Anticipation and disappointment, part 2

Since my initial similarly-titled post in October, I had a couple more months of similar disappointment before I could go ahead with actual fertility treatment - and then I had the anticipation of thinking it was actually successful for a couple of weeks before realizing that it was not. It's much harder to be let down after you think something was successful, than if it was obvious right away that it wasn't.

Date format confusion!

I was frustrated recently while using Quicken and realizing that I hate the date format dd/mm/yy(yy), as it has no correlation as to how we would generally read out a date in English (at least in this area of Canada) - which would be month-day-year. I realized I had the same frustration when I had to order new cheques last year because the banks had to conform and standardize to allow for electronic scanning/reading of cheques rather than manual - this meant I had to write the date in the dd/mm/yyyy format rather than freehand however I liked as before. My preference, actually, when writing a date shorthand is for yyyy/mm/dd, and I really hate it when only 2 digits are used for the year. The 2-digit year isn't so much a problem for current dates as you can usually figure it out, but when you're working with birthdates that could have a multitude of different years (particularly when I had a lot of patients who had birth-years in the range similar to the days of the month, ie. 1910-1930, it could get very confusing). It also seemed that the various electronic medical records programs I used (i.e., for clinic charts) or electronic health records systems (i.e., at a regional or provincial level) had differing date formats and I could never remember what order to enter a birthdate in when I was faced with __/__/__ . I had a receipt misread recently as well, where someone thought the receipt was for Feb 11 when it was actually for Nov 2 - probably of no consequence, but I prefer everything to match up so that my records all make sense.

So, I wondered, what exactly *is* the standard supposed to be in Canada for writing dates? Trust Wikipedia to have some information - and interestingly enough, it would appear that we in Canada are just generally confused when it comes to date formatting. While apparently most of the world uses dd/mm/yy(yy) as a standard (including Canada - presumably for financial/banking uses), mm/dd/yy(yy) is used in the United States, Phillippines - and Canada; and yyyy/mm/dd is apparently the ISO 8601 standard used in a number of countries - including Canada. They note that "All 3 main types are used in Canada- in French and in English", and I don't see any such similar notation for any other country.

So, my confusion and frustration is explained - presumably in other countries everyone just always writes the date in the same format so they have no issues. I'll continue to use yyyy/mm/dd or write it out longhand as I feel these are the least confusing to interpret. LOL.

Ooh, a Guiding post!

yep, there haven't been too many posts about Guiding here lately (or about anything, but that's another story) - main reason being that I'm not really active in Guiding at the moment. I've been registered as a member at large the last few years - this year I am also now a Trefoil Guild member. In the last few weeks, I've received both the provincial Trefoil Guild newsletter and the national one, which is when the realization came that I am actually a TG member now.

Trefoil Guild originally was for "retired" Guiders, and even now the predominant age-group is much older than I am, but the official definition in Canada now is that any Guiding member over the age of 30 can join Trefoil Guild - the idea is to be able to keep in touch with Guiding, and to have some sort of social group. So, I belong to a Guild in Calgary that was started by someone I knew from Link (thanks Tirian!), mainly for former Link members like myself - and so far, the Guild really only exists online (Facebook actually). I'm curious to see what my iMIS profile actually lists ...

So, I'm feeling kind of old lately, Guiding-wise... and then I realized that at the end of this year I'm eligible for my 30-year membership pin (not that I actually have any membership pin at all since they combined girl and adult membership into one categorization - I suppose I should go buy myself a 25 year pin so that I have one).

Anticipation and disappointment

Not to get into too much personal detail, but I've been anxious about the whole fertility clinic thing (since we took our "time out" from all that to go to Europe), and really wanting to get to the point where we could actually do something rather than just wait or have more tests done. So, last week, it came time where I thought I'd finally be able to start actual treatment - only to find that my body wasn't cooperating (ovarian cyst) such that I have to wait until next month before we can actually do anything. I generally don't get anxious about things when I'm actually in the middle of something - it's all the anticipation that gets me anxious, so it was quite a disappointment to find that all my anticipation was for nothing (this month).

Sunshine

We managed to see the film Sunshine (2007) in Kelowna on Saturday, after missing it when it was in Edmonton (too jetlagged to go the weekend after we got home from France, and it wasn't on any longer than that). It came recommended by a friend, who had seen it several months ago in Australia, and I was disappointed to initially miss it and figured I'd have to end up seeing it on DVD. But it was so much better to see it in the theatre - all the shots of the sun, for instance, I'm sure would not be anywhere near as spectacular on a TV screen.

