Visit Thursday March 24th.

Friends of Ed;

          I was able to visit father today as the quarantine is now limited to the 3rd floor.  He was up and watching TV when I arrived which is a good sign.  He says he slept very well last night and I think this has a very direct bearing on how well he was doing today.  Shortly after I arrived so did father's dinner.  Unfortunately there was no coffee with it (even though he had marked coffee on the menu sheet) but I was able to take care of that with the various supplies I had taken over. 

          I still have not been able to confirm that the Clarinet Quartet concert is on for Sunday as the activity coordinator for Alta Vista Manor left just before I arrived but I sent her an email and hopefully she will confirm with me tomorrow morning.  Father says he is looking forward to the concert!

          Vince

Visit Wednesday March 23rd.

Friends of Ed;

          I phoned Alta Vista Manor today and they told me that while they are keeping the 3rd floor (where the influenza outbreak originated) fully quarantined they are allowing visitors to other floors, though they aren't exactly encouraging it. I think it would be wise to postpone any visits for a few more days.  I did go over myself to visit today as I had clean laundry for father and also some interesting paperwork.  He said he had slept well last night and he seemed quite perky today.  I think there is a definite correlation between his quality of sleep and how well he feels on any given day.

          Father also mentioned today that he had a call from Ben Greenberg letting him know that he plans to bring his Clarinet quartet to perform at Alta Vista Manor this Sunday.  Evidently this has been arranged with the Activity Director at the Manor so it would appear that they expect regular activities to resume by Sunday.  At the moment I have not confirmed this but I will try and do so tomorrow and will post the updated information to the blog.

          The paperwork I mentioned came about because the CBC radio program "Tempo" played Jean Sibelius' The Swan of Tuonela a few days ago.  Father listens to the program regularly and he so enjoyed this piece that he asked me to try and find some way to express his appreciation.  I sent the following email to the program:

==================================================

      My father, E.V. Sullivan, has been a long time fan of Tempo. This is especially true now because recently, at the age of 92, he had to move to a nursing home in Ottawa. The reason for this move was lung degeneration which has hit him very hard, as he has been a life long professional musician. He specialized in woodwinds, particularly the Oboe and English horn but unfortunately can no longer play.

     When I arrived to visit him on March 15th he told me that he particularly enjoyed Tempo that day as you played the Swan of Tuonela, which is a piece dear to the heart of any English horn player. He still talks of it when I visit and he asked me today to find some way to convey to you his appreciation.  I would like to also convey mine as it brought him much pleasure and improved his outlook on life considerably.

Thank you from both of us...

     Vincent Sullivan
========================================

Much to my surprise I received this response about 15 hours later!

========================================

Hi, Vincent.

Many thanks for your thoughtful note. I'm so glad your father enjoyed the piece. I will be sure to pass along your kind words to Julie and the rest of the team. I'd like to send a CD to your dad. I've looked in my collection of unopened CDs and I have lots of flute and trumpet, but no English horn or oboe. Do you think your dad would like anything in particular? If he has a favorite composer, I have lots of CDs, including opera, symphony and piano. I am just a little short on his particular instruments. Let me know what you think he would enjoy.

Best,

Elizabeth Bowie

producer, Tempo
========================================================

         It may be just coincidence, but father mentioned that Tempo had featured more that the usual amount of Oboe and English horn music today! It is things like this that make me happy to pay the portion of my taxes that support the CBC!


                 Vince

No Visit Tuesday March 22nd.

Friends of Ed;

          I walked over to Alta Vista Manor today to visit with father but they would not let me in so I guess the place is in full quarantine mode now.  I'll check on the situation each day and hopefully the influenza outbreak will be brought under control soon and visiting can resume.

          Vince

Visits Monday March 21

Friends of Ed;

           Alta Vista Manor is still asking people not to visit the Manor.  I went over today for a brief visit as I had things to give father and it appears from the sign in sheet that very few people are visiting.  Father said he had not slept well last night but he seemed to be doing fairly well today, though he also said that he had taken several naps today. 

     Vince 

Visits Sunday March 20th.

Friends of Ed;

          I was over to father's today for a relatively short visit  - about an hour and a quarter.  Alta Vista Manor is now officially discouraging visitors due to the influenza outbreak so I suggest you do not visit until the outbreak has run its course. I talked this over with him and he agrees that it is the wise thing to do. Phone calls are risk free though! Father also told me that he had been given a dose of Tamiflu.  Hopefully it will help out the situation without any side effects.  After resolving a couple of technical difficulties for father I took my leave, making liberal use of the hand sanitizer at the front desk on my way out. I didn't visit with Judy Manning today... It didn't seem wise to do so.

          Vince

Visits Saturday March 19th.

