Eaton Centre 500: Wheelchair Edition

My first weekend in Toronto went by quickly; you'd think I wouldn't care so much about the weekends since I'm not currently working, but you'd be wrong. Weekends still feel just as good. Time to do fun things and also time to relax. Luckily, the weekend was both. Any time I do anything requiring energy, I also need equal time to recoup. Or more.

Example: Yesterday we spent 30 minutes up on the roof soaking up some sun. After that we planned on getting groceries. However, lying in the sun, as it is super strenuous, made me tired and I promptly fell asleep for an hour, delaying the gathering of the food (thank you Brad for slipping on my O2, as I was too exhausted).

***I have to enjoy the sun while I can; post-transplant you almost have to avoid the sun, due to an elevated risk for skin cancer from the immunosuppressive medications.***

I would also like to add, thank god for No Frills, as the Sobeys close by is hideous. Reminds me of a 7-Eleven.

This morning we wake up to...HEAT. The A/C is gone in to hiding. Maintenance tells us it's a building-wide problem. "It'll be fixed today!"

Off to physio. They asked me last week to switch my Tuesday to Monday, just for this week. Another person there today had CF, and since we aren't supposed to be in contact (due to cross contamination) I had to stay on my side, and him on his. Kind of like before the bell rings in a boxing match. Imagine 2 cystics head to head?

Time out; Coughing break!
Time out; Turn up the oxygen!
Wait, they've passed out before the opening bell!

Today I met a guy who was on the list for 2 months and is now 8 weeks post. Another dude only waited 7 weeks for his new blowers and then another man came in who was there for his FIVE year post-transplant check up. Sweet!

I've decided I have to make the switch to liquid oxygen. This tanks-only-lasting-for-less-than-two-hours thing is not working out. With liquid oxygen the tanks last 5-6 hours. Plus you can fill them up at the hospital. Filling up the tank...sounds familiar. And really you can compare the 2; oxygen is my fuel. Thank god it's not $1.40/L!!

Today I scored a wheelchair off kijiji. It'll be delivered either tomorrow afternoon or Wednesday. After that we can do some exploring of the city!

Speaking of wheelchairs...

On the way back we stopped at the Eaton Centre. We signed out a wheelchair as the place is monsterous and this girl does not do well walking around malls.

So there we are, wheeling around the mall, when we notice another guy in a motorized chair. We're moving along and then we realize...buddy is speeding up. Is he actually racing us??? We go down a ramp and we're neck in neck. Motorized guy pulls ahead. Brad steps on it. Motorized guy looks over with a grin.

Race. Is. On. 

Motorized guy launches forward. Brad's competitive nature kicks in. He accelerates...and almost loses a flip-flop.

This back and forth continues until we eventually go in seperate directions. Until next time motorized guy...

We get home and discover the A/C is still broken. Gross. Apparently the HVAC guys left without A) telling management and B) actually fixing the problem! Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Tonight I'll leave you with this quote from the physio room:

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

It's calling for rain tomorrow...let's get this par-tay started!