New parts: all good

Val's surgery was very successful. The brilliant Dr. Hedden replaced the old 24mm ball with a new and improved 36mm one, which will give Val much better stability. I think the cup lining was also replaced. I'll get the full details from Val - or better yet, get her to write a post herself!


Today is Saturday, and it's possible Val will be home tomorrow. So, for me, it's 'get ready' day: rent the various pieces of equipment we'll need around the house and generally tidy up so there are no impediments lying around to trip her up!


She has her iPhone with her, so texts and emails get to her. She would love to hear from you.


xo

Update on three fronts

1. Mum is in the hospital with double pneumonia. Making slow progress. The local 'village' of friends is rallying round superbly and providing visits and nourishment of both the food and the spirit variety. Thank you!

2. I passed that kidney stone of the last post. Phew. Don't need to experience that kind of pain again. No diagnosis yet from the lab of the make-up of the stone.

3. This morning (Thursday), Val dislocated her right hip (replacement surgery took place in 2001). She's landed in hospital where the surgeon will do a minor procedure (that's what he called it) to replace the cup that holds the ball (I think I have the anatomy right). Poor Val. She is miserable about this; not so much because it was painful but because it is yet another thing gone wrong with her body that will require her to restrict her activities.

The dislocation happened, as these things often do, in a mundane way: She was getting her jacket out of the hall closet to go to the morning cancer-patient yoga class at Yoga North, she twisted her foot under the hall carpet and somehow twisted the damn joint out of the socket.

The paramedics and the hospital emergency staff were excellent, and I am so grateful for that.

Please send positive vibes this way!
Love,
Amanda

And now for something completely different

Anne continues to settle satisfactorily into her new life in Rosedale.

Val continues to struggle with the anti-estrogen drug she is on, as it causes aches and pains throughout her body. We'll see where this goes. 

Amanda is the 'something completely different': I am experiencing the pain of a kidney stone. Yikes. Who would have thought such a small thing could cause such major discomfort! I left my Friday afternoon class half-way through as I couldn't pay attention to the students' presentations for one more minute. A kind colleague drove me home; the pain subsided over the afternoon but had returned by Saturday morning. A trip to our local 'urgent care' centre gave me the diagnosis, even though nothing showed up on Xray (95% of stones don't). I'll book a CT scan on Monday; maybe that will show the size of this unwelcome intruder. In the mean time, drugs are managing the pain while I wait for the stone to, literally, pass.

This time last year, Val was heading towards 16 radiation treatments. These are the aloe vera plants we bought from which she used the gel to ease the sting of the burns. They now sit and merely serve to enhance the west-facing kitchen windows. We've come a long way, baby, in some good respects. Phew!

Anne's move to Rosedale

Dad's memorial service was held on Saturday, Feb. 7th. The following Monday, Val and I started the task of packing up Willow Way and getting Mum ready to move to Rosedale, her new digs. It was hard work, it was fun and it was oh-so rewarding. 

Anne was a total trouper who made fast decisions about what to keep, what to toss and what to pass along. 

Val spent hours packing up books for the local library, and more hours packing up toys for the neighbours, and more  hours packing up donations for pick-up by the Cerebral Palsy association. The driveway was half-filled (just about) with the boxes for CP. 

In addition, friends and neighbours all stepped forward to claim their favourite table or sofa or piece of art. Between the whole community village, we winnowed down the possessions to a manageable quantity that the movers then trucked over to Rosedale. 

These pics give  you a sense of Mum's new apartment on the third floor; it faces north/north-west and is well situated to view life on the street. Val and I spent three nights there and, by the time we left on Sunday the 22nd, it was beginning to feel like home to Anne. Phew! 

This week, Katy is there with Mum getting her truly settled in. Putting pictures and paintings up on the wall is something that will happen next. 

The entry way; front door is right behind you (as it were). 

From the kitchen looking across the half-wall towards the living room. 

Bedroom, where that box in the right corner has now been replaced with a snazzy new desk from IKEA - see below. 

The apartment is just 631 sq feet, so each room has multiple functions; the bedroom will serve as a study/office, also. 

Mum reading the weekend paper; that red chair will be replaced by a new reclining arm chair come spring. 

Jennifer came for supper on Friday. The four of us easily fit into the living room for conversation before the meal. Jennie is sitting on the new sofa bed that Val and I bought for Mum from Sears in Winnipeg and which was shipped to Edmonton from their warehouse in Calgary! 

From the living room into the kitchen; it's a good size, so easy to get around with a walker. 

Colin's memorial service in pics

The memorial service for Colin was held in Edmonton on Saturday, February 7th, and it was a lovely afternoon. The three children spoke, as did family friends Craig and Barbara and Jane, and Al tied it all together by singing 'To everything there is a season' accompanied by his guitar. Stories were told, tears were shed, laughter was shared, and food was eaten. I'm pretty sure that Dad would have enjoyed it! 

Some of us then gathered at the house for more conversation and refreshments. These pics below capture, I think, the warmth of the event. 

Many thanks to everyone who was there in person and many thanks to those of you who ate a chocolate biscuit in Colin's honour that afternoon!

Amanda

Katy

Charles

Max and Sam, Charles and Lisa's sons, acting up with the calendars that Colin and Katy made together at Christmas for the last several years. All full of family pics and put together by Dad on his computer, with Katy assisting from a distance. 

