Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

A few views from around my neighbourhood this week…

I have been watching these two cranes from my home office window:

They are fascinating when in operation. The interlocking pattern of triangles, the arms and the pulleys dance when both are in action. With two more towers still to be built, I’ll be fascinated for several more years to come. Does that make me a geek girl?

With the forested lot next our complex now sadly cleared to make room for more housing, the lot now needs to be connected to sewer and water. That means digging up our road:

With more construction slated for our quiet street, navigating around heavy machinery will be necessary for a while.

Heading into my office this morning to continue building my membership site, the magnet on my board jumped out at me, “The road to success is always under construction”.

I am definitely on the right road to success then!

Saturday afternoon found Darrell and I making an unplanned trip to the vet and having my Faith kitty sedated for x-rays and blood tests. The results indicate my furry baby has hyperthyroidism and early signs of kidney disease. Oh lovely!

Speaking with the vet about the test results yesterday, there are three ways to treat hyperthyroidism:

1. Medication: one pill twice a day for life, or
2. Surgery: to remove the thyroid, but might not get all of the gland if some is further down in the chest, or
3. Radiation: at a Vancouver clinic. From my crash course in feline hyperthyroidism on Sunday night, cats are then in isolation for two weeks. And, the procedure is expensive.

Leaving hyperthyroidism untreated, at least at this point, can lead to severe illness, kidney failure, seizures and such. Not something I want my cat to go through. Since the last two treatment options sound too drastic right now (I’d need to be sedated first!), that only leaves the medication route.

Now, Faith is a loving, purring, affectionate cat…with me…most of the time. I call her my puppy-cat. But, only when it’s on her terms. Other times, when she is scared or threatened, she lashes out…with all of how ever many claws she has! Getting her into her carrier to take to vet left my left hand looking like ground meat!

The thought of giving her a pill twice a day for the rest of her life (or mine!) was: Yeah, right! How the heck am I going to catch her, pry open her mouth, pop in a pill and make her swallow…twice a day…without looking like ground meat permanently? I love my cat dearly and will anything I can to give her a health and happy life, but let’s get real here!

The vet gave me twenty pills – one per day to start – to try to get into Faith any way I could. He was as skeptical as I was.

On the wheel home, I began doing what I do: creative problem solving. By the time we arrived home, I had an idea.

I still had several cans of giblets with gravy left from several weeks ago when I was trying Faith on different foods after learning the long trusted Purina brand is filled with crap and could be the reason why Faith had been sick and lethargic earlier this year. She didn’t like the giblets, but she loved the gravy! If I dissolved a pill in a tiny bit of water and then mixed it with the gravy, perhaps the medication would end up in Faith without me needing to lose a body part!

I gave it a shot. Faith licked the bowl clean, spitting out the giblets. In theory, the medicine was now in her! I tried again this morning, making sure yesterday’s success was a fluke. Again, Faith licked the bowl clean. Yes! Two for two!

Great. But, there’s not point buying canned cat food for only the gravy. What I need is kitty gravy made and then frozen in ice cube trays. Then I pop out a frozen cube, thaw and dissolve in a pill. Faith thinks she’s getting a treat while, really, she’s getting her medicine without me losing a limb. A brilliant idea, even I do say so myself!

Mom has volunteered to concoct a kitty gravy. (Thanks, Mom!)

Creative problem solving at its finest.

Hopefully, Faith will soon be back on track to being her healthy, playful self and that she will resume her Chief Feline Officer’s duties shortly.

Spring is my favourite season of the year! I love how life is filled with newness; new growth…

I love the vibrant colours…

The flowers need not worry about what colours are in vogue – and, yet, they are always beautiful!

Even the weeds are looking their finest…

I love the fresh, airy feeling of spring…

After my home being closed up for the winter, spring is time to throw open the windows and doors to let in fresh air.

Spring is lush…

before the summer’s heat turns everything brown.

Spring is magnificent abundance…

When these two trees are in full bloom, they are my absolute favourite part of spring in the neighbourhood!

To me, spring is lush, vibrant and abundant life. What a joyous way to live!

What is your favourite season?

Self-publishing my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself was the realization of a thirty year old dream. For thirty years that dream was my North Star.

Since launching my autobiography in December 2006, I have been without that North Star to guide me. Yes, I have had list of goals. But, looking at that list, except for “my still secret project”, which has the potential to go big if I would only get on with it, there’s nothing on that list that really grabs me and guides me in an all-consuming way.