The director, Danny Boyle, has directed other films such as Trainspotting and The Beach, none of which I'd seen before, so I can't compare Sunshine to his other work. I thoroughly enjoyed the film - the idea of a mission to the dying sun to explode a bomb into it to regenerate it and save mankind made for both the spectacular sun shots as mentioned, as well as the psychological aspects of dealing with a long mission and potentially never returning to earth. And there were even some spiritual and philosophical aspects thrown in at the end. So, overall, I thought it was an excellent film and would highly recommend it - even though it has already played in Edmonton and anyone here would have to wait now for the DVD.

(as an added bonus, we thought we'd be the only 2 in the theatre until just a few minutes before the start - in the end there were 6 in a theatre holding over 300, not sure if the late film on Saturday in downtown Kelowna is always poorly attended or if this film just didn't get much publicity to get better attendance).

Back from the Okanagan

We just got back today from Vernon and Kelowna - Vernon on Thursday to attend my aunt's funeral, and then Kelowna for Friday and Saturday nights to get a bit of a vacation.

There were nearly 500 people at my aunt's funeral, and many family members I hadn't seen for years (I think also it was the first time that I'd been in the same place with both my brothers and all my cousins in at least 10 years or more). From the Vancouver Sun:

AILSA KATHLEEN EDGE 1948 - 2007
We regret to announce the death on August 17, 2007, at Hospice House, of Ailsa Kathleen Edge, at the age of 58 years. Ailsa was born in Vancouver, and has been a resident of the Vernon and Coldstream areas since 1971. She was a Counsellor with School District 22 for over 30 years, and participated in many community activities. Ailsa was predeceased by both parents. She will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her husband of 35 years, Rob; her sons: Rob (Kristen) of Ottawa and Tom (Kim) of Fresno, California; and her brothers: Gary (Diane) Walker and Keith (Joyce) Walker. She is also survived by a number of nieces and nephews and extended family members. Cremation. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at Trinity United Church on Thursday, August 30, at 1:30 P.M., with Mr. Blair Odney officiating. In lieu of flowers, friends wishing to do so may make donations in memory of Ailsa to Hospice House, 3506 - 27 Avenue, Vernon, V1T 1S4.

I'd heard how many people had been coming to visit when she was ill, and sending cards - seeing all the cards at the house, seeing all the people who had come to her funeral, and hearing one of her colleagues describe how well she did her job and how many she had helped over the years was overwhelming.

Ed and I moved on to Kelowna on Friday, after spending the day with my family and dinner with my uncle and one cousin who was still in town. Yesterday, Ed and I went for wine tasting at Cedar Creek Estate Winery in Kelowna, before driving to Penticton (because Ed had never been there before) and spending the afternoon at Skaha Lake beach. We came back to Kelowna for dinner, and even saw a movie (Sunshine - we missed it when it was in Edmonton, so lucky coincidence that it was playing at the theatre next to where we ate dinner). It was a nice break even if short - we'd planned to go to Calgary this weekend, but then with the funeral that wasn't going to work.

Unfortunately, I have another memorial service to attend in a few days - a former colleague who passed away suddenly just over a week ago. I missed the funeral on Friday, but there's a memorial on Wednesday at the Royal Alex Hospital. Terry was always very friendly and helpful when I was doing obstetrics early on in my practice, or even after I gave up obstetrics and needed to refer patients urgently to a gynecologist. It was a shock to hear he was gone - I always figured he'd be one of those alive and well at age 100, and wasn't entirely convinced that he was really going to retire within the year. From the Journal:

As hundreds gathered to say goodbye Friday to Dr. Terry Traff, e-mail tributes were still pouring in from across Canada and around the world.

An obstetrician/gynecologist from 1965 until his retirement in 2003, Dr. Traff was responsible for delivering more than 11,000 babies, including many "miracle babies" after women had given up hope of ever having a child.

(NB "retirement" above meaning only retirement from hospital obstetrics, not overall retirement).

Back from France...

Lots of stuff about our trip here (the other blog).

We've been back for just over 2 weeks, and lots of stuff has happened - hard to get back into the regular routine of things.

The day after we got back, we went to the Fertility Clinic again. Now, I know full well that taking a year off between our first visits there and deciding to actually do anything means less chance of success, given my age - but it was still really hard to hear the doctor say so.

