat new ideas to try, to entice Joan to crawl - the ones from the old crew just frustrate her to no end. Haven't tried hers yet, but they sound a little more friendly. She agreed she'll need both a hand and foot brace, and is trying to set her up with both physio and occupational therapists. However, they also want her to enrol in a research study, which requires her to start therapy next week! They can't guaruntee her whole team will be assembled by then, but she was pretty sure she could get an appointment with at least her physiotherapist for the first week, which would make the family eligible for the study. If not, they'll have to start probably the week after. Either way works for me! The study is to look at the effects that communication between baby and parent have on success. They've found anectotally that parents who are "in tune" with what their kids are wanting have kids who perform significantly better in therapy. So they've formed a little study, with a six-week parental class, to see if it's true. Half will get both the class and the therapy, the control will get therapy only. (Hopefully, we get the class!)
On the Mike front, we've decided to go ahead and go contract. I've been in charge of research, and spent a lot of time on the phone with revenue canada, and various other beaurocratic agencies, and it doesn't sound too hard, even for an incorperation. The added work to have an incorperation over a sole proprietership is pretty minimal. We only registered as an Alberta company, so apparently, they send out a pre-filled-in form once each year, we make any changes, answer a few questions, fire it back and that's that. The revenue canada stuff we'd have to do anyway - we need a business number and a GST number, no matter what kind of business it is. We're just tacking on payroll stuff, which doesn't sound like too much fun, but it doesn't sound hard, either. It's a monthly payment to the government - which they may ask us to do quarterly, if it's too small - and an annual summary. GST is just a cheque each year. There's the extra tax return for the company, but there's small business tax software. We're such a minuscule little business, we just can't see it being that complicated, as long as we keep meticulous records. It's really just an invoice out, a payment in, and a couple of paycheques back out. It should be pretty basic to keep track of everything, as long as we keep good records and keep track of all the due dates. Mike took accounting in university. I'm sure I can pick up enough to keep us out of trouble. I can add and subtract. How hard can it be? (Famous last words, I know.) Chances are, I won't qualify for EI after all. Mike will be sole shareholder, at least to start, so he's automatically out. And apparently, they're a bit sticky about wives working as assistants to their husbands in these little micro-businesses, according to the Revenue Canada Guy. He gave me the number of a form to fill out, which goes to a board of sorts. They'll give us a ruling on whether they would honour a claim, and if they say no, we just don't pay that deduction - but everyone qualifies for CPP. He gave me some tips to keep things simple, and told me some of Revenue Canada's small business pet peeves so we don't annoy them too much. He was pretty frank, and had lots of info. He said they try to keep it pretty user-friendly, ad we'll get all the forms and handbooks we need when we apply for our numbers.
We incorperated on Friday - it was only a couple hundred bucks. There was only one "legalese" section, about share structure. We just took a blurb from a sample federal form we found online. When we went in to the office, they showed us a pre-written blurb of their own, that they could just cut and paste from a file, so we went with that. It was pretty easy. And what did Mike choose as a name? W Inc. (It spells wink.) He tossed around Walchuk Telecom Inc, but thought it sounded too long and stuffy. Walchaco Inc was on the table, but he wasn't sold on it either. W Inc was just kooky enough for his taste, and shockingly, wasn't taken yet. So now it's ours.
John just came down, and wants to say hi!
lkmnbvcx
I'm hoping to have it up and running by Saturday - I'm taking the kids to a family expo thing that sounds pretty fun. There's a petting zoo, story time inside a whale, inflatable bouncers, a potting shed, a craft corner, and all sorts of other interactive stuff for kids. It's all free - it's paid by exhibiters trying to lure parents to enroll their kids into summer programs. Everyone who has anything for kids will be there, from schools to the library. Should be a good source of inspiration on things to do with John. We've found lots of things, but no perfect fit yet. What he really needs is preschool, but it's expesive and we're not willing to give into that route just yet. But he does need some more stimulation in his life. He's so incredibly bright and social. Seems a shame to have him out of school. I so wish they had JK here!
More good news for Joan - I got a call from the physio clinic! It was a therapist who phoned, to asses what kind of services she's going to need. She gave me some neat new ideas to try, to entice Joan to crawl - the ones from the old crew just frustrate her to no end. Haven't tried hers yet, but they sound a little more friendly. She agreed she'll need both a hand and foot brace, and is trying to set her up with both physio and occupational therapists. However, they also want her to enrol in a research study, which requires her to start therapy next week! They can't guaruntee her whole team will be assembled by then, but she was pretty sure she could get an appointment with at least her physiotherapist for the first week, which would make the family eligible for the study. If not, they'll have to start probably the week after. Either way works for me! The study is to look at the effects that communication between baby and parent have on success. They've found anectotally that parents who are "in tune" with what their kids are wanting have kids who perform significantly better in therapy. So they've formed a little study, with a six-week parental class, to see if it's true. Half will get both the class and the therapy, the control will get therapy only. (Hopefully, we get the class!)
