I'm feeling grateful to our Canadian health care system. Thursday I was at Red Deer hospital for a colonoscopy--a routine test. The last one was ten years ago, and it was time to do that again. The preparation is totally yukky! A gallon of liquid to drink, which creates of massive emptying from the other end. No eating from Wednesday morning until the test was complete, around supper time on Thursday. You'd think there would be some weight loss, but no, no change in poundage in spite of two days of not eating, plus emptying out completely.
Oh well, it's important to stay current on your health tests, and that's done for now. And because we pay for our health care according to our taxable income, there are no bills to pay when you receive treatment.
We had beautiful weather today--the warmest day so far, and hardly any wind. I had planned to do some digging in the garden, but didn't get that far. I was also planning to get started on some spring cleaning--washing window screens and windows today. I did get started--cleaned the screens on our bedroom and living room windows. When I was putting the screen to the sliding door back, reaching up to adjust the screws on the top rollers, a tiny speck of something fell into my eye. It was immediately extremely irritating. I tried to see it in the magnifying mirror in order to remove it with a q-tip, but couldn't see it. Then I tried washing my eye in a small cup of cold water, but that didn't help. Finally I tried irrigating my eye with a small, spouted bulb. Nothing worked. It felt like a really sharp, small piece of grit.
After about 2 1/2 hours of this Jim insisted that I go to the hospital to have it looked at. Wow! I'm really glad I did. A very kind doctor (a locum) had a look and removed a tiny speck from inside the upper eyelid. Such a tiny speck to cause so much trouble! The relief was immediate, although my eye remains somewhat irritated from it. We were back home within 1/2 hour. Talk about a good experience in ER--this was it! And again, no bills to pay. All taken care of by our contribution through taxes. I'm also grateful that our local hospital still has emergency care and is just a five minute drive from our home.
Believe me, a one payer system is beautiful! I'm not saying our health system is perfect. No system is. But our experience has consistently been that when you have immediate needs, you are taken care of right away.
On another topic, members of our quilting club went to the Red Deer Quilt Show on Friday. It's consistently excellent, and this year was no exception. So many excellent quilts on display, so much talent evident, not just in the making of the quilts, but in many cases in the designing of them also.
I didn't buy any material this year, just a bottle of "Best Press" and a quilt pattern. Here's the pattern:
Oh well, it's important to stay current on your health tests, and that's done for now. And because we pay for our health care according to our taxable income, there are no bills to pay when you receive treatment.
We had beautiful weather today--the warmest day so far, and hardly any wind. I had planned to do some digging in the garden, but didn't get that far. I was also planning to get started on some spring cleaning--washing window screens and windows today. I did get started--cleaned the screens on our bedroom and living room windows. When I was putting the screen to the sliding door back, reaching up to adjust the screws on the top rollers, a tiny speck of something fell into my eye. It was immediately extremely irritating. I tried to see it in the magnifying mirror in order to remove it with a q-tip, but couldn't see it. Then I tried washing my eye in a small cup of cold water, but that didn't help. Finally I tried irrigating my eye with a small, spouted bulb. Nothing worked. It felt like a really sharp, small piece of grit.
After about 2 1/2 hours of this Jim insisted that I go to the hospital to have it looked at. Wow! I'm really glad I did. A very kind doctor (a locum) had a look and removed a tiny speck from inside the upper eyelid. Such a tiny speck to cause so much trouble! The relief was immediate, although my eye remains somewhat irritated from it. We were back home within 1/2 hour. Talk about a good experience in ER--this was it! And again, no bills to pay. All taken care of by our contribution through taxes. I'm also grateful that our local hospital still has emergency care and is just a five minute drive from our home.
Believe me, a one payer system is beautiful! I'm not saying our health system is perfect. No system is. But our experience has consistently been that when you have immediate needs, you are taken care of right away.
On another topic, members of our quilting club went to the Red Deer Quilt Show on Friday. It's consistently excellent, and this year was no exception. So many excellent quilts on display, so much talent evident, not just in the making of the quilts, but in many cases in the designing of them also.
I didn't buy any material this year, just a bottle of "Best Press" and a quilt pattern. Here's the pattern:
This morning after breakfast I had to try it out. The first block, although beautiful fabrics, did not have enough contrast to show the block design. The second block was more successful in that way, but not nearly as interesting as it would have been in batiks.
I've been using a few designs over and over and it was time to find a new "favourite" pattern. I think this pattern is very adaptable to various interpretations, and will be quite worthwhile.
These two blocks are not sewed together yet, and that's why some of the squares look bigger than others. They'll lose the extra size to the seams. I can't wait to try out some more fabric combinations. How about white on black and black on white with red accents?
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