November 2012

What another hugely busy month we have had and I have had little chance to catch up!  Brian was suppose to have his maintenance chemo on November 6th but that ended up being cancelled as Brian had hurt his hand by accidentally jabbing it with a pick when putting our new patio set together.  A few days after hurting himself his hand started to swell and he ended up going to the doctor’s for antibiotics and to make a long story short, he ended up having to go on oral antibiotics twice as the hand swelled up as soon as he finished them, to ultimately going to the Emergency Dept for IV antibiotics which he had to keep returning to the ambulatory care clinic for a week and finally after about a month, it seems to be okay although his hand is still a bit swollen around his knuckles.  Finally, Dr. McKeown (Oncologist) agreed for him to have his chemo last week.  Unfortunately though because he was delayed in getting it, he had to go through the “slow infusion method” again to make sure he did not develop a reaction to the retuximab, so it was another 6 hour session at the Cancer Clinic.  But after that, he has done well once again with his chemo.  He felt a little out of sorts for a couple of days and then started to feel much better.  His next chemo maintenance will now be February. 

I seemed to have a hugely busy month with “girl’s weekends”.  The first girl’s weekend was a “family one” with Gwen, Connie Cathy, Christine and I meeting up in Corning New York for a fun weekend together of shopping, going to museums, and out to enjoy some fabulous dinners.  Unfortunately Pat was not able to attend this year as she had to work that weekend.  We are hoping that next year we can get Breanne and the girls and Jenn out to the family girls’ weekend.

The next weekend after that I got together with my two longest friends (my two bridesmaids!) for a girl’s weekend here in Guelph.  Barb and Kim came to see our new condo and we did a full day of shopping in St. Jacob’s, had a very nice lunch there and then in the evening watched a great movie.  They stayed overnight and after breakfast headed home.  Poor Barb, she took the train from London to Guelph and on Sunday morning I dropped her off at the train station and unfortunately her train was first delayed and then cancelled; so she had a 3 hour wait at the train station for them to organize a bus to take the passengers to their destinations.  It was a long day for Barb to say the least!

This past weekend, Breanne and James headed off to Las Vegas to participate in the Rock N Roll half marathon and to have a nice 4 days mini-vacation while Brian and I looked after the girls.  We had great fun with the girls, that were really quite good; the biggest issue was the 2 dogs as they are the ones that kept us awake at night as Mavie on the first night wouldn’t settle down and wanted to sleep at the front door and Timmie wanted to keep him company but then someone would pass the house or they would hear a noise and the barking would start.  I eventually had to put Timmie on his chain to keep him in the bedroom with us.  Thankfully the next few nights were not too bad with the dogs as Mavie came to the conclusion that Breanne was going to be away a long time.  The girls though slept through the night, ate well and seemed to totally enjoy being with us although I must say by Tuesday night, we were glad to see James and Breanne home again!

So now we head into December and I’m hoping for a little bit calmer month until Christmas arrives. Then we will be leaving for Florida for the month of January and be back in February in time for Brian’s next chemo round.

We have Roy and Pat coming down to stay with us for a week in Florida; so I will probably do more blogging during that time when we will be doing more things, so stay tuned!

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very safe and prosperous New Year!!

Cheers!!!

Remembrance Day – November 11, 2012

Dad, once again, I honor you for the sacrifices you made to give us the freedom we have today.  I feel so blessed to have you with us all these years later, still going strong at 90 years of age and still suffering from all those old war injuries with never a complaint.  

Brian’s dad gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country, his life, at such a young age and never got to see his children grow up. We know you live on in our hearts. 

In honor of my dad and Brian’s dad; I am posting the video we took last year on our trip to Holland in search of Brian’s dad final resting place. 

We love you both from the bottom of our hearts!

October 2, 2012

Wow, time passes quickly, here we are now into October and the last time I wrote was in August!  Brian and I were out for a long walk with Timmie exploring the trails in our new neighborhood yesterday. The trail system in Westminster Woods subdivision is really something to experience. It is very extensive and has trails branching off going different directions and depending on which trail you take, will take you out to a different street and you have to orient yourself as to where you are in order to get home again.  Brian and I were reflecting on that walk that just a year ago at this time, he was diagnosed with his NHL cancer and how he looks today compared to what he looked last year is like night and day. Even though he is still having his chemo every three months, he looks and feels well and we are so grateful for where modern medicine and the power of prayer has taken us in this journey. We try not to take anything for granted now and we both feel we can tackle any obstacle that comes our way and still enjoy life to the fullest. We have accomplished much in the last year and I can say now we both feel a lot more settled and joyful in all that we do.  Life is very good at the moment!

We have been working on getting the condo in order and that is now coming together too.  We have totally organized the long hallway in our garage and Brian bought and put together a nice Mastercraft bench and tall storage with doors on it, and everything that we need to store is now stored away in that hallway and our garage is free and clear for our cars.  I’m still waiting for the rest of our furniture for the living room and hopefully within the next month it is ready to be delivered.  Now we are working on the basement which is actually looking pretty clear now and so I told Brian I can go out and spend yet more money on getting furniture and we are setting that room up as a theatre room with theater-type seats and Brian is now looking for his 60” TV he wants down there. He is “waiting” for sales he says!  I wish he would just find a good one and get the TV. 

