I am finding it difficult to believe that the end of 2025 is almost upon us. It is truly amazing (and awful) that the year just flew by. It feels like it was just Spring and here we are with the middle of December already!
I have discovered that I didn’t post as much this past year as compared to others. I seemed to have run out of time, so there isn’t as much to tell everyone.
January
January of 2025 started off with a bang. I was given the privilege of Stage Managing a wonderful Rom/Com: A Nice Indian Boy
What a fun show! I met some amazing people on this production and I hope I get to work with them all again in the future.
February
February was so busy with A Nice Indian Boy that I didn’t have much time for anything else.
April was a quiet month filled with reflection and memories of my mom and dad.
May
May of 2025 was a big date for me. I reached the age of retirement! Not that I plan on it anytime soon. Too many fun things to buy before that happens.
June
2025 saw a return of traveling for me. I made a trip to Red Deer to work at a conference for the Massage Therapist Association. I had a blast hanging out in Red Deer.
July
In July, I was able to reconnect with coworkers from my time in the Barter Industry. I had so much fun with these people in the past and it just felt right that we got to hang out again.
August
August is when my world got turned upside down. What was supposed to be a minor day procedure to get rid of a kidney stone turned into a week long exercise in what works in our Health Care System and what doesn’t.
There is still a lot that is going to happen this month but, we started off with a bang! We have a busy month planned. We have friends over on Christmas Eve, then off to our friend, Nancy’s for Christmas Dinner. We are off to the Old Surrey Restaurant on the 28th for Alex’s 69th Birthday followed up with a small dinner party at our friend, Lee’s for New Year’s Eve!
From both Alex and myself, we hope that you have a great 2026 and I hope to contribute more to my site in the coming months.
I knew that Alex was a true renaissance man when I married him but the level of experience, expertise and ability that he possesses continues to astound me every day. When we purchased our home, it was drab, dreary, lacking any sort of cohesiveness and was sadly living in the 1970’s.
Since the day we took possession of our house, he has turned it into our home. It was warm, inviting and speaks volumes as to his abilities. He has changed all the floors, painted and papered every wall in the house. He has redone the kitchen at least three times, has removed all the 1970’s “looks” to a more clean and inviting space. The home is, by no means, perfect, but, with his limited budget and resources, he has made it what we need and want it to be.
Knowing all of that, Alex has taken on a HUGE job: fixing our master ensuite. Her are the photos of the room when we first took possession of our house back in 2013
The room was decorated with the theme of “early brothel”. Everything was beige with the exception of some of the most hideous wallpaper I have ever seen. The wooden toilet sear gave me the shivers. The thought of massive splinters made me quake in fear…
Fast forward to a few years back. We replaced the massive tub with a walk-in shower. We tiled the countertop, replaced the being sink with a white one, removed the hideous wallpaper, took down the ugly mirrors and removed the spindles – why would anyone put spindles up between the sink and the toilet?
Alex painted the walls a calm sand colour and made the room look so much nicer.
About 6 months ago, we noticed that the vanity was beginning to show signs of deterioration. We had a couple of leaks under the vanity that caused the MDF / Particle board construction to start to decompose. It had spread to in front of the vanity, too. Time to replace the sub-floor.
We decided to replace the subfloor, the flooring material itself and, Alex said, “While we’re at it, I would like to replace the vanity”….. and after much debate (about 4 minutes), we decided to replace the vanity, too.
It took us three weeks to find the vanity, vessel sink, faucet and flooring. We spent less than $500 and I couldn’t be happier with the results.
It has been over a month and I have been waffling about posting this – obviously, I have posted it.
I have decided to write about my experience with our medical system.
This is not an indictment of failures that I experienced with my health issues, but, the events have been gnawing at me for about a month now and I am hopeful that writing about it will bring me some semblance of peace.
So, here is a timeline of events:
Sunday, July 6 – I was stage managing a show and it was a matinee performance. During the performance, 4 sets of golf clubs needed to be moved from stage right to stage left. There was no way to move those clubs behind the set – there was no set. It was a white wall with projections on it. In order to move the clubs, myself and another person had to go downstairs of the theatre, come up behind Stage Right, grab the clubs, take them down the stairs to the green room, through a set of doors, climb up the stairs to the offices of the the theatre, through the lobby, out the lobby doors and then enter the stage doors on Stage left. This had to be done twice per show.
On this particular Sunday, I managed to wrench my back (or so I thought). I experienced a sharp, stabbing pain in my left side. I didn’t think too much of it at the time. However, the next day, the pain was still there and radiating outwards. By Tuesday, July 8, I awoke to the horrible realization that it wasn’t a wrenched back but, was indeed, a kidney stone. I knew for a fact that there was one in that kidney, as I was told by my urologist back in 2013 (that was my last attack and treatment) that there was a stone still there. I was told, at that time, it was very small and shouldn’t bother me. He was right for almost 12 years.
