Had it done 30th March in Williams Lake.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the surgery. But the hospital was very disorganized. When I woke up, a nurse asked me if I was in pain. I said No. The next day I was in absolute agony. The surgeon came to see me and said it was because I had refused pain meds. I was never offered any pain meds. Every day, sometimes more than once in a day, a different nurse came and none of them seemed to know what was going on. I was finally offered pain meds, but it set my recovery back considerably. I was only supposed to stay in hospital one night, but the surgeon kept me there for 4 nights until the pain became more manageable. I had planned on staying in town for a day or two anyway. (I live 3 hours’ drive from the hospital) and booked a hotel with this in mind. My good friend from the Bella Coola Valley, Katie, came to town with me and fetched and carried. I had brought food as I have chemical sensitivities and knew I would have problems eating some of the hospital food, and she prepared meals daily and brought them in. Finally I was allowed home. The hospital stay was through Easter weekend, hence the lily and rabbit! And for you Americans – the operation cost absolutely nothing. I only had to pay for drugs bought outside the hospital and the hotel and gas. And my income is so low I don’t even pay medical insurance.

Before I left home, Deb, a friend of Katie’s, arrived to look after the dog and cat. She was going to stay with me for a while. I told her one of the main jobs would be splitting wood, and she borrowed an electric woodsplitter! My solar system kept shutting out at first but eventually accepted the machine. It was awesome – could wrench apart the knottiest wood. But would not be practical for me in the long term as it doesn’t work in cold weather, and I really don’t want another gas machine.

Deb was awesome, too, cleaning, cooking, and concerned for my well-being. I shuffled round on crutches, trying to go outside and walk a hundred metres or so more than once a day, but I was in a lot of pain. Not from the operation but generally everywhere – fibromyalgia kicking in with a vengeance. I also had very little appetite. Finally I asked my pendulum whether or not the drugs were affecting me. Sure enough, the Tylenol Cs (with codein) were causing the lack of appetite, but more importantly, the blood thinner, apixaban, was causing the pain. It normally doesn’t, but, according to Dr A I, it can react with people who have fibromyalgia. I normally never take drugs so would be more sensitive to these chemicals.

I contacted the surgeon, finding that aspirin was used in the States (normally I would never accept a US treatment over a Canadian one) but I obviously was getting nowhere regarding the recovery. But I got no reply.

Finally I got Deb to take me to the clinic 40 minutes’ drive away. The wonderful nurse (who’s been there donkeys years and knows EVERYTHING!) consulted a doctor on line. He insisted I keep taking the apixaban even though I knew this was the culprit. She gave me a stronger opioid injection, and the pain diminished somewhat. This was around four in the afternoon. The nurse said: if your pulse rate goes up it might mean an infection, and you should come back. But at home I was reacting to the stronger opioid and that was raising my temperature. So about 10:PM, back we went to the clinic. The nurse consulted another online doctor and gave me more apixaban and opioids, and said I would have to go back to hospital. We had been warned this might happen and had brought overnight things. Problem was there is a big dearth of ambulances in this area, and one would have to come from Williams Lake. It didn’t arrive until 4:00:AM. Poor nurse and Deb struggled to keep awake.

When the ambulance arrived, the medics said I had to get rid of stuff and was allowed only one bag. Don’t take the meds, they said, the hospital will give you more.

I was loaded into the ambulance on a stretcher and told they would make no bathroom stops. Try to get some sleep, they said. Well those ambulances are big heavy duty trucks that bounce over every little bump. So I was shaken and thrown around for nearly an hour until we hit a smoother road. I could tell by the driving exactly where we were on the 2 and half hour journey. We arrived in Williams Lake just as it was beginning to get light.

This time I was taken into emergency and of course all the doctors and nurses were different. No one offered me any drugs and I kept my mouth shut. As they wore off I began to feel so much better. The pain was considerably reduced, and so was the nausea. Eventually a doctor came around and I was prescribed aspirin and T 3s, without opioids. (These latter did no good whatsoever). He said he would like me to stay in town for a day or two to see how things went.

This time I had no Katie, and no food. A Williams Lake friend booked me into another hotel and she did some shopping for me. I found, in the throwing out of stuff at the clinic, I ended up without underwear, so she had to buy that, too.

Apart from the beds, the furniture in the hotel room consisted of a table, a small fridge topped by a microwave, and a wheeled chair. I was sitting on the chair and leaned down to put something in the fridge. The chair tipped and slid sideways. I grabbed the fridge – but it was on wheels, too so I landed on my back. Everyone said how dangerous falls were to the hip, but I didn’t seem to be hurt. However, I couldn’t get up. I shuffled to the phone and called the receptionist. She was just a little bit of a thing but she was able to haul me up onto a wheel-less chair.

My Williams Lake friend brought me books so at least I had some entertainment. The weather was sunny and I had a nice view of trees and hills. But I absolutely hated being there. Trouble was getting a ride home. Deb wanted to leave. Katie continued to coordinate everyone remotely. I ended up with two rides: my Williams Lake friend would take me the first hour and half, and my neighbour Jade would pick me up from there.

I was now on my own for four days (with Jade as a backup). At least the pain was reduced but I still needed two crutches to shuffle around. This was about 3 weeks after the operation and I was not doing as well as I should. However, the next friend to help was Super Sarah and family. Mum, Dad and two kids. And they were going to stay for almost a week. The timing was perfect as I was going to get a septic tank installed. I’ve been in Canada 47 years and this is the first house I’ve lived in that will have a flush toilet!

First the site had to be prepped. The tank was to go right in the middle of the garden.

All the borders and irrigation pipes had to be removed.

In the mean time, Sarah’s Dad fixed the ATV (which had died on me during the winter)

And the truck door, which received a bash from a tree a couple of years ago preventing the window from winding down.

Sarah’s Mum spend hours splitting tiny bits of kindling that lasted me for weeks.

And then came the machines.

Sarah’s Dad built extensions over the risers to stop the garden covering them, and I ended up with two towers. I can’t make up my mind as to whether they should be decorated with statues or plants.

Their last job was to set up the electric fence.

I was absolutely astounded that these people would do all this for me. I really have amazing friends.

When anyone’s in the cabin, they are instantly Pepita’s new BFFs. She spends her nights on the couch on the cabin deck. Sarah took this picture of the kids with her.

It’s a long days’ drive for them to get here. They said they will be back in the fall to help with the firewood!