Saturday, February 7, 2009

Vancouver with Mum











I recently spent four days in Vancouver with my dear Mum. I was heading there for Lasic corrective eye surgery and invited Mum to come along as a travel-mate and also a nurse for the first night as this was recommended to me. We had a great time and turned the time before and after into a nice little holiday.
We left a blustery Smithers on Sunday and met up with Haidi and kids who had arrived in Vancouver on a layover an hour ahead of us. So, on Aunt Julie's recommendation we all went to the Flying Beaver - a bar/restaurant that's located near vancouver airport on an estuary where all the float planes land & take off. We sat in a cheery, warm sun room and had some great seafood. We lingered over coffee and desert( well we lingered over coffee but the two enormous deserts were a full on race with the kids!) It was great to see Haidi, Lyra & Marley for a few hours. - Mum also presented Haidi with a thick handmade blanket for the new Baby!After getting the Telles back to the main terminal Mum and I made our way to Granville Island and checked into the only Hotel on the Island. We had a meal there and recharged for the next day. We woke to the sound of birds and gulls and a view of boats and water. Granville Island did not disappoint. Monday morning saw lots of sleepy arts students arriving to their classes. It was so much more peaceful than the city and still quite central for us as we were on foot.
We were out the door at 7:30 and had an amazing coffee and pastries at the market before catching a seabus to false creek. By 9:00 we were shopping at a kitchen store in chinatown and by 11:00 we were buying rugs at an afghan rug shop in gastown... Our next stop was lunch@ the YewBar in the four seasons downtown -- certainly overpriced.. but probably a great spot for a late night martini.

We ended up shopping all up and down W. Broadway in Kitsilano and I squeezed my pre-op visit in there somewhere. Tues was an early morning walk , then breakfast at the market and a bit of poking around before the dreaded eye surgery at 11:00 AM.

Overall the laser eye surgery was a good experience. Four days later I'm seeing the world cleared than I ever have with no glasses and no contacts.. I was thoroughly sick of both of them.

My heart was thumping a bit as I took the elevator to the fifth floor clinic. I had lost mum and was on my own for a bit. One of the attendants there gave me a GREAT cocktail of drugs to calm my nerves... vallium, adavan and gravol I think.. My surgeon was a gentle British man and walked me through everything. I lay down under a big battleship-like machine and had one eye taped open and one taped closed. They put various things in my eye to prep for the laser and then somehow cut a "C" shaped flap and hinged up part of my cornea and then vaporized some of the cornea underneath and then put the flap back down and positioned it.. This all happened in a minute or two. Minutes later I opened both eyes a crack, donned big dark glasses and took a cab back to the Granville Island Hotel.
The next 12 hrs were a blur and Mum put four different drops into my eyes at intervals and I awoke the next day feeling great! We then continued our manic pace of shopping, touring and eating until our flight home at 5:00 pm. Oh, we toured the Van. Boat show that day too- and Mum even went out sailing.