Then I was feeling tired and dizzy all weekend, finally realized I had a sinus infection (probably was fighting it off since our trip) so I went on antibiotics. Went back to work after the long weekend, and just kept feeling tired - didn't help that it was cold and rainy almost all of the week. I think we missed summer in Edmonton entirely this year by being away. On the Friday (August 10), I was happy to realize the rain had stopped, as we had tickets to the Folk Festival that night (mainly to see Blue Rodeo). When I got back to my car after work, I was totally deflated to see that I had a flat tire - didn't help that Ed and I couldn't get it off as it was stuck, and had to call AMA (and wait 2 hours).

So, by the time we actually got to the Folk Festival, it was 10:20 pm. We did manage to see the mainstage age before Blue Rodeo as well as the "in-between" act, and then BR came on. It was cold - needed a touque and mitts, but at least not raining. And it was a good show for the hour they were given - I knew it was worth going (we debated whether to bother when it was 9 pm by the time we got home) when they opened with "'Til I Am Myself Again" - "I want to know where my confidence went, one day it all disappeared" - kind of how I'd been feeling sometimes lately. Just knowing I'm not the only one and telling myself I'm really lucky for what I have always helps :-).

This week at work, a doctor who was on holiday decided she wanted to come back in - but seeing as it had been quite slow, we figured out that if she came in we really should have some other people off. So, as it worked out in the end, I got to take Thursday and Friday off work - I think it really helped to be able to sleep in, get some stuff organized, get some projects finished (like Mainpro C continuing medical education reports) that I'd been putting off for a while. And now, it's our wedding anniversary tomorrow so we're going out for a fancy dinner tonight :-). So, all is looking good.

(Except of course for hearing that my aunt passed away early yesterday/middle of the night from pancreatic cancer - I'm really glad I was able to go visit at the end of June, and in the end it's probably best that she isn't suffering.)

Saturday ride

Yesterday we went on a group ride again with Alex Stieda. There were 3 other men there as well - one of whom was (Senator) Grant Mitchell, who appears to be going on Stieda's trip to the Tour this year.

I got a bit discouraged that I couldn't keep up, but then remembered to tell myself that we're talking about a former pro rider and another (Mitchell) who I seem to recall has done Ironman or at least half-Ironman triathlons, so then I felt better about it (also remembering how much I've improved). I felt badly that Ed couldn't show how he could keep up to them, but he chose to ride with me instead :-) .

The "Devon hill" sounds intimidating for cycling, but it wasn't all that bad (just a bit scary coming back when that side had a bunch of gravel still, and there was a lot more traffic including big trucks and RV's). The other hill was actually steeper, according to Ed's Garmin. And, thanks to his Garmin, I don't have to plot out our route myself anymore, he can just upload it to www.motionbased.com and get a Google Earth version like the one below.

Even though I know that distances will seem longer on a bike than by car, I thought as we were riding that we should have reached Calmar already - so it was interesting to note on the map that we did actually go further west than Calmar.

RONA MS 150 Bike Tour - Leduc to Camrose - Day 2

So, Sunday morning seemed not too bad initially, but it got darker and more overcast by the time we got through the breakfast lineup, packed up, and hit the road (that and it was kind of cold out actually). Note to self - if we do this again, ignore the breakfast shift times and just get in line when they open, they'd run out of a number of breakfast items by the time we got through the line (we waited and didn't line up until 5 minutes before our scheduled time).

We ended up starting fairly late, almost 9 am, so having to pass lots of people again. It didn't rain, but it was quite damp and there was a strong crosswind while we went north, so not very pleasant riding conditions. I was just warmed up when we came across a rider with a flat (apparently she'd walked for 2 km without seeing any bike marshals go by to help) - we ended up stopping for 20-30 minutes to help (of course, *then* 3 bike marshals came - but we all seemed to struggle with getting her tire off), and I really cooled down. It took me a while to get warm again, and I was really slow and sluggish.

It was much easier once we headed west as we had a tailwind - Ed and I did some good drafting behind each other (and passing lots of people still). It was funny actually - we passed Alan and some of his teammates on the road initially, then they passed us when we stopped to help, then we passed them again at the next checkpoint.

The hot soup for lunch in Hay Lakes was greatly appreciated (as was the indoor area to sit for lunch in the Agri-plex). Ed and I really only stopped to stand/stretch briefly at the remaining checkpoints, and arrived back to Leduc around 1 pm - 3 hours 4 min riding time for 76.9 km.

