Annie-Part 3

A few years ago, my Mother was diagnosed with 2 Brain Aneurysms.   This is the story of her journey.

For Part 1 of this story click Here

For Part 2 of this story click Here

The Code-Blue announcement over the hospital intercom left us frozen in our spots, unable to move.


Doors flung open. Nurses came out from everywhere and headed towards the intensive care unit where my Mom had been taken to.  


I wanted to yell. 


I {So, Badly} wanted to yell at the nurses to run, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth.  


The clock slowed down and the seconds ticked by. So. Incredibly. Slowly. As we waited for any kind of an update.  


At last, the door that led to the ICU, opened again and the nurses slowly trickled their way back out.


"False Alarm, she's fine," the nurse said.  The cord was accidentally unplugged when they were getting her in the room.


I wanted to punch her.  


One would think that finding out your Mom's heart never actually stopped beating would be a joyous moment.   And it definitely was, don't get me wrong.  The build up anxiety-stress-fear-worry, of the last few weeks-days-hours-minutes-seconds, left me feeling sick with an incredible urge to vomit.  Especially knowing that there was still a growing Brain Aneurysm, and she would undergo a second surgery and go through this hell again. 

Over the past month, the larger of my Mom's two Brain Aneurysms had been growing and pressing against her optic nerve.  By the time she was admitted to the hospital for her first surgery, she had lost the majority of her eyesight in one eye and was unable to open the eye without physically lifting the eyelid with her hand. A blessing in disguise as it was ultimately what lead to the discovery of the Aneurysms.  


The Neurosurgeons were not sure if the damage to her eye was reversible and if my Mom would regain use of her eye again.  At this point, we just felt so lucky that she was alive.


During her first Brain surgery, the larger Aneurysm had been clipped and my Mom was scheduled a couple of months later to have the second Aneurysm coiled. 

The wait between the two surgeries was hard on all of us, as it literally felt like she had a ticking time bomb in her head.  The news that I was pregnant was a little bit of a distraction for my Mom, giving her a {little} something to keep her mind off of the upcoming surgery.

To Be Continued...

  


  

The Good Samaritan

Mistakes.  Accidents.  Catastrophes.  


Plain Stupidities happen when your brain is in the clouds and you aren't paying attention.  


The rush of life.  


I'm guilty of getting caught up in it.    


Running late {Story. Of. My. Life.}


Taking on more than I can handle. 


Daydreaming while driving and not paying attention to the road.  


It left me stranded after my car jumped the curb and blew a tire a few weeks ago.

It wasn't the tire that worried me.  Not even the fact that I was extremely late on a day that couldn't spare a minute, in order to accomplish all the tasks on my list.


My concern was that I had just driven around a bend in the road (out of view to the approaching cars).  


A concern that there wasn't a shoulder for me to safely pull my car off the road, and that this road was notorious for people speeding around this particular corner.  I knew, because I was guilty of being one of those people.


But, my biggest concern was for the safety of my 11 month old Son Sam, who happened to be traveling with me.  


I know... Shame on me for not keeping my attention on the road in the first place!

I pulled Sam out of his car seat and moved away from the car, behind a median, and waited.  

And watched cars drive by.

With people who either looked at me and saw me on my cell phone holding a baby, or people who didn't even notice I was there.  Stranded.  

People, caught up in the rush of life.

And I wondered.

What is wrong with us?

But it was obvious. I wasn't the only one caught up in the busyness of life.

Luckily my Husband was on his way to rescue us and thankfully he wasn't far, because I was quickly starting to lose faith in humanity. 

I know.  I'm so dramatic, right?!  But did I mention I was holding a baby on the side of the road, stranded?

Just then, I saw break lights.  A car reversed and a man jumped out to see if we were okay.

I thanked him, and told him my Husband would arrive within 10 minutes.

He jumped back in his car and was off.

The car reversed back down the hill and the man jumped out and began directing traffic around my car.  


He yelled up the hill "I will stay here until your Husband arrives.   That way if anyone gets hit, it will be me and not you and the baby".


Okay, seriously?  Did I really say I was losing faith in humanity?


Shame on me.

And he did just that.  


Stood at the bottom of the hill (in front of oncoming traffic), putting himself at risk so that my car, my baby, and I were safe.

When I asked him his name (so that I could properly thank him later with a card and perhaps some baked goods) he shrugged his shoulders and said "Don't worry about it.  I'm just a retired Grandfather"


Secretly, I think he may have  been worried we would send him some of These Cookies

Either way, I am grateful for having been reminded that there are great people in the world, willing to put others before themselves. 

Grateful for being reminded how quickly things can happen when you get caught up in the rush of life.


So, if even just for this moment... Slow Down & Celebrate Life.  


I think I may just do the same.

The Kitchen Reno

After what felt like the longest renovation in the history of renovations, my kitchen has finally reached a point where I feel like it is nearly completed.  

Of course, there are always little things that need to be done such as replacing the fridge for a stainless one, properly wiring the television, finishing the lighting and the trim... but, considering what we have gone through, these seem like minor touches.  

We were very fortunate through the whole process, as the majority of the renovations were done by family members.  Our main contractor was my Cousin, and our Kitchen cupboards were custom built by my very talented Aunt and Uncle.

There are many things that I love about my new kitchen, and a few months ago, I posted one of my favourites Here.

