Eight Hundred Grapes

There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide…

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets… 


I have quite a few summer reads waiting for me, and this was the first one I decided to pick up. I (and I am sure lots of other readers) prefer really light easy reads in the summer, and as this year is proving to be a busy one that isn't leaving me much time to read, this approach to reading is working out conveniently since often when I return to a book it's been a few days and I need something that is easy to remember what has happened already and catch up pretty easily. So this book worked perfectly.

I enjoyed this book as a summer read. I really wasn't expecting too much from it, all I really wanted was something fun to keep me entertained and I definitely got that from this book. I had a few laugh out loud moments, a few shake your head moments, and a lot of relatable moments while reading this book. I loved the little family idioms. I liked that the family had it's own little quirks and wasn't WAY out there, but was still one of those disfunctional families you wouldn't really want to be a part of; it's entertaining because it's happening to someone else and not you. This family seems like they could be your neighbours. I can't say I agreed with all of the decisions that the characters made, but it almost makes it more relatable that way. 

Give it a go! I enjoyed it and I hope you do too!

Frustration (an abridged story)

Abridged version of Events leading up to Dominic's MRI appointment today:

Sept 2014: 

Neurologist: We should get an MRI done on Dominic to get a better idea of what his stroke has effected

Me: why? Will it change anything?

Neurologist: No, but we can use it to determine if the stoke is the cause of any issues in the future, so we'll already have the info to reference. We'll just get it done when he's already under anesthesia for another procedure, so we don't have to put him under twice, because it's a bit more dangerous with his heart condition and he's so little.

Me: Ok

Oct 2014:

Random Pediatrician in Acute Peds sends referral to get the MRI.

June 2015:

MRI admin assistant phones to notify us that Dom in scheduled for an MRI on August 25th.

Me: I thought we were coupling it with another procedure?

MRI A.A.: I don't know anything about that. Talk to your Doctor.

July 2015:

Me: Dominic got scheduled for an MRI in August

Pediatrician: Oh Good.

(Note: this is NOT the pediatrician that originally sent the referral for the MRI. This pediatrician we see regularly, the other one we have never seen since)

Me: I thought we were going to do it when another procedure is being done so we don't have to knock him out twice?

Pediatrician: MRI's schedule is not very flexible like that so it would be tough to schedule. Plus it takes a long time to get in, so he should take the opportunity of this appointment.

Me: so we should just do the MRI by itself then?

Pediatrician: I think that's best.

Me: ok

Late afternoon August 20 2015

MRI A.A.: I have called to prescreen Dominic for his MRI that random pediatrician from Acute Peds ordered and give you a million pieces of paperwork that needs to be done by a doctor before the MRI Tuesday.

Me: awesome. Wait, what? It wasn't even the neurologist or his own pediatrician that ordered this?

MRI: nope. It was ordered by random pediatrician.

Me: double awesome. (Thinks: Maybe I should just cancel it? No. His doctors still kinda want this info)

I call Dom's Pediatrician and leave a message

Aug 21, right before we leave for Yorkton:

Pediatrician's A.A.: we got your message and she will do most of the paperwork, but doesn't have recent vitals so you need to go to his family doctor to get those done and we will fax the MRI department our paperwork.

Me: Awesome

(Knowing that our family doctor books months in advance, but saves 2 appointments a day for same day visits I plan to call Monday)

Yesterday, first thing in the morning 

Me: can I get my son into see his family doctor today?

Family Doctor A.A.: no. She's all booked.

Me: I just need vitals taken on my son for an MRI he has scheduled for tomorrow. Can the walk in doctor do that for me?

Family Doctor A.A.: no.

Me: ...

Family Doctor A.A.: when is the MRI?

Me: tomorrow 

Family Doctor A.A.: ok. As long as it's only the vitals.

I take Dom to the Walk in Doctor, wait an hour. Get in to see him.

Walk In Doctor: what can I do for you?

Me: I need vitals for my son's MRI tomorrow.

Walk In Doctor: so which vitals do you need?

Me: all of them?

