jasdip - Very sorry that your brother is still in pain. But, no doubt that the pain of being downsized is even worse. At a certain age it makes things very difficult. I hope he is able to find a new job soon. jannie - sometimes wait times all depend on where you live and what you are going to have done. But they can be very lengthy in Ontario - Toronto is not good. old joyful - my husband turned 65 in Dec. but will continue to work until age 67. He has 2 eye drop prescriptions - that is it. He will have to pay the $100 deductible to the ODB this month and first go through it for reimbursement of his eye drops - but there is at least a $25.00 differential between what the ODB will pay and the cost of each of the eye drops. He then is to submit the excess cost to his office plan insurer (they pay up to 90% of generic drugs) - BUT he can't claim the $100 deductible. He does have to pay a considerable amount for his office family plan and I am 2 years younger than he is. My B-I-L worked for the government - he can claim the ODB $100 against his government continued benefits. My husband works for a private company. I currently have 2 prescriptions and am being weaned off of them. The ODB would not cover them anyway - and except for the odd sinus meds that is it for me. But at 65 I will still have the deductible (and my birthday is in Aug. - how convenient!). I know for a fact that the ODB is going to stop covering some drugs that many seniors take. In the hospital, yes drugs are covered, and you were VERY lucky to have had an MRI so quickly. I know I would be waiting a long time. Re the ODB I actually called them up to ask if they seriously expected people still working to go through them first. Obviously I do not want to find myself having to take multiple drugs or having procedures at age 65 - especially since I am allergic to so many things. But it does get frustrating. I have a terrible cold - and of course am allergic to antihistamine and decongestant!

Thanks Country Bumpkin, keep the prayers coming! I was thinking today that throughout this whole ordeal, and it's been months, Mom has NEVER uttered a negative word. Never complained about pain, being miserable, (and I cried when the nurse left the room trying to put the PIC line in.....an intervenous feeding line, and she had to stop cause she found an obstruction. All Mom said was "what else can go wrong") That brought the tears down my face, seeing her with a half-inserted needle (among many iv tubes). Prior to this, I gotta tell you, she is not the most sunny side up, positive person. If it rains on a day when they go shopping, she'll say it "always" rains. But with this, she's as strong as they come. I asked her if she wanted to go ahead with the surgery and she does. Knowing the risk (possible death) she still wants to give it a shot. So that's mom.

Hi guys, thanks for asking!!! As you know she had her surgery on Good Friday. She was coming along great and enjoying eating solid food. This lasted for about a week. They noticed that her urine in her catheter was cloudy and had some stuff in it, so it seems that her organs are Communicating again, and her bladder might have developed a leak. They promptly hooked her back on iv....feeding her through the tube. The test is that if her urine runs clear, then she was definitely getting solids from food in her UI tract. We were hoping it would run cloudy, but it's clearish again. They did a scope on her bladder and she does have a hole in it again. They are keeping her on iv's to see if it does heal on it's own with time. If not, they'll do surgery and yank the damned thing out. I almost wish they'd do it anyway, instead of waiting. She was so much better and stronger when she was eating. I was so excited and happy after Easter weekend. One thing that Wally and I have noticed is she has nausea all the time (they put gravol in her iv). When she was eating, she didn't have that. The doctor was in to see her last nite. He cut a bunch of snips of stuff when she had her surgery and the initial results showed that they were all benign. However, last nite, he said the pathologists are still combing the tests, and they did find a small, minute slow-growing cancer. He said it's nothing to be alarmed about at all. So, she's back to where she was prior to having surgery, hooked up to iv's and getting up out of bed daily to do a little bit of shuffling with a walker and 2 nurses. Nothing major, not even around the room. She hasn't walked for so long, that she's terrified of falling. She literally has terror in her eyes when the bed rails come down and she has to stand. I keep reassuring her that the nurses and physio nurses are there to help her and won't let her fall. She keeps telling herself that, she just has to tell her legs that. She's planning Father's Day (for us). Tells me where things are, and don't forget to....... etc etc. So she'll have the menu planned and everything organized from her hospital bed, well in advance. lol She really does thank you for your wishes and good thoughts. I keep telling her that you are asking about her and of course she has the cards that you sent.

Hi Erin, I don't mind you asking at all!! She's kind of at a plateau. They're taking another ultra-sound of her lungs on Monday....she has liquids in her chest and they want to make sure they aren't between her chest cavity and wall. If it is they might have to insert tubes to drain the fluids. She's got so many tubes and drains and ostomy bag, she looks like a pincushion the poor thing! This is a woman who's never had a problem with her kidneys, bladder, heart, small intestine, diaphragm.....now they're all at risk. Obviously spending the past 7 months in the hospital has taken its toll. When one organ has problems, it's a chain-reaction. She still has the ventilator in, and her diaphragm is so weak she finding it hard to breathe for long periods on her own. They're having another consult with the team of doctors on Monday......there's a very real probability they will do a trach on her. Apparently they look worse than they are. It will actually be better for her. It'll be easy to just disconnect the oxygen so she can breathe on her own, and get her lungs and diaphragm working for short periods of time, then it's easily hooked up again. Now with the breathing tube, it's down her throat into her lungs and has to be removed and re-inserted......not able to be done frequently. Step-father was up to the surgical floor yesterday and met some of the nurses who looked after her prior to her going into the CCT.......and they said they miss her. She's a terrific woman they said. (One brought her the first rose out of her garden and the man pushed her bed to the window so she could see a marvelous sunset, a few weeks ago). So she is well thought of. This is definitely taking its toll on her, and she's showing signs of despair which she had never displayed before. You're right Erin, the emotions are definitely a yo-yo. We go from great happiness seeing the positive strides she was making to horror and fear when she has such severe set-backs. Thanks again, I'll keep you posted.