A lot of our neighbors are now getting landscaping/interlocking brick patios done in our private inclusive back yards and with one person starting it now as everyone sees how nice it looks, we are all now getting quotes from this same company – Meadowvale Landscaping.  What a goldmine this is going to turn out for Meadowvale!  We now have the patio done and I am including some pictures below of the before and after.

Otherwise, our family is doing well.  David and Jenn are now happily in their new home in Cambridge; Jenn got a full-time LTO, teaching grade 2 for the entire school year, Breanne and James are busy with their businesses and the kids, Annika started JK and is loving it, and Selena is a real going concern now, she certainly has a mind of her own and is already starting to speak – copying every word you say.  Annika and Selena’s birthdays are coming up, Annika’s birthday is this Sunday and Selena on November 19; they will be 4 and 2 respectively.  As I said at the beginning of this blog – time just flies by way too quickly!   My dad is doing well and even helped Brian put together his garage storage cabinet and then because he hasn’t used those muscles in a while, suffered with shoulder pain for the next few days from using a screwdriver!  He seems to be on the mend now though. 

We all have a lot to be thankful for and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Our private inclusive backyard before.

After the work was done

This Blue Haven Junipers will grow to give us privacy when we are sitting out the back

This leads into our garage hallway at the back.

We left the existing patio there, that is why it is white and the other is grey. The bush at the end is our Hibiscus tree that we plant every spring and bring inside every fall.  This was a small potted plant that my Aunt Joan gave my mom many years ago and since mom was not the best at keeping plants going, she gave it to Brian to take care of and every year it gets bigger and bigger and has beautiful red Hibiscus flowers when it is in full bloom.  This year the only time the blooms came out was on David & Jenn’s wedding day which I take as a sign from my mom that she was with us that day and after those blooms fell off, it did not bloom again this year which was really unusual BUT is it is definitely healthy with lush green leaves.  When we bring it in this year, it will have to stay in our garage so we are hoping that it survives the winter as in our other house we brought it into the basement which was obviously much warmer.

Timmie just loves to lay in the grass and roll which drive me crazy as he gets smelly and dirty!

Timmie’s new haircut!  Now he smells lovely and I will have to keep him away from the grass!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

August 20, 2012

David and Jenn moved out of their condo this weekend. All their stuff is in storage until next Thursday when it is all moved into their new home in Cambridge.  They take possession of their new home on Monday, August 27th and the Bruder’s and Sharratt’s will be going in to help clean and on Wednesday new hardwood floors are being installed and all the old carpeting will be ripped out.  David and Jenn are very excited to be moving in but we feel kind of sad to know they are not around the corner from us anymore.  It was comforting to know they were just around the corner just as Breanne and James are but it is a good move for them and at least it is a bit closer to David’s work; I’m sure it will cut in half his commute to New Hamburg.  

Brian had his second round of 3-monthly infusion of chemo (Rituximab) last week.  This is the first time he really felt quite unwell the evening of the infusion but after a couple of days he was starting to feel better obviously once the drug had left his system.  So he is good to go now until November when he gets his next round. 

Our townhouse is starting to feel more like home; the landscaping and sod is down; I still haven’t taken pictures yet but will soon and post on my blog.  In the meantime, we have the professional wedding pictures back and Breanne put a picture book together on Picaboo and here is the link if you are interested to see them. 

http://app.picaboo.com/WebView/Project.aspx?clientID=c9cfe6128ff96b748eed41a84e0b3244&version=256759&siteID=FB-WallShare

Long Live the Queen!

My Brother, Bob, sent this link to me and I just had to share.  It is an amazing video of her aging through the years. It is extremely well done! 

Slideshow of David and Jenn shown at the wedding

Here is a video that Breanne made for David and Jenn (their growing up years) and it was shown at the reception at the wedding.  It brings tears to my eyes to see how quickly our kids grow up and they are getting married before you know it. Breanne really did a nice job of putting this video together.  Enjoy!

July 29, 2012

Just thought I better do an update on our blog; I have been so busy, I just haven’t found the time.  David and Jenn’s wedding went off without a glitch and everyone had a great time.  David and Jenn are now on their honeymoon in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and David has phoned us several times saying they are having a great time.  Makes me feel good he actually calls us on his honeymoon…..he is still a mommie’s boy and I love it!  They will be back on Thursday and then back to normal again for them although they will be working on getting packed as they are moving to their new home in Cambridge by the end of August.  We are going to miss them not being so close but the house sounds very nice and we look forward to seeing it when they take possession. 

