Some things to blog about

One of Al's many cousins moved to Powell River this year! Another one in the same town, oooh, scary :0) We had great steak, lots of yummy food, wine (thanks Brendan), and a good visit with Al's cousin. Al had already been to the hospital, the night previous Brendan came for dinner, having his knee checked out. He was told he had an infection from probably a bug getting into a crack in the skin...okay?...have you seen Al's knees, they are thick like leather from working on them so much. But who am I, not a doctor. He was given penicillin and sent home. Well...the pain continued, so did the swelling, and the redness. Needless to say, he saw another doctor about 36 hours later who sent him back to the hospital to "see a real doctor" were his words exactly...ouch, because the one there before is a fake or what? Anyway, he was given penicillin thru the IV, and told to come back in the morning for another dose. Still not really knowing why this was happening is yet to be answered, hopefully our family doctor will be able to shed some light on that matter now that the swelling is almost gone. Here is the picture of the sick patient below, see the rest of the story following the picture, oh yes, there's more.
After dinner that night, Al was tired, not too unusual but he was really tired, and it wasn't long after that he was...well, sick in the worst way...from both ends.....I know TMI, but you need a visual in your mind as to how bad it was. I phoned the hospital, concerned he was having an allergic reaction, and the nurse really didn't think it sounded related to the IV he received, to give him gravol, but to come in if things got worse. Well they didn't get worse, but you can imagine what happened to the gravol, and I'm sure it made no impact while it was ingested anyway. This carried on all night, poor guy. By morning, things had slowed down, and with a little bit of sleep, back to the hospital for another IV....can you blame Al for hesitating about that just abit. After much discussion, the doctor determined that lucky for Al it wasn't an allergic reaction but the flu (he had some fancy name for the particular flu but we can't remember it), and declared he was highly contagious as well. GREAT. I love the guy but we were not wanting the flu, thanks. Al pretty much was put thru the ringer, while in the hospital for the penicillin, he was given saline for dehydration, and pain medication for his back from his muscles hurting so much, being tense for hours and working out overtime. He seems much better now, and has his appetite back. We didn't get the flu, which is amazing, and we are really happy about that. His knee still hurts but he can bend it now, and the redness is gone, swelling is minimal....who knows what's going on. We hope to find out soon.Know this, I love my cat Ernie, however I do NOT love the "present" he brought in for me and meowed me awake to see outside my bedroom door.....thankfully it was in mousy heaven already. Really Ernie, I get it, but please leave it outside by the door if you must.....like Al said though, he was probably afraid another cat would steal it...! Lovely! Sorry had to show the picture, Ernie looks so proud, and well the poor mouse looks peaceful?!! Zoe wanted this tattoo placed right there, and then she had to inspect it....and show everyone.


Ready, Set, Splash!
We put Zoe in her very first preschool swimming lessons, this is only day 2 out of 10. She is not afraid one iota of the water and it's time she learns how to swim. We'll be going everyday for the next 2 weeks, so hopefully all that repetition and practice really pays off. Yesterday, the teacher had some trouble getting Zoe to follow her instructions but today Zoe participated and listened the whole time. I think she wasn't sure what was going on yesterday (why she was at the pool and not playing, not knowing her teacher etc.) and now she has good idea of what is expected of her, what swimming lesson actually means, and is having alot of fun learning the swim.
YEAH!