E-BAY

E-bay can be what you make out of it. You get good/bad sellers and good/bad buyers.
I have always had a good experience with my shopping, maybe because I check out the seller's rep or maybe I've just been lucky.

After my surgery, I wanted to buy the surgeons a token of my appreciation. Nothing big just a thank you gift. I had my first post-op appointment yesterday and it went very well. I can go with a cane or one crutch now. I chose the crutch because the cane has so many bad memories for me.
One doctor said that the x-ray taken that day was a text book picture. Meaning that the implant was exactly how it was supposed to be. AKA I was in good shape!

The gift that I decided to give them was scrub hats. (What do you give a surgeon?)

I went on e-bay and found a site that had personalized scrub hats. I chose ones that I thought would fit each ones personality or hobbies. ( I checked with their secretaries )

Here is the final e-mail communication between the e-bay seller and myself...............

(Me)
Hi Vicki,
I received your hats yesterday just when I got home from my check-up with the orthopedic surgeon. Isn't that always the way. It gives me another chance to see him and his partners-in-crime again, so that's a good thing. They were wonderful to me and I love them for what they did for me......help me walk again!!

Anyhow, the real reason I'm writing is to thank you so much for the quick delivery and the hats. They are FANTASTIC!!! The workmanship and the stitching is beautiful.

I'm going to comment on E-bay but I just wanted you to know personnally how pleased I am. So pleased that I thnk I'm going to have to marry a surgeon.

Warm Regards,
Maggie

PS I kept the pug hat for myself of course.


(This was her response to me)
Maggie, I love you and don't even know you! What a nice way to start my day today! It was a pleasure doing business with you! Please let know if your surgeon enjoys his hats.
Take care, Hovi

Her e-mail started my day off in a great mood also.

I really don't know where I'm going with this except to say, be nice to people and they will be nice to you. Win win situation!! :-)

''EXTRA! Extra! Read all about it!''

Remember that cry from those old movies in which scrappy urban newsboys held up papers with screaming headlines?

Well, have I got news for you............

I'm gonna be a Grandma.........My Baby is having a Baby!!!!!!!

She called me yesterday morning at 5:00 a.m. her time. The stick was POSTIVE!

I have been waiting for this day. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want her to be a pregnant teenager.

She was so sweet, she said that I will be a beautiful, young grandmother and that people will think that the baby is mine. I'm so excited that I want to yell it out to the whole world, but I'm settling for telling everyone I know.

Also, guess when the baby is due? February 26, which is my mom's birthday!
How cool is that?

That's all for now, but you know there will be more over the next few months!!

Onward & Upward, It's All Uphill From Hereon In....

I can't believe it's been a week since I last posted!
I also believe I WAS a whiner when I did.

I also remember that after my lengthy hiatus, I promised that I would only post about positive things. I broke that promise almost immediately for which I'm truly sorry.

While I was wallowing in self pity about being bored, that is not necessarily true. I have so much to be grateful for, that I should kiss the ground I am able to walk on, thanks to my surgery. I just have to have one more surgery on my right hip but that will be in a year or so.
They still have no idea why or how my hips got so damaged at such an early age. It usually happens to athletes but I can't claim that I'm afraid.

Since I have last talked to you, I have gone out to dinner with two wonderful people that I admire tremendously. I also went out to lunch yesterday with a great gal. And I have a number of invitations from others that I am looking forward to keeping.

I never accepted invitations in the past when I was well. Don't ask me why, I don't know for sure. Or do I? Actually, I think I do. I didn't want to get close to people or have the responsibility of keeping one. [ dinner date] Does that make sense to anyone?
None of these invitations are with straight men, that will happen in time I hope. If for no other reason than putting my toes in the water to test the temperature. :-)

I live in a great apartment on the eight floor which has a fantastic view. Downtown is my backyard. Even on crutches I can go and do some light shopping and just enjoy being alive on a beautiful day.
Talk about shopping!! I was out today and had a bag in each hand while still manoeuvring on my crutches when this man came up to me and asked me if I could spare some change.
I said, "Are you for real"?
You had to see me to understand why I responded like I did.
I had a hard time walking with my parcels, nevermind go digging for change.

On that note I wish you all a great weekend and happiness galore,
Maggie

PS One very important thing I neglected to mention was how wonderful My Rosey is.
She has been a Godsend for me. The unconditional love and devotion I get from her, has a healing power that doesn't come in a bottle. I owe a lot of my recovery to her.

The Idle Middle Class

What does a person do when they don't work? Depends on the person and their financial situation I guess and why they are not working. In my case, it's physically impossible for me to work for the time being and money is not flush, but I'm okay.