I’m still a little stressed work-wise as I am having to do a “request for proposal” for my SJHC Hospital account which is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  Poor Brian has been listening to me complaining about whether I want to do this or not.  After 32 years of having the SJHC account for which I never was asked to sign a contract; now the government has mandated that all vendors must have signed contracts but instead of just getting me to sign a contract, it has to be “fair”, so an RFP is put out and any company is allowed to bid on it.  After I saw how complicated it was, I was just ready to pack the whole thing in and just retire but the wonderful girls I have working for me had convinced me to just do the best I can with the RFP and leave it in God’s hands……so that is what I am doing  Hopefully SJHC will not want to lose me as their vendor for transcription and I will be chosen as the favorite vendor but I’m so scared going up against all these big companies who know how to make them look good on an RFP  The worse part is that if you make it through the evaluation to stage 3, you have to go in and do a presentation and that part scares me to death. So we shall see what happens….I just want to get the RFP done and sent in so I don’t have to think about it.  I worked on it all weekend with Brian’s help and I kept telling him that he should just tell me he wants me to retire and that I should just not bid on it at all but he kept telling me I was doing a good job and that I had nothing to lose; so I’m finishing it off tomorrow and getting it sent in so I can be stress-free. 

Our friends, Dana and Eric, have invited us to their cottage for a couple of days in August, so I am really looking forward to that; it will be nice to have a couple of days of relaxation with great friends as the stress over the last few months has taken its toll on us and we need to recuperate. 

I will end here with a few pictures of the wedding.  Will update on the condo next time I write.  We finally have some trees and they are working on the landscaping so everything is shaping up nicely!

 

David getting ready in our messy basement!  Timmie was not very happy that he couldn’t come to the wedding!

This is the parkette out the back of our condos with the boys ready to go!

Brian and I waiting to walk with David down the isle

This was a really nice touch to the wedding, we walked David down the aisle!

Brreanne (sister of the groom) and Tom (brother of the bride) wakling down the aisle….Breanne was a little emotional!!

Annika coming down the aisle very excited to see her daddy in the pew!

 

Jenn and her parents….she was beautiful!

My son-in-law – James – and granddaughter – Selena.

David and Jenn……….Mr & Mrs. Sharratt……….sounds funny to hear that!\

Annika falling asleep in papa’s arms…..

…….and slept through the entire reception!  She awoke just in time to eat her icecream for dessert!

The “cousins” (children of Bob, Roy and Janet) – Breanne, Jason, Connie, David, Cathy and Troy.

David and Jenn

Partying the night away….

 

Breanne didn’t sit down once during the night!!

Janet (Jenn’s mom, me and Breanne near the end of the night. It was a wonderful day!

June 25, 2012 – Finally moved but not quite settled

The longest three weeks of our lives is over and we are finally moved in but definitely not yet settled.  It was sad to say good-bye to our old home and I am sure the new owners are going to love it there.  It truly was a great home and moving into a townhome has definitely made us feel somewhat melancholy.  It was a lot of hard work moving what we could on our own and it was a real eye-opener at the amount of stuff we have and don’t need.  So the purging is still ongoing as we sort through things.  Basically our finished basement is a mess with everything piled down there and we are slowly going to go through it and keep on taking stuff to the dump or to the Goodwill. Our townhome just doesn’t feel quite like home yet until we get more pictures up on the walls, my window coverings are on order and once they are installed, it will look better than having sheets up at the window!  I have had California Closets in to measure 4 closets so we can create more storage space and that will really help with putting things away. Unfortunately they cannot be installed until the end of July so we have another month of still living amongst boxes until I have the room to empty them. 

I am already feeling quite comfortable in our new home as I can envision what it will look like when all is said and done but Brian is really struggling with it and says he doesn’t like it. I’m hopeful that he will feel much better once we are more settled but it definitely is a different way of life living so close to other people.  Having said that though, all the people we have met in our complex are very much like us, most are empty-nesters living out their retirement years in a smaller place and having less responsibility and it is going to be a quiet complex which is just perfect from my point of view. 

The best thing about the move though is how close we now are to Breanne and family and for a short while David and Jenn.  It is so nice that they are able to pop around to see us by just walking up the street.  Brian does loving having his best buddy “Annika” over who is helping papa put things away and putting up shelves and pictures. She goes with papa when he takes his weekly trip to the dump or to Value Village to donate things we don’t need anymore.  This is what is going to make Brian love being here and once our house is looking nice inside; I’m sure he will be fine. 

On another happy note, David and Jenn have just sold their condo and are moving to a new home in Cambridge.  They are having a hugely busy year, what with getting married on July 21 and moving into their new home August 23.  Cambridge will make it a bit closer for David to drive to work in New Hamburg but Jenn will have to drive to Guelph to work but it is not that far for her really as she can take all the back roads.  Another piece of good news from Jenn’s point of view is that she got a teaching contract position from September to December in one of her favorite schools here in Guelph.  It is only until December but hopefully something else will come up after that.  Jenn is a supply teacher for the Separate School Board and one day is hoping to get a full-time position but it seems to take forever with very few jobs becoming available.  It is hard for these young teachers and I feel so bad for them as they are keen to work and are young at heart and would make great teachers. 