On the Mike front, we've decided to go ahead and go contract. I've been in charge of research, and spent a lot of time on the phone with revenue canada, and various other beaurocratic agencies, and it doesn't sound too hard, even for an incorperation. The added work to have an incorperation over a sole proprietership is pretty minimal. We only registered as an Alberta company, so apparently, they send out a pre-filled-in form once each year, we make any changes, answer a few questions, fire it back and that's that. The revenue canada stuff we'd have to do anyway - we need a business number and a GST number, no matter what kind of business it is. We're just tacking on payroll stuff, which doesn't sound like too much fun, but it doesn't sound hard, either. It's a monthly payment to the government - which they may ask us to do quarterly, if it's too small - and an annual summary. GST is just a cheque each year. There's the extra tax return for the company, but there's small business tax software. We're such a minuscule little business, we just can't see it being that complicated, as long as we keep meticulous records. It's really just an invoice out, a payment in, and a couple of paycheques back out. It should be pretty basic to keep track of everything, as long as we keep good records and keep track of all the due dates. Mike took accounting in university. I'm sure I can pick up enough to keep us out of trouble. I can add and subtract. How hard can it be? (Famous last words, I know.) Chances are, I won't qualify for EI after all. Mike will be sole shareholder, at least to start, so he's automatically out. And apparently, they're a bit sticky about wives working as assistants to their husbands in these little micro-businesses, according to the Revenue Canada Guy. He gave me the number of a form to fill out, which goes to a board of sorts. They'll give us a ruling on whether they would honour a claim, and if they say no, we just don't pay that deduction - but everyone qualifies for CPP. He gave me some tips to keep things simple, and told me some of Revenue Canada's small business pet peeves so we don't annoy them too much. He was pretty frank, and had lots of info. He said they try to keep it pretty user-friendly, ad we'll get all the forms and handbooks we need when we apply for our numbers.
We incorperated on Friday - it was only a couple hundred bucks. There was only one "legalese" section, about share structure. We just took a blurb from a sample federal form we found online. When we went in to the office, they showed us a pre-written blurb of their own, that they could just cut and paste from a file, so we went with that. It was pretty easy. And what did Mike choose as a name? W Inc. (It spells wink.) He tossed around Walchuk Telecom Inc, but thought it sounded too long and stuffy. Walchaco Inc was on the table, but he wasn't sold on it either. W Inc was just kooky enough for his taste, and shockingly, wasn't taken yet. So now it's ours.
John just came down, and wants to say hi!
lkmnbvcx
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
she's OK!
a bath photo, just for funJoan's MRI went through this morning. The anesthesiologist was a little leery, but because she had no fever and her lungs sounded clear, he said he was fine with going ahead. Apparently, the drugs they give can cause the lungs to "shut down" to the extent that they have trouble clearing themselves out, which can lead to an increased risk of pneumonia, which is why they won't put a sick kid under, if they can help it. But both he and the nurse agreed that, although she still had a cough, her lungs were clear.
Only one of us was allowed to go be with her for the sedation, so Mike went, which I was kind of glad of. Not sure if I could have handled that, to be honest. He said she fussed a little, but was too tired to put up a fight - it all happened before her normal wake-up time. Then, we took John to the coffee shop for some breakfast, before the playroom opened. I love having a hospital that's so geared to families, right down to the coffee shop. In the fridge were things like Minigo's, cheese strings, Jell-o, and about five different flavours of rice krispie squares.
The playroom is awesome. John bolted in as soon as the door opened, and was pushing trucks around before we even had a chance to fully check him in.It's huge and bright, and the volunteers are really nice. It's all funded through the hospital foundation, so it's free to use. I really appreciate that it's there, and if we decide to give anything to charity this year, this hospital tops my list. It's a little stressful getting the referrals organized, but now that we're in, it's a great place. The nurses are awesome, and it's all set up to be so family-oriented. There's toys in every waiting room. Play areas, fish tanks, wishing wells. Lots of bathrooms and smaller, more private waiting areas. They're all nice to John, who alway has a million questions for the doctors and nurses, but they all take the time to answer him and make him feel part of the process. They all seem to have all the information they need, and the interaction between them and us is all very organized and streamlined. For a hospital, where terrible things must happen all the time, it's a very soothing and reassuring place. It's been really great so far.
