Toronto postcard

[lolaraincoat]

.....

It's unseasonably warm - 13c/55f - and sunny at the moment, after drizzle all day. There's still a few raspberries in the garden (also onions, cabbages, kale, herbs, and chiles) and plenty of leaves on the trees. Last Saturday morning the farmers market stalls were all still outdoors, but by next weekend they'll probably all have moved into the big, renovated shed (once used to house streetcars being repaired) which shelters them all winter. It's been a spectacular autumn so far and we're enjoying the last bits of it. When the snow comes I expect to be shocked, shocked.

The public outdoor rinks aren't open yet but all the hockey players I know have long since been back on the indoor ice, practicing with their regular teams. The runners and walkers we usually see on our regular route are all still showing up, but as soon as the temperature drops another ten degrees they'll start to drop off, and only the hardcore (with Yaktraks over our running/walking shoes) will be out there by the New Year. There's already much less noticable wildlife in the ravine we walk through than there was last month: we won't see garter snakes or Canada geese again until spring. Even the racoons who ate half my tomatoes this summer seem to have wandered away.

Within my circle of friends here, two of us have been dramatically ill, and another two friends' marriages are ending. So the temporarily-able-bodied and domestically-settled among us have been bringing each other flowers - the last zinnias and snapdragons from our gardens, mostly - and autumnal soups. I think we'll all be all right eventually. Meanwhile, we offer each other comfort by way of hugs, long walks, shared bushels of farmers market pears (why had I never heard of Flemish Beauty pears before? would it be excessively greedy to buy up another whole bushel and just eat them all myself?), offers of help with the chores, and delicious pottage a bonne femme.

As for me, I'm two weeks past my hysterectomy and already so much healthier than I was before surgery. Amazing how much difference it makes, having kidneys that work: I've peed away eighteen pounds of water over the past ten days, and wow does it feel better not carrying that water around.* I've needed no painkillers at all, not even Advil, for the past week. This is so much better an outcome than I had hoped for, and I'm feeling so very lucky. And I'm grateful for getting such good medical care when I needed it, for free! yay socialized medicine! and for getting medical leave when I needed it! yay welfare state and my fabulous union and not-entirely-irresponsible employer! And most of all I'm grateful for my friends and family, nearby and far away, who took such good care of me when I really needed you all.

A couple of you are sick in a serious way, or otherwise facing some challenging times. I would bring you soup if I could, and the very last zinnias of the year.

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* Your weight is fine. My weight is fine. Dieting is often ill-advised, and I am not now nor have I ever been dieting. This isn't about weight loss; this is about having a functional urinary tract. Health at any size!


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Comments

[pauraque]

What is the connection between hysterectomy and kidney functionality? I ask this as a person with only semi-functional kidneys, who is interested in kidney improvement.

[lolaraincoat]

Well, in my case I had what my surgeon cheerfully referred to as "monster" fibroids, which were impinging on my urinary tract, leading to a series of kidney infections and kidney stones which wouldn't pass - I was up to three or four bouts of kidney stone pain a week in the weeks before surgery - and also just kidneys that were swollen to twice their normal size and a bladder that was unable to hold more than a half-cup of pee at a time, and some bladder infection issues as well. So, as various doctors kept telling me, my kidney function was just fine, it was just that nothing was moving out of my kidneys once they had done their functioning. It really, really sucked. And the fibroids were too large and too unfortunately positioned to be able to just do a straightforward fibroid surgery safely; they had to do a hysterectomy.

So now I still have one kidney stone that I can feel, which will probably require lithotripsy or even surgery at some point in the coming months. But my kidneys are draining again, now that all the fibroids are out of the way, and the kidney stone isn't causing me serious pain, or any pain at all most of the time, and oh, wow, I feel so much better.

[pauraque]

Sounds fun! There are already several hypotheses about what's wrong with my urinary tract (multiple of which could be simultaneously true) so I'm always looking for new ones to ask about. :P

I'm very glad you're feeling better.

[lolaraincoat]

I'm glad too! And I'm so sorry about your kidney issues. Kidney stuff sucks. And urologists are like plumbers except less helpful - cleaner fingernails, though, I'll give them that.

[jcalanthe]

Yay, so glad to hear good outcomes post-hysto. & I love your footnote. :)

Sorry your friends are having such a rough time. Those things seem to come in waves - I guess the trough to the waves of weddings and such.

[lolaraincoat]

Oh, I'm glad you like the footnote. And yeah, we're all going through a simultaneous rough patch together, but I'm hoping that means we'll all have things very easy by this time next year.