03-26-26 Judy Day
Judy picked me up at 10:30 and drove me to Invermere where o had a 1:30 appointment with Dr Weber. I basically interviewed her about her life and experiences. She was born in 1940 and is an energizer bunny. A year older than my Mom but so much more functional and fun.
We stopped at a fun restaurant for lunch, Smokehouse 93 and it was delicious.
Dr. Weber was born and raised in Saskatchewan, one of the flattest places on earth, yet developed a passion for gravity fed winter sports. After completing a degree in Physiology, he was accepted into medical school at the University of Saskatchewan. To pay for medical school (and the occasional ski trip) Dr Weber enlisted in the Canadian Forces. Once completing residency training at the University of Calgary he was posted to Canadian Forces Base Gagetown where he served as a General Duty Medical Officer, and eventually Base Surgeon. In 2009 Major Weber was deployed for 9 months to Afghanistan as the Officer in Command of the Canadians working at the NATO Trauma Hospital in Kandahar Airfield, where he was also one of 5 trauma team leaders. Once retiring from the Canadian Forces Dr. Weber worked full time emergency medicine in Fredericton, New Brunswick until his passion for the mountains finally drew him to the Columbia Valley full time. He has been living in the community with his family since 2015, and when he is not skiing at Panorama or in the backcountry, on the lake surfing or paddling, he can be found training or coaching in the local jiu jitsu, judo, and parkour clubs.
Perineural Injection Therapy (PIT or Lyftogt Technique) is a safe, minimally invasive treatment for chronic, neurogenic pain, involving shallow injections of low-concentration dextrose (sugar water) near inflamed superficial nerves. It reduces nerve inflammation, improves mobility, and can provide immediate pain relief for conditions like neuropathy, sciatica, and headaches.
Those are the sound bites online. In reality he was fascinating and while he was doing the injections I started a great conversation by simply asking if it was Major Doctor or Doctor Major. He then shared a lot about his experience. He said he would not re-enlist but it would always be by rank so he would be Major but his medical team would call him Doc. He told me a bit about Kandahar and said he has seen the most wounded and dead soldiers of any Dr in Canada during to being 9 months as a trauma surgeon there. What a horrible record to hold. I had a great deal of injections and have a follow up appointment at the beginning of May.
On the way back we stopped to pick up some quilted pillows made by Lucy for the auction at the Rotary gathering in Sandpoint in May. I will deliver this weekend when I go to Rossland.
When we got to my place I invited her in and she was mesmerized by my place. It made me happy to bring someone into my space and have it so well received. After she left I walked our entire park and dropped some paperwork in every mailbox of the 66 trailers to give notice of water main work on Monday and to ask for updated info.
I had just finished when Judy texted me that I had forgotten the pillows in her car. I drove to her place and we visited even longer over a couple fingers of Rye. It really was a very good day and I learned so much about an amazing woman
triumphgal 