We didn't need to wait long for Joan to wake up. She was pretty crabby from the drugs and not too happy with all the wires and sensors attached to her. But she cuddled for a bit, and had some juice, and she seemed to cheer up with every wire removed. Her big beef was the IV hook-up, and I can't blame her. Those things suck. They told us everything went fine. They didn't need to use the radioactive dye - we had to sign a consent form ahead of time, in case they needed to use it. It feels great signing off on something for your kid, where the potential risks are coma and death. The anesthesiologist popped in to see her before we left, and said she did well, and her lungs weren't a problem.
The whole thing was very fast. They originally told us an hour in recovery - the nurse discharged us after about 10 minutes. I felt bad for John, who only got to play for maybe 20 minutes. He gave us a very sour look as he saw us coming to collect him! But he'll be back - I'm hoping to use it during her physio appointments, too.
Joan recovered just fine. She wasn't back to her usual happy self for about an hour and a half. But then she was starving, and ate like a horse. She did throw up a little - they said that might happen, even though they gave her antinausea drugs - then she was down for a nap.
So it all went very well, and I'm glad that's all done and behind us. She can now eat coins to her heart's content! And in four weeks we meet her neurologist, to see what horrors are hiding in that little head of hers!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
MRI day!
Just a reminder that Joan's MRI is tomorrow - at 7:30 a.m.! Unfortunately, there's a chance that it may be deferred to a later date. Mike had a very, very bad flu, and it made its rounds through everyone. I got the lightest dose - no fever, and minimal stomach issues. John was hit hard - he was as sick as Mike, who wound up taking several days off work with it. I really thought Joan was going to sail through, but the night before her heart appointment, the fever kicked in. By the morning of the appointment, she had a fever of 102. We doped her up on Tylenol to cool her down a little, but it wasn't enough to let her feel "good" in any way. She screamed her head off through both tests, the weigh-in, through most of the waiting room time. Not a fun visit. The staff there was awesome, though. They work at a kids hospital for a reason - they all took the noise in stride, and did their best to distract her. They tried puppets, swirling lights, toys, funny faces, all to no avail. But they all kept their cool, and just kept working. Sadly, we had a very sick and stroppy John with us, too. We felt he was way too fluish to dump him in the siblings' playroom, so he tagged along with us. Also not a happy camper, but he found the tests pretty cool, and he found a cool truck to play with in the waiting room.
Fast forward to the weekend. John, who's been sick and feverish for a week, starts screaming his head off, and clutching at his ear. "IT STINGS!!!!!" he screams, tears streaming down his face. It's Friday night, so our family doc has already gone home, but the nurse gave us the alberta telehealth number. They say to try Tylenol, and wait a couple days. Mike wasn't home yet, so I did the Tylenol to start. John was asleep within 5 minutes. However, an hour later, he was up again, screaming and clutching, so we packed everyone up and headed to the urgent care clinic. (The nurse had recommended the emergency at the Children's Hospital, but we called ahead, and they warned they were extremely busy, due to the blizzard which was hitting the city at the time).
So we checked in with our hacking, spluttering, feverish kids, one in obvious pain, and the other tugging at her ears, so we asked that they both be looked at. We were the first to be seen - thank goodness, because there were two kids riddled with chicken pox, running around, breathing on Joan. That's just what I need. Turns out, they both had ear infections. So now, we have matching bottles of his and her antibiotics in the fridge.
John is pretty much over his flu, but Joan isn't exactly 100 per cent. No fever anymore, but she's very sniffly and tired, and on antibiotics to boot, with an MRI scheduled in the morning. Great timing. I called the MRI clinic yesterday, to see if they'll reschedule. The nurse said to bring her how she is, and the anesthesiologist will make the call then. Hopefully, she's well enough to go ahead. It will finally put an end to my recurring nightmares of Joan eating metalic objects off the floor, only to have them rip through her organs during the MRI. Gotta love paranoid mom dreams. I've been having these dreams for months now. I've been sweeping the floor twice daily, in a futile attempt at stopping them.
We've got John signed up again for the sibling room. He liked watching the tests for her heart, but we're not allowed to watch the MRI. So if they let her through, it'll be 45 minutes of nervous waiting, followed by an hour of recovery as she wakes up from the sedation. Very boring for a little kid, so I'm glad they still had space in the play room! He's going to be there to watch her being put under though, but we've been preparing him for what he's going to see, and he loves playing doctor, so I think he'll be ok with seeing it.