Walk In Doctor: ...

Me: Height? Weight? Oxygen Sats? Heart Rate? Blood Pressure? I don't know I've never had to do this before

Walk In Doctor: Ok here is a very unofficial looking printout with my signature on it and only 4 of those things because we don't do Oxygen Sats here.

Me: awesome.

Today:

6am:

Wake up, give Dom his meds through his tube while he sleeps. Get everything ready to go

7am:

My mom arrives at my house to look after Rosalie. Leave the house with Dom. He is hungry (because I've been told not to feed him after midnight) and still tired, and thus grumpy.

7:30 (as advised):

Register Dom at RUH, go to MRI.

9:00 (his actual appointment time):

MRI Nurse: why are we doing the MRI?

Me: to get a better picture of the Stroke he had in Utero.

MRI Nurse: is that it? We're not trying to diagnose him with anything?

Me: nope

MRI Nurse: ...

Me: ...

MRI Nurse: well, if that's what the random pediatrician wants. But it seems silly to put him under anesthesia when it's not going to change anything about his care.

Me: Yup.

MRI Nurse: we didn't get any paperwork from the pediatrician, so I will go call her office while the anesthesiologist comes to talk to you.

Anesthesiologist: I'm reading in his file that his is tough to get an IV into, and he's a tough intubation, so I don't think this is a good idea. Does he have any other procedures coming up that he would already need to be under for? 

Me: yes, his cleft palate surgery in September or October.

Anesthesiologist: ok! We'll just coordinate with Plastics and do it when he's booked for that.

Me: AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGG!

I am SO frustrated with this. What a waste of my time and the $10 of parking I paid for at RUH. At the same time it's what I wanted. I DIDN'T want him put under for only the MRI, but thought it was my only option if I wanted the MRI at all. So apparently if I say that I want things coupled with the MRI it's impossible, but if the MRI people want to couple it, that's just easy peasy. I also kinda feel like I should have just cancelled, but I doubt anyone else would have made a point of getting this MRI done at the same time as his cleft palate surgery if I hadn't come to see the MRI team anyway. So it seems like this had to happen... Doesn't mean I have to like it though... It's just so dumb...

Bel Canto

Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening--until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds, and people from different continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion . . . and cannot be stopped.


Interesting little history tidbit: Back in the day, when I worked at McNally, and the first summer that I was there and "won" the staff picks sales for the summer, Bel Canto was the book that I think came in 3rd to my Innocent Traitor. I remember Barb picked it and said that she loved it, but as much as I respect Barb's choice in literature I couldn't bring myself to read it due to the subject matter. I just didn't think it sounded interesting. But because of a recent book club choice completely out of my control, and remembering this book was Barb's staff pick, I figured I should give it a try since it crossed my path again.

For the most part I feel that my predetermined opinion was pretty accurate. I am not very interested in Opera, I can appreciate the talent and work that it takes these singers to belt it out the way they do, but it is just not in my tastes for music. So in this novel, the fact that in many cases the singing of Opera changes the mood or alters a characters's course of action was almost eye-roll worthy. I am sure that Patchett is a an Opera fan, and may feel that Opera can solve all problems in a hostage situation, however I cannot say that agree.

One thing I am not sure of is if many people realize is that this novel is loosely based on an incident called the Lima Crisis (or Japanese Embassy Hostage Crisis), which I only found out after reading a review or two of the book. After doing some research on the actual event, I came to realize that there was a lot of artistic licence taken with the series of actual events (probably why it isn't blatantly evident or drawn attention to). This research made it clear that Opera was of no part of the true story and neither was the astounding amout of Stockholm Syndrome in the book. I would say that most of the progression in the plot is related to Stockholm Syndrome, and, for the record, the worst case of it I have ever heard of it at that. Almost to the point of absurdity. But it did effectivly move the story along and it was a great way to develop characters and flush out the situation the hostages and terrorists were in. The issue I had with it was more of the "don't forget that even the bad guys are people too!" moral that got a bit preachy for me. This was a fictional group of people, fighting for a fictional cause, in a fictional book, but there are many real terrorist groups that will take people hostage and then film their beheadings and put them up on the internet. But by all means, romanticize hostage situations in order to "educate" and preach to the public, and really, if people read into this too much they may put themselves in danger because their captors may be "good people that made bad choices" and not evil people that only want to hurt others to further their own lives. I'm not saying that this is always the case, but I am a firm believer that people should hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Romanticizing dangerous situations only puts future potential victims in more danger.

