Mum Thomas' 70th Birthday

Mrs. Thomas' birthday is on April 22th. However, as she and dad were staying in Toronto to babysit Dylan we had an early celebration at our house. We started with a bbq dinner.

And, as Dylan once said on his TV show, "a birthday party needs a tug-of-war and a pinata." I left out the tug-of-war but we did string up a pinata in the basement. Both mum and Dylan took turns on it until it finally gave up its treasures.

School Trip

I accompanied Dylan's class to a textile museum. We travelled by streetcar to a downtown location (managing 22 children on transit is like herding cats).

Once we were at the museum we were treated to a tour of various textiles from around the world. At the end, the children could sit at a loom and weave a piece of cloth.

Bizarre Emergency Cases 2007 - first quarter

Back......due to popular demand are Bizarre Emergency Cases which presented at our emergency department.

But I'm Innocent....
A gunshot victim was rushed to our trauma centre while maintaining the fact that he was "just an innocent bystander". Unfortunately the bullet had hit his spinal cord and he arrived a paraplegic. As we log-rolled him and and the physician stuck a finger up his rectum to check for rectal tone, a gram of cocaine was removed. Innocent bystander my a_ _!

A homosexual male presented in an obvious drug and alcohol state very concerned that he had ripped all his stitches inside his mouth from a jaw fracture surgically repaired one week ago. He was all weepy that he couldn’t feel the stitches anymore and after prodding admitted that the reason he felt he had ripped them out was because of aggressive oral sex (he was the initiator not the initiatee). After letting him sweat it out for awhile I gently reminded him that he would have had dissolvable sutures.

An HIV +ve male was conducting safe sex with the use of a dildo when his butterfingers partner accidentally let go of the toy in his rectum. This man was mortified at having to come to emerg and, as in many of these cases, was seen by a surgeon and scheduled to have the dildo surgically removed in the morning (the rectum creates a type of suction which makes extraction of anally-inserted objects almost impossible without sedation and surgical intervention). Well, by morning he complained to me that he felt like he needed to defecate. I told him to go for it and PUSH. Much to his, and the taxpayers delight, he excreted a 7inch red rubber dildo.

A young male HIV +ve male presented with a one week history of fatigue and sudden jaundice. His family doctor had done a blood test and sent him straight to Emerg. This poor man had extremely elevated liver enzymes (suggesting liver damage). On examination he confided to me that he had injected anabolic steroids as a weightlifter. He had also doubled his dose of an herbal liver toxin flush and kidney toxin flush. He was admitted for further investigations/treatment so I am not aware which of the above substances may have caused this state. His case was also referred to the Poison Control Centre for analysis. He was an interesting but sad case.

An executive presented to emerg with jaundice and strep throat for one week. This man said he had been too busy to see his family doctor for his sore throat so he had been taking Tylenol tablets every 2 hours to help with the pain. Now he had been dragged in by his partner who had noticed that he was jaundiced (the man was as yellow as a post-it note). Liver function tests confirmed that his Tylenol blood levels were toxic and that he was in a state of severe liver dysfunction. What was bizarre about this case was that, when presented with this information, the man said he was too busy to stay for treatment (i.e. 24-hours drug therapy to remove the Tylenol from his liver). The man was warned that he could actually die within one week as his liver was extremely compromised. It took a lot of coaxing but I finally had him convinced to stay for 2 hours, then 4 hours, then 8 hours (and then I had to leave).

A Case of Mistaken Priorities...
A 53 year old male presented with 24h of upper back pain and left sided chest pain. He had come to the emergency department requesting analgesics for the pain. An ECG and blood test showed that he had had a large myocardial infarction (heart attack). And, the concern was that on top of the heart attack he may be having an aortic dissection. He was moved to in front of the nurses's desk and referred to cardiology for a stat ICU admission and for a stat CT scan of the chest. Much to our surprise, when he learned that he was being admitted he took off all his ECG leads and said "I wasn't planning for this and I don't have time to come into the hospital. Just give me my painkillers and I will go." The cardiologist, the emergency doctor and myself BEGGED him to stay stating that if he left he risked sudden death within the next 48 hours. All the of the risks and concerns were explained to him but he insisted that he wanted to leave. On top of this we had to revoke his drivers license because the risk was too great that he would die driving. In the end, he tore out his IVs and left by taxi. There was nothing we could do because he was of competent mind and could form his own decisions. I wonder what happened to him......

A Love Story...
A 26 year old black female ex-hooker presented to the emergency department for a blood test. She was a previous heroin user but currently on methadone to quit her addiction.