The first thing I did (after a lot of deliberation) was get cable television. That really was a good decision because I spend so much time indoors. I like some programs and I wasn't able to get them without cable. I don't go crazy with it but it's nice to have. Good move!!

I changed my eating habits. I now have breakfast and lunch at a specific time. Dinner can be negotiated depending on what I doing. Another good move.

I walk Rosey at the same time morning and evening, she likes the consistency. Works for her and me. Good move.
(She's an angel by the way, and is wonderful company).

I go for lunch with some people that I haven't done before. I love that!! Very Good Move.

I read but it is not the same, I have a hard time concentrating. Not good!

I get bored sometimes which can lead to "you know what". (depression for those of you not in the know) Not good!!

Bottom line......what do other people do??

I'm restricted because I'm on crutches but there must be things that someone can give me suggestions on.

PS I don't want to spend a lot of my time online, I don't think that is healthy.

An Unholy Experience

I have had a few unholy experiences with men hiding behind their "White Collar".
They never went anywhere because I never allowed them too.
Someday I'll talk about them but not now.

But I do want to talk about a recent one. It popped into my memory after reading a post on The Greedy Maelstrom's Blog. Remember the good......forget the bad, old habits die-hard.

As you all know if you have been reading my blog, I was in the hospital for about a week early in May. On the fourth day after my surgery I was up and about on my walker. I had to get exercise twice a day and walk around the floor I was on.

This day happened to be Sunday and as I was doing much better, I was being friendly talking to people. I noticed an older gentleman (60's) wearing a nice sweater and dress pants standing in the hallway. I stopped to talk and it turned out he was a Eucharistic Priest, distributing The Host to patients. For those of you who don't know, in the Catholic Church, The Host represents The Body of Christ and is very sacred. He had them in a silver container and a prayer book in his other hand. He asked me if I would like to receive it. I said, "yes, I would very much ".

We went into my hospital room and I sat on the chair beside my bed. He sat across from me. Before he gave it to me, he started asking me if I knew how beautiful I was and how lonely he was. I was very much taken back by this turn of conversation and I said no. All I wanted was to receive The Host and didn't know how to handle this situation. I forget what I said but he got down to business and we said the Lord's Prayer together and then he gave me Communion.(that's what we call The Host).
It was one of the weirdest experiences, almost surreal, we're praying and he's hitting on me!!!

I didn't say anything to anyone but on my last day when I was leaving, I decided to tell one of the nurses. Only because he might say or do something to another woman and most patients are seriously medicated. And usually they are much older than me and not as capable of protecting themselves.

A Devil in Sheep's Clothing, comes to mind...........

Update.......Life Such As It Is Part II

Well.......... where do I begin? It's been such a long time since I wrote on my blog.

I'm definitely a different person since I last wrote here. The excruciating pain in my hip from osteoarthritis has completely dissappeared but there is a different kind of pain now. The kind from muscles, tendons, ligaments and soft tissue that has been cut through and then the rounded head of the thigh-bone, or femur is then cut off, and the arthritic bone is removed from the socket. The ball and socket are then replaced by two prosthetic devices, which are tightly fitted into the bone of the femur and the pelvis. This is what takes so long to heal and what curtails you from doing much of anything for about 3 months.
It's also very scary because I'm constantly worried that I'm going to do something that will pop my artifical joint out of place. This is probably(definitely) all in my head as the statistics say this rarely happens. :)

On the bright side....... I'm very adept on my crutches and am able to walk Rosey every morning and evening. We are quite the sight! Me on my crutches and my little pug walking very gently on a leash beside me. Rosey has been a doll during all my trials and tribulations. She walks softly beside me, stops when I stop, sits when I sit, etc. She never behaved so good when I was well. Whoever says dogs are not intuitive are dead wrong!!

Also, since I've been home and in the hospital, I never realized how many people care about me. People I've worked with (in other offices besides my own), patients, neighbours (even ones that I hardly know), my doctors (especially my psychiarist) have shown such concern, I was overwhelmed. If I ever suffered from loneliness or thought that no one cared, that is all in the past. My family have been wonderful. One of my sisters, comes over to my apartment to clean for me, buy groceries, and takes me to all my appointments.
My daughter, God Bless Her!! She arrived from Calgary the day I got out of the hospital and spent 2 weeks looking after me. I would never have survived without her as it was a very difficult time.

That's my update folks and from now on it will hopefully be cheery subjects that I post about, as I have learned a lot in my recent experiences. All of it positive!!

Take Care and Lots of Love To All