One of the other problems I ran into with this one, and I think it may be stemming from the use of the Lima Crisis as a basis to start from, was the multitude of characters. In the Lima crisis there were a lot of terrorists and hostages and while Patchett tried to keep to the number of the actual incident it was tough to keep characters straight. Many we only hear from once or twice, but when first trying to learn who everyone is and whether they are important gets confusing. I think this may have been a device to create a sheer magnatude of numbers that resulted in an enormous language barrier between people, thus another plot angle to work with, but I think the story really does suffer from it.

For the most part this book was really well written, but had a few moments where Patchett takes you out of the story in order to remind you that you are reading a book. I have ALWAYS been irritated with this method of writing. When I read a novel, I want to be a part of the story, not reminded I am actually sitting in my bedroom reading. The early in the fourth chapter was a statement that read "so to rejoin the story a week after Mr Hosokawa's birthday ended seems as good a place as any". I'm sorry, but an author does not need to outwardly justify why he or she "rejoined the story" at a specific place. Give me a time marker, like a date or a reference from one of the characters, but do not openly tell me that you chose this spot for a reason. I am sure your reason is fine, just get on with the story. Another series that did this to me was The Series of Unfortunate Events. It would constantly stop the story to give you a definition of a word or something, which might be great for young readers' vocabulary, but was really jarring to the story. [The line I remember from that one is "Violet slept fitfully (Fitfully in this case means with much tossing and turning)..." or something to that effect. Terrible]

For the most part it was a good story, Opera fans may like it better than I do. I think it was relatively well researched and although it does have a few things that weren't perfect many others may see things differently. I know on GoodReads, any friends that have read this one have rated it higher than I did, so maybe I'm missing something [E.C.- I expect to be filled in on the opinions of the Book Club ;)]

Mason's Birthday Party

Today we headed out to Yorkton to celebrate Mason's first birthday. Mason is one of Dominic's heart buddies that he shared a room with after we returned to RUH from Edmonton to recover fully from his first Open Heart Surgery (OHS). There was a huge number of people there. I don't want to guess how many, but there was one very evident person that was missing physically, and that was Mason.

Mason passed away in February after some complications with his second OHS.

Although I am sure he was at his birthday party in spirit, no one could help but feel his absence physically. I felt it every time I talked about Dominic's growth, or heart condition, or milestones to people that night. All I could think of is that Mason would have been tackling the same things as Dominic had he made it through to today.

The Zipper Club. (left to right: Asher, Dominic, Emmett, and Ryker) These babes are all born within a month of eachother. Dom is the oldest, and Asher is the youngest. Dom has a different heart defect from these 3 and Mason though. They have HLHS and Dom had a Truncus Arteriosis. 

I would have killed to see Mason playing with all the heart buddies that were there to celebrate him. I would have loved to have 3 babies in our Team 3105 picture rather than just two, and 5 heart babies in the zipper club photo rather than 4, but I am super thankful for his Mamma, Sam, that invited us all over to her place to be together and remember Mason.

Love you Mason. I think about you all the time.

Team Room 3105: Asher, Kailey, Sam (Mason), Me, and Dom

The End of Mr. Y

A cursed book. A missing professor. Some nefarious men in gray suits. And a dreamworld called the Troposphere?

Ariel Manto has a fascination with nineteenth-century scientists--especially Thomas Lumas and The End of Mr. Y, a book no one alive has read. When she mysteriously uncovers a copy at a used bookstore, Ariel is launched into an adventure of science and faith, consciousness and death, space and time, and everything in between.