In other news, Mike's company is being restructured, in a way. There's been rumors of piece rate being brought in for weeks now. But it turns out, they actually want the guys to all go contract. It means they all have to become their own private companies, with registrations and GST numbers and insurance and the whole bit. It's optional, so it's kind of dominated all of our conversation for days, debating whether it's the right thing to do, and if we do, what's the best way to go about doing it. We've been researching all the terms - dividends, capital gains, sole proprieter vs incorperation, gross-up. It's pretty complicated stuff. But Mike's been tinkering with tax software, to see what would work out best for us, both short and long term. There's a lot of factors that have to weigh in - child benefits, RRSP capabilities, tax rates, liquidity of assets, income splitting - but we've got about three weeks before everything gets presented to the guys in writing, and new contracts need to be signed. We're pretty sure it's the right thing to do. It eliminates all job security, and he won't be eligible for EI anymore, but there are other advantages. He could incorperate, registering as just an Alberta business, which makes things more complicated paper-work-wise. But then, both he and I can pull a wage from the company. I can be his assistant,a nd we can both earn minimum wage, which, while holding the balance of our assets at a corperate rate, which is pretty low - much, much lower than income tax. We can draw a wage from this company while he's at school, so it's a form of savings, and as far as we know, the company can invest in stocks and mutual funds just like a person can. From the tax software, that gave us the best scenario, tax-wise, and has other attractive benefits as well. But we're still hemming and hawing. That scenario would also give me EI benefits, in case Mike lost his job (because he'd have to lay me off, too.) Unfotunately, the company isn't making the status quo very palatable - there won't be any more bonus structure or overtime - just a flat wage with flat hours. Under the unit-rate contract model, it appears that Mike would bring in quite a bit more, but there's no security to it, and he NEEDS to bring in more to cover the extra costs. Don't know. It's a brave new world, that's for sure! Any advice is appreciated!!!
Anyway, better go. I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow.
Fast forward to the weekend. John, who's been sick and feverish for a week, starts screaming his head off, and clutching at his ear. "IT STINGS!!!!!" he screams, tears streaming down his face. It's Friday night, so our family doc has already gone home, but the nurse gave us the alberta telehealth number. They say to try Tylenol, and wait a couple days. Mike wasn't home yet, so I did the Tylenol to start. John was asleep within 5 minutes. However, an hour later, he was up again, screaming and clutching, so we packed everyone up and headed to the urgent care clinic. (The nurse had recommended the emergency at the Children's Hospital, but we called ahead, and they warned they were extremely busy, due to the blizzard which was hitting the city at the time).
So we checked in with our hacking, spluttering, feverish kids, one in obvious pain, and the other tugging at her ears, so we asked that they both be looked at. We were the first to be seen - thank goodness, because there were two kids riddled with chicken pox, running around, breathing on Joan. That's just what I need. Turns out, they both had ear infections. So now, we have matching bottles of his and her antibiotics in the fridge.
John is pretty much over his flu, but Joan isn't exactly 100 per cent. No fever anymore, but she's very sniffly and tired, and on antibiotics to boot, with an MRI scheduled in the morning. Great timing. I called the MRI clinic yesterday, to see if they'll reschedule. The nurse said to bring her how she is, and the anesthesiologist will make the call then. Hopefully, she's well enough to go ahead. It will finally put an end to my recurring nightmares of Joan eating metalic objects off the floor, only to have them rip through her organs during the MRI. Gotta love paranoid mom dreams. I've been having these dreams for months now. I've been sweeping the floor twice daily, in a futile attempt at stopping them.
We've got John signed up again for the sibling room. He liked watching the tests for her heart, but we're not allowed to watch the MRI. So if they let her through, it'll be 45 minutes of nervous waiting, followed by an hour of recovery as she wakes up from the sedation. Very boring for a little kid, so I'm glad they still had space in the play room! He's going to be there to watch her being put under though, but we've been preparing him for what he's going to see, and he loves playing doctor, so I think he'll be ok with seeing it.
In other news, Mike's company is being restructured, in a way. There's been rumors of piece rate being brought in for weeks now. But it turns out, they actually want the guys to all go contract. It means they all have to become their own private companies, with registrations and GST numbers and insurance and the whole bit. It's optional, so it's kind of dominated all of our conversation for days, debating whether it's the right thing to do, and if we do, what's the best way to go about doing it. We've been researching all the terms - dividends, capital gains, sole proprieter vs incorperation, gross-up. It's pretty complicated stuff. But Mike's been tinkering with tax software, to see what would work out best for us, both short and long term. There's a lot of factors that have to weigh in - child benefits, RRSP capabilities, tax rates, liquidity of assets, income splitting - but we've got about three weeks before everything gets presented to the guys in writing, and new contracts need to be signed. We're pretty sure it's the right thing to do. It eliminates all job security, and he won't be eligible for EI anymore, but there are other advantages. He could incorperate, registering as just an Alberta business, which makes things more complicated paper-work-wise. But then, both he and I can pull a wage from the company. I can be his assistant,a nd we can both earn minimum wage, which, while holding the balance of our assets at a corperate rate, which is pretty low - much, much lower than income tax. We can draw a wage from this company while he's at school, so it's a form of savings, and as far as we know, the company can invest in stocks and mutual funds just like a person can. From the tax software, that gave us the best scenario, tax-wise, and has other attractive benefits as well. But we're still hemming and hawing. That scenario would also give me EI benefits, in case Mike lost his job (because he'd have to lay me off, too.) Unfotunately, the company isn't making the status quo very palatable - there won't be any more bonus structure or overtime - just a flat wage with flat hours. Under the unit-rate contract model, it appears that Mike would bring in quite a bit more, but there's no security to it, and he NEEDS to bring in more to cover the extra costs. Don't know. It's a brave new world, that's for sure! Any advice is appreciated!!!