Well, that is our update for now.  Otherwise, Brian is doing well health-wise other than a chest cold he has been suffering with but that now seems to be on the mend.  The grandkids had the same cold, so I think Brian picked it up from one of them.  I will update with some pictures once I find my camera!!!!!!

Finally the big move is here!

I can’t believe we are finally moving!  We get the keys Thursday morning after our last walk-through with the builder.  We had a walk through last week and everything looked great.  There were just a few things they have to fix up which should be done by Thursday and the cleaning crew will have gone through by then too. I am so happy with all my decor choices and absolutely love my new kitchen.  The appliances are delivered Friday but not installed until Monday.  We have Rogers and Bell coming in Friday to install our services; so our first priority is to get my office moved.  Brian and I spent today dismantling our desks and packing up our office stuff.  We also have to get all the TVs disconnected and over to the condo before Friday morning too.  James is going to help us move things we have packed Thursday morning and David and Karsten (with his truck) will also be helping us later in the afternoon.  My concern is just getting my office back in order for Friday once the services are in.  We then have a full week for Brian and I just to move things we can move on our own before the movers come on June 12th for the big move. Hopefully within two weeks we will be somewhat settled and hopefully most things put away.  Then I can start looking for and buying new furniture.  That will be the fun part!  I will post pictures later of the condo. 

I will end here with a little video of our Timmie and how he has become a big part of our lives now!  I definitely will be glad when he gets a bit older and out of the puppy stages as he can be quite a challenge with his energy and chewing at times!  He still is not fully trained and has had a couple of accidents but for the most part he is pretty good. 

Our little boy – Timmie

I just couldn’t resist, I knew going to the breeder to “look” was going to be very hard to do.  It didn’t help that Breanne was encouraging me to bring Timmie home now but I had promised Brian I would not come home with one and I ended up breaking that promise.  Brian rightfully so was quite upset with me as I had broken a promise and he had trusted me and I do hate the fact that I did that as I am usually good at my word.  Breanne and I kept coming up with excuses of why we had to bring him home now and not later.  One big one was that Timmie (the breeder had named him Sydney) was so forlorn.  Of all the puppies (different ages) that she had there, he was staying away from the crowd of dogs and just laying in the corner.  Breanne went over to encourage him out and she pulled him on her lap and just said “mom this is the one, you have to bring him home”.  I then took him and cuddled him and he seemed so afraid and timid..  His name alone was a sign to us that he was the one – his name was Sydney – my dad’s name.  I knew the timing was bad and that I should not be bonding with a dog right now what with moving and the upheaval of that but my heartstrings were tugging and I just couldn’t come home without him.  And now a week later, Timmie has made us all fall in love with him – even Brian.  Timmie is 5 months old and has been living with his litter mates all this time so having more human contact has just brought his little personality right out.  He is definitely coming out of being some timid; we are now able to go for a walk without him taking a few steps and plopping himself down; now he looks forward to all his walks and is really doing well with his training.  He has had a couple of accidents in the house but for the most part he is doing all his business outside and is really getting the hang of it.  He has had Mavie to help him as we visit with BJAMS a lot and Mavie is showing Timmie the ropes.  Timmie had a sleepover on Thursday night with BJAMS as Brian had his follow-up oncologist visit Friday morning.  I have pictures of Timmie below.

Brian had blood work and saw Dr. McCarron on Friday and she is very pleased with Brian’s progress.  All his blood work is totally normal except for a high bilirubin and she is not sure why his bilirubin is remaining high.  She did the CAT scan and it showed his liver was normal, so she says it could be something totally unrelated to his lymphoma and really of no consequence but she is going to keep following it.  She mentioned that it could be Gilbert’s syndrome but I haven’t had a chance to look that up to see what that means.  So, Brian is all set to go for his first maintenance immunotherapy on Tuesday of the Rituximab. 

Our little granddaughter, Selena, has been very very sick this week.  She started with vomiting and diarrhea  on Tuesday and has been very unwell the whole week.  Breanne had to take her to the emergency department on Friday as she was so listless and Breanne was afraid she was dehydrated after waking up with a dry diaper and crying with no tears.  They gave her an antinauseant and after she had a little sleep they gave her a popsicle which she ate so they felt she could go home as long as Breanne and James kept a close eye on her symptoms.  She is only now starting to eat a little more but she is still very quiet and fatigues easily.  Hopefully over the next couple of days she will start to get back to normal.  I don’t like to see our little ones so sick. 

Now here are some pictures of Timmie:

This is when Breanne pulled Timmie out from the corner.

Then I held him.  Isn’t he just so adorable!

He needs a haircut badly!

This is Timmie a week later….nicely groomed!!  He has visited with the vet and he is in perfect health as well.  We all love him to pieces…..including Brian!  Thank-you Brian for letting me keep my little boy; I love you for putting up with me!