Friends of Ed;

          When I arrived at Alta Vista Manor today I was informed that the influenza A outbreak that started on the 3rd floor a few days ago had spread to other areas of the building.  I was still able to visit father and he appeared to be about the same as yesterday.  He did sign a consent form to have a dose of Tamiflu and hopefully this will either prevent father from contracting the flu or reduce the severity if he does.  I do think that until this situation is brought under full control it would be wise for most people not to visit Alta Vista Manor at all.  It is also important to note that all events are cancelled. This included the saxophone quartet concert that was scheduled for Sunday March 20th.  Father's oxygen humidifier was running low on water today so I replaced it with a clean one and washed out the empty one as per the oxygen concentrator instructions.  I visited briefly with Judy Manning today and she seemed to be doing very well.

          Vince

Visits Friday March 18th.

Friends of Ed;

        I visited father today for a couple of hours.  He seemed a bit down today compared to Tuesday and Wednesday.  There don't appear to have been any visitors since my last visit.  I briefly visited Judy Manning today and she appeared to be doing very well.

          Vince

Visits Thursday March 17th.

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father at Alta Vista Manor today from about 16:00 to 19:00. He said he had slept well the night before but was still feeling short of energy today.  Marie Claire Potvin visited shortly before I arrived and while I was visiting Paul Caron visited for the better part of an hour. Paul picked up one of the Centralaires concert DVDs from the new batch I had taken over to replentish the supply.  Father and I joined Judy Manning in the dining room for dinner which worked out quite well.

          Vince

Visits Wednesday March 16th.

Friends of Ed;

          Father had a very busy day today.  First I got him into the wheelchair and outfitted with the portable oxygen at about 09:00 so we could go to the 09:15 appointment with Dr. Bourassa.  She seemed pleased to see father and commented that he looked better than he had 2 weeks ago.  Upon leaving the Doctor's office I wheeled father up to Judy Manning's room (102) and we visited there for about an hour.  On the way back to his room father asked to do a bit of a detour to the room next to his where Donald Buchanan lives. He had seen the name on the door previously and he was intrigued because when he was growing up in St. Stephen he lived next to another Donald Buchanan.  We had a very nice short visit with this Donald Buchanan.  It turns out he was the chief engineer on some of the boats plying the Great Lakes. During all this wheeling around father also chatted with several people in the hallways.

          I came back to see father later in the day for a couple of hours and in the process took him down to visit Judy Manning again and we hatched a plan to have dinner together in the dining room tomorrow. I think I have all the necessary notifications done for this... fingers crossed.  Believe it or not, while I was wheeling father through the large lounge he asked me to stop and let him have another go at the piano.  This I was (very!) happy to do!  He still says the action is very stiff but he played away at it for a few minutes. On the way from the piano to Judy's room father commented that he has been feeling pretty good for the last couple of days.  That is very nice to hear!

          It appears that the rumour of a saxophone quartet concert at 14:15 Sunday March 20 has been confirmed.  The last Sax quartet concert was a great success and father and I are looking forward to this one!


          Vince

Visits Tuesday March 15.

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father for a couple of hours today.  He said he had slept fairly well and he seemed to be feeling pretty good.  While I was visiting Alex Dopplinger dropped in for about an hour's visit which both of us enjoyed very much.  Father's friend Judy Manning also visited a couple of times today to use the phone as her's wasn't working yet. The meals seemed to go smoothly today.

          My cousin Louise had sent me some more photos to show to father.  The one below is of father's brothers and sister, with his mother in the middle of the group. Father is on the right side of the top step

          Vince

Visits Monday March 14th

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father today from about 16:30 to 18:15.  He said he had slept fairly well and seemed to be doing OK.  He sat up in the chair to eat dinner and then continued to do so for the rest of my visit.  There were green beans with dinner which he said were under cooked so I took them down to the cafe and ran them through the microwave for two minutes.  Still under cooked...  So I gave them another 2 minutes and then he was able to consume them.

          I see from the sign in sheet that Reg Beaudreau, father's across the street neighbor, was in to visit today.  I also checked up on Judy Manning, father's ex neighbor who will be recovering from foot surgery at Alta Vista Manor for about 3 weeks.  She has arrived and settled into room 102.  My plan for tomorrow is to get father into the wheelchair and out of his room to go and visit Judy as she can't walk.

          Rumour has it that the saxophone quartet may be playing a gig at Alta Vista Manor on Sunday March 20th at 14:15.  This would be another good chance to get father out of his room. When I know more I will post it on the blog.

     Vince

Visits Sunday March 13

Friends of Ed.

          I visited father today for a couple of hours.  He said he had slept well the night before and he seems to be doing OK.  When I arrived, he was relaxing on the bed watching a science program on the television.  Judging by the sign in sheet there didn't seem to be any other visitors since my last visit.  I took over a couple more photographs today which you may see sitting on the table if you visit.