Ed and I put on some dry (non-sweaty) clothes and waited for Alan and the rest of Team Pronto to arrive (which was about 2 pm). Michele from New York was at the finish line - Alan almost forgot to brake when he pulled up right in front of her! Lots of photos and hugs and congratulations - overall a fun experience.

(interesting how many trucks went by with bikes on the back ie. people not finishing the ride - I guess some people perhaps don't train enough or over-estimate their capabilities?)

RONA MS 150 Bike Tour - Leduc to Camrose - Day 1

So, last weekend Ed and I rode in the MS Bike Tour, a total of about 160 km over 2 days. Our friend Alan was part of Team Pronto, so we sort of hung out with some of the team members at various times - they seemed a lot of fun. And Alan's friend that he was riding for, Michele, flew out from New York to be there for the start and finish, which was inspiring to see.

First impressions - a bit scary with the traffic jam to get into the parking area, but then registration/check-in was really well organized for such a large event (1500 cyclists). Saturday was a sunny warm day, but not too hot, so it was great cycling weather. I know now that if you want to get an early start, you get there really early and put your bike at the start line first thing - we didn't get to start until about 35 minutes after the official start time of 8 am. Which meant that Ed and I were passing people almost constantly, but particularly at the start and up the first hill. We stopped only briefly at the first checkpoint, and a bit longer at the second so I could stretch my back (as I could feel it a bit).

We made it to the lunch stop at the Wetaskiwin Hospital Grounds by 10:30 am, took a 30 minute break to eat something (but not a full lunch), and were on our way again. Now we were on a primary rather than secondary highway, which meant a much wider shoulder - but that was actually scarier as I think then there were more inconsiderate cyclists who figured they could ride side-by-side (meaning if I needed to pass someone, I had to pull onto the busy highway!) The number of people wearing MP3 players (or in one case talking on a cell phone) while riding on the highway was also quite scary.

We skipped the third checkpoint (other than to stand up briefly and grab a drink at the top of a hill), but again I had to get off my bike and stretch (ie. lying on my back on the grass) at the final checkpoint before Camrose. Ed pulled ahead of me coming into town and probably finished about 10-15 minutes before me at the Augustana Campus, about 12:30 pm. 3hr 10 min for 80.4 km.

Again, it was well-organized regarding check-in and the bike lock-up (other than all the signs seemed to show the other set of dorms to where we were located). We finally found Ronning Hall across the bridge (mini-ravine/creek across the property) - I remember staying in one of those dorms with Nicole for MusiCamrose band camp in the summer of 1986 or so. I'm not sure there's really been any improvement in them since then - our door lock was incredibly finicky to the point of initially not working at all, the main room light didn't work, the curtain was falling off the curtain hooks - lol. Still better than tenting though, especially when it rained that afternoon a bit and a lot in the evening.

We checked to see how Team Pronto was doing (Alan got in at around 2pm), then pretty much napped until dinner. The dinner at the community centre was again well-organized, and afterwards, an early night for us.

Ups and Downs

And just over a week ago, my family was all happy for some family friends - John received a double lung and heart transplant at the U of A Hospital a few weeks prior and it was featured on the news as part of a "transplant marathon" that ended up occurring here right then (15 patients, 18 organs in 56 hours).

Only a couple of days later, we found out that a family member is ill with (most likely) a terminal cancer, and it was a devastating comedown.

Longest ride so far

A few Saturdays ago, I did what was my longest ride ever, so far - 76.2 km. Ed and I went out with Alex Stieda and some others, starting just on the outskirts of Edmonton and heading west basically - looking at a map afterwards, we were as far west (Range Road 10) as Stony Plain actually (just further south). We started at Woodbend Hall, looped around by Blackhawk golf course somehow, then headed west on Graminia Road crossing Highway 60 and kept going. I'm sure the rest of the group could have gone faster without me, but it was nice that Alex kept everyone together - even made me ride out front at times. I got some good tips - I know I should be spinning more but it's hard sometimes to resist pushing a bigger gear to try to keep up better, but in the end I think I was less tired thanks to the reminders to keep spinning at a higher cadence.