Friday, May 11, 2012

I’m so excited…..we are going to see Warhorse tomorrow!  A few months back when Brian was undergoing chemo, I thought it would be nice to have a celebration for the two of us once he was finished his chemo treatments; and I organized a weekend away just for the two of us. We are going to Toronto, staying in a very nice hotel, going out for supper to a nice restaurant (haven’t decided which one yet) and have tickets for the Saturday night performance of Warhorse at the Theatre.  We will have a nice leisurely breakfast and head home on Sunday for Mother’s day. 

I am also doubly excited for Sunday as Breanne, the grandkids, Mavie and I are going to visit a Bichon Breeder to look at her puppies.  I promised Brian I won’t come home with one but I’m sure I am going to see one I want to get.  Annika is very excited to finally get to see some puppies and Selena will totally love it when she sees them too.  Then we are coming back and having a little get-together at BJAMS with David and Jenn as well to celebrate Mother’s Day.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! 

We are now only 3 weeks away from the BIG move!  The neighbourhood is having a giant garage sale on Saturday morning; so we have compiled some stuff together to put out in the garage sale and it would be great if we got rid of a few things that way.  I have attached some pictures of our new condo which I took on my Blackberry last weekend. 

Front view of the condo.

This is our back porch.  We have a terraced lot, so that is why there are stairs going down to the patio. 

This is a little parkette that the builder has put in on the corner (you can see our condo complex in the background).  One thing I love about Reid’s (our builder) is how he cosmetically has really nice landscaped areas scattered throughout the entire neighbourhood.  It really adds the finishing touch to make things look nice. 

Sunday, April 29, 2012

I seem to be writing now about once every 1-2 weeks.  We can’t seem to keep up with our lives at the moment, everything just seems to be so busy.  I did so well with my running regimen when I wrote last time and then we got that nasty weather and we got busy with packing and other things and I only got out for my run once last week.  I did do some of my Wii exercises in lieu of running when the weather was bad and I have been keeping with my calorie count when journaling what I’m eating.  Nevertheless, I got really frustrated when I weighed myself this past week and I have gained 0.7 kilograms.  This is the norm for me, I basically have to exercise 2-3 hours a day in order to see any change in my weight whatsoever.  Oh well, I will not give up, I will just try to get back on track this week.  I should be running 2 minutes and walk 1 minute for 10 sets which I will start this week.  I just have to be patient and hopefully the 5-10 pounds I would like to lose will come off by July 21st!! 

We have been babysitting the grandkids this weekend while Breanne and James are in Windsor as James was the Race Director for a race he organized there which had over 200 runners registered which was an awesome turnout.  We took the girls out for a long walk this morning and then later to watch David run 15K in the Billy Taylor race here in Guelph.  It is a beautiful sunny day out but still has that nippy cold wind.  I hope soon it gets warm and stays warm.  I’m really ready for the warm weather to get here and sick of all this cool or cold stuff that seems to be the norm right now.  Selena is having her afternoon nap and Annika is playing quietly with papa.  Once Selena wakes up, we are taking them both to the Butterfly Conservatory in Cambridge.  I understand now why we have kids when we are young; it is pretty exhausting and I think we will be thankful to see James and Breanne return later this afternoon.  They are both such good kids though; they go to bed and sleep and eat and are definitely not whiny; so it is a pleasure being with them, just exhausting keeping them busy!

We took a look at our condo (through the windows again) on Friday and our kitchen is now in and I am quite happy with my cupboard choice although Brian seems less so but to him a kitchen is a kitchen and he really doesn’t care too much about colors and what they look like, as long as they are functional and do the job they should do!  I am just dying to get into the condo to walk around so hopefully they call us soon to go through our last walk-through before closing at the end of May.  We are starting to get packed now and have got a rid of a few more things we don’t want.  We are going to have a neighborhood garage sale on May 26th, and anything that doesn’t go then, we are going to ship off to the Thrift Store. 

One other thing that we just found out this week is that my dad does have a fractured sternum from the car accident he was in.  He was just not getting over this pain in his chest very quickly, so the doctor did a chest x-ray and he definitely does have a fractured sternum.  There is nothing they can do other than just keep him comfortable with pain medication and over time it should start to heal and he will feel better.  Unfortunately for dad, that seems like a long time as he really struggles with the pain when he coughs or sneezes or has to use those chest muscles to pull himself up out of a chair etc. 

So that is all our news for now; will update again in another week or two!

April 17, 2012

Well, life is certainly zipping along at a fast pace.  Here we are now halfway through April, six weeks before we move and three months before David/Jenn’s wedding.  Last weekend Breanne and I went out to look for a “mother of the groom” dress at Le Creme downtown Guelph and I actually found a dress!  It was the second dress I tried on and although I was more critical of how it looked, Breanne kept saying it was the one; so after trying on a few more that were definitely not for me, I tried the one on that Breanne liked and admitted to myself that it was the one and thankfully it was one I could buy off the shelf and didn’t have to order.  I even bought some jewelry to go with it at the same time!  Now all I need are the shoes.  You have no idea how happy I was to have that over with!  We have so much on our plate right now, that worrying about where I was going to get a dress and/or shopping from store to store certainly wasn’t appealing; so this is one huge stress I don’t have anymore. Of course, for Brian (as for all men) it was easy.  David booked an appointment at the tuxedo store, and all the men including the fathers go there for half an hour, pick out a tux, get measured and their done!  They don’t even have to buy shoes, that is also included in the Tux rental.  Women definitely have it harder than men! 

