Contemplative Monday

The following quote is from 'Heart Advice, Weekly Quotes From Pema Chodron'.

LIVING WITHOUT AN AGENDA

"Could our minds and our hearts be big enough just to hang out in that space

where we're not entirely certain about who's right and who's wrong?

Could we have no agenda when we walk into a room with another person,

not know what to say, not make that person wrong or right?

Could we see, hear, feel other people as they really are?

It is powerful to practice this way, because we'll find ourselves continually rushing

around to try to feel secure again----to make ourselves or them either right or wrong.

But true communication can happen only in that open space."

Eclectic Tastes

It was 16 years today that Ron's mother passed away.
We were with her in her house in the Annapolis Valley
of Nova Scotia.
This was and still is the 'Apple Blossom' centre for the Maritimes.

 Her name was Tommy and she would have sung along to this tune.
We miss you Mrs.T.

Saturday Morning Post

Quite the week....

Yesterday at the Park. Ron's first extended, but short, walk in 10 days.

Soph and I down at the beach this week.

Walking through the dunes.

Looking out across the Atlantic Ocean.

The day before.....

The day after Sophie's haircut.

Cargo freighter waiting for entry into Halifax Harbour....taken from the beach.

We found this place on Thursday driving down the shore a ways.

Bonita's is three-n-one......Sears parcel outlet, laundromat,

and a small restaurant. Their clubs are great! (Even without the bacon!!)

'The Castle' on Young Avenue in Halifax.

I really think this was the last snow we will get this winter in our garden.

Look what I see!

Sidney (Crosby) is a 'local' guy who was the captain

 of Canada's hockey team at the Sochi Olympics.

Colourful surfboards in the 'lifeguard' building down at the beach.

Like A Fish Out Of Water

When I was a child, and I must confess as an adult as well,

I did not like to watch a fish when it was caught and brought ashore.

I had to look away to not watch it suffer. 

If I may use a reverse anthropomorphic analogy here, 

 this is exactly how I initially felt this past week.

I really was 'a fish out of water'.

Ron being in the hospital and requiring close supervision and care was all new to us.

One can imagine how he felt......

being prodded with needles, hourly blood pressure readings,

first-time meds, not knowing what caused this heart attack, and what the future holds.

Ron had all the experience in all this stuff, not me!

He was the one that nursed me back to health after my concussion....

for a year. And then again after my heart attack a year later.

So what would I do?

I looked back to when he looked after his mother when she was not well,

and also when he looked after me.

This was invaluable experience for me to have witnessed.

And I have been using all of this.

The first couple of days I felt like that fish above.

This is a glazed ceramic Codfish that we got in St.John's, Newfoundland.

Now I am doing just fine.... as if I was 'thrown back into the water'

(as a few lucky fish are)

and swimming through this health event.

But more importantly, taking good care of Ron.

 

Digging It

To the beach with Sophie yesterday afternoon.

Further down we found some sand.

Sophie was overjoyed and proceeded  to dig a hole.

While I.......

.......had this view doing some Qi Gong exercises.

Let's Try This Again........

The last six days have been like a whirlwind.

 I am relieved that this day has finally come and I can say that Ron is home.

I am thankful that he didn't have to stay in the hospital too long this second time.

The specialists figured it was the blood vessel that they didn't touch that gave him 

'those funny feelings' Saturday evening and what landed him back to the ER

till today.

Ron got home late this afternoon and is settling in

and adjusting to his new health status.

It will take a while for these adjustments to feel normal

and he is eager to get right back in to the swing of things.

This has been an eye-opening experience for us both

and we appreciate the fragility of life even more than we did.

So back to the living we go with more knowledge of keeping the heart healthy.

Also once again we are so grateful for all the encouragement we have gotten

from so many people here and on Facebook.

Doing this on our own would have been a so much more difficult.

THANKS!

Sophie and I down at the beach the other day.

An Update

Hi everyone.

Ron returned home yesterday afternoon after two tests,

echo-cardiogram and low impact stress test,

to determine if there was heart damage.

There wasn't.

This makes his recovery a lot easier. 

The last three days have been a blur......

but a focused blur.

He was in good hands at both hospitals and we have nothing

but good things to say about our health-care system.....

it was quick to determine what was going on and even quicker to resolve it.

If there is any comfort in this at all

it would have to be that we went through a similar experience 4 years ago

with my 'heart event'.

We learned a 'new language' then and with the help

of an excellent rehabilitation program

we knew what we had to do.

Makes it a lot easier this time round.

Ron's experience with the angioplasty procedure 

was more difficult than mine and took three times longer

almost two hours.

He is tired and taking it slowly for a few days.

He was drug-free up to three days ago.

Now he has five prescription drugs to get used to.

My cardiologist just happened to be in the ICU yesterday

and she saw me there in Ron's room.

She immediately came over and told us that she would 

also be Ron's if that was OK with us.

Again, this makes it all the more easier for us

and she is a wonderful human being.

So, here we go into something new for Ron.

He will mange this well as he is lot stronger than his mate!! lol

He really is, thanks to his mother and grandmother....great role models they were.

Thanks so much for your support blogger friends!

 It really is true about what they say about the power that can come

from this collected group.

Your prayers and positive energy/thoughts has helped us get

through this.