The Music Man

Larry & Marj Middleton were the featured entertainment on the Veterans' Unit of Wascana on Wed Feb 23. As Isabel says: "They are so gifted and so willing to share that gift with us". The Veterans' Dining Room is set up like a Legion Hall Social Lounge with food and drink, birthday celebrations, and spouses and friends attending. We are grateful that Mum has always been able to find a corner with family and friends to enjoy the gift of music that her talented musical friends bring through keyboard and sax.

Wascana has an interesting array of formal and informal musical entertainment. The Regina Mandolin Orchestra practices there each Saturday; family members share their gifts of music day and night on the grand piano; and this week the Wascana Bluebells (the handbell choir made up of Wascana residents) entertained.

In addition, an informal group of residents gathers every Wednesday evening for two hours around the grand piano in the concourse. Almost every Wednesday evening for the last three years, a group of musicians has gathered for a jam session of '30s -'70s music. One cold winter day three years ago, a piano player who heads up a dance band in Thunder Bay took shelter in Wascana while out for a walk. He discovered the grand piano, sat down and played a tune, and "Wascana's Music-Man" has returned almost every week. His love of teaching and supporting other musicians has led to others bringing banjos, guitars, and flutes to join the jam. His three-year work contract in Saskatchewan has meant a tremendous gift to Wascana every Wednesday evening, and he will be sorely missed when he returns to Thunder Bay in April.

"We can do no great things ~ only small things with great love." - Mother Teresa.

15,000 Possibilities But Who's Counting?

Over the course of the last two years, Isabel has discovered the wonders of the DVD section of the Regina Public Library. Having made her way through the collection of the Wascana Library, she looked further afield. A visit to an RPL branch revealed that there are some 15,000 DVDs in that system. After the first winter of borrowing 12 per week x 20 weeks, Mum realized that she likely would never run out.

Our old family friend, Beth, whose grandparents Jeanie & John Willie Stilborn shared a friendship with Isabel's father-in-law William Barnsley, is our faithful go-between. Between the shelves in the library and the DVD shelf in Isabel's room, that is. Beth is a regular visitor to the public library and a perfect volunteer for this job. Each weekend, Beth appears with a new batch of DVDs and picks up the ones Mum has seen. They talk about what Mum has learned this week, and what might be choices for another week.

Yesterday, Isabel emailed her daughters: "I watched the 2006 Edinburgh Tattoo dvd last night-good." Hmmm....are you imagining what an Edinburgh Tattoo might look like? Make sure you google "Edinburgh Tattoo" rather than just "tattoo" or the images that pop up on your computer might be different than what you expect!

Isabel tends not to be a movie or TV series watcher. Rather, documentaries are a favourite choice. This past year health issues such as Yoga for Arthritis, Learning about Autism, and Exercises to Keep Your Brain Fit have been high on Miss Robertson's list.

Rick Steve's Travel Shows of Europe are another favourite along with geographical studies of different countries particularly related to bodies of water. Any shows dealing with animals make the grade. The Planet Earth series is a particular favourite. And for all you Abernethy quilters, have you seen "The Art of Quilting" which Mum has enjoyed twice this winter because of the vivid colours on a cloudy day? Garden documentaries from North America, the UK, and Europe also fill the quiet hours of a winter afternoon after a day's therapy.

There have many gifts of these last four years in Mum's life. And the kindness of a volunteer driver and the richness of a library system's resources are only two of them.

Ideas welcome for any of the favourite shows you have seen that just might happen to be one of the 15,000 found in Regina Public Library.

Three Years Past

Sunday, January 30 marked 3 years since Isabel's move to Wascana Rehabilitation Centre. As someone said "That's well over 1000 days and nights". Mum continues to find the staff and residents of M-5 welcoming. She has had lots of drop-in residents and staff given her new location. Isabel and Rufus lll treat departing her room as if if they have a red light as there is so much traffic. Nights are quiet.

Mum has mastered working the elevator on her own with her new long stick and hopes to have the confidence to travel completely on her own to therapy one floor away by next week.

This week a friend came from Okotoks for a sleep-over (at the hostel). A gathering of friends and family for supper; movies in her room at night; and everyone asleep well before midnight. Thanks, Gwen, for friendship and fun.

Thank you for our rest and food

There is a whole gang of Mum's former Abernethy students who are celebrating the big '70' this year (you know who you are!). We started the celebrations early this year. With Isabel settled on a new unit of Wascana, and the chance to challenge the "winter blues" with visitors and a party, we went in search of a party room.

Isabel says that the bathroom of her new room is large enough for a party, but we went further afield. There is a roomy private dining room just a few doors from Isabel's new room. A decorated table, homemade goodies, hot tea, and lots of laughter made for a good birthday lunch. One of the guests suggested to Isabel that she say a table blessing. With hardly a moment's thought, Mum delivered with strong voice her old favourite:

Gracious Giver of all good

Thank you for our rest and food.

Grant that all we do and say

In thy service be this day.

Hearing Isabel say a table blessing is familiar to those of us that know her well. Realizing that her gratitude is also for her own "canned lunch" may be a newer experience. During the holiday season, several people asked Mum how the food was at Wascana. "Consistently nutritious", says Mum as she continues to receive her "perfectly balanced nutrition" through a food peg to her stomach. Those throat swallowing muscles are still not working too well.