So now I have a goal, I HAVE to lose 5-10 pounds in three months.  My dress fits but it is a bit snug and would look so much better if I lost a few pounds; so this week I have started back to running and I am starting from scratch and building up from there with the Running Room Program; so I have started with 1 minute run, 2 minute walk – 7 sets; then subsequent weeks I add 1 minute until I’m running 10 and walking 1 – 10 week program.  I also found this awesome app for my I-pad that counts calories. All I do is put in the bar codes for any foods I eat and/or add in food portions and it calculates calories, proteins, carbs, etc.  It even calculates how much I should be eating (RDI) in a day for my age, gender and whether you want to maintain or lose or gain weight.  It has to be one of the best apps ever and is so quick to enter things.  If even has calculations for foods eaten in restaurants. So in 3 months I hope to say goodbye to 10 extra pounds! I just have to stay motivated now!

Our condo is looking good; all the painting is done now, baseboards and doors are up, ceramic tile is down at the front door.  The rest of the floors are going to be hardwood (except the finished basement which is carpet); so that will probably not be done for another couple of weeks so that the workers do not damage the floor.  When we went through our walk-through in March, the site supervisor told us that although hardwood floors are beautiful, they are a nightmare for him as he has to “babysit” it so that they don’t get damaged, so I’m sure he was not pleased that the whole house is hardwood.  On the outside they have poured our patio at the back and have the stairs in up to our balcony. I will have to get a couple of pictures this weekend and will post on my blog.

Brian has actually started to do some packing and we had the moving company over yesterday to give us an estimate on moving us; so things are falling into place and I can’t believe we are only 6 weeks away now.  I am definitely not looking forward to the actual move but am looking forward to getting settled in our new place and especially being just down the street from my kids’ homes.  It is going to be awesome being all so close.  Oh yes, and another thing we did last weekend was buy a dining room suite!  We have put in our order and it will be ready in about 8-10 weeks!  Now we just have to buy some living room furniture but we are going to wait until we actually have possession so we can visualize more of what we need for the room size. 

Health-wise, Brian is great and we are all doing well and excited for life!  We are truly blessed!

HAPPY EASTER

Brian and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and hope that you are enjoying your Easter weekend.  Here in Ontario, the weather has been nice and sunny although still on the cool side with a cold breeze.  I love the spring though and seeing the buds come out on the trees and perennial plants starting to sprout; it is like a fresh new start to life and saying goodbye to the winter.  We certainly can’t complain about our winter this year though, it has been a very mild winter indeed. 

We are looking forward to our Easter today; we are heading off to church with David and Jenn this morning and then heading over to BJAMS for Easter “brunch”.  We were going to pick up my dad today so he can celebrate Easter with us but unfortunately dad just called to say he is just not up to coming as he is still suffering with chest pain from the car accident.  He has started some physio to see if that will help but it looks like it is just something that is going to take a while to heal. It certainly has gotten him down though and I hope that it starts to get better soon.  He feels that he really needs to stay put so that he is not moving around so much and pulling at those chest muscles. My prayers today will be for my dad and that he soon gets over this chest discomfort. 

To all our friends and family, have a very Happy Easter! 

March 28, 2011

We had a safe trip home from Florida and we ended up stopping only once for the night.  We had planned on taking two nights overnight before we left but we ended up driving 12 hours on Thursday which only left 9 hours for the next day, so we only needed to stop the once.  We brought Mavie (Breanne’s Bichon) home with us so that it was easier for James and Breanne on their ride home.  Mavie, as usual, was as good as gold all the way home, and I was able to get my “dog fix” in since Breanne and James were not going to be home until Saturday.  They too made it home safe and sound on Saturday after 3 days on the road and apparently the girls were very very good travelers although Breanne really hates long car rides.  I think I am starting to get used to them since we have done the Florida trip quite a few times now.  Brian and I share the driving so it is not as tiring when one person does the majority of it.  I quite enjoy driving though, so I’m happy that Brian doesn’t mind me sharing in it. 

We had a good time in Florida and it was really nice to get away but as usual with me, I was glad to be coming home and it was such a pleasure sleeping in our own bed, going to our grocery store where I know where everything is and sitting at my own desk and my own chair in my office!  I certainly missed having Mavie though once Breanne and James were home, so my dream of getting a dog in the fall is still alive!  Brian is very very slowly coming around to the idea although I know he would prefer not to but is willing to give in if I keep bugging him.  He will love it when we finally do get one.  I now have a breeder in mind so as we get closer to the right time, I will be contacting her. 

