Table

I wake up this morning to find that Opa has set the table during the night. There are four place settings perfectly arranged.

 

There is also a candy in a wrapper on one of the plates, a funnel in one of the three juice glasses, a ceramic bowl and two stacked glass bowls, a straw trivet, and four shot glasses (!). 

It reminds me of this poem --

Table

A man filled with the gladness of living

Put his keys on the table,

Put flowers in a copper bowl there.

He put his eggs and milk on the table.

He put there the light that came in through the window,

Sounds of a bicycle, sound of a spinning wheel.

The softness of bread and weather he put there.

On the table the man put

Things that happened in his mind.

What he wanted to do in life,

He put that there.

Those he loved, those he didn't love,

The man put them on the table too.

Three times three make nine:

The man put nine on the table.

He was next to the window next to the sky;

He reached out and placed on the table endlessness.

So many days he had wanted to drink a beer!

He put on the table the pouring of that beer.

He placed there his sleep and his wakefulness;

His hunger and his fullness he placed there.

Now that's what I call a table!

It didn't complain at all about the load.

It wobbled once or twice, then stood firm.

The man kept piling things on.
 

 ~ by Turkish poet, Edip Cansever

Update on Opa's Health

Opa has had some difficulties since his cystoscopy which was done a couple of months ago as part of his annual physical checkup. The results were good -- no signs of bladder cancer -- but he experienced some complications.

Since finishing the course of antibiotics, the incontinence has improved significantly, but there is still blood in the urine. Plus there are side-effects from the antibiotics: diarrhea, fatigue and poor appetite. Opa's not even interested in his all-time-favourite beverage, milk!

I called the clinic a couple of days ago, thinking that maybe the antibiotics didn't clear the urinary tract infection. I was told that no bacteria grew in the urine culture. This was surprising since the urinalysis revealed white blood cells which usually indicates a UTI. This was also troubling since now the most likely cause of Opa's symptoms is injury to the urethra or bladder from the cystoscopy.

Before returning to the urologist, who is likely to recommend some invasive treatment, we've decided to go the alternative medicine route.

A holistic health care professional recommended Urotonic Medicinal Tea to help soothe and heal the  urinary tract and Ultimate Flora Critical Care to restore proper digestive function and boost the immune system. Opa's iron levels tend to be on the low end of normal since he rarely eats meat, and are probably even lower now that he's had this bleeding problem for so long, so we've also added Floradix.

We were told that improvement of urinary symptoms is generally experienced in about three days with the Urotonic Tea. It's Day 2 now, so we'll see how it goes. Keeping fingers crossed!

How a Girl Can Get a Boy's Attention

"Opa, what's the best way for a girl to let a boy know that she likes him?"

"Oh, that's easy. First she should find out where he is and go there. Then she should make a few rounds so that he can see her. Very soon he will think, "Oh, there is that beautiful girl! I must ask her to go to the dance with me!"

"Is that how Oma got your attention?"

"Oh, yes!"

Breakfast for Michael the Cat

Now that Opa has finished his course of antibiotics, he is definitely feeling better. It shows, not only in his mood but also in his creativity. He's back to preparing interesting meals, not only for himself and me but also for Michael the Cat.

This morning, Michael was treated to a bowl of dry, uncoooked, soup noodles with a side of crumbled chicken bouillon cubes.

I thought this was pretty clever since, unlike the other cat meals that Opa has lovingly prepared (like sandwiches, cheese wedges, pudding, bananas, mango juice, cereal, milk, and bowls of sugar), the ingredients of this one were closer to those of commercial cat food.

But as usual, Michael would have none of it. The expression on his face this morning was like "Seriously?"

Unlike Opa, Michael knows exactly where his cat food is. It's in the kitchen, steps from his food and water bowls. He'll even show you if you forget.   

He probably showed Opa, too, but his efforts were obviously ignored.  

Opa Makes Lunch

So Opa surprised me today by making lunch: a delicious relish sandwich for me and an equally delicious butter (no, that's not cheese) sandwich for himself. Yum!

New Hiding Spot

So I'm cleaning out the fridge today when, behind the crisper drawer, I find a plastic sandwich bag filled with three small, elastic-tied bundles.

The bundles had a weight to them. What could they be? I am both afraid and curious to find out. 



Ha! Mystery solved!



Opa being normal...

On Father's Day, Opa was in great spirits. He was also a little tipsy. So he gleefully went along with my niece when she suggested he play a little dress up. 

 

 

When she asked Opa if he had any advice for her, he said, "Yes, you should always be normal!"

 

Of course, we laughed because Opa wasn't exactly following his own advice that evening. But then he added, "By normal, I mean always be yourself. Never try to be someone you are not."

Sage advice as usual, Opa.

Nothing that a little fishing can't cure...

Opa Gets Cranky

 

Opa has had some cranky days as of late. And no wonder. Since his yearly physical, which included a cystoscopy that was done a couple of months ago, it has been one thing after another. First he had a nasty fall that resulted in 8 stitches, a CT scan and a 10 hour overnight wait in the ER.

A couple of weeks later, Opa woke up one morning with Bell's Palsy. We knew that it wasn't a stroke because he was unable to move the eyebrow on the affected side of his face (stroke victims are able) and had no weakness in his arms or legs. But it was still quite distressing, for me anyway.

 

The effects of Bell’s Palsy are bad enough, but the dementia created a huge challenge. Opa could not remember why his eye was dry. All he knew was that he wanted to rub it. So he did. Every two minutes. His eye was a mess in no time, red and irritated, with the lower lid hanging lower and lower. Solution: preservative-free eye drops, ointment, and an eye-patch.

As usual, Opa was quite calm about the situation. But I was not. I hovered over him like a mother hen, putting in eye drops every couple of hours, making sure he kept his eye-patch on, applying the ointment at night. How annoying this must have been for him! At first, he didn’t show it. But after a week of this, he told me in no uncertain terms that he would no longer wear the patch and would take care of his own eye, thank you very much. So what could I do except to take a deep breath and hope for the best?

 

As it turned out, the symptoms improved dramatically each day, without any interference from me and despite Opa's frequent eye rubbing. I was quite amazed that, a week later, Opa’s recovery from Bell's Palsy was complete!

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Opa has also been challenged with intermittent bouts of incontinence, an unexpected adverse side-effect of the cystoscopy, which we were told should resolve in time. I bought him Tena protective guards which also had an unwanted side-effect, though it took me a few days to realize it. Several times I was greeted in the morning by soaked mats in the bathroom and standing water in the basement below. The toilet wasn’t plugged so what was going on? I finally clued. Opa must have been quite persistent during the nights when he tried, with eventual success, to flush the offending guards down the toilet! So, needless to say, the guards were scrapped, and we persevere instead with frequent changes of clothing and bedding, never straying too far from a bathroom. When blood appeared in Opa’s urine today, we went to a walk-in clinic. Poor Opa. Turns out he has a bladder infection.

 

Keeping fingers crossed that there will be no more setbacks and that Opa will be back in good form in a few days.