Back in Canada 2015

We landed in Toronto to be reunited with Lucy, who had stayed with my daughter and her husband all winter.

Meanwhile my Dad, who lives in Toronto’s Sunnybrook Veteran’s Hospital with Alzheimer’s disease, had developed peritonitis. My Mum, who was living in a retirement home in Richmond Hill, was admitted to hospital 3 days after our return with heart and kidney failure. She was discharged briefly (prematurely) and readmitted two days later resulting in two nightmare experiences in the Emergency Room.

For the next 5 months, most of which I lived in my son’s basement in downtown Toronto, I looked after Mum who was acutely ill for 3 months, then transferred to a rehab hospital. If I never spend another day on Highway 400 I will be a happy camper after many, many gruelling trips from the heart of the city to Richmond Hill hospital.

Also, being a health professional myself, I was horrified at the level of staffing; particularly nursing staff, for the very sick, elderly people I was seeing. There was no way my mother could have been left alone for many of the days she was there.  I slept on the floor in the ER and in a chair by her bedside on occasions when I felt I couldn’t safely leave her. My sister, a nurse, flew in from England to help. Bottom line; make sure you have a knowledgeable advocate and caregiver if you are ever in a Canadian hospital!!!

Having said that, my Dad’s care in the Veterans’ unit was superb and he gradually recovered from his abdominal infection and perked up considerably.

With all this hospital action I was home in Ottawa for less than 2 weeks between May and October!

However, the bright sides were many. I was privileged to stay with my son, his wonderful partner and their two beautiful babies, Oscar and Felix (who was born the day before we left Nassau). I was also thrilled to be there for the birth of my third grandson Raffi, on August 1st. Between the two of us we now have 5 grandsons!!

By the time I got Mum settled into a new Assisted Living facility in Toronto it was autumn and time to start planning for our next Peapod adventure. 

We had a lovely family Christmas. We split our time between Ottawa, celebrating with the Falls family and David’s two young grandsons, and Toronto with my gang of siblings, nieces, kids and grand-babies. 

Then the packing began in earnest, with our living room a staging area for what my Dad would characterize as Eisenhower preparing to storm the beaches of Normandy.