We went over to see our condo and it is really coming along now.  All the outside brick is finished and all the drywall is done on the inside.  Unfortunately we can’t get inside now as the doors are locked so peeking though the windows are our only option.  Two months to go and we will be moving in!  We just have to get motivated now to start packing but we both seem to be procrastinating on that front. 

I was very happy to get home to see that my dad, brother, Bob, and sister-in-law, Gwen, seem none the worse from their car accident.  Dad has been suffering quite a bit of chest pain from the airbag injury and he is having to take pain killers but hopefully that will gradually start to get better.  I took him to our family doctor who said that airbag injuries are usually quite severe – she said although airbags are great life-savers, it is just like getting hit head-on by a bull and some people get fractured sternums and ribs from the impact.  At least dad or Bob did not receive that severe of an injury from the airbag and just have bruising and muscle pain which will diminish over time. 

On Brian’s health, he had scheduled blood work at the Cancer Clinic on Monday and we had a bit of a scare as Dr. McCarron (our hematologist/oncologist) phoned to say that the blood work is showing abnormal liver functions, specifically the bilirubin; so to be on the safe side, she has scheduled Brian for an ultrasound on Thursday.  She told us not to worry that she is just erring on the side of caution to make sure there is nothing wrong with the liver or gallbladder and that this abnormal result is more “chemo related” than cancer related, so it did calm our fears a bit.  It still though reminded us that we can’t get too complacent that he is going to be fine; we do realize that he will now have life-long follow-up and we are just grateful that the doctor follows every little abnormality and nip anything in the bud before it goes into something more serious.  Once again, we feel very fortunate to have such a caring and concerned doctor and a Cancer Clinic that can get tests and scans done quickly and we are not waiting weeks or months.  I must say that we are very impressed with the care that Brian is getting that’s for sure.

So that’s my catch-up for the end of March.  We are now getting closer to David/Jenn’s wedding and they are doing a great job of organizing everything.  We are going to be working on the invitations this weekend and get them sent out in April; Brian is going with David and his attendants to get a tux ordered this weekend and I still have to find some time to look for a dress!  

Saturday, March 17 – Car Accident

I feel so thankful that my brother Bob, his wife, Gwen, their dog, Holly, and my dad were not badly hurt in a car accident on Saturday.  Bob and Gwen had decided to take my dad out for a nice leisurely car drive in the Brantford area on Saturday when a totally obnoxious drunk ran a stop sign and hit Bob’s car on the driver’s side (front part of the car) and then took off.  A couple of young men chased the two people in this car down and made them return to the scene of the accident. The woman was so drunk she could hardly stand up and her male passenger still had a beer in his hand walking back to the scene of the accident and when he saw the police, he put the can of beer behind a fence but the lady that took in Holly saw him do this and pointed it out to police.  What an angel she is!  It is absolutely unbelievable that people have not a care in the world for what could have happened and how devastating it could have been for our family.   Meanwhile, the police, fire department and  3 ambulances were called to take all three to the hospital.  My brother was not able to get out of the car and the fire department had to cut the driver’s side door off to get him out.  I thank God that all their injuries were minor – sore chests and stomach from seatbelts and air bags deploying in order to keep them from serious injury.  A kind woman who lived nearby took in Holly since they were all put into ambulances to be taken to the hospital.  My brother, Roy, drove to Brantford to pick Holly up and then proceeded to the hospital until they were all released.  They did keep dad a few hours longer than Bob and Gwen as they wanted to make sure that his chest pain was just bruising from the trauma and not something more serious.  As Bob said, if they had been just a couple of seconds later getting into the intersection, the accident could have had devastating results for both he and Gwen being on that side of the car. It certainly has shaken them all up as I am sure you can imagine.  So from starting out as a leisurely Saturday afternoon drive, they did not arrive home until 1:30 early Sunday morning.  I felt helpless being away in Florida but Roy was keeping me well informed.  We will be leaving for home this week and I will be happy to get home again.  Holidays are nice but there is nothing like home especially when something like this happens.

Here is a picture of Bob’s car (it is totaled) and obviously will need to be replaced with a new one.  I hope they throw the book at the driver of the other car and she loses her license for life. 

DOWNTOWN DISNEY

We decided to take the girls to downtown Disney today and had a fabulous time! One nice thing about being a grandparent is you are in a position to splurge and we made our Annika into a fairy princess today – she elected to be Snow White!  The girls were so good and we had a lot of fun!  I put a small video together below. 

The weather has been great this week, temperatures in the low 80s and lots of sunshine.  The time is going by quickly, only a week left to go now and then back to reality.  I hear the weather at home has been great, so I hope it continues like that once we get home. 

Three visitors to our Condo…..looking for food!

Our little Snow White!

Then she had her face painted!!!