I knew that the pain was going to get worse. I made my way over to our neighbour’s home and asked him to take me to the ER at Surrey Memorial Hospital. This was at around 8:00 am. By 8:30, I was experiencing horrific pains. The intake staff at Surrey Memorial were quick. They assessed me, took my vitals and ushered me into the triage room. I was in there for less than 30 minutes and I was seen by nursing staff who were about to get painkillers into me (yay! Morphine!)
I then was rushed down to have a CT Scan where it was confirmed that I had a kidney stone. 5mm in size. The ER doctor was kind, sympathetic and very attentive. He told me that since the stone was 5mm, I had two options: wait for it to pass on its own – NOPE! or have a surgical procedure to have it blasted out of existence. I chose the former. I wanted it gone.
The ER doctor then released me with prescriptions for painkillers and anti-nausea. I had been in the ER for a total of 10 hours, which is pretty darn efficient and fast. I got the prescriptions filled and that night, I took two painkillers and two anti-nausea drugs. Slept around 10 hours! Hooray for peaceful and blissful unconsciousness!
Two days later, I received a call from my urologist’s office advising me that he was aware of the visit to the ER and wanted to discuss procedures to get rid of the stone. He advised me that he would be doing a procedure called Laser Lithotripsy. Read about it here
Wish I had read about it before having it. We will get to that in a bit….
He advised me to call him the following Monday to schedule the procedure. Which I did. The procedure was scheduled for Monday, July 21. Which was subsequently cancelled and rescheduled for Tuesday, July 22 – which was subsequently cancelled.
His offices called me on Wednesday, July 23 and advised that I was to be scheduled for “some time on Monday, July 28”. I was to remain fasting and they would call me about 2 hours before my procedure. At 5:00 pm, I received a call from the hospital that I needed to get to Surrey Memorial right away for the procedure.
Upon my arrival to the hospital, I was directed to go to the day surgery floor where I was prepped by some very attentive nursing staff. They assessed my vitals, took all my information and got me into the appropriate clothing for the procedure. After about 45 minutes, I was wheeled into the surgical suite where I met my urologist and his team. I was then sedated and have no other recollection.
I was woken later. How long I was out is anybody’s guess. Our friend and neighbour, Lee was contacted and she came to pick me up. On the way home, I felt very disoriented and uncomfortable. Something wasn’t feeling right. I got in the house around 6:30 pm. I went to lie down but had the urge to urinate, first.
As soon as I got into the bathroom and started to urinate, my knees buckled and I looked down in the toilet bowl in horror. My urine stream was nothing but blood with large clots mixed in for good measure. I gathered my composure and waited for the stream to stop. I got myself cleaned up and went into the living room. The moment I sat down, I felt the urge to urinate come back – FAST & HARD! I barely made it to the bathroom.
Again, a repeat of blood and clots! Then, there was the pain. The excruciating pain. I took a couple of painkillers and waited for the pain to subside. Alas, it didn’t.
I repeated this every 15 minutes until I couldn’t stand the pain any longer. It was now 10:00 pm. I grabbed my wallet, cellphone and got dressed. I made my way over to another neighbour’s house and asked them to take me to the ER again.
I got to the ER with barely any time to stop, give them my ID, show them my hospital wrist band before I had to run to the bathroom where another gout of blood and clots came dribbling out (apparently, the clots had become so large that they were clogging my urethra so I could no long expel liquids).
The nursing staff realized quickly that I was in medical distress and admitted me right away. After about 45 minutes of running back and forth to the washroom to expel tiny amounts of blood and clots, I was seen by another doctor who sent me for another CT Scan. They found that my bladder was filled with blood and clots.
*Note: To this day, I am still not sure what happened. I will need to discuss it with my urologist when I see him in October.
I was then admitted to the hospital and I was taken up to a semi-private room. There, I was given more painkillers, hooked up to an IV Station on my right hand, had another IV tube inserted on my left shoulder and finally had a catheter inserted to help drain my bladder.
Tuesday, July 29. Starting at 1:00 am on this day, I began receiving MASSIVE amounts of IV fluids to help flush the blood and clots out of my bladder. Every other hour, they had to replace the bags of IV fluids. Between those changes, the nurses had to go in and use a giant syringe to force additional fluid into my bladder and then suck out clots that had taken up residence in my bladder. There were A LOT of clots. So many and so large that the nursing staff had to change the size of my catheter.
Wednesday, July 30. At this point, my phone was about to die. I did manage to connect with Debbi, who came down with a cellphone charger for me. That was my lifeline for the next 4 days. I was still being filled with IV Fluids. The fluids were pumped in me, draining through the catheter inside me. But, when the clots became too big, the nursing staff were forced to flush me (see above – *shudder). It was at this point that I began begging the staff to give me something to sleep. They weren’t allowed to do that without authorization from my doctor. They weren’t able to reach him.