Anyway, better go. I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
she's fine!
just stopping in quick while Mike's home to code off some jobs - our main computer is having some booting issues.
Joan had her cardiology appointment yesterday, and everything is fine. There's no hole, no abnormalities at all. The initial diagnosis was correct - an innocent murmer. But instead of being caused by a hole, like the pediatrician thought, it's just caused by the particular shape of her heart. The way blood moves through causes a bit of an extra whoosh, which is completely harmless. Most kids outgrow it as the shape of their heart changes with growth. About 5 per cent continue into adulthood, but even in that case, it's completely harmless and will never cause her any problems. He said her heart looks fine and healthy and normal, and the murmer in no way had anything to do with the stroke. The cardiologist got on the phone with our neurologist as we were leaving to go over his findings, so now neurology knows she's all clear for the MRI.
Joan had her cardiology appointment yesterday, and everything is fine. There's no hole, no abnormalities at all. The initial diagnosis was correct - an innocent murmer. But instead of being caused by a hole, like the pediatrician thought, it's just caused by the particular shape of her heart. The way blood moves through causes a bit of an extra whoosh, which is completely harmless. Most kids outgrow it as the shape of their heart changes with growth. About 5 per cent continue into adulthood, but even in that case, it's completely harmless and will never cause her any problems. He said her heart looks fine and healthy and normal, and the murmer in no way had anything to do with the stroke. The cardiologist got on the phone with our neurologist as we were leaving to go over his findings, so now neurology knows she's all clear for the MRI.
Friday, April 04, 2008
really, REALLY quick Joan update...
Got a call from the Doc this morning. Cardiology decided to step Joan's appointment WAY up - to April 16! I think she's getting two tests - they said both an ECG AND an echocardiogram. Apparently, they're two different things. I looked up on Wikipedia, and yeah - they seem to be different. At any rate, we go straight from that to a consult with the cardiologist, to discuss the results.
Mike is off that day, which will be nice. We booked John into the sibling childcare room, too, so for most of the two-hour appointment he'll get to play with other kids. Thankfully, Mike's even off the day of the MRI, which is awesome! Though, it's scheduled too early to drop John with the childcare, so he may just be coming along for the ride.
Anyway, thought I'd pass that on! Yay!
Mike is off that day, which will be nice. We booked John into the sibling childcare room, too, so for most of the two-hour appointment he'll get to play with other kids. Thankfully, Mike's even off the day of the MRI, which is awesome! Though, it's scheduled too early to drop John with the childcare, so he may just be coming along for the ride.
Anyway, thought I'd pass that on! Yay!
Thursday, April 03, 2008
super-quick Joan update
hello,
Joan and I visited the doctor today. I didn't actually ask for anything to be moved, but I passed along some of the family's concerns, and my own concerns, and some of the family heart history.
He said it was probably all very safe - she's not the first case they'll have seen, so they'll know what they're doing, and they likely won't put her right under anyway - typically, it's just a sedative, which is safer.
That said, he conferred with the cardiologist after I left, and the cardiologist feels, in light of the family history, that her ECG should probably be stepped up. What they're going to TRY to do, is co-ordinate with Neurology, to have the two tests done back to back on the same visit. He's not sure what they'll do about sedation - the doc said to leave it with them for a couple days to go over her chart and make some decisions, and he should be able to relay their answer to me by Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I'll keep you posted on what they say.
Joan and I visited the doctor today. I didn't actually ask for anything to be moved, but I passed along some of the family's concerns, and my own concerns, and some of the family heart history.
He said it was probably all very safe - she's not the first case they'll have seen, so they'll know what they're doing, and they likely won't put her right under anyway - typically, it's just a sedative, which is safer.
That said, he conferred with the cardiologist after I left, and the cardiologist feels, in light of the family history, that her ECG should probably be stepped up. What they're going to TRY to do, is co-ordinate with Neurology, to have the two tests done back to back on the same visit. He's not sure what they'll do about sedation - the doc said to leave it with them for a couple days to go over her chart and make some decisions, and he should be able to relay their answer to me by Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I'll keep you posted on what they say.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
this and that and the other
It's been a bit, so thought I'd better stop in. Sorry no pictures - I'm actually on Mike's laptop, and he has none loaded on here. It's his day off today, and he's at the gym. (He got a membership for himself a week or two ago, and has been every day since. He's put on some weight since leaving Hamilton, and it's starting to make him feel tired at work.)