So, here you have it... The Before and After photos.

Before

(This was the kitchen before we moved in)

During

 An example of the chaos we lived in.

 Yes, I did take a photo with a box of diapers smack in the middle.  And if you look really close, you can see a half-dead aloe plant near the back wall.

 Walls and cupboards came down.  Tile and carpets came up.

After

Eventually, we will replace the fridge (I keep repeating this with hopes that my Husband is reading)

Our newest addition is this custom built hall closet (on the left).

Another view of the closet.

Lighting and trim will need to be finished, and the T.V. will need to be properly wired... (Again, fingers crossed my Husband is reading).

And perhaps a nicer garage door (Just sayin').

Thanks for stopping by!

Annie Part 2

A few years ago, my Mother was diagnosed with 2 Brain Aneurysms.   This is the story of our journey.

For Part 1 of this story click Here

The 40 minute drive home from the airport was agonizing. The frightening thoughts that were flowing through my head caused the tears to continually flow down my face.  


I was deeply terrified of losing my Mom.


I knew very little about Brain Aneurysms, and I wasn't aware that people could survive them without major consequences.  At the time, the only thing I knew was that my Mother would require brain surgery and that alone made me feel nauseated.


I finally made it home.  


I sat in the driveway for a few moments listening to the raindrops pound against the car.  {Attempting} to pull myself together, I walked in the house and went immediately to bed. 

I cried myself to sleep that night.


The next morning, I drove back to my Mom's house to be with her.  To console her and try to make her feel better about her recent diagnosis, but at the end of the day, she was consoling me.  


Funny how that works.

The following day (Friday) we went to meet the Neurosurgeon at the hospital to find out their intended course of action with regards to her 2 Brain Aneurysms.  


This was real.  


After meeting with the surgeon, my Mom was admitted to the hospital immediately.  Her surgery was scheduled for Sunday, but as a precautionary measure she would have to remain in the hospital in case of a sudden aneurysm rupture.     


The arrival of Sunday was bittersweet.  Knowing the risk of surgery was petrifying, but we were relieved she would finally be operated on. 

My Mom and I at my wedding.  3 months before the surgery

Unexpected Emergencies filled the operating room, and the surgeons were well beyond their duty day. Finally, at 9:00 pm we watched her being wheeled away on her stretcher.  Pit in our stomach and tears in our eyes.  


I don't think there is anything more agonizing in the world than waiting when someone is in surgery.


And waiting...  


And waiting...


We sat by the door that my Mom was supposed to be coming out from.  Every time the door opened, we would peek in as if it would make her come out faster.  She was the last scheduled surgery of the evening and it was well past midnight.


She finally came out.  


I was shocked when I saw her.  The bandage where they had shaved her hair.  Her eyes were still closed and there was a lot of swelling in her face.  


I'm not sure why I was surprised, but I was.


The surgery was successful, but they were only able to get one of the two aneurysms, which meant we would have to go through this whole ordeal again in the near future.


The surgeon told us my Mom would be taken to the intensive care unit, and we would be able to see her within half an hour. 


We felt a sense of relief.


This was short lived, when approximately 15 minutes later we heard 


"CODE BLUE, INTENSIVE CARE UNIT.  CODE BLUE, INTENSIVE CARE UNIT."  


We knew it was my Mom.


To be continued...

For Part 3 of this story click Here

In Preparation for Bake Off

After the devastating tragedies which took place in Japan, my friend Sue Jean and I decided to organize an Easter Bake sale to raise money for the Canadian Red Cross-Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami Fund.  


The sale took place on Wednesday April 20th at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, targeting the employees of Air Canada.

I can't lie... I was seriously nervous! We had absolutely no idea how many people to expect and this was my first bake sale.  

 

I envisioned the two of us coming home at the end of the day with boxes and boxes full of cookies and squares that hadn't sold.

Still, I set a personal {unrealistic} goal of $1000, and {secretly} I felt a little sorry for our husbands.  


You see, Sue Jean and I had decided that if we didn't sell everything, the husbands (Mike & Dave) would either be selling our leftovers to their colleagues, OR they would be purchasing everything themselves at double the asking price. 


It made sense.  If we had that much left over, we would have no choice but to charge Mike and Dave double to make up for lost sales.  :) 

 

In total, we went through 24 pounds of Butter, 22 kilograms of Flour, 15 Kilograms of Sugar, and 7 flats of Eggs.

Incredibly, we managed to sell out of everything 2.5 hours before the end of the sale.


Lucky for Mike and Dave.


We were so busy during the sale that we didn't manage to get any decent pictures...but that's okay... busy is good!  

We surpassed our goal and raised a total of 

$1461

for the Canadian Red Cross.

I would like to thank the following people for all of their assistance in the planning and execution of our Bake Sale.

Carin Brown and Mike Trauzzi of Air Canada 

for all of their hard work with the permits, tables, and set up for the event.

Nathalie Rebelo of Rebelo Photo & Design

for designing and donating posters

I would also like to thank a number of companies for donating baking supplies, allowing us to keep our costs low, and surpass our fundraising goal.


To the Air Canada Employees and our Family and Friends who purchased items from our Bake Sale.  


Finally, I would like to thank Dave, Mike and my Mother, for all the work they did to help us out.


Thank you for making our event a success!