A few tense moments (for me at least) with some dogs trying to chase us on one road ... then we headed back along Garden Valley Road and that's where everyone went their own speed. Except my back was really starting to hurt by then (it was sore the night before while sitting, but seemed to be okay initially that morning), so I really slowed down and at one point even stopped. Ed waited for me :-) and was supportive and encouraging when I thought I wasn't going to be able to ride again - but just getting off the bike and stretching a bit seemed to help (so I did that a few more times before we finished).

Somehow I had in my head that Winterburn Road = Range Road 231, so I was getting quite discouraged that we were in the 260's for range roads - but then we were at the turn and back again. (Winterburn Road = Range Road 260 actually I think it was).

Other than my back concerns (which didn't improve the next 2 days so I ended up going to physio three times that week - SI joint inflammation and hypomobility apparently), it was a good ride and good confidence booster for the MS Bike Tour the following weekend. I started plotting the route we took that day on Google Earth and will add it when I finish.

Edit (June 17) - here it is:

Coronation Triathlon 2007

Just like last year, I did the Coronation Triathlon at the end of May. I was a bit concerned leading up to it, in that I had been doing mostly bike training but little running and only a bit of swimming. Then in the week before, when I was trying to run with my new orthotics they gave me blisters on the very bottom of my feet (in the longitudinal arch) even after only a very short time of running. So, I had resolved to myself that my main goal was to get a better bike time (and my rationale in entering was that I wanted to ride the bike course on Groat Road with it closed to traffic) - and decided not to worry about the swim or run.

They improved lots of the organizational things this year compared to last year. I keep hoping that I'll get a later start time, but something always changes to prevent that - last year they had mountain bikes first so I thought I'd be later now that I have my road bike. But, they decided to go teams first then women then men, so I ended up starting about the same time anyway (scheduled for 8am, compared to around 7:30 am last year I think). The swim went pretty well, best time this year and only about 45 seconds off my overall best time for 1 km.

And the weather was nice - sunny, not too cold in the morning, but didn't get too hot through the race either. I cut about 10 minutes off last year's bike time (and went under 1 hour for the 25.3 km), so I achieved my main goal for the race :-).

Then there was the run. I was starting to have some back pain on the bike (just like when I was going up the Maligne Lake Road at cycling camp a few weeks before), so my legs felt really stiff when I started to run and my back was sore as well. My overall fitness has improved greatly and my bike fitness had obviously helped me for running, because I managed to do my first 8:1 interval okay. By the time I was at the bottom of the hill towards the turn-around point, I was actually feeling quite good on the run - except the blisters seemed to be recurring. Between the blisters on my feet and my back being sore, the run back uphill was mostly done in 1 and 2 minute intervals I'm sure - yet when I finished, I had an overall PB of 2:24 and an apparent PB for an 8 km run (though I later found out that the run course was shorter than it was supposed to be, which didn't surprise me - I had thought the turnaround point seemed to be closer than the year before).

So, overall I was happy with my race. Not so happy when the bandaid on one foot ripped off some skin from a blister when I took my socks off (the bandaid was stuck to the sock) and by 2 days later it was infected and I needed antibiotics :-( , but I was able to ride again by the following weekend. And, I managed my fluids much better - not dehydrated, but didn't have to stop to use the bathroom on the run course and probably didn't need to have my own water bottle with me either. Also, minimal abdominal cramps on the run - yay! I think I found out how much I can eat prior to a race without having problems.

More pics here...

Cycling Camp in Jasper

Well, I'd planned to write a bunch about the cycling camp I was at last weekend in Jasper, but with the bizarre stuff coming out of the Floyd Landis hearings all I had time to do was create this map/satellite photo from Google Earth of our "mountain challenge" ride up to the base of Marmot Basin ski area (my group started from the turnoff, rode up then down then back to town). More to come when I get a chance...


(addendum May 18 - here's the same route on a topo map)


This was our big climb, on Saturday afternoon - 11 km total from the turnoff to the top, average grade of about 5.5-6 % (calculating from the topo map, as none of the group members who had Garmins actually knew how to use the grade/elevation functions), 1 hr 15 min up for me. And we even made it to the top before the faster riders caught up to us (they rode from town then up the climb, whereas we saved our energy for the climb by driving to the base). Perhaps the bear seen by the two in front (we had to get passing-tourists' cars to ride beside us for protection just in case the bear hadn't actually run away like we thought) provided that last burst of adrenaline to get us to the top ...

(May 19 - more about the camp on the other blog here)

First day riding to work this spring

Brief account and photo here of our rainy bike adventure and Ed's 3 punctures in one ride.