Sasha didn't "look or act" like your typical ex-heroin users. She was well dressed, articulate, humourous, cheerful and not at all manipulative. She had been sent in by one of our ER doctors who also works at the methadone clinic for drug users. She needed a pregnancy and potassium blood test. As she jokingly guided us as to where one her last usable veins for venipuncture existed (iv drug users are notorious for having sclerosed, unusable veins) she told us a bit about her story. She was a honours high school student who made some bad choices out of school. She became a hooker and took heroine to help her deal with her clients. One day in her apartment elevator, a man asked her if she wanted to "visit the roof with him" (there was a rooftop patio). Naturally she assumed he wanted a trick and she was shocked to discover that he just wanted to talk...have a date. It turns out he was a widow with two small children. They are now engaged and she is fully committed to kicking her heroin addiction. I must admit, I tend to be very pessimistic about ex-drug users but my gut (and my hope) truly feel that she is on the right path. Best of luck Sasha!

Dylan's 8th Birthday

Dylan will be turning 8 years old on April 13th. Unfortunately, on that date, I will be away skiing in Banff and Andrew will be away on business in Las Vegas. So, we held his birthday party one week early.

On Good Friday we went for dinner to my sister's house and we had a small celebration for Dylan. My father and his wife joined us for cake and present exchange.

Dylan and his cousin Sarah

Dylan being congratulated by Auntie Sandra

The next day we had a "BIONICLE" Birthday party at our house for seven boys. We stuck a Bionicle on a cake and then we made up several new games including: Visorak's web, Identify the Bionicle and the Metru Nui Bean Bag Toss. The grand finale was a scavenger hunt for which I wrote all the clues using the Matoran Alphabet. Whew! That bought us about 1/2 hour of silence as the boys deciphered the clues with and raced to solve the riddle!

Easter Seals Telethon

Every year Kelly writes/produces the 24-hour Easter Seals Telethon which airs on CBC. Although she has moved to Calgary, CBC still flew her in to do her part. As usual, Kelly puts our names on the guest list to visit the studio during the show. I had to work and could not go but Kelly arranged passes for Andrew/Dylan and my sister and her family.

The grand finale of the telethon was the cast from the muscial production "We Will Rock You" which is a tribute to the music of QUEEN.

Kelly stayed at our house for one night and Dylan was delighted to spend time again with his godmother. This summer Dylan, Andrew, my sister and family are all travelling to Calgary to spend time with Kelly. We plan to visit the dinosaur digs in Drumheller and check out the mountains of Banff and the icy fields of Columbia Plains.

March Break 2007

We had a great March Break this year. Matt came down from Iowa to visit us for awhile and we went to the chalet in Collingwood with my sister and family.

Matt, Dylan and Andrew spent a great day skiing.

Meanwhile, me and the gang visited the Blue Mountain village and ate Beaver Tails and poured maple syrup on snow (to make maple taffy).

We spent our day hiking on the suspension bridge....

....and we spent our nights playing many rousing games of Cranium and other board games.

Acting out one of the skits

Dylan and Andrew drawing their next clue

Skiing

Dylan has been skiing intermittently since he as 4 years old. The initial attempts to encourage a love of skiing were not successful.



Dylan age 4 and daddy

Every year Andrew and I volunteer with Track 3 Ski Association for the Disabled. Unfortunately, Dylan is not allowed to ski on the private hill with us and so we have to drive him to another hill for ski lessons. Up to now, we haven't had an opportunity to ski much with him.

Dylan made it clear to me at the beginning of this season that he didn't like to ski "because you have to turn so much." My response to this was to enroll him in racing lessons (now he can go straight down the hill).

Wow, he seemed to have finally found his groove!

We have gone skiing with him several times this year and he really rocks!! Double black diamond runs are not a problem. Jumps...great. Moguls....fun. In fact, the first time I took him out I had to keep telling him to slow down (I literally couldn't keep up with him).

We were recently invited to ski at the private hill of one of Dylan's school friends, Lucas (fellow dragon club member Yellow Fang). We arrived in time to see Lucas do a race. He cleared the first jump but unfortunately did not have much success on the second jump. Poor Lucas still has this shiner one week later. As a result of his jumping abilities we have changed his Dragon Club name from Yellow Fang to Golden Wing!

Lucas with this shiner

Anita's Baby Nathan

Anita's Baby Nathan is almost 3 months old now and just had his dedication ceremony. He is at stage when, in my opinion, babies became more interesting. As Anita says, he is now cooing (talking) and smiling all the time. She and Brent are just loving being parents. On top of this whole new parent thing, they have decided to renovate and create a finished basement. This is a project they intend to do themselves. They had finished their bathroom less one year ago. For those of you who may not know, last year was a very lucky one for Anita and Brent. The same week that she discovered she was pregnant, Anita won a home makeover! Yes these contests are legit. Anita had written a letter for a radio contest and had then won a $10,000 renovation prize from Home Depot. On top of this they were given a week vacation to stay away from their home while the renovations took place. They returned for the big "reveal" which was recorded live on air. Overall, a fantastic surprise.

Too bad all renovations couldn't be this easy!

L.A., California

Andrew went to Los Angeles for work to visit Fox Sports at 20th Century Fox Studios. Of course, being in Fox Studios, he was in the heart of sitcom shoots....lucky he always carries his camera for these unique photo opportunities.

Winterlude!