Seeking answers, Ariel follows in Mr. Y’s footsteps: She swallows a tincture, stares into a black dot, and is transported into the Troposphere--a wonderland where she can travel through time and space using the thoughts of others. There she begins to understand all the mysteries surrounding the book, herself, and the universe. Or is it all just a hallucination? 


This book had such great potential at so many points and it just did not pull through in any way for me, however, I think this is ultimately an issue of preference and not so much of quality. Thomas is a great writer, I definitely won't begrudge her on that. She has an excellent grasp on HOW to write, but her story left much to be desired, at least in my opinion. 

The first issue I had early on is the book within a book scenario. I don't read more than one book at a time because I worry about crossing the two stories or preferring one over the other making me want to skip parts (although I would never actually do that). In this case it is the latter. I really liked the story outside of the book, and was not a fan of the book itself. I found that in an attempt to seem as though the book was written in the 19th centurey, the author just came off as pretentious. Perhaps that was preferred style of writing at the time, but I just feel like she was trying too hard, and I am a modern literature girl myself ;) The vocabulary was irregular most of the time so I had to have my dictionary app ready at all times.  I also didn't see the point of including exerpts from the book when a vast majority of the book was just summerized in the main story anyway. I really feel that Thomas should have picked one or the other, not had a mixture of both. This concept reminded me of a book that one of my coworkers at McNally absolutely loved called House of Leaves. It was a tough one to read because it had another story going on in the footnotes of the first story. Sometimes the footnotes would go on for pages. It was too much for me. Another one I read in University called At Swim Two Birds. There were multiple stories within stories in that one. Too much. Apparently I can't handle the story within a story format.

I did enjoy the premise of though experiments throughout the book. It was a concept I had never encountered or thought about and I liked it. I think that most readers do thought experiments on their own when they get immersed in a book. The protagonist in this story said that she made a pact with herself to never identify too closely with the main character in a story because the bad, or at least most difficult, things happen to them. This made me think about my own relationship with characters in books and personally, I feel like I generally get attached to main characters (and other characters I like, for that matter) like a best friend. I mourn them or feel bad for them, or wish I could have done something to change events, but I never feel like I have been personally damaged by what happens to them. More like a lesson learned through them.

This book is meant to be a complete (excuse my language) Mind-Fuck. It weaves a story that breaks down time, and distance, and consciousness so that they don't matter any more in this fourth dimensional universe. It was a bit too much for me. Not so much that it confused or lost me, it was just all too much for me to wrap my head around. It seemed ridiculous. It was too far out there. 


Lastly, I felt at times that I was missing a lot of inside jokes that were woven into the plot. Have you ever been at a wedding where you were close to either the bride or the groom, but not so much with their new spouse, and during the speech to the one you aren't close with they tell the punchline of some story that was maybe hilarious for them, but they don't explain further, so while a handful of guests are killing themselves laughing you are rolling your eyes and wondering why they don't just tell the whole story so that everyone could be laughing? (No? Just me then? Alright...). That is what a bunch of parts of this story were like for me. I felt like because I don't really understand binary, or hieroglyphs, or all aspects of advanced math and physics, I didn't really GET the whole story. Then at the end I felt like the book was trying to tell me that all science is all a bunch of hooey that people have made up for their own purposes and we should just stick to religion. So, I'm, like, UM NO. Thanks. 

This book was really not for me, but that's not to say that it's not for you! I get the distinct impression that this book will get a wide variety of people thinking it's not good (like me), people that think it's the greatest book they have ever read, and people that think it is absolutely terrible. So I would say if you liked books like House of Leaves, or At Swim Two Birds, or liked the movie The Cell, you might like this one better than I did. This one could be for you.

I gotta say though, even though I didn't particularly like the book, it still begs the question: would you make a potion that takes you to an alternate dimension published in a book that is considered to be cursed?

Dominic's First Year

Only two days late, so not bad! After Saturday's birthday party I was a tad bit on the exhausted side and just needed to recover on Sunday, and so thus the post comes out today. Long time coming! So there is a lot to include in this one.

