It's a Gas...cap ordeal

10Aug

Last night when I took Jess and Griffin home, I decided to gas up the Tiguan. There is a Petro just around the corner from their place, so I pulled in there, got all the cards I needed for the purchase, got out of the car and locked it on my way around to the fill intake. I depress the cover plate and nothing happens...hmmm - it’s supposed to pop open to reveal the gas cap. I try again a few times, to no avail so think to myself, “what’s going on here?”. Perhaps I shouldn’t have locked the vehicle, so I unlock it and try again...no luck. 

I take a minute to consider what is different since the last time I invested the equivalent of the gross national product of a small country to fill this baby...maybe it’s a sequence thing. I unlock the car, start it up, put it in gear (to fully psyche it out), put it back in park, turn it off, get out, walk around and presto!...nothing happens!

So now I open the glove box and get the manual out...it says to unlock the vehicle using the central control - already done (twice) or use the key fob (three times), depress the cover to open - done, done, done, done, done. Screw it, by now the attendant inside sees the out of province plates and figures I’ve lifted the car from some poor tourist so I get in and make a get away. There’s a VW dealership just down the street so I’ll drop in there tomorrow. Just for good measure, I try the hatch again when I get home, but it remains steadfastly closed.

We had some serious rain and thunder thru the night, intermittent with thoughts of Jess, wondering if she was doing ok...and a pounding thunder-dome inside my head. I sure haven’t missed these conflicting high - low pressure headaches!

I had planned to walk to Jess’ to get Griffin and take him for a morning walk at the park while she did her aerosol treatments, but it’s still pouring out and I need to gas up the Tiguan, so I drive down instead. I explained to their concierge Darrell, that I won’t be too long and while the resident usually arranges the visitor’s parking pass, I will need to do that myself. He says no problem, he just has a couple of questions for me...

Q-1  Do you remember the Superman comics, when the first person excitedly yells “It’s a bird!”; the second, “It’s a plane?” and the third...together we yell “It’s Superman!”

I assure him I do remember, and he asked “Why do you think the first two people were so excited over a bird or a plane?” We share a laugh and move onto the important information required for the pass, vehicle type, colour, NB plate number, etc. and off I go.

One last time before I go get Griffin, I try the gas tank hatch, without any luck. Jess is well into her treatment and Griffin and I head to the park. We stop by to ask Darrell a quick question... Why he didn’t ask me, “why would you drive all the way from NB to walk a dog?”  He said he considered it and then asked when it was that I had driven to TO. I gave him a run down on our trip here and the purpose for it...we’re here for lungs, as is Jess. I offered to share our blog addresses, which he was happy to take...Jess’ at www.livelaughlungs.blogspot.ca and the one you’re reading.

A big shout out here to Darrell and his wife Katharine (currently recovering from cancer and it’s various treatments). We’ll be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers!

Griffin and I had a nice jaunt around the park and did a sleeper count for Roger (only 6 1/2 sleepers today Roger - one was only half asleep; the rest were no doubt driven for cover with all the rain).

We all troop to Physio in the afternoon, the room is hopping today (usually Friday afternoons are a little more quiet) and the air is oppressive. Our session takes a while, with lots of rests required between activities. In spite of that, Mark, Jess & Carman did an outstanding job on the dreaded squats today! Great form and they even did two extra squats so I could get a photo! Yahoo, well done!

Jess is unable to do her biking, with the breaks for breaths and having to wait for others to finish on the equipment, our time has run out and we have to leave.  There can only be two CF patients in the room at a time and those scheduled for the next time slot have arrived and are waiting in the hall. Due to the risk of infection from one another (they each carry unique bacteria), they must keep their distance.

I get Jess settled on the Rollator and return to help Carman finish up, then refill travel tanks for both of them. Kristy and Derek pop by to say hello (not a physio day for her, but we all wanted to see them anyway). I’ve checked with our PT to double check on whether any of our group shouldn’t be together socially (risk of infection) and have the green light to go ahead and organize a games night for us. 

Jess and Carman take care of the Starbucks treats while I fetch the car...oh yes, I forgot...when I had returned Griffin to Jess and headed home, guess what was open and waiting for me when I got to the parking garage...you guessed it, that damn hatch had popped itself open while I was walking Griffin!  I just stood there shaking my head, then left it open, hopped in and drove around the corner to fill the tank!

While we were at Physio, Teddy delivered Dj and Matt to our place for a visit for the weekend. We made a pitstop to get Griffin and headed home for hugs, tail wags and good times. 

Teddy & Griffin
make sure Matt
cleans those rib bones

During our visit I noticed that Dj’s ankle was bruised and she told us she had cracked her shin on the canoe while at the cottage last weekend. This woman walked around for 6 weeks on a foot she had broken while we were in Vegas, so it was decided that visiting urgent care for an X-ray was in order. I left Jess in charge, Carman went for a nap and I took her to Women’s College Hospital Urgent Care Centre, found a place to park and waited outside for a text to let me know how long she thought she’d be. She overheard it was a 2 hour wait, so I headed back home to get dinner for everyone else and said I’d be back.

While we were gone, Jess and Matt had a sports chat (about the huge talent pool concentrated in one particular basketball team) and watched Olympics and then he said something that made her start laughing (not always a good thing for a CFer). It wasn’t long before she started to cough, and cough...and Matt as tells me, “I thought I’d broken her!”  She recovered nicely though (superwoman) and they continued their visit.

Jess and I headed to her place, so we could get Griffin to the park for the 8:30 doggy romp with all of his park pals. Lots of tail wagging, introductions and pee-mail checking ensued. I texted Dj to let her know I’d bring her something to eat once I had my charges back to their condo. I was in mid-stride toward the sushi counter when she called to say she was ready for pick up, a mere 4 urgent hours after I had dropped her, so I went to get her, then we stopped together to get her some much needed food.

The good news was, no break or hairline fracture, just torn interosseous membrane, which was what caused all the bleeding. Nothing some Tylenol and putting her feet up wouldn’t fix...tell that to a nurse who spends all her time on her feet!

Jess’ Brad is back tomorrow morning and our brother-in-law Tim, is due in from NB. He will be attending meetings here this week, starting on Saturday night, but is coming earlier in the day so we can have a visit.

Have a great weekend everyone...we’ll chat on Monday!