Medical Trip #50 into the city

What a day Tuesday.
This is how I felt.

That was a trip and a half. Hubby had a regularly scheduled follow-up to his 2014 prostate cancer surgery. The cancer cells have metastasized, and we are in the watch and wait phase. This is a good thing. Every day is precious, except when we have to go into the city for a check-up!

Departure 8:20

We left home at 8:20 for a 10:30 appointment in the city. We drove around the city, coming at it from the south, and sometimes avoid traffic. The people driving at the speed of suicide to get to work, or some such, drive me nuts.

There was construction on River Rd., I saw it before the intersection, rush-hour traffic out of Manotick simply wasn't moving!

I deeked right, and up Limebank. That was good. Notice the nice building on the left? It will come up later in my story.

Arrival at Ottawa Hospital at 10:00 a.m.

The visit itself was uneventful, thankfully. We went in at 10:40 for a 10:30 appointment. The staff intern (looked like he was still in high school) was amazingly efficient, with much expertise, and took the last 6 month history: no bone pain, no weight loss, and keep working on dietary issues, no worries! We've always had excellent treatment by our universal healthcare.

98.6 km each way

We're still watch and wait. PSA test scores are as expected. Slow trajectory, which is ideal. An appointment for January. For all this, parking $13, 98.6 km each way, lunch on the road, plus time, energy and gas. This could have been done through Facetime, or a quick phone call? Just saying...

Parking is always a problem. People complain, as it is a user-pay system, you can see in the 2nd last photo where people park on the street to avoid paying. Hubby was wearing his nice newish shirt. I like dressing nicely, just for fun. It makes me feel better. 

The parking attendant was right in front of me, not sure what he was doing. There are crazy people in the parking lot!

It seemed as if we hit every traffic light on the red on the whole trip!

On our way home 11:00

Another red light stop. We noticed flashing lights, and a firefighter truck, or two. On our trip back down Riverside, we had to revert to River Rd., since Limebank was closed due to a fire. (Remember the building in the photo above?!) They were filling up at the fire hydrant in preparation to fight the fire.


Later, upon arriving home, we found out what the fire was about, thanks to the PR person from Ottawa Fire.

Industrial Fire 3326 Limebank Rd. @OttFire operations ongoing. Road closed River Rd South bound Avoid area #ottnews pic.twitter.com/obRNYbJDb1

— Danielle Cardinal (@OttawaFirePIO) July 12, 2016

Porta Tanks & Pump Tankers providing ample water at Limebank Industrial complex fire. No reported injuries #ottnews pic.twitter.com/T7XupTQhqB

— Danielle Cardinal (@OttawaFirePIO) July 12, 2016

Important for @OttFire crews to rehydrate & recover in extreme conditions. Weather/heat is a consideration #ottnews pic.twitter.com/0LyGA5rF47

— Danielle Cardinal (@OttawaFirePIO) July 12, 2016

Grass and bush fires

In fact there was a bush fire Wednesday in our area (began by CP rail grinding tracks).
BBD&E initially responded but as the fires spread, mutual aid and tanker support has been called in from Smiths Falls, Montague, Carleton Place, Lanark Village, South Sherbrooke, Mississippi Mills, Merrickville and Brockville.
A man died in a grass fire near Windsor (burning his ditch grass), and we are in a terrible drought.  Too many burn grass and debris in these risky conditions. Then there are careless campers:

Smouldering camp fire ignites at Pike Lake

We still hope for more rain.

Lunch at 12:15

We made it through the construction on River Rd., lots of stops and goes. We had lunch at The Swan, just for fun. It does add to the cost of our trip, but it is a lovely break in the day, as well.

 The marina is lovely, watching how the rich folks spend their summers! They have a new patio topper, which I found interesting. The willow trees are lovely. We're too dry for those!
Afterward, Hubby chose us a detour that would be a new, different drive for him. (He'd forgotten I'd lived in Osgoode during one of my life phases!)

On our way again 1:15 p.m.

There are some lovely homes on the water, as well as farms! The water is nice to see, as are the many osprey nests. I've taken photos of them before: Osprey on nests!

Merrickville 1:55

Hubby wanted to go to Merrickville for his hard-to-find sorbet ice cream cones. (He can't have dairy!)
This dude in the semi missed our car by, I swear, 2". Then he backed up. By now, hubby was back in the car, driving, and he had to do a U-turn to get out of there. I was somewhat stressed and agitated, by this point. I had to do some deep breathing.


So happy to get home. We were home by 2:30. The red-eyed vireo was in the lilac tree eating bugs. Daisy was under the lilac tree, exhausted by the heat. They have not caught any birds in weeks.
The water lily is blooming nicely.