Back surgery and the blackout

May 2, 2011

First things first folks, I guess before I start in on my views regarding THE BLACKOUT, I should do a quick update for all of you faithful and concerned followers of the on-going saga of the wrecked back.
As you may recall, I was finally called in to receive my Right Microdiscectomy (back surgery) on the 21st of April and then I wrote about how my timing was off because I would have preferred to celebrate my Grandson’s birthday (also happening on the 21st of April) and the Easter Weekend before I went in for the surgery but the surgery had to come first; remember that?
So anyway, I was all packed and ready to go on the 20th when I get the call from the O/R Scheduling Department saying that they would have to put off my surgery until the 27th of April! Good news and bad news, eh? The good news was that I got to celebrate the birthday and the Easter weekend with the family before the surgery after all, but the bad news was that I had a longer wait for surgery.
Long story short, I went in to the hospital, was checked, drugged, had the surgery done, re-checked and re-drugged and then sent on my way back home all within less than a twelve hour span on the 27th of April. It may take them a long time to get you in there but once they do they don’t mess around. Bing-bang-boom…a little slice, a little dice and then…NEXT.
So I was uncomfortably convalescing along at home and was just starting to feel somewhat better when the lights went out here on Friday night. No biggie, we figured, it looked a little ugly out but nothing that good old Saskatchewanians can’t deal with on a regular basis.
We were a little more than surprised when we got up Saturday morning to find a full-blown blizzard raging outside and the power still off. Fortunately for us, we had installed a wood-burning stove in the living room a few years ago but, unfortunately for us, I hadn’t bought into the whole “the sky’s falling” thing surrounding Y2K and, therefore, didn’t buy that generator that we were all supposed to buy. Tsk, tsk, tsk, too smart too late.
So Deb built a fire, made up a make-shift bed for me in the living room, then we set up camp around the wood stove and closed off the rest of the freezing cold house. We were convinced it would only be a matter of minutes or a few hours, at the very least, until the power was restored. Little did we know that the novelty of our cozy camping experience in the living room would wear off long before the power would come back on.
It was a real pioneer experience for us. We heated up cans of beans and soup on the stove top while the kettle remained full at all times. And I was doing okay without my big-screen TV and having to miss watching the latest playoff games was tempered by the fact that I could follow the scores and news through my “Crackberry”, at least ‘til it ran out of juice. In a weird way it was almost fun. Almost. Like I said, the novelty wore off sooner rather than later. It was one of those experiences that life throws at you that you could do without but are a little richer for by having lived through it.
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards”-Author Unknown.