How does this work again? I write something, people read it. I write some more? Hi folks!! It’s been an age, hasn’t it? What’s new? Let’s see… it’s October 2022 and there’s still a pandemic. Right. So not much has changed. Great, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get started. I’ll be honest, I haven’t thought much at all about the blog since I last wrote in June, 2021. Back then I was apparently starting to run again. I’ll let you in on a little secret – it didn’t last. Story of my life for the past few years. I have and will continue to blame the pandemic, though it probably s ..read more

I used to run regularly. Wasn’t particularly good at it but I did it. That was before depression it me again; before my dad moved to a retirement home; before the pandemic. Since March of 2020 I struggled with false starts. In April I ran on and off for a few months. Then the summer hit and I’m not sure what happened. I started walking more I think. Started walking 10k to my downtown job and then signed up for a virtual race in the fall and walked a marathon. I won’t lie. My body felt broken after that and I stopped everything again until January 2021. With the new year ahead of me I had anoth ..read more

We’ve lived in our current home for almost 14 years now. Aside from my childhood home, it’s the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place in my adult life. Our neighborhood is wonderful. We really lucked out with a fine group of people. Their children were all young when we moved in. We were the new kids in the block. Young with no children. Now their kids have grown up and moved out, while our kids are taking over the neighborhood. A few years ago a family moved in to the house next door to us. It had been for sale for a while, then it was leased. It’s always a little scary when you’ve lived in a ..read more

Four years ago today a beautiful woman went missing. An accomplished physician. A daughter. A sister. A wife. A mother. She was found a few days later, discarded in a ravine, in a suitcase. Murdered by her husband. Two years later he finally admitted his guilt and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Not long enough, if you ask me. The anniversary of her death haunts many of us who knew her as a brilliant, funny, beautiful woman. I can’t imagine what today is like for her children, her sister and her parents. You are fiercely missed, Elana ..read more

I spent most of the morning … okay, who am I kidding? I spent the entire morning in bed watching Once Upon A Time in Hollywood with my husband. And then we watched a bunch of random YouTube videos. The kids were happily in the basement eating Eggos and watching a Marvel movie. You see I usually work Saturdays at my other job. But I had the day off today. And boy did I need it. I haven’t really had a vacation since, well, March. We did go to a cottage in July but I was still checking labs and having to be in touch with the office. None of my colleagues wanted to cover for me and frankly, I didn ..read more

I started running back in 2012. It was really out of necessity. I was two kids in and could not run after them at the park when they took off on me. It was pathetic. It was also the cheapest thing I could do to get in shape and didn’t take a lot of time out of my already busy day. Fast forward 8 years. I’ve run three half marathons, a handful of 10ks and many 5ks. And then the pandemic hit and I stopped running. (Okay, so I shouldn’t really blame the pandemic – several other things happened like a major depressive episode, my dad moving into a retirement home and a busy life with three kids ..read more

Pandemic fatigue has set in as I’m sure it has for all of my medical colleagues. Telephone medicine is getting harder. Patients are worried, fed up and demanding more and more with every phone call. Everyone is stressed out and there seems to be no end in sight. We are well into the second wave now where I live. Only this time is seems very different. Back in March the government declared a state of emergency, everything shut down to “flatten the curve” yet many of our elderly in long term care died, some in horrible conditions. The kids were pulled out of school so they didn’t get sick and sp ..read more

About a month ago we saw a good friend and his son for a socially distanced meet-up at the local park. Our friend brought some tennis rackets and we hit the ball against a handball wall. I loved it. Hubby has always liked playing tennis. I liked watching it. Never thought much about actually playing it. But after this one particular morning, I found it exhilarating. I insisted we go out to get some rackets. (Really any excuse not to run in this heat.) Now, trying to find free courts to play on in the city is a little tough. Mind you, we were pretty lazy about making any effort to actually find ..read more

Oh no, not another COVID-19 blog! Nah. Plenty of other people are doing that. I won’t belabour that point. Hi folks! Been a while, I know. Frankly, haven’t really had the time to sit and write. I’ve wanted to, a lot, but didn’t think I had anything to say that would interest anyone. And to be honest, I still think that. But here I am anyway. I’m home a lot more now, like most people. Working from home 4 days a week, for a long time from a make-shift ironing board-turned desk in my bedroom. That was fun. (Not really). The ergonomics were terrible, I suffered with brutal upper back spasms for al ..read more

Do you remember what it was like to do something and not post it to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? No? Me neither. I think there’s something wrong with that. I am very close to deleting all my social media accounts. I think I’ve had enough. Anyone else ..read more