Anyway, things are going alright here. Kids have gotten over a strange flu. We think it must have been what we had, but in us, it dragged on and on, but wasn't bad - just annoying. In the kids, it was a 24-hour bug. Joan got it first, then John. The night it hit John, he crawled into bed with us, and was so cold, he was shivering. Then the fever hit, and it was like sleeping with a radiator. He spent the entire day dozing on the couch, complaining that he was hot and cold and everything hurt, and barking orders at me. "Mom, can you move my drink?" "Mom, can you get me my super duper cozy blanket?" In the evening, his fever spiked to 102, but I had nothing to give him, so thankfully, Mike postponed his last job to make a run to the pharmacy for me. Within half an hour, John was feeling great, back to his perky, chatty self. Then had a great night's sleep, and woke up feeling fine. Joan's wasn't even that bad. She felt slightly warmish for a day, but showed no other symptoms at all.
I just have to send a very big, very belated thank you to Mike's grandma - she sent the kids a HUGE gift basket for Easter, filled to the brim with chocolate and cookies and fruit. I had to love John - he was taking out all these sweets, but the first thing he ate was the grapes! All the fruit was eaten in pretty short order, actually. We still have one of the four Easter bunnies left. I actually turned one of the big ones into a pan of brownies, which Mike thought was a horrible thing to do. But they were sooooo good! So thank you so much! You really made John's day. He was so excited when he saw it come in! In fact, he's still taking about it!
We finally went to the library last week. John's usual gym program was cancelled, due to March break, and they have a big library right there, so it became his consolation prize. He really liked it. They had computers pre-loaded with fun little preschool games, with numbers and letters and puzzles. It was very popular - the kids all piled their little chairs around the monitor, taking turns with the mouse, feeding each other the answers. It was really cute. At one point, it was just John and another little boy, and the other kid had the mouse. John kept patting the kid on the back, saying "good job!" and "you're good at this game!"Unfortunately, the other kid didn't speak too much english, but he seemed to understand the sentiment. And of course, they had little tables and chairs and couches, for test driving the books. John would bolt off into the stacks, and emerge with new books to read. In the end, he had a few favourites, so we got library cards to take them home. They charge for library cards here, which is unthinkable to me - $12 a year! But I guess for the value you get, it's pretty cheap. They do run lots of programs - they do a lot of ESL training, and lots of kids programs, like puppet shows and sing-a-longs. They even have a preschool program, which is half an hour without parents, which I think John would enjoy. He needs a break from mom now and then.
That said, if a city in southern ontario proposed charging an annual fee to use the library, there would be riots. But in Calgary, it kind of fits. They're so incredibly cheap here! Did you know that Calgary has no curb-side recycling? They have dumpsters scattered throughout the city, and people save up their recyclables, and haul them to these bins. You can't even just dump it in - everything needs to be flattened and sorted into the proper bins. And people actually do this. If you peek in, everything is perfectly cleaned and sorted. Though, we're getting curbside recycling next year, which will be nice. Speaking of how cheap this city is, I don't think they own a single street sweeper. The streets are still caked in sand and dirt from winter. On windy days, it's like a dust storm rolling down the streets. I really think they just wait for the rain in summer to take care of it.
Then there's healthcare. We just got our first bill - $260-odd dollars, for the first quarter. We had our bill even before coverage kicked in! But I intend to get my money's worth. Joan and I are headed to the doctor tomorrow on Alberta's tab, to discuss some concerns. Apparently, he's the only guy with the power to step up her ECG, so he's the guy I'm going to see. My concern is that he doesn't know that there's a history of big heart problems on both sides of my family. I know some of it is in her chart - a couple members needed pacemakers at a young age, and the pediatrician considered my dad to be very young to have the surgery he did, so both of those are in there. But I know there's more I didn't think to say at the time, that might be relavent. I know I had a great aunt on my mom's side, who was born with a heart defect, and died in her early 20's as a result. It doesn't hurt to make sure Joan will be safe under sedation for the MRI, without knowing exactly what's up with her heart first. I'm sure it's fine - heart defects are the main cause of these strokes, so I'm sure they've dealt with it before. But it doesn't hurt to make sure. I get the sense from the nurses and admissions staff that the departments in this hospital are very disconnected from each other, which is a big concern to me.
