Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Might go camping on the long weekend

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This weekend is a long weekend here in Canada. It’s known as Victoria Day or in true Canuck form “The May 2 4” weekend.

it’s early this year, Victoria Day usually falls around the 24th of the month, hence the nickname for our long weekend, but for some reason it’s a week earlier. It’s often the same weekend that our American friends celebrate Memorial Day weekend.

I’ve always thought of this long weekend as a camping weekend. My family had a cottage and we always went to the cottage for the May 2 4, but once I moved away from home it became a weekend to go camping with the girls or the guys.

My husbands sister had been trying to put something together for this weekend. Kind of last minute, but she’s been calling rv parks to see if they have any spaces left. I still haven’t heard back from her as to whether she’s found a camp site or not.

At this point I don’t know if I’ll be up for going camping this weekend anyway. I’m having that Thyroid biopsy tomorrow and I’ll probably be fine afterwords, but then again I could have a sore neck too. I’ll just have to wait and see. Plus I’m having a Crohn’s flare up, so unless my meds start working right away once I’m able to take them again after the biopsy I won’t be going anywhere this weekend.

If we stick around Toronto we’ll have to at least go to the Fireworks!

Do you have plans for either Victoria Day weekend or Memorial day? If so, what are you going to do?





Healing Jewelry

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I just remembered something. Back when I was about to have my first Thyroid surgery (and hopefully only, but it’s not looking that way right now) I was a jeweller.

The Jewelery trade here in Toronto is like a close knit family and once people new I was sick and that I was going to have to have surgery they sent their best wishes and suggested several thing that would help me heal.

One of my Jeweler friends game me a choker necklace made with a stone that was said to promote healing and ward off cancer. The stone is called Carnelian and it’s beautiful. It’s a warm orangish brown and the necklace is composed of stones that have been shaped into beads.

I think I’ll go upstairs in a little while and dig through my jewelry box and find that necklace. Hey, it can’t hurt to wear it for a while. Maybe it will help. It certainly won’t hurt to try.

A little nervous about my thyroid biopsy tomorrow

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Tomorrow I’m going to the hospital to have my Thyroid biopsy. I’m starting to get a little nervous. I know it’s not that bad, I’ve been through this before, in 1990 I think it was and while the biopsy (needles in the neck!) went ok and I didn’t really have any pain afterwords that I remember the results weren’t good.

It was only a few days after that first biopsy that I got a call from the doctor stating that she’d made an appointment with a surgeon for the next day and that I’d need to have part of my thyroid removed because the biopsy of the thyroid tumor showed that it was made up of pre-cancerous cells.

So …. having been through all that once before, including surgery to remove half my thyroid, I’m kind of thinking that the solid nodules that have grown in my remaining thyroid will end up having bad cells in them again now too. Which of course means more surgery.

I’m of mixed emotions tonight because of what I’ve explained above. Part of me would prefer to either not have the biopsy or at least delay it for another week, but then I’m also glad that it’s tomorrow, mostly because my Crohn’s is flaring really bad since I had to stop my Pentasa last week for the test, and once the biopsy is done I should be able to start taking my meds again and hopefully I’ll be feeling better again in a few days.

Speaking of the no meds Crohn’s flare I’m going through … it’s horrible. it’s as if I’ve taken a colon cleanser like Colonix and I’m experiencing the worst side effects like stomach cramps and frequent trips to the bathroom.

I haven’t even been able to eat properly the last couple of days. My stomach just hurts too much on regular food.

So yeah, I want the biopsy to be over so that my stomach pain can get better (ie start taking my meds again), but I’m worried that the results will mean I’ll be having surgery to remove the remaining portion of my thyroid soon, which sucks!

Crohn’s flare again

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I’m having a Crohn’s flare yet again. I blame this one directly on the fact that I had to stop my Crohn’s meds last Thursday.

I’ve pretty much had a constant fever for days, pain in my abdomen and that awful crampy pain that you get when you have severe diarrhea. Oh yeah and it’s like I’ve taken some kind of natural appetite suppressants because I have absolutely no appetite.

Remember that post I wrote recently where I said the only benefit of being sick is the weight loss … well if I keep up this way I’m going to end up being too thin!

I hate being sick. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!

What a beautiful Spring we’re having

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I was just saying on my gardening blog what a beautiful Spring it’s been here in Toronto and how well my garden is doing!

It looks like I didn’t lose any plants during the winter, which is a good thing since our winters can be quite harsh and it’s not uncommon for me to lose at least one rose if not more.

Right now the tulips are the stars of the garden. I have at least 7 types in bloom right now, with more to come by the end of May. The Daffodils are also blooming well, whereas the hyacinths and Glories of the snow are just about finished for the season.

One Spring flower that I always enjoy seeing each year are the Muscari or Grape Hyacinth. They’re tiny plants, only about 8 inches tall, but their flowers are so lovely and colorful.

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The flowers are purple, but they almost have a deep blue tone to them in this photograph, don’t they?

The majority of my tulips are white, but I also have several vibrant purple, orange and yellow tulips scattered throughout my garden. What I don’t have are very many red tulips. Here’s a picture of one of my lovely red tulips:

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Perhaps next fall I’ll buy more tulips bulbs and try to get more red ones. They certainly look beautiful in front of spring green plants.

How is your garden or yard doing this Spring?

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