[Nkole:}

New Year’s Eve.  Bernard is not feeling too well tonight.  A terribly sore belly from all the meds he’s been having to take.  He’s sleeping…also a medication side effect. 

I, on the other hand, am very awake and quite tipsy. The cause is a delicious Italian Prosecco from Villa Teresa that I’ve been drinking, while watching the old movie ‘When Harry Met Sally” on the TV, and giggling at the kitten as she tries to catch the big green and purple balloons lying all over the floor. (from Bernard’s birthday party)  Bernard received a ‘BlueTooth’ keyboard and mouse for his b-day.  This means he won’t have to deal with so many cords when he’s using the computer while lying down, a minor but ever present hassle.  He was also given a little robotic insect, and a heater for germinating seeds. 

 Here are the little cakes, made in the spirit of Dutch gebakjes, that I baked for him. 

Poor little cakes!  Last night we put them onto the deck to stay cold. (The fridge is completely full of festive foods.)  A very large raccoon came onto the deck in the late evening and overturned the container holding the remaining treatlettes.  Not that we won’t eat them, because we will!

The doctor’s office called today, to let us know that Dr. M will phone as soon as a bed opens up at the Nelson hospital.  Then Bernard will be taken by ambulance to have new testing done and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully will be treated well and receive an accurate diagnosis. 

We’ve had such poor experiences with specialists!!  It’ll take many other posts to get into that.  At least this new doctor, and the health nurse, are getting things going again. 

The problem is that no one here in British Columbia performs the modern (meaning lumbar disc replacement and/or endoscopic) back surgeries.  Or if they do, we’ve been unable to locate them.  Few surgeons in Canada are trained in the new techniques either, and if they are, they’ve just started recently and are still working on simpler cases.  Most back surgeons in Canada are decades behind the cutting edge in lumbar surgery techniques.  Bernard has put it another way…

“It is not a question of the techniques not having evolved.  Of course there have been gradual advances in the traditional techniques within the existing structure.  The problem is that the existing standard model is grossly oversimplified and insufficient.  And, at a deeper level, the entire framework of understanding the human body in general and the lower back in particular is insufficient.”  

Not that other countries have it all figured out.  Far from it.  But Canada is just so far behind that it’s ridiculous.  If Bernard can get the right tests done, and done well, then there will be a chance to go somewhere else for treatment.  That’s what my optimistic side says, anyway.

Not an exciting end to 2008, but that’s ok.  Maybe it’s the drink talking, but at this moment I’m looking forward to the coming year.
 
Happy 2009 y’all!