          There was one odd little thing I checked on today.  When father first went to Alta Vista Manor he said he wanted a clock for the wall.  I got him a large wall clock from Home Hardware.  A unique thing about this clock is that it is supposed to automatically correct for the standard time / daylight savings time change in the Spring and Fall.  I was a bit sceptical about this feature as there appeared to be no way to set the clock for the year and date.  I even carefully checked the manufacturers web site to see if there was an explanation of how this feature worked.  There wasn't.  Sure enough - when I arrived today the clock was telling the proper corrected time.  So how DOES it work????

          Vince

Visits Saturday March 12

Friends of Ed;

          I visited today from about 13:30 to 16:30.  When I arrived, father and Davina Pearl were having a nice visit.  I also received a cryptic email  from Sarah Roberts, a friend of mine from Victoria. She indicated that a friend of hers in Ottawa had just visited my father.  When I had time to look into this, I found that Judy Arbuckle's father Bob had moved into Alta Vista Manor about 3 weeks ago. When Sarah told Judy that my father was also in residence at Alta Vista Manor she brought Bob down to my father's room for a "get acquainted" visit.  Thanks Judy!   I had met Judy once before because of her friendship with Sarah (who grew up in Elmvale Acres) but now that our fathers are both in residence at Alta Vista Manor I suppose we will be seeing each other more often. 

          I mentioned yeasterday that father's new cannula was irritating his ears.  I was pleased to see today that, as requested, one of the nurses had come in and added some gauze padding to the cannula tubes where they rest between the ears and the skull.  This should prevent soreness caused by the the cannula tubes.

           Father has been having significant coughing spells lately and one of the features is that he feels he needs to cough stuff up and can't quite do it.  For this reason I brought in some licorice root tea (which acts as a mild expectorant) along with all the accessories to have a little tea party.  If you would like to have some tea while visitng father you will find a kettle on the counter and various teas, tea pots, mugs, spoons, etc in the left side cupboard above the counter. Milk for the tea (if you are so inclined) can be obtained from the little cafe just across the hall from the front desk.


          Vince

Visits Friday March 11

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father today from about 17:00 to 18:30.  He said he had slept better than usual last night and he appeared to be doing fairly well.  I see from the sign in sheet that Jim Milne (conductor of the OCCB) was in to visit father for about an hour today around 14:00.  The new cannula that father had put on him a couple of days ago had started it irritate his ears like the last one. I visited nurse Tessa and she said she would fix him up with gauze pads as they did with the last cannula.  This should solve the problem.  I also noted today that somebody had filled the humidifier bottle on the oxygen concentrator.  Father could shed no light on who had filled it, but it is nice to see that it does get filled if I don't do it. 

           Vince

Visits Thursday March 10

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father today from about 16:30 to 18:15.  He said he had slept better than usual last night and he appeared to be doing fairly well.  Judging from the sign in sheet nobody else had visited since my visit yesterday.  Marie Claire had left father some "Fishermans Friend" lozenges yesterday which he says seem to be somewhat effective at soothing his cough. Thanks Marie Claire!  Father made no comment about any dificulty with his meals today and the dinner he was eating when I arrived looked OK.

           While I was looking around the living room the other day I ran across a book entitled "They Loved to Play" by Murray Ginsberg which is a compilation of stories about Canadian musicians derived from extensive interviews with them.  I thought father might enjoy reading it again so I took it over to his room.  I also thought that some of father's musical friends might enjoy having a look at it.  Discussion might even ensue!  By the way, I confirmed with father that the piano seen at the right edge of the photo of father and his siblings (See March 5th post) was indeed the first musical instrument father learned to play.  A little bit of history there...

          Vince

Visits Wednesday March 9th

Friends of Ed;

          I had a later and shorter visit then usual with father today due to having to do other things.  It might be just as well, as Joan Paris and Hubert van Wettum visited together today and Marie Claire Potvin visited at another time so father had a busy day.  He indicated that he had slept fairly well last night and he was sitting up in bed watching television when I arrived.  I asked him how the vegetables were cooked today and he said the corn at lunch was not cooked enough to be edible but that about half the carrots at dinner were cooked sufficiently that he could handle them. I guess that is better than no vegetables at all.  I'll keep working on the kitchen regarding this issue.

          Vince 

Visits Tuesday March 8th.

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father between about 15:00 and 18:00 today.  I see from the sign in sheet that Gord Price visited earlier in the day for about an hour.  Father told me he enjoyed Gord's visit.  There seemed to be no complaints about the meals today, although father has not received any visits from the kitchen people to help him with the menus.  Father had not yet filled out the Wednesday menus so I helped him do that.  As an experiment I ordered him niblets corn at lunch and glazed carrots at dinner and added a note to the menu to cook them very thoroughly and to consult with Patricia in the kitchen for details.  It will be interesting to see if this helps.  If nothing else, it will remind Patricia of our conversation about father's need for a bit of help with the menus!  Father's oxygen humidifier water was empty today so I installed a clean reservoir and cap filled with fresh water and cleaned out the empty one.  It is sitting on the bureau to dry.

