July 8 update

July 8 blog update

 

Okay ... due to many requests from readers of my blog, I will occasionally update my blog throughout the summer.

My last regular blog entry was on June 22. That evening, after I wrote and posted that entry, we had an "accident" that resulted in the loss of the awning on the side of the trailer. The wind gusted so strongly that the awning flipped up over the trailer. The awning arms smashed into the side of the trailer , then also flipped up over onto the roof, smashing the air conditioner shroud. The awning was severely torn, and the arms were bent and broken. The entire awning assembly, worth about a thousand dollars, was a total loss. And the air conditioner shroud, worth about a hundred dollars, as well. When it smashed onto the roof, it sounded like an explosion inside the trailer. The air conditioner vent on the inside ceiling of the trailer flew off when the awning hit the roof.

It could have been a lot worse. We have spoken to many RV owners who have lost awnings on their rigs due to strong wind gusts. And they have ended up with holes smashed through the sides of their rigs, or the roofs of their rigs, from the very heavy awning arms flailing around as the awning flips up and over the rig. All we lost was the air conditioner shroud. We have decided not to replace the awning. We rarely use it, and when we do, it inevitably needs to be retracted due to winds, usually in the middle of the night.

On July 1, we attended the Canada Day celebrations at Memorial Park in Keremeos. One of the activities was an exhibition of "dog agility". After the demonstration, dogs in the audience were invited to give it a try. I took Bo through a dog agility course for the first time. He loved it, and did great. We decided to enroll in a dog agility class at the local kennel in the village of Cawston. Yesterday ( July 7 ) we attended our first, and likely last, dog agility session. Bo had fun, but Joanne and I each had a litany of complaints, and will likely not be returning. Amongst other complaints, I didn't think it was worth the money they were charging. And Joanne was really angry that Bo got bit by the Border Collie that belongs to the kennel owner. She believes, quite rightly, that if the kennel owner's dog isn't well enough behaved around visiting dogs to resist biting them, he shouldn't be allowed to mingle with the visiting dogs. We're not sure exactly where Bo was bit during the little scuffle, but he was yelping for 10 or 15 seconds afterwards, so it likely hurt a bit. We think he was bit on the face, but there's no apparent damage. Maybe you should keep your nose out of other dogs' groins, Bo.

And now the big news ! On July 3 Joanne fell and broke her elbow. We were in Penticton for our weekly day of errands in "Pen". It was our last stop for the day, at a grocery store. As we walked from the truck to the store, Joanne stumbled on a bump in the pavement. She landed very hard on her knees, scraping them severely, then pitched forward onto her left wrist, and then, finally, onto her face, landing with her left eyeglass lens against the pavement and scratching it deeply. I picked her up and took her back to the truck where I did first aid on her shredded, bleeding knees. She just wanted to go home and lie down, but I insisted we go to the hospital because of the severe pain in her left wrist and elbow.

We were taken care of quite well at Penticton Hospital. The wait in the Emergency Department was only about 45 minutes. A doctor examined Joanne, then sent her for x-rays. The x-rays indicated a fracture of the head end of the arm's radial bone, at the elbow. Nowadays they don't apply a cast on an arm with a broken elbow. After 6 or 8 weeks in a cast, the broken elbow often heals with reduced range of motion. So they put a sling on Joanne, and sent us home with instructions to see our family doctor the next day. Our only complaint about Penticton Hospital's Emergency Department was inadequate explanation after the x-rays. The doctor never returned to see Joanne. He just sent a nurse in to apply a sling and send us home. The nurse was not able ( or allowed ? ) to explain the diagnosis and answer our questions.

The next morning I phoned the Health Centre in Keremeos for an afternoon appointment, then we drove back to Penticton Hospital for Joanne's scheduled mammogram, made a bit more difficult by the broken, painful elbow. In the afternoon we saw our new local doctor. Joanne's wrist may also be broken. If not, it certainly is severely sprained. We are to return to the Health Centre in Keremeos in a couple of days for another set of x-rays.

Joanne is in a lot of pain. She has difficulty sleeping, and her tossing and turning keeps both of us awake much of the night. She does some simple exercises, like slow, gentle arm swings, to decrease the risk of loss of range of motion in the elbow as it heals. I act as "Nazi coach" through the exercises, a role I also played a few years ago following her cancer surgeries.