Wow. It's hard to believe that our big huge medical journey with Dominic started only a year ago. Roland and I played the "where we were in Dom's labour a year ago at this time" thing on Friday night via text because he was working at the bar. It's fun. I love doing that to relive such a fantastic experience. We did it with Rosalie's first birthday too.We have come SO FAR since he was born, 2 Open Heart Surgeries (OHS), battling sepsis, caths, ECHOs, Ultrasounds, meeting with specialists... to being where we are now, where there are still lots of follow-up appointments, but we have settled in to our version of normal. We don't need to worry about Dominic's life more than any other 1 year old child. He is stable and I am eternally grateful for that.

Back in June I called all of the speicalists that I figured would want to see him in the near future to see if I could book appointments for sooner or at the end of the summer in order to give us time to go to the lake and there were a few interesting things that came from the appointments we had before having a break. One was with his Audiologist. This is the doctor that was supposed to put in his eartubes during his lip surgery, and got the anesthesiologist to tell me that it didn't happen. So I was really looking forward to this appointment so I could just get more exact answers as to why the eartubes weren't put in. The doc explained that looking in to Dominic's ears there is not any fluid build up, the reason that we were getting inconclusive results back is because the three bones in Dominic's middle ear are not how they should be, they are too small, so they don't rub together to conduct sound like they should. When a headband like device was put on Dominic that causes vibration with sound he could hear perfectly. So he doesn't have any inner ear problems, it's all middle ear. So we were told that they would book another appointment in the future to get a device for him, look at his ears closer, and come up with options. So that's where we are right now with his audiologist.

We also had his G-tube clinic to just check how things are going with that, and everything looks great. So nothing really to report there.

The last appointment we had before heading up to the lake was interesting. The night before, Dominic had thrown up BIG TIME. Like HUGE! To the point I was worried about taking him to the lake. Fortunately, the appointment we had the next day was with his pediatrician, so she was the perfect person to ask about what is going on with him. When we got there it turned out she had a student working with her that day, which I don't mind, I like helping people learn, but she kept pressing me to ask her the questions I had rather than Dom's actual pediatrician. I found this frustrating because this girl had never met Dominic before and due to his 22q he's a pretty complex case. I refused to ask any questions until his doctor got there and she eventually relented. Once the doctor got there we went over all of the assessments that the student had gone through and the pediatrician noted some things that the student had missed and some related to questions that I had intended on asking. The first was during his cap refill test (this is where they push on a nail bed and see how long it takes to turn from white back to normal) The student did his hands, which were fine, but his left foot takes longer to refill and looks puffier than his other foot. I was wondering if the puffy-footness was because of his stroke, thus less developed muscle in his left foot. The doctor acknowledged that this could be why, but wanted to run some blood tests to rule out clots somewhere. Another thing that she noticed was that Dominic's legs are different lengths by about a centimeter. Once again this could be because of the stroke and less muscle tone, but she wants to rule out scoliosis, so we need to go for some medical imaging sometime in the near future. When we got to talking about Dominic's puking the night before, she chalked it up to him probably catching a bug somewhere. She said that it shouldn't prevent us from going to the lake, but if we have trouble keeping him hydrated or worry because he starts to get lethargic or show more concerning signs, we should take him to emergency in PA and they would get in touch with her. Dominic is so complicated she advised against just going to a clinic, and she advised that we take some pedialyte with us because that is a really good way to ensure he stays hydrated and it's easier than formula to keep down. He did have a bit of an issue at the lake the night after we got there, huge pukes again. So it's a good thing I went to get him the pedialyte just in case, because we did end up using it for about a day. For the most part I think Dominic was just due to catch something. One of the common issues with 22q kids is an undeveloped immune system and fortunately Dominic doesn't get sick often, so he dodged that bullet with is genetic abnormality, and I am thankful for that every day, and I am glad he was able to fight whatever he got all on his own. Also worth note, is that he also hadn't had a good poop in a couple days, which if you remember, was an issue he had in hospital after his lip surgery that almost kept us there longer. So, I can also blame some of this on Dom withholding his poop. Silly boy.