Ann Tweddle, friend extraordinaire, with Anne Le Rougetel

Charles, Amanda and Katy

The three Le Rougetel kids with their partners and nephews: (from left) Val, Charles, Guy, Lisa. Val, Katy, Amanda, Sam. Max in front. 

The whole family, with Mum reigning as the matriarch in the chair. 

Moving on

Colin as a boy,
sketched by his mother, Molly,
who was an artist

Just a short post to let you know that we will mark Dad's death by celebrating his life on February 7th.

It will be a historic event in more ways than one, as it will be the first time since 1993 that the siblings have all three been together - with their partners and, in my brother's case, children, too. It will be a moment to be captured on camera!

The family house has been sold and Mum will be moved into her new senior's suite by mid-March. Val and I will help with the move, and Katy will follow along to tie up the loose ends.

New beginnings all round.

Think of Colin on the afternoon this coming Saturday, and enjoy a good chocolate biscuit in his memory. He loved to have one...well, just about any time, but certainly with afternoon tea.

Colin Le Rougetel (1923-2015)

Colin Maxwell Helier Le Rougetel died on January 22^nd, just one day shy of his 89^th birthday. His death is a blessed release from an earth- and body-bound life that had become a burden to his spirit. He leaves to cherish his memory his beloved wife Anne, his children, Katy (Guy), Amanda (Val), and Charles (Lisa). His grand-sons Max and Sam held a special place in his heart; he loved being their Canada Grand-pa.

Colin was a man who loved and was loved. He embraced life and took on the challenges it brought. Born in Peking (Beijing) because his father was stationed there by the British Foreign Service, Colin was trained to enter the British Navy at Dartmouth Naval College; he served during the tail end of WWII. He left the Navy to attend university, but he met Anne and, like a bolt of lightening (as he always told the story), that was it; he was in life-long love. He left the British Navy, because he wanted to support his wife and the children whom he very much wanted.

Anne and Colin were married in London, England, in 1951, and moved across the Atlantic in 1953 to embark on a new life in Canada; it was a move that served his family well. His work in sales & marketing took him back and forth between Canada and Europe over the next two-plus decades, and his children gained tremendously from the experience: Katy was born in Montreal, Amanda in Toronto, and Charles in Bad-Homburg, Germany. Languages were learned, friends were made, and cultures were explored; we maybe had gaps in our formal education, but we had no shortage of life-lived lessons that formed us and prepared us for our own lives of challenge and change. Colin and Anne’s home was always the place their children’s’ friends congregated for conversation and fun.

Over the last 13 months of his life, Colin was faced with increasing physical difficulties; his body was giving out but his mind remained active. Conversations with his family were had by phone right up to the very evening of the night of his death.

The family thanks everyone who has helped along the way. It takes a village to care for a loved one, and we had a village, indeed. Carmelita, Robert and Brad from Baycrest were wonderful. Ann, Jennifer and Doug Tweddle; Barbara Chan; and Al and Jane Dunbar are family in spirit and in deed. No one could ask for better and truer friends than these.

A celebration of life is being planned in Edmonton for early February. 

Family update

Well. The New Year has started with sweeping change for the Le Rougetel family.

Colin has been moved from the small regional hospital he had been in since mid-November to a downtown long-term care home. He has been there just over two weeks and it's hard to say he's happy. His physical capacity has diminished and his dependency on the care staff has increased: Who would be happy about that? He struggles on, but often says he would be happier "on the other side". Please hold him in your hearts and wish him God speed on his journey. It is what he says he wants.

The same week that Colin was moved into downtown Edmonton, Anne received a call from the seniors residence complex saying that a suite had become available and it was hers if she wanted it. It took her only about 24 hours, much discussion and an on-site tour to know that it was perfect and perfect timing, too.

Since that time, we have all been poring over the suite layout plans and making trips to IKEA and discussing furniture options. Anne takes possession Feb. 1. I (Amanda) am going out for a long weekend at the end of January and then Val and I will go for about nine days mid-February to help sort out the family home and get Anne ready for the move into Rosedale. All very exciting.

To boot, the family home is now on the market (view listing) and viewings have already begun this weekend. Take a tour and pass it along to anyone who's interested in a good house (that needs updating) in a great neighbourhood (just south of West Edmonton Mall).

Keep your fingers crossed that all continues to move along. Life cycles through the various phases it offers us, and we must simply try to keep up.

I'll keep you posted on news as it develops.
Love,
Amanda

PS: Val is doing well, and I am getting into the swing of the winter term. We are the least of the news these days!

Christmas 2014 at the cottage

Lake Winnipeg was well and truly frozen, and gorgeous in the (very) crisp winter sunshine. 

My version of a Christmas tree. 

Val got out and about every day, first to fill the bird feeders on our our lot, and then off somewhere for a walk. 

Inside was warm and cozy; our friend Yvonne (right) came up on New Year's Day for a couple of nights. 

Holly is not her most active in the dead of winter! 

Before I arrived, Val and Yvonne went up with Yvonne's dog, Bella, and our friends' dog, Kiwi; they all opened up the cottage and warmed it up from the winter cold. It took a full 24 hours to get the warmth into the woodwork! 

We went through quite a lot of wood in our little Jotl stove. Holly loves the heat. 

I loved walking in the cold - not for hugely long, but a daily walk nonetheless: snowpants, down jacket, wool socks, winter boots, hats and mitts - no problem! 

Nice rosy cheeks!