now, where was i?

it has been ... almost 2 weeks since i have logged into this account. there is also a very good reason for that. in some posts i mentioned the fact that Wendy had some significant medical appts upcoming and that's all i said about it. actually those medical appts were in Nova Scotia so that meant that the two of us had to travel halfway across the country so that Wendy could have numerous conversations about her chemical/environmental sensitivities while i sat in the waiting room and did Sodokus for a week. it was a boring week for me for the most part but that isn't the point, i was only trying to act as a support for Wendy amidst all the stress she has been under. i probably could been more of a support actually than i actually was. i should've been more proactive in all the arrangements that had to be made and i could've done more than just try to keep everything in cruise control over the week. in some fairly major ways i failed this past couple weeks since the stress levels obviously make life nearly unbearable for Wendy and yet i'm way too uninvolved in the process.
i can't believe how poorly i'm coping with the idea of helping Wendy in this area.
that's only the most front and center issue for me though. i also think i have a pinched nerve in my neck or something. it has made my left shoulder and entire left arm throb and ache for most of the day, everyday. i'm hoping to go to the chiro today and maybe get some relief.
a heightened sense awareness is a concept that i guess i never understood was so freaking MAJOR for Wendy. i always knew that she paid really close attention to things that were happening around her but i guess it never really hit me the plethora of sensory things that bombard her in every given moment. she was relating an example to me and she listed 10 things that she thinks about and notices when she walks into our kitchen while my only thought is, "ah, this is our kitchen". you know how they say that people who lose one sense have other senses improve and magnify to compensate? it's like Wendy's senses are all dialed to 11 all the time. can you imagine how frustrating that is? can you imagine how tired she becomes of being completely bombarded by sensory information? can you imagine how frustrating life is for her?
we were in Nova Scotia for an entire week and we were completely unable to do any sightseeing over the course of the week. we had to fly there and then rent a car and stay in a strange B&B where scents and sensitivities await at every corner to trip Wendy up. the airplane trip affected her sensitivities, as well as our luggage which in turn is also affected by airplane scents and fumes plus every form of perfume and recycled air flowing through the cabin or hold of a plane. essentially we were locked into a bubble for 4 hours at 30,000 feet. we arrive in Nova Scotia and rent a vehicle that is bathed in its own scents at the same time and we travel to a B&B that comes with its own scent hurdles. Wendy did indicate that she felt better than she had felt in years during the time we were actually at the clinic for the week since they actually take seriously the idea of a "scent-free" facility. of course now we have to figure out how to incorporate all the suggestions into our own lives.
there's a "lad" who grew up in our church community and now does some IVCF work in Nova Scotia so i sent him an email while we were down there. i didn't tell him that we'd be in the neighbourhood until we were actually down there because i had no idea what the schedule would look like and i didn't want to make any promises that would fall through because i couldn't be available. it turns out we were about an hour apart but the schedule wouldn't have allowed for much time to visit anyway. it was good to email back and forth briefly and to "bless" him in my prayers from an hour's distance instead of the usual half a country's distance.
i haven't heard about the job interview yet, in case anyone's interested. i wasn't expecting to have heard by now anyway.
there was a fundraiser for Anna's House which is an orphanage in Ethiopia that was started by the mother of a couple in our church community. it was a fantastic evening where i would guess that 350 people attended. i hear that a significant amount was raised and we're all thrilled for the progress and the joy that people in Canada can create for children a half a world away.
the Blue Bombers lost the Grey Cup yesterday. they needed Fred Reid pretty badly if you ask me.
we sat in the Toronto airport on Saturday morning for a couple of hours. my brother lives about a 10 minute drive away but i didn't call because i knew he'd try to come meet with us. i would've loved to meet with him but the logistics would've been next to impossible as we would have to go through security again. so Dale if you read this, sorry but it was something that just wasn't going to be possible to happen for us.
i did send an email to my parents telling them that we were in Nova Scotia but i didn't receive an email back so i'm not even sure they got the message.
i watched "Willow" while sitting in the waiting room. it featured a very young Val Kilmer and i remembered it being a much better story than it was as i watched it for the 5th time (or whatever it is). it was actually pretty close to a Lord of the Rings storyline but maybe it's all the swords and magic that gets me thinking that.
i made a hockey trade last week in my dynasty keeper league. i traded a vastly overperforming Steven Weiss to get a vastly underperforming Eric Staal. you have no idea how much a steal that trade was for me. i'm still giddy about it.
i'm sure there's plenty of stuff that i've thought about over the past couple weeks that when i did think about it i said to myself that i must remember to blog about that. no matter though, this space is to help me process a bunch of those thoughts. if something hits my brain about it then i'll just have fodder for future posts.
oh by the way, it dumped 30 cm of snow on our heads over a 24 hr period on Thursday last week. at one point we sat unmoving on the highway for an hour and a half while they cleared a couple transports out of the way. we're safe though.
heaven help us.