Now that the summer is winding down we have another handful of appointments coming up, mostly ones that I have postponed so we could all have a bit of a break. We will be paying for that bit of a break while our schedule fills up with people that want to see him for one reason or another. This week we have appointments with his PT, OT, SLP, and an ultrasound. Next week is his clinic that I am really looking forward to with the Cleft Lip/Palate team. This is where we will get to see his pediatrician, audiologist, dentist, plastic surgeon, a specialist SLP, and, in Dom's case, his hematologist. And at the end of the month he's scheduled for an MRI to see how that brain of his is doing and to get a more extensive and detailed picture of how his stroke has effected his brain. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to that one. Part of me doesn't want to know and just deal with it as he develops... but... we'll see... maybe it will be good news?

OK! Now for the fun stuff! Dominic had his first birthday party on Saturday and we all had a great time. For the most part I had no idea who was going to come. RSVPs were not required, and I did get a few, but I tend to take a pessimistic view on these things. But our turn out was really great. Higher than I expected, but the amount of food I had was perfect. There was so much love and support in our house that day! I appreciated every single person that showed up, just the fact that they would take time out of their Saturday to make Dominic's day special and show their love for him was amazing. A couple of guests hadn't even met him yet because although I intended to have a baby shower for him for everyone to come to, the first 6 months of his life were so hectic that there never seemed to be a good time, and after 6 months seems a bit late for a baby shower. But I loved having people over for his First Birthday. SO much love. Such a good choice to throw a party.

Dominic had his first ever cupcake, at first he just enjoyed playing with the icing (so squishy!), but with a little help from Uncle Tom he figured out it was edible...

I can't wait to see what this year brings! Dom has come so far in his first year, and I know we still have challenges ahead, but he's a tough little man! I'm sure he'll knock anything out of the park that is thrown at him. ;)

How To Tell You're a Sucker For Marketing

Boom. That /\ is how you tell.

It's a wee bit insane how happy I was to find "Dominic" last week. 

I realize that this marketing approach completely totally worked on me. I know that this effectively sold me more coke products than I may usually buy. But I am a collector at heart and I couldn't resist. So I guess that's a Win for Coke...

After searching high and low (and often :/ ) while we were in Edmonton and into the fall last year, I was relatively successful in finding our names. (I got "Annie" and "Christina" for me, not perfect but close. "Brayden" and "Carter", but missed out on Timothy. Found both "Stephen" and "John", but not Roland's first name, and nothing for Rosalie, but I can't imagine there are enough Rosalies or Portias around for coke to make those ones). It became a bit of an obsession actually. I would go to the 7-11s around the Stollery and look through every bottle they had until I found one that we needed (or not, then I would buy something else). I didn't realize they were doing it again this year, thought it might have been a bottle left over from last year, but there are little changes on it. So let the obsession begin again! Let's hope someone at Coke likes the names Rosalie and Portia this year!

(Consider this the lead up post to the update. I'll post it for Dominic's birthday. It's getting longer all the time! :) )

Too busy...

I am fully aware that I just posted that I would be updating my blog with all of these developments with Dominic, but I am at the lake until the middle of the week, and I was exhausted after coming back from Regina, and then I had to turn around and pack up everything again to head to the lake. SO! I figure it's the perfect time for a bookfession. I haven't done one in over a year, so it's time...

My To-Read bookshelf is constantly overflowing. All the more reason to get my butt reading them, but now with the different mediums I can use to read books, it's embarassing and heinous to say, that the actual real books are losing out at the moment. I get most of my reading time while I'm feeding Dominic and it is FAR too dangerous to bring an actual book around him, not only is he grabby and drooly while eating, with only the use of one hand, cracked spines, or bent pages are too much of a concern. That's not to say that I don't prefer the real book medium to purchase books in, because I do prefer to add a book for my shelf rather than adding bytes of information to my phone or ereader, but as I said, safety trumps preference at the moment. Still hasn't stopped my purchasing of books for my shelf though ;)