Update

To my friends who wonder what I've been up to lately, it's been a little busy.  I've been answering letters written to Santa from across the world at the Cloverdale Post Office.  This ends on Friday, but if we don't get it all done I'll be sending after Christmas post cards to these children who didn't read the deadline in the New Year.  It's very heartwarming and the volunteers are a lot of fun.  The postal strike made it a slow start but things have really picked up the last week.

My much younger cousin Nancy who some of you may know has not been well.  She was a bridesmaid at my wedding 51 years ago!  Her husband passed away from cancer three years ago and she lives alone.  Her daughter lives in Port Coquitlam and her sister in Mission so I'm a lot closer.  I took her to Surrey Hospital ER a couple of times and they diagnosed gall stones.  She saw a specialist in late November and was on the list for surgery which is a 4 - 6 month wait.  On Thursday night she had a bad attack.  Went to ER and they gave her the usual pain meds and sent her home.  On Saturday morning before 6 AM the pain came back and it was strong.  She called a cab and went in right away.

For all my US friends who think our medical system is unfair, she was put on emergency surgery list and had her gall bladder removed on Sunday!  They kept her in for a two more nights to make sure she was okay and I'm staying with her right now.  She's doing very well!   They call it "keyhole" surgery but it's still major surgery.  My mom had a huge scar when she had her gall bladder removed and I'm glad technology has made this procedure a much easier recovery!

She is much better but it's been fun staying here.  She has two cats, Mowgli and Calypso who are inside cats and so friendly.  Calypso decided it was fun to chew my laptop cord this morning so it's put away and the battery is working just fine.  It's great to get cat love!

I was trying to get a picture of Calypso, when Mowgli photo bombed it!