We are used to saying a blessing before we savour a meal that we can consume orally. Expressing gratitude for a meal that is consumed another way is just as important says Isabel.

Gratitude again for friends and family and birthday celebrations.....and food and rest from the work of the day.

After lunch we scouted out a new sunny spot on Isabel's new unit, once again close to her private room. The sun shines in through a snow-covered terrace that holds promise of summer gatherings. Who knows what might be the opportunities for flowers? We dream as the seed catalogues roll in.

Happy 70th Birthday year to a whole gang of Isabel's faithful friends and visitors!

In every ending is.... a new beginning

Several of you have written wondering how Isabel is doing with her move.

Her former Nurse Manager says that it will take a month -- and maybe more -- to get used to a move, and to train all the new staff. "But you are good at that, Isabel, you are a teacher."

Mum's Doctor said to her yesterday, "Treat this move like GRADUATION. You're a teacher. You understand that concept of progress and moving forward. You no longer need to live on that unit. You have graduated."

Isabel's new room is pie-shaped. Lots of room for visiting and for Rufus to turn around. A private bathroom large enough for a party. And a small window. Half the size of the old picture window in Mum's previous Wascana rooms. That's difficult. And the window faces north. And right now the bottom third is coated in snow.

"Good insulation" says Isabel, just before we flung it open on Monday night to let fresh air blow through Mum's room.

And the terrace garden? Gone to a wrecker's ball in September. The deep flower boxes were leaking and wrecking havoc below. As the flowers were ripped out and the door locked long before the season's end, we knew we would have to find an alternative place of beauty and growth for 2011. Isabel was in transition way back then.

We don't know what the new place of beauty and growth will be this spring and summer. However, it is mid-January and the days are lengthening and Mum is finding sunny spots for afternoon naps.

Main-5 is different. The average age of residents is 53 and they range in age from 20 to 90. Many folks have active lives. At least two are University students. Others spend most of the day out and about. There is no curfew! And it is so quiet. No ventilators alarming in the middle of the night. Fewer call bells. No staff intercom all night. We are now realizing that Mum used to live on the loudest hall of any part of Wascana.

She has traded the noisy hall for a quiet room close to the concourse and entertainment. And so far, no rowdy midnight brawls. Sleeps are consistently better.

Gratitude..... for a single room that has a window. And snow and rabbit tracks and blue sky.

"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed"

There's an old hymn about counting your blessings that starts out:
"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed".......

A friend of Isabel's suggested that this is a good hymn in the midst of her tumultuous move to Unit Main-5 at Wascana last week. Isabel says "I am mostly settled in". She is still organizing the staff about her schedule including therapy times. An observer would notice that Rufus does quite well in finding his way down a new road to therapy including travelling and turning around in an elevator.

One wouldn't think that taking an elevator is that "big of a deal". But when your reach is limited, and your stick not quite long enough, and the elevator filled with people, and Rufus not the smallest of horses, Isabel has to be on her toes.

Elevator usage is rather like carefully driving a grain truck beside a combine and then lining up at the bin. Isabel & Rufus need to line up to reach the button to summons the elevator; turn sharply to drive on; turn 360 degrees to reach the buttons; angle to get close enough to reach the buttons; and back up so one can go forward to get off. And all of this while avoiding everyone else's toes or crashing into another resident and their chair who is driving on or off the elevator.

Whew! As Mum says: "And I haven't even got to therapy yet!"

In Isabel's room, pictures are hung; plants are blooming; workers to hang bulletin boards have been supervised; and sighs of relief are heard.

The chorus of the "tempest tossed" hymn goes: "Count your blessings, name them one by one." That's better than counting sheep to get to sleep! There are many blessings including that Mum's new unit is much quieter than her old one.

"No point looking back," says Isabel. "Just get on with it. Now...... how are you?"

Young At Heart

Isabel moved this week.

Or more appropriately said: Isabel was moved this week ~ from Unit 2-6 where she has lived for 35 months to Unit M-5 (Main - 5) at Wascana.

You have to be careful what you wish for. Isabel weaned herself from the ventilator a year ago. That means she could no longer stay in the same room that she has been in for a year. Nor could she stay on the same unit if she wanted a single room.

Mum got off the vent ~ and had to move so her space could be open for another person who uses a ventilator to help them breathe ~ just as a room came open for her three years ago.

And thus we enter the next chapter of Isabel's adventures at Wascana.

I have wondered what to name this blog entry ~ this notice of Isabel's move to Main 5 - Room 519.

Mum now lives on the ground-floor of Wascana on a unit of 37 residents where the average age is 53.

Last night, a nurse from her former unit, upon hearing the news of the move said immediately: "Oh, she is so young at heart. That unit is a perfect place for Isabel."

That may not have been Mum's sentiments when told at 8 AM on Tuesday that she would be moving within hours...and as Christmas cards came tumbling down, plants were loaded up, and a few beloved long-time staff had a hurried goodbye.

But Isabel IS young at heart ~ and despite not being excited about this move ~ is taking it in her stride ~ as she has each step along this path. Surprise visits from Abernethy & Lemberg friends each day this week have brought positive energy to her new room.

Mum's phone number stays the same at: 306-545-5994.

Her address changes to:

Unit M-5, Wascana Rehab Centre
2180 - 23rd Avenue
Regina, SK S4S 0A5

And onward we go to a new year!