John's doing well, but is getting nostalgic for family. He's been asking to go to Dryden for a visit with his grandparents these last few weeks. Some days, he's so insistant, he says he's going to go by himself! Mike's trying to think of a way to get us there - he's thinking he might drive us up on a weekend, then pick us up on another weekend. But we'll see. One of the things John misses is the Walchuk's apple trees, so I'm thinking April might be a wee bit early! John's getting impatient for all his usual summer activities - camping, swimming, picnicing. He's been asking for a picnic with Jeremy's special peanut butter cookies. But it's not quite summery enough for any of those things yet. In fact, we got a little bit of snow a couple days ago - 10 cm, that they didn't even predict. (They can't predict the precipitation here, because of the mountains. Apparently, only Denver is harder to predict.) John had fun shovelling again, but got bored halfway through...so he took off to the park! I turned around, and he was gone! Luckily, there was snow, so Joan and I just followed his tracks, and found him on the swings. It's just across the back ally, so if he's going to take off anywhere, that's the safest place for him to go. But still! Sheesh!
Mike's turning 30 is a few days! It's going to be pretty low-key. He wants to watch Logan's Run, which is what we did for my 30th, too. He asked for a black forest cake, so the kids and I headed out to pick up some whipped cream and cherries so we can make one. John and I are going to try to make ice cream, too, which Mike doesn't know about. John is so excited! he just can't wait for Dad's birthday! I let him pick out the candles at the store - he had a choice of three, and picked the diamond patterned ones. "They're so beautiful!" he keeps telling Dad, even though it's technically all supposed to be a "surprise". John even has a hiding spot all picked out, where he's going to leap from and yell "Surprise!" when dad gets home from work. He's been practicing - he's already started yelling "surprise!" every time dad comes home. It's very cute. I think John is getting way more enjoyment from Mike's birthday than Mike is.
Making the cake should be exciting - I've never made a real cake before, but I've been trying to make everything from scratch now that I'm at home, so I'm getting better at cooking. John's been enjoying it. We've completely given up the grossly overpriced commercial bread here, so every few days, we bake bread together. I let John dump ingredients and punch down between rises, and he thinks it's great fun. I think a lot of people cook from scratch here - we can get neat specialty things that you'd never see in a store down south. Instead of yeast being in a little box on the bottom shelf, it's a huge section, with all different kinds, right at eye level. There's a mill in Olds, and they sell all sorts of neat things right in Safeway, like barley flour, which makes a neat tasting bread we all like. People seem to do a lot of preserving here, too, judging from the giant wall-o-preserving supplies at every groccery store. But I'm not sure what they're preserving - they don't seem to grow produce here. Maybe we'll be surprised, but Mike thinks people must stock up in the Okanogan every summer, then can it for the winter.
Anyway, I should go. I'm tired and rambling, and have to feed the brood. But I'll be back!
Anyway, things are going alright here. Kids have gotten over a strange flu. We think it must have been what we had, but in us, it dragged on and on, but wasn't bad - just annoying. In the kids, it was a 24-hour bug. Joan got it first, then John. The night it hit John, he crawled into bed with us, and was so cold, he was shivering. Then the fever hit, and it was like sleeping with a radiator. He spent the entire day dozing on the couch, complaining that he was hot and cold and everything hurt, and barking orders at me. "Mom, can you move my drink?" "Mom, can you get me my super duper cozy blanket?" In the evening, his fever spiked to 102, but I had nothing to give him, so thankfully, Mike postponed his last job to make a run to the pharmacy for me. Within half an hour, John was feeling great, back to his perky, chatty self. Then had a great night's sleep, and woke up feeling fine. Joan's wasn't even that bad. She felt slightly warmish for a day, but showed no other symptoms at all.
I just have to send a very big, very belated thank you to Mike's grandma - she sent the kids a HUGE gift basket for Easter, filled to the brim with chocolate and cookies and fruit. I had to love John - he was taking out all these sweets, but the first thing he ate was the grapes! All the fruit was eaten in pretty short order, actually. We still have one of the four Easter bunnies left. I actually turned one of the big ones into a pan of brownies, which Mike thought was a horrible thing to do. But they were sooooo good! So thank you so much! You really made John's day. He was so excited when he saw it come in! In fact, he's still taking about it!
We finally went to the library last week. John's usual gym program was cancelled, due to March break, and they have a big library right there, so it became his consolation prize. He really liked it. They had computers pre-loaded with fun little preschool games, with numbers and letters and puzzles. It was very popular - the kids all piled their little chairs around the monitor, taking turns with the mouse, feeding each other the answers. It was really cute. At one point, it was just John and another little boy, and the other kid had the mouse. John kept patting the kid on the back, saying "good job!" and "you're good at this game!"Unfortunately, the other kid didn't speak too much english, but he seemed to understand the sentiment. And of course, they had little tables and chairs and couches, for test driving the books. John would bolt off into the stacks, and emerge with new books to read. In the end, he had a few favourites, so we got library cards to take them home. They charge for library cards here, which is unthinkable to me - $12 a year! But I guess for the value you get, it's pretty cheap. They do run lots of programs - they do a lot of ESL training, and lots of kids programs, like puppet shows and sing-a-longs. They even have a preschool program, which is half an hour without parents, which I think John would enjoy. He needs a break from mom now and then.
