January 30 was the first anniversary of Isabel's move to Extended Care at Wascana. It is one year since Cousin Joy and "Isabel's Florist Shop" from the General Hospital made their way across town with Mum to her new home.
And just as 12 red roses and and an abundance of plants graced Mum's new room 365 days ago, much continues to bloom. There have been bouquets of wild and garden flowers and grains; and plants that have ranged from amaryllis and kalanche to cyclamen and poinsettia. The terrace garden that flourished all summer is now covered with snow that is nurturing 40 spring tulip bulbs.
And with the passing of each season, Isabel, too, has also found ways to bloom. Stable health, regular physio and occupational therapy, a continuing evolving letterboard to meet her increasing desire to talk all the time (!!), recent surgery on her Achilles tendons to allow more physio, the arrival of a power wheelchair, and significant relationships with a caring staff give us much to celebrate. All of this means an increased quality of life.
There are hours that are difficult for Mum. Hours when her call bell doesn't work; or the letterboard can't accommodate her rapid speed of thought; or breathing is difficult for some reason; or physical progress feels so slow. These are the days when Mum reads and re-reads your letters or zones out listening to music thinking about and praying for those she cares about including the residents and staff of Wascana.
However within hours, she sorts herself out and finds ways to move onward with dogged determination and her motto: "Can't look back. Keep going forward." She checks the big wall calendar to see what interesting event is happening today or this month.
And so onward we all go....
Last Saturday, the Leader-Post featured an article about Steven, the 24-year old man who lives kitty-corner from Mum on 2-6. Steven has muscular dystrophy and also uses a ventilator to help him breathe. Like Mum, Steven is determined to give back to the communities that support him. He cruises the halls for hours each day keeping an eye out for residents who may need a nurse's attention, and making plans for his annual campaign to raise funds at Wascana for the upcoming Tele-miracle. In last weekend's article, Steven and his mother said: "We don't need pity from our fellow citizens. We need their understanding and encouragement." How true.
And so to you ~ our family and friends ~ much of Isabel's stability and moving forward of the last year has been because of your love and care heaped on us in so many ways through your understanding and encouragement. Thank you again and again and again.
Here's to Year 2 of Life at Wascana! Stay tuned for news of Isabel's new companion, Rufus the Second.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Jokes in January
Br-r-r-r-r-r
Robbie Burns Day was a cold day in Saskatchewan, but Isabel spent a good part of the afternoon lounging in sunshiny warmth behind ceiling to floor south-faced windows overlooking the snow-covered garden terrace. Mum often refers to a Scottish term "suage" or "swage" which she understands to mean "to sit and hang-out" or "to relax without intentional conversation or activity". Today was a good day for suaging. A lovely new lounge for residents has opened up right across from Isabel's room. It was so bright today that Mum needed her sunhat to shade her eyes during a long winter's nap.
As we head into the sixth week of chilly weather on the prairies, Isabel has a new bright sunshiny yellow 3-ring binder. Friends have been sending their favourite jokes over the last couple of weeks. The jokes have gone directly into the binder to sit on Mum's reading board. She has had many laughs. Some of the favourites are about living in Saskatchewan. In this weather, we could all do with another joke!
If you have a favourite that you would like to share with Isabel, please email them to Catherine at:
catherine.barnsley@usask.ca
or directly to Isabel at:
Unit 2-6
Wascana Rehab Centre
2180-23rd Street
Regina, SK
S4S 0A5
Who knows we might even post the best here on the blog!
Suage in a sunbeam....stay warm.....share a joke.....and keep on laughing. That's Isabel's motto for this week.
Robbie Burns Day was a cold day in Saskatchewan, but Isabel spent a good part of the afternoon lounging in sunshiny warmth behind ceiling to floor south-faced windows overlooking the snow-covered garden terrace. Mum often refers to a Scottish term "suage" or "swage" which she understands to mean "to sit and hang-out" or "to relax without intentional conversation or activity". Today was a good day for suaging. A lovely new lounge for residents has opened up right across from Isabel's room. It was so bright today that Mum needed her sunhat to shade her eyes during a long winter's nap.
As we head into the sixth week of chilly weather on the prairies, Isabel has a new bright sunshiny yellow 3-ring binder. Friends have been sending their favourite jokes over the last couple of weeks. The jokes have gone directly into the binder to sit on Mum's reading board. She has had many laughs. Some of the favourites are about living in Saskatchewan. In this weather, we could all do with another joke!
If you have a favourite that you would like to share with Isabel, please email them to Catherine at:
catherine.barnsley@usask.ca
or directly to Isabel at:
Unit 2-6
Wascana Rehab Centre
2180-23rd Street
Regina, SK
S4S 0A5
Who knows we might even post the best here on the blog!