Thursday, July 31. Day 4 of no sleep, no food, no ability to do anything other than lie there and wait for the catheter to clog. My doctor finally came in, looked at my chart and casually mentioned that since the blood clots were still occurring, it was time to go in and remove my prostate. My world just imploded at hearing that prognosis. No discussion as to why this happened to me, no explanation of what was occurring and no resolution other than removing a vital organ from my body. That was when I felt my world collapse. They did manage to get his permission / authorization to get a sedative. Sometime after that, another surgeon came in and reviewed my chart and felt that removing my prostate was probably not the way to go. He agreed that I needed a procedure called a cystoscopy
This was a procedure to determine where the bleeding was coming from and possibly, correct it. At last! A brief moment of relief. The nurse on duty came in and provided me with the much needed sedative. Boy, taking that sedative was a HUGE mistake.
At some point in the evening, I started hallucinating. I thought I was in a jungle filled with vines covering me. So, I started pulling the vines off of me. What I was actually doing was pulling out my IV tubes and catheter. YIKES! The images below show some of the tubes going in and out of my body.
The nurses came in to see me standing there pulling at all the tubes. They managed to get me calm enough to get back in bed and make sure that I hadn’t damaged anything crucial.
Friday, August 1. Today, was day 5 without food or anything to drink other than ice chips. The surgeon who was scheduled to do my procedure sent a nurse up at 9:00 am to advise me that chances were good that I was not going to be seen and that I would need to wait until the following Monday. Enough! I told the nursing staff that if I didn’t have my procedure done that day, I was going to go home and I would deal the consequences of my actions. The nurse left, somewhat in shock. I didn’t care anymore. I was so tired.
They brought in a Social Worker to discuss the situation with me. I probably could have handled her differently but, I basically told her that unless she was there to help me make an INFORMED MEDICAL DECISION, she was useless to me and that she should just leave. Which she did.
Not 15 minutes later, the nurse that I scared into leaving, came back to advise me that the surgeon agreed to do my procedure that day. At last! A bit of good news. At around 5:30 pm, I was taken down to the surgical suite where I was met by a team of nurses and the doctor. The doctor came over to me and told me that my prostate was safe! He was not planning on removing it.
On Saturday, August 2, I was finally well enough to be released. Debbi came down and helped me gather my belongings and took me home.
Today, August 20. I am feeling about 95% recovered. I still tire easily. I have some energy but it dissipates quickly if I try to move too fast or do too much.
I still have to have a discussion with my doctor to find out what happened. Once I learn that, I will post again.
It has been a hot minute since I have posted anything. Suffice to say, I have been busy. Work at IRIS is going full steam ahead and I am enjoying working with my new boss, Houtan. He’s not Debbi, but, no one else on this planet is. Debbi is family and so, since her retirement, we see each other almost every two weeks and am on the phone with her almost weekly.
So, the reason for this post: Back in 1997, I lost my business. It was a small pet store in Richmond, BC. I struggled for three years prior to walking away from it to keep it afloat and make sure that my staff were taken care of. I was lost and couldn’t seem to get my bearings.
Fast forward to early 1998. I was working at a clothing store on Granville Street making barely enough to cover my rent. Debbi called me and told me that I needed to come work with her at a company called Mutual Exchange Canada. So, I went for an interview, met Carrie and had a lovely visit with her. I must have done something right because I got the job that same day.
Thus began my career in the Barter Industry. The company is long gone but from that three years there, I made friends that I still hold near and dear today.
Over the years, we have tried to get together with as many former team members as possible.
Sadly, I missed a bunch of them, but, not this year!
There are a number of us that we didn’t get to visit with and I am hoping that we can do this again soon and have our missing compatriots there: Tanya, Katerina, Jerry, Ruzinka, and Scott.
Thanks to Carrie and her hubby, Kirby for hosting once again. You are the best!
Thanks to Sylvie for getting the ball rolling and helping to organize this event!
It has been a hot minute since I last wrote, but, ten days ago, I officially entered “retirement potential”. Yup, 65 revolutions around the sun…. *sigh
Alex and I went for dinner at one of our favourite restaurants: The Old Surrey Inn. If you are anywhere near Surrey, I strongly recommend this place for fine dining, comfortable atmosphere and reasonable prices. Here is their website.
Alex and I have been going for a number of years now. We go for our Wedding Anniversary, Alex’s Birthday, the Anniversary of our first date, and my birthday.
This year, we were joined by two of the loveliest people we know: Mike and Petrice were able to celebrate with us and we had so much fun hanging out with them.
Al Zylstra 