That said, if a city in southern ontario proposed charging an annual fee to use the library, there would be riots. But in Calgary, it kind of fits. They're so incredibly cheap here! Did you know that Calgary has no curb-side recycling? They have dumpsters scattered throughout the city, and people save up their recyclables, and haul them to these bins. You can't even just dump it in - everything needs to be flattened and sorted into the proper bins. And people actually do this. If you peek in, everything is perfectly cleaned and sorted. Though, we're getting curbside recycling next year, which will be nice. Speaking of how cheap this city is, I don't think they own a single street sweeper. The streets are still caked in sand and dirt from winter. On windy days, it's like a dust storm rolling down the streets. I really think they just wait for the rain in summer to take care of it.
Then there's healthcare. We just got our first bill - $260-odd dollars, for the first quarter. We had our bill even before coverage kicked in! But I intend to get my money's worth. Joan and I are headed to the doctor tomorrow on Alberta's tab, to discuss some concerns. Apparently, he's the only guy with the power to step up her ECG, so he's the guy I'm going to see. My concern is that he doesn't know that there's a history of big heart problems on both sides of my family. I know some of it is in her chart - a couple members needed pacemakers at a young age, and the pediatrician considered my dad to be very young to have the surgery he did, so both of those are in there. But I know there's more I didn't think to say at the time, that might be relavent. I know I had a great aunt on my mom's side, who was born with a heart defect, and died in her early 20's as a result. It doesn't hurt to make sure Joan will be safe under sedation for the MRI, without knowing exactly what's up with her heart first. I'm sure it's fine - heart defects are the main cause of these strokes, so I'm sure they've dealt with it before. But it doesn't hurt to make sure. I get the sense from the nurses and admissions staff that the departments in this hospital are very disconnected from each other, which is a big concern to me.
John's doing well, but is getting nostalgic for family. He's been asking to go to Dryden for a visit with his grandparents these last few weeks. Some days, he's so insistant, he says he's going to go by himself! Mike's trying to think of a way to get us there - he's thinking he might drive us up on a weekend, then pick us up on another weekend. But we'll see. One of the things John misses is the Walchuk's apple trees, so I'm thinking April might be a wee bit early! John's getting impatient for all his usual summer activities - camping, swimming, picnicing. He's been asking for a picnic with Jeremy's special peanut butter cookies. But it's not quite summery enough for any of those things yet. In fact, we got a little bit of snow a couple days ago - 10 cm, that they didn't even predict. (They can't predict the precipitation here, because of the mountains. Apparently, only Denver is harder to predict.) John had fun shovelling again, but got bored halfway through...so he took off to the park! I turned around, and he was gone! Luckily, there was snow, so Joan and I just followed his tracks, and found him on the swings. It's just across the back ally, so if he's going to take off anywhere, that's the safest place for him to go. But still! Sheesh!
Mike's turning 30 is a few days! It's going to be pretty low-key. He wants to watch Logan's Run, which is what we did for my 30th, too. He asked for a black forest cake, so the kids and I headed out to pick up some whipped cream and cherries so we can make one. John and I are going to try to make ice cream, too, which Mike doesn't know about. John is so excited! he just can't wait for Dad's birthday! I let him pick out the candles at the store - he had a choice of three, and picked the diamond patterned ones. "They're so beautiful!" he keeps telling Dad, even though it's technically all supposed to be a "surprise". John even has a hiding spot all picked out, where he's going to leap from and yell "Surprise!" when dad gets home from work. He's been practicing - he's already started yelling "surprise!" every time dad comes home. It's very cute. I think John is getting way more enjoyment from Mike's birthday than Mike is.
Making the cake should be exciting - I've never made a real cake before, but I've been trying to make everything from scratch now that I'm at home, so I'm getting better at cooking. John's been enjoying it. We've completely given up the grossly overpriced commercial bread here, so every few days, we bake bread together. I let John dump ingredients and punch down between rises, and he thinks it's great fun. I think a lot of people cook from scratch here - we can get neat specialty things that you'd never see in a store down south. Instead of yeast being in a little box on the bottom shelf, it's a huge section, with all different kinds, right at eye level. There's a mill in Olds, and they sell all sorts of neat things right in Safeway, like barley flour, which makes a neat tasting bread we all like. People seem to do a lot of preserving here, too, judging from the giant wall-o-preserving supplies at every groccery store. But I'm not sure what they're preserving - they don't seem to grow produce here. Maybe we'll be surprised, but Mike thinks people must stock up in the Okanogan every summer, then can it for the winter.
Anyway, I should go. I'm tired and rambling, and have to feed the brood. But I'll be back!
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