          Louise had sent several photographs today to share with father.  Two of them were of my grandfather and siblings during WW1, one was of great grandfather and his 5 sons, and the fourth was of father's childhood home in St. Stephen while it was under construction.  Father says this would have been about 1914. He was quite positive in this identification which I think will interest Louise.

          I got a call yesterday from Mark's Work Wearhouse where I had ordered some pants for father.  I picked them up today and we checked to see if they fit properly.  He says they fit OK so one of my tasks for this evening will be to get all the labels, pins, and stickers off.  How exciting!

          While I was visiting, Margaret Birch (the physio-therapist) came by and gave father his daily workout. She said he had been doing fairly well recently, but the exertion today sent him into a severe coughing spell.  I had noticed for about the last 3 days father had been having these severe spells and I was getting a bit concerned. I went and saw nurse Jennifer and she came by after dinner with her stethoscope and had a listen to father's lung while he was breathing. According to her, the sounds were OK for both inhaling and exhaling so there is nothing to do in the short term except keep an eye on the situation. While she was there, she also changed father's cannula as the one he was using had been in service for about 7 weeks. I also checked with Jennifer and father's next appointment with Dr. Bourassa will be on March 16 at 09:45 so that would not be a good time to visit.


          Vince

         

Visits Monday March 7th.

Friends of Ed;

          I visited father for a couple of hours today.  Judging by the sign in sheet there have been no other visits since I last visited.  Father said he had slept fairly well last night which was good to hear and he seemed to be doing reasonably well.  When I arrived he was about half way through dinner and he didn't comment on any meal problems today.

          I took in a two more photographs from Louise to show to father.  One was of Father's brother Dan at about age 10 being hugged by father's grandmother.  The other was of Union St. in St. Stephen NB., the town father grew up in.  He enjoyed looking at the photographs.  The other thing I took in was a survey from the Ottawa General Hospital that arrived at the house a couple of days ago.  This is the hospital father spent about 7 weeks in during December 2010 and January 2011.  They wanted to know how he felt about the experience!  Actually he wasn't very happy with the experience so he didn't fill in the survey. Instead he wrote a short note at the top of the cover letter indicating he was dissatisfied and asked me to send it back.


          Vince   

Re: Visits Saturday March 5th:

I saw from the sign-in sheet that I just missed Vince on my way in. This made me a bit concerned that it would end up being too long a spell of visiting, but Ed seemed to be in fine spirits, and I ended up staying for over 2 hours.

I listened to lots of musicians' stories, which makes me feel rather honoured to be party to.
I feel so lucky to be around for some "handing down". The stories after all, reflect so much of our inheritance as musicians. We also talked a lot about the family, prompted by the interesting collection of photos that Vince had left. (Many of them are conveniently posted here!)

There are also now some clearly written instruction sheets for the oxygen set-up, in case any one of us should need them when we are there. (Thanks Vince!)

As for my next visit, I am a bit unsure when it will be. Although my plan is to visit once a week, I am starting a big (for me) renovation project next week at home, so things will be a bit unpredictable.

If you are reading this blog, I invite you to participate and add a comment or a post. Even something very brief. (The comments are rather hard to see, so a new post is better.) Don't forget this is a private space, only for people that have been invited, like you.

Vince will soon be leaving to go back home to BC, and it would be wonderful to have somewhat of a connected community of friends and supporters for Ed at that point. Lend a hand and write a few lines, and together we will have more of an impact on Ed's adjustment to his new stage in life.
Davina

Visits Sunday March 6th.

Friends of Ed.

            I visited later and shorter than usual as I was quite tired today.  Father also seemed to be not as well today.  While I was there he had a long coughing spell trying to expel some phlegm.  It pretty well tuckered him out.  I see from the sign in sheet that Davina Pearl visited after I left yesterday.  There seemed to be no visitors other than myself today, and there seemed to be no complaint about the meals.  In fact, he commented that the main course at dinner was a cornish game hen which he said was very good!

           Cousin Louise has been finding and sending to me some amazing photographs.  Today she sent me several, including the one below...

                This photo is of "Ye Headland Inn" on Peaks Island in Casco Bay near Portland Maine.  It was owned and run by father's maternal grandparents and father and the rest of Dr. Sullivan's family would spend a lot of time here during the Summer. Ownership left the family with father's parents generation and according to father it became a retreat for Nuns.  As near as I have been able to determine it burned to the ground in the 60s or 70s. Showing father this photo produced a flood of memories about the place and his experiences there.  His short term memory may be a problem, but his long term memory is doing very well!

Here is a view I managed to find taken from the other side. It is scanned from a postcard mailed in 1913.


          Vince