Every year we make a pilgramage to Ottawa for two major events, Canada Day and Winterlude. Winterlude can be a truly magical experience if the weather co-operates. If it doesn't, it can be a bloody cold event. Fortunately, we experienced the former during this annual trek as the sun was shining and the temperature was ~10C (positively balmy for Ottawa).

We visited the ice sculptures.




















And, we skated 12 km on the canal, the world's largest skating rink.

On our last evening in Ottawa we went for dinner at the home of Andrew's oldest friend, James and his wife Nancy. I must give these guys credit for being able to maintain a friendship for 30 years despite a 500km distance. It was nice to see their two lovely blond children again.









Later we sampled some truly wonderful italian wines with a delicious meal while Andrew and James discussed camera merits.

Nancy and Andrew playing with the camera

Our only regret about this weekend is that we missed the opportunity to go NIGHT cross country skiing in the Gatineau Park with our friends Stephanie and Ted. As per Ted's email to us the following day, " You missed a fun time. It was ~21C in Ottawa on Saturday night and probably a few degrees colder in Gatineau Park. The ski into the cabin was longer and more uphill than I remembered (or maybe we're just more out of shape than we thought)? We had a great time with lots of food, hot chocolate, wine and beer. Steph & I were the last to leave and it was quite neat skiing by ourselves at 1:30am in the dark, through the park. Except that our eyelids were frozen when we got to the car. But a fun time, and hopefully you can make it next year."

Ted...you can count on it. One of the reasons why we came to Ottawa one day later than planned was because it was Jamie Campbell's surprise 40th Birthday Party. And since Jamie's birthday isn't until May 20th, it was truly a surprise!!!! (Alison decided to have it now because Jamie will be on the road touring with the Blue Jays in May).

"DON" Dylan

My brother's family invited us to a fundraiser soccer banquet for their 9-year old son Ryan. This was an opportunity to meet my father's brother and some other members of the family. We thought a child's soccer banquet would be a small affair in a donated hall. Boy were we wrong!

My sister Sandra and husband Donald with my brother Victor and wife Lidia

We arrived in Bolton to a very grand banquet hall with at least 300 mainly Italian attendees. We began to eat at 6:00pm at a delicious hot and cold buffet with grilled calamari in tomato sauce, fried calamari, many types of pastas, salads, mussels, etc... We filled our plates and ate and ate until we were satiated. And then we found out this was only the antipasto (appetizers). Dinner consisted of SEVERAL more rounds of seated plate service.

Dylan and his cousins Malcolm and Anthony

The dinner portion was interrruped several times with prize-winning games to see who was the best "DON" of each table (these Italians know how to joke about themselves). Guess who won the best "DON" contest at the children's table?

Dylan embracing his Italian side and wins best "Don" for his table.

The soccer team sat at the head table. They entered the room with a very inspirational soccer tune and presented their mothers with a rose bouquet (I found this very touching). I must admit it was very exciting and what a great time for each of these young children! Later the boys started the dance with a slow dance with their mothers.

Soccer player Ryan presenting his mother Lidia with flowers.

Speaking of dancing....Dylan was unleashed on the dance floor and did not sit down for one minute until we had to leave. Boy this boy can dance! He had to be taught the polka by his cousin Sarah but then he was actually spinning her around the dance floor to all the disco and pop numbers.

Dylan with cousin Sarah tripping the light fantastic

Andrew, Dylan and I had to leave before everyone else as we were driving straight to the chalet for skiing but we were able to round up the family for a photo. My uncle Angelo has invited me to his house to meet this children and grandchildren and I must admit I was very touched by his invitation.

FAMILY TRIPONE - My Father and his brother with spouses, my brother and and sister with spouses and children.

Whistler!

My husband went out to Whistler and all I got was this t-shirt (no, just kidding, I got an electronic Sudoku gameboy).

Andrew found himself in Vancouver for business and managed to hook up with our friend Brenda (visiting from Toronto) to ski in Whistler. Poor Andrew, after a full day skiing he ran out of energy and had to download at the end of the day.

Later that evening they met up with our friends Krista and Brock for dinner. It is such a small world. We have been able to stay connected with friends despite a 2000 km distance!

P.S. I hate to be a nonconformist but I still enjoy my Sudoku the old-fashioned way...paper and a fine-tipped pencil.

Take Me Out to The Ball Game

No it is not quite baseball season yet (nor do I care) but our neighbour Jamie Campbell does as he is the Sportsnet Blue Jays Anchor. This means that he is on the road 24/7 once baseball season starts (including spring training).

Jamie used to be Andrew's roommate in unversity. And, talk about serrendipty, when we moved into our house he and his new family bought the house right beside us. So, once again they are (almost) roommates.

Having Jamie as a neighbour has its advantages as Dylan was allowed to watch some Blue Jays games from the press box at Jamie's side.

I don't really enjoy baseball but I sure do enjoy singing that jingle:

Take me out to the ball game

Take me out with the crowd

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack

I don't care if I never get back

Let me root root root for the home team

If they don't win its a shame

For its one, two, three strikes you're out

At the old ball game!