A culmination of several recent events – watching more sports during the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics than I ever have in my life, touching the gold medals, zip lining above Robson Square, finally meeting my virtual sister Pam Slim at Andrea Lee’s Wealthy Thought Leader event where I was with some people who charge their mentoring clients in one year as much as the original amount of our mortgage – has me thinking: it is time to begin thinking bigger. It is time for a new dream. It is time for a new North Star, one that will guide me to unimaginable heights and force me to blur the thin line between ability and disability even further.

I don’t know what the dream is yet, but I am ready to accept it and to embrace it. Universe, I am listening.

One thing you may not know about the Left Thumb Blogger yet is I’m terrified of open heights. Enclosed heights are no problem, but any place where there is a slightest chance, no matter how remote, of falling over the side, forget it! No way, no how!

So, what did I do Saturday?

Thanks to my childhood friend Karen and my cousin Craig, I did the zip line at Robson Square! The 550-foot zip line that goes high above Robson Square and Robson Street, with traffic whizzing by below.

(Auntie Fern and Craig with the zip line tower in the background)

But, it’s not quite as simple as that sounds! Although, thanks to Karen phoning ahead and pulling whatever strings, we had an appointment for 1:30 and, thus, bypassed the 6-8 hour line up. Once again the universe even out the score for the wheelchair!

After signing a waiver, we harnessed up. Here’s one place where perfectionism is absolutely necessary!

After giving Karen’s husband Alec quick directions on how to drive my scooter – he was assigned with the task of driving over to the end of the zip line, the three of us began ascending the 140-foot tall free-standing tower with no elevator!

(Looking up the tower of stairs)

With Karen on my left side and Craig holding me from behind, we began the 81-stair climb, taking it one stair at a time.

I was out of breath by stair 15! We stopped every couple of platforms for a brief break and to let others pass us.

Going up didn’t really bother me in terms of height because the tower was enclosed with a fabric.

Getting to the open top after our half-hour climb was another matter! One hundred and four feet is an extremely long way down! I was kinda having second thoughts; like, what the heck am I doing? and other unbloggable thoughts. But, turning back now meant going back down all 81stairs.

I sat on a folding chair to catch my breath and to let a few others go ahead. Man, my mouth was dry after that climb! That better count as my workout for an entire month!

Then it was decided that Craig – who came over from Victoria only to help but realized the plans were changing when he was handed a waiver form! – should go first to have someone on the other side to help me. He tentatively stepped down the four stairs to nothingness!

I was next. (insert several unbloggable words) While the staff was hooking me to the two lines above, I was thinking Yes, I’m terrified. This is the scariest thing I have ever done! But, I can do it. I can push through my fears and survive, hopefully!

Looking out to the 550-foot line, it seemed like it’d be the most alone place I’ve ever been. If something happened out, no one could quickly come to my rescue. This is definitely independence!

The staff helped me to sit down on the top stair and then to bump down the next ones before giving me a slight push. Karen shot this brief video before jumping herself:

Craig snapped this shot while I was nearing the end. Definitely not my most flattering side! Although I’m not sure it’s possible to have a flattering side while careening across a line 140 feet above people and traffic!

And this shot of me likely uttering another unbloggable phrase:

I know I should have had a profound thought or revelation upon reaching the other side safely. However, in that moment, I was very relieved that I hadn’t met my Maker!

Karen was next to reach the other side. We caught our breaths, unharnessed and began descending the only 40 stairs.

Thankfully Alec met us part way, and he and a staff folded their arms into the firemen’s chair to take me down the remainder of the way. I never pass up the opportunity to be carried by a good-looking guy; two, even better!

We were relieved to safely reach the bottom and to greet our respective loved ones!

We had done it! We each faced our fears and survived! Thanks to Karen and Craig, I did something I never really imagine myself doing! Accomplishing this moved the line of impossibility even further away.

We each received a gift: a climbing clip with a 10% off coupon for the zip line in Whistler or New Zealand. (Let’s allow our legs to stop feeling rubbery before we consider our next adventure!) For our efforts, a plaque of bravery or a bottle of champagne would have been more appropriate!

But, seriously, the Ziptrek staff were excellent! They had no qualms in me doing this and they allowed us to take our time on the stairs. We didn’t feel rushed or pressured at all.

Thank you, everyone!

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