Suage in a sunbeam....stay warm.....share a joke.....and keep on laughing. That's Isabel's motto for this week.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Robbie Burns DayS (that's plural!) at Isabel's
Some of you have inquired whether Isabel is planning a Robbie Burns Party this year. The answer is YES ~ 6 days worth from Wednesday, January 21 through Monday, January 26.
Last year, Isabel hosted a January 25 Robbie Burns Day in her penthouse suite at Regina General Hospital complete with haggis and shortbread, tams and kilts, and bagpipe music and decorations. It was a fine event.
We've learned during this past year that we like to spread special occasions over days ~ or even weeks. When we do that, events don't get cancelled if the weather is 45 below or it's a "bad-hair" day (at your house or at Isabel's). If today doesn't work out, there is always another day to party.
So this year ~ in honour of the Scottish poet ~ and because it's been a long, cold winter ~ and because Unit 2-6 hasn't yet heard enough bagpipes......
Isabel is hosting 6 days of Robbie Burns DayS. Her routine will be as usual ~ up in her chair for 10 hours each day with therapy, reading, watching winter sports on TV, and delighting in whomever walks through the door. However, what makes these 6 days special is that her room will be decorated with Scottish paraphernalia; a variety of Scottish music will be available; and the shortbread is cooling (under her TV) in preparation for visitors.
If you are in the vicinity, don your plaid tie or shirt, and come by to say hello between 10:00 - 7. Please check the blog to avoid therapy times.
A special hello to our Scottish relatives who may think we are daft! Any Scot (or wannabe-Scot) in Canada whether Lowlander or Highlander or Orcadian or Irish (ha!) celebrates Robbie Burns' Day!
Isabel is no exception! She understands "auld lang syne" to mean "old times since" or "old times sake".
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
Last year, Isabel hosted a January 25 Robbie Burns Day in her penthouse suite at Regina General Hospital complete with haggis and shortbread, tams and kilts, and bagpipe music and decorations. It was a fine event.
We've learned during this past year that we like to spread special occasions over days ~ or even weeks. When we do that, events don't get cancelled if the weather is 45 below or it's a "bad-hair" day (at your house or at Isabel's). If today doesn't work out, there is always another day to party.
So this year ~ in honour of the Scottish poet ~ and because it's been a long, cold winter ~ and because Unit 2-6 hasn't yet heard enough bagpipes......
Isabel is hosting 6 days of Robbie Burns DayS. Her routine will be as usual ~ up in her chair for 10 hours each day with therapy, reading, watching winter sports on TV, and delighting in whomever walks through the door. However, what makes these 6 days special is that her room will be decorated with Scottish paraphernalia; a variety of Scottish music will be available; and the shortbread is cooling (under her TV) in preparation for visitors.
If you are in the vicinity, don your plaid tie or shirt, and come by to say hello between 10:00 - 7. Please check the blog to avoid therapy times.
A special hello to our Scottish relatives who may think we are daft! Any Scot (or wannabe-Scot) in Canada whether Lowlander or Highlander or Orcadian or Irish (ha!) celebrates Robbie Burns' Day!
Isabel is no exception! She understands "auld lang syne" to mean "old times since" or "old times sake".
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Orcadian Connections
This week we declared an ORKNEY DAY in Room 2-649. For three blissful hours, we phoned or emailed many of Isabel's Orcadian connections ~ 8 homes in Orkney, two in Aberdeenshire and one in Regina.
A decade or two ago, Isabel was travelling solo and staying in a Bed & Breakfast in Edinburgh where she chanced a meeting with another solo traveller from Orkney off the north coast of Scotland. They got to talking about Orkney settlers in Saskatchewan, and Isabel came back home with a mission to track down some missing family members of her new Orcadian friend. She was able to do so within a week and new friendships that bridged the Atlantic were forged.
As a result Isabel travelled to the Orkney Islands for many summers with her Cousin Mel from the Western Highlands. During those trips she visited many of the 13 Orkney Islands, and heard many stories of Orcadians who joined the Hudson Bay Company to come to Canada in the 1700s. Many others emigrated in the last 200 years.
Mum's faithful Orcadian friends sent cards and letters, CDs and calendars and Christmas decorations during this past month, and this was the day to say THANKS. Bagpipes and classical music recorded in St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwell were the background to our wheelchair adventure travel. With a map and photos in front of us, we dialed the 22 numbers for each home as her friends were preparing their suppers.
With Isabel's speaker phone turned up to the max, we discussed weather and farming, children and seed catalogs, politics and news. As Isabel's staff flowed in and out of her room, they paused to smile and listen to the lovely voices of friends far away. Those voices echoed in Isabel's ears as she fell asleep last night.
Again, we are grateful for so much.
So how many of the Orkney Islands can you name?
