Farewell, July!

😷COVID 

 I'll start here. I had a couple of coughing attacks yesterday. Gut wrenching, fighting to get my lungs clear, nearly threw up coughing. I took my meds and got through it. We went to bed at 10:30 after binge watching Secret State (2012, UK). Excellent series. I woke at 1:20 a.m. with the sweats, but NO BIG COUGH! (It accumulates when you sleep, and can't get rid of it.) I slept until 5:45. Used my puffer this morning, but NO BIG COUGH! I really took it easy, and I have to not overdo it today. I can't tell you how joyful I am. 

Joe does his quarterly PSA test today. He's not feeling too badly, but similarly taking it easy. He gets his Lupron cancer treatment Friday.

🚑 I had a bill for the ambulance I rode in to emergency July 22 when we had COVID and I couldn't stop coughing📹. The Ministry of Health & LTC charges $240 for this. It is waived if you are on disability or social assistance, or getting home care, but in ALL OTHER CASES $45. You'd think they'd pay me to go into hospital in a sterile environment, with COVID virus contained, and the ambulance staff in full PPE. 😜 

⚽ We watched our women's soccer team. I feel so badly for them. They overcame the betrayal by their coaches, yelling, crying, and working it through. They won the game. 

🌩It wasn't easy watching the game. We had a major storm go by. Well, three storms in total. We lost our satellite feed, several times. We watched on Joe's iPad. It was a bit eerie, having just had a tornado 4km away July 24th. July went out with a bang. We had 18mm rain (7/10"). 

Being so sick, we're glued to the Olympics, resting and healing. We lost our TV feed. This seldom happened before Roger's bought out Shaw. 😣

It came and went, as the storm evolved.

 Thankfully, some thunder, a few power outages, but it cleared up quickly. I know most of us have our air conditioners going. Today will be another 30℃. day. 

I watched it approach. Yes, it is a hobby. 

July 31st storm from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Nutmeg was not amused.

Full July statistics

We'll see what August brings. I know a lot of us are managing our health.  All the best. 

Joe thinks this is what I have, a whopping cough, not whooping cough!

Lunch out!

JB went off to visit a sick friend. I suggested he buy some Ensure and a casserole and take those over. Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie from the deli! He told some self-deprecating stories and cheered them up. 

It was a tough morning, as well as dealing with Daisy, and our leaking toilet. More on that when those issues are resolved. So, I suggested we go out to lunch. This is one of our favourite pubs. I had booked a haircut for 1 p.m., hubby hadn't had a proper breakfast in his mission of mercy.

When I arrived home, we took off back into town. There is a new menu, hubby had cauliflower with dip! I had a chicken pesto club, I saved half for today.

I noticed an ambulance outside on the street, they were ordering lunch to go. I excused myself from the table, talked to our server, and asked him to put their food on our bill. It wasn't exactly anonymous, as the server told them. A nice young man and woman, they came to the table and chatted.

They asked why, and I explained that I saw TV reports of all those wonderful men and women at the Ottawa OCTranspo bus crash: Horrific incident in Ottawa. It's difficult work, many people lost limbs, one man had two broken legs, some had to be cut out of the bus, and I wanted to pay it forward. 

This pair of paramedics were simply bringing someone home from hospital, but I've spent time in an ambulance, taking my dad to and from his final oncology appointment, where the doctor told him his cancer was terminal. Muskoka to Toronto, a couple of hundred kilometres. They took dad to hospital after he had both delirium and dementia. I've accompanied my friend, paraplegic from spinal stenosis, to a dental appointment from her long-term care home. They are amazing people. 

At home, watching tennis, I saw yet another ambulance skoot by, lights flashing, helping another soul. It just felt like the thing to do. Look at how many first responders were involved in the bus crash.

The Good Samaritan stories begin to pour out from Ottawa. A young woman, with Down Syndrome, was sitting in priority seating in the front of the bus. She had to walk past those ejected from the bus, as well as wounded. Another victim took her under her wing. This gave her something to do, they said in the news. A neighbour brought the family dinner. It has a city-wide impact, but the helpers are there to be found. 

'Just incredible': Community rallies around Ottawa bus crash survivor with Down syndrome

Today, I am off to provide respite care to my client, again. Deep breath –as I try figure out some funny stories. It is difficult being almost housebound. You have to stop doing the things you liked to do, or had to do, to maintain your family. You lose independence. You lose your friends. This will be a good story to tell her! We can put a positive spin on things. 

Have you ever paid it forward? I remember going through a toll and paying for the people behind. Also, a coffee. I bought a meal for a homeless man in a mall parking lot in Ottawa.

Honour our First Responders

Bless them all

I have long been interested and supportive of our First Responders. I spent a brief moment as a Victim Services volunteer in Muskoka.  I know that most of them are hard-working, despite the Ottawa news about incidents. Muskoka Lakes volunteer firefighters have been fighting for recognition and better equipment. The OPP deal with many horrible situations, while ambulance crews fight for the lives of our citizens. Our 2nd day here in Perth, I watched the crews work in a car rollover.

I watched weary first responders a summer ago: volunteer firefighters, OPP (6 incidents one weekend), paramedics, attempting the rescue of two men, non-swimmers. The crowds watched in awe, as they worked hard to recover the bodies. Concern, as this could be one of their own. I wrote a poem about the event, it moved me so.
the meaning of death  A terrible time that summer. We lost so many.

Bala Falls drownings video
	- 33 sec - 5 Aug 2009 - Uploaded by j3nnyj1ll Two non-swimmers drowned while trying to save a 9-year old relative who was sucked out into the river by the undertow of the rapids.

I have a friend who is paraplegic. In order to go to the dentist she needs to be sent in an ambulance on a gurney. I attended as her advocate. It is an uncomfortable trip for her, as she is in constant pain due to her condition, but the crew were fabulous.  Such TLC. It is a necessary means of transportation for some. The ladies in long-term care (staff and residents) are always happy to see the handsome male paramedics. (If only they knew!)

I recall the day we took Dad to emergency in May, 2006. Our neighbour, one of the volunteer firefighters, helped with my Dad. It was comforting to have the pros there. Dad had both dementia and delirium (the latter undiagnosed due to dementia, caused by an infection). We loaded him into the ambulance. They sent him home saying there was nothing they could do. Now I know better.

Weary volunteers

In my Mom's case - my brother decided to take her to emergency the night before she died. They sent her home at 4:00 a.m. as she was palliative and there was nothing they could do. Another issue I've written about. Too many deaths on the way or at emergency.  In clear cut cases, there should be support for those who choose to become caregivers. No one in the Primary Care team: from the physician, to the Charge Nurse, the CCAC staff, the hospital, the oncologist, told me about Hospice, or offered information on palliative care.

This death was a surprise to only me, and the rest of the community. Her respiration slowed, she hadn't been eating much beyond a few tablespoons of food a few times a day. The PPS and/or the ESAS, are excellent tools to help track and predict palliative performance. Whether they decline slowly, or quickly, levelling off at times like steps on a stair, or gradually decreasing in functions, we know what approaching death looks like. It is shameful that our society cannot speak of it. It is our right to have a good death.


Small communities have different experiences of their crews. The clerk at the local store told me it was her son who was one of the paramedics who ferried Mom to (or from?) the hospital the last time. He came home and cried at the sadness of it all. Mom had a great life. She'd bravely fought cancer and had now succumbed, in peace, with her son and husband by her side. They are good people. Kind, caring, and committed. They have a wealth of knowledge, and a calm demeanor that responds to a crisis, while managing frantic family members.

Triple alarm, Bala, Apr. 22