A decade or two ago, Isabel was travelling solo and staying in a Bed & Breakfast in Edinburgh where she chanced a meeting with another solo traveller from Orkney off the north coast of Scotland. They got to talking about Orkney settlers in Saskatchewan, and Isabel came back home with a mission to track down some missing family members of her new Orcadian friend. She was able to do so within a week and new friendships that bridged the Atlantic were forged.
As a result Isabel travelled to the Orkney Islands for many summers with her Cousin Mel from the Western Highlands. During those trips she visited many of the 13 Orkney Islands, and heard many stories of Orcadians who joined the Hudson Bay Company to come to Canada in the 1700s. Many others emigrated in the last 200 years.
Mum's faithful Orcadian friends sent cards and letters, CDs and calendars and Christmas decorations during this past month, and this was the day to say THANKS. Bagpipes and classical music recorded in St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwell were the background to our wheelchair adventure travel. With a map and photos in front of us, we dialed the 22 numbers for each home as her friends were preparing their suppers.
With Isabel's speaker phone turned up to the max, we discussed weather and farming, children and seed catalogs, politics and news. As Isabel's staff flowed in and out of her room, they paused to smile and listen to the lovely voices of friends far away. Those voices echoed in Isabel's ears as she fell asleep last night.
Again, we are grateful for so much.
So how many of the Orkney Islands can you name?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Three Score Years (plus Ten....x2)
Just before the old year turned, the sun rose on December 30 and so many of you sang out: "Happy 80th Birthday, Isabel".
THANK YOU from Isabel and from all of us for the:
* Visits from friends and family throughout the last weeks and months.
* A multitude of paper & electronic cards and letters that we have read to Mum, and then three-holed punched for her red binder so that she can read and re-read each one.
* Phone calls and phone messages that provide that wonderful feeling of familiar voices.
* Pinks and reds of roses, amaryllis, cyclamen, and poinsettias that grace Isabel's window sill.
* Prayers and birthday wishes that have come in so many forms.
The visits are sometimes quiet ~ and sometimes raucous! At one point during a gathering in the sunny solarium with Isabel and Abernethy friends of nearly 60 years, the Resident Care Co-ordinator sauntered in (with a twinkle in her eye) and chided the boisterous party-goers for keeping the other residents awake during their afternoon naps.
Grand and great-grand nieces and nephews have climbed up on Isabel's bed to get a better look at her letterboard while she uses it when sitting in her wheelchair. Christmas concert numbers have come from school and church stages to be played or sung by these small folk for Isabel's enjoyment.
Isabel has attended a variety of concerts and informal carolling with friends in the concourse and throughout cozy corners of the Wascana building.
As her daughters and families gathered to celebrate Isabel's birthday, we formally toasted Mum and requested a response. She solemnly looked around the room and then quickly tapped on her letterboard "I AM SPEECHLESS ~ FOR ONCE". And then she grinned.
Mum has not had audible speech for 17 months, but her wit rolls on!
Here's to you Mum ~ and your 80 years of determination and courage ~ wisdom and wit!
And here's to YOU ~ our family and friends ~ for your enduring and loving support of us all!
THANK YOU from Isabel and from all of us for the:
* Visits from friends and family throughout the last weeks and months.
* A multitude of paper & electronic cards and letters that we have read to Mum, and then three-holed punched for her red binder so that she can read and re-read each one.
* Phone calls and phone messages that provide that wonderful feeling of familiar voices.
* Pinks and reds of roses, amaryllis, cyclamen, and poinsettias that grace Isabel's window sill.
* Prayers and birthday wishes that have come in so many forms.
The visits are sometimes quiet ~ and sometimes raucous! At one point during a gathering in the sunny solarium with Isabel and Abernethy friends of nearly 60 years, the Resident Care Co-ordinator sauntered in (with a twinkle in her eye) and chided the boisterous party-goers for keeping the other residents awake during their afternoon naps.
Grand and great-grand nieces and nephews have climbed up on Isabel's bed to get a better look at her letterboard while she uses it when sitting in her wheelchair. Christmas concert numbers have come from school and church stages to be played or sung by these small folk for Isabel's enjoyment.
Isabel has attended a variety of concerts and informal carolling with friends in the concourse and throughout cozy corners of the Wascana building.
As her daughters and families gathered to celebrate Isabel's birthday, we formally toasted Mum and requested a response. She solemnly looked around the room and then quickly tapped on her letterboard "I AM SPEECHLESS ~ FOR ONCE". And then she grinned.
Mum has not had audible speech for 17 months, but her wit rolls on!
Here's to you Mum ~ and your 80 years of determination and courage ~ wisdom and wit!
And here's to YOU ~ our family and friends ~ for your enduring and loving support of us all!
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