River Island at Orange Lake

The time certainly seems to be passing by quickly, one week has gone by already.  The weather has been pretty good with a bit of rain on Friday and more rain on Sunday but the temperature is high 70’s, low 80’s, so perfect for our liking!  We have been taking a lot of walks around the place we are staying and the kids are loving the playgrounds they have.  Annika and I had an unfortunate accident at the playground the other day though and it bothered me for days after.  I was carrying Annika and had my sandals on and I wasn’t watching my footing and I thought I was on the narrow sidewalk around the playground but my foot went over the edge and down I went with Annika in my arms.  It happened so fast I couldn’t do anything and Annika fell flat on her back and her head thudded on the concrete; the sound to me was deafening and I was so afraid that she had fractured her skull.  Of course neither Breanne or I slept that night worrying about Annika but as it turned out, she must have a pretty hard head as she has had no residual effects from the fall other than a bad scrap on her elbow and I twisted my knee but it seems to be on the mend now.  So, note to Janet, she never ever carries the children while she is walking!  If anything had happened to Annika due to that fall, I would never had got over it. 

Brian has been getting back to his training although he is finding it quite difficult especially with the running.  He has gained weight though since the chemo, so it is going to take him a while to feel good when running again.  I keep telling him to just take baby steps, it will come back soon as he already has a good base. 

Yesterday, we went to Orange Lake, River Island which has a great play area for the kids as well as a lazy river.  We had a lot of fun there and here is a video that Breanne put together which is also on her blog.  I will update later this week. 

Tuesday, March 5, 2012

We are now in Florida and it is so nice to be in the warmer weather!  We left Friday afternoon instead of early Saturday morning since we didn’t want to get caught up in the predicted high winds and thunderstorms that were forecast.  We still ran into the high winds and rain as we were travelling through Buffalo and of course, it was my time to drive.  This happens all the time to me when we are sharing the driving!  We stopped around 8:00 as we felt there was no sense continuing to drive in the rain and we could get an early start in the morning.  The next day the drive was great, sunshine all the way until around 4:00 p.m. when it started to rain again  This time it was Brian’s turn to drive in the rain.  By 7:30 we were in South Carolina and I had had enough, so we stopped there. It continued to rain the entire night and was still raining when we left in the morning. Thankfully by the time we drove into Georgia, the rain stopped and we only had about a 5 hour drive and we arrived in Kississimee at Emerald Island where Breanne/James are staying.  We had the rest of the day Sunday to unpack and get settled and we fell into bed on Sunday night feeling exhausted!

Monday, we stayed at Emerald Island and enjoyed the pool and had fun with the kids.  Today (Tuesday), they all decided to go to Magic Kingdom but I elected to stay home with Mavie and get some work done in the quiet and here I am playing around with my blog!  I have included a little video below of Brian having fun with the kids in the pool yesterday. I’m sure they will take lots of pictures in Magic Kingdom, so I will post more pictures as the week goes on.  I hope the weather at home is not too bad! 

CHEMO ROUND #6 – LAST ONE!!

Brian has finally made it to round #6 and everything once again has gone very well.  We saw Dr. McCarron, oncologist, on Monday and she confirmed that this was the last round and that Brian is in remission and can basically get back to normal life again.  He will now have blood work once a month and immunotherapy every 3 months (Rituximab only).  The doctor is going to see Brian just before his first round of the immunotherapy and after that she says she doesn’t need to see him unless he has problems and we are to call for an appointment or if she sees anything troubling in the blood work, she will call us. She also gave us her blessing to enjoy a couple of weeks in Florida. We were just ecstatic coming out of her office and felt like we were on Cloud 9.  Brian is really feeling well though; he says this has been the best he has felt in over a year and it shows. At dad’s 90th birthday party, everyone was commenting on how well Brian was looking.  So once we get down to Florida, Brian is going to slowly get back to his triathlon training and he hopes to do the Guelph Lake Try-A-Tri in June.  That is his short-term goal. 

On the Condo front, we went for our first “walk-through” this week as all the electrical, furnace duct work and plumbing is in.  They take you through once this is done to make sure everything is as you expect it to be so that in case there is something they missed, it can easily be corrected before the drywall is up.  Everything was perfect and it was so exciting for us to see how far they have come and now we can get a better feel for the size of the rooms.  I am so looking forward to when my kitchen goes in as we have made major upgrades in the kitchen and for the first time in our married life, I get the kitchen of my dreams….so I guess I better start cooking more!  I am also very happy with the size of our loft where my office is going to be.  It is much larger than I envisioned and I am going to have plenty of room for all my office equipment and Brian will also have his little cubby-hole for his office as there is a dormer window area that comes off the loft and that is where Brian will be.  The condo is going to be just perfect for our needs and really, since we are also finishing off the basement, the square footage is just as much as we have in our present house, so it is going to be quite nice.  Unfortunately, I could not get any pictures but if we get a chance to get inside again, I will take some. The windows and doors are in though and they are now locking it when the workers are finished for the day so it is hard to get inside now.

We are now looking forward to heading off to Florida for a couple of weeks with Breanne and James and the grandkids and then when we get back; we will start the tedious task of packing. 

I will update again once we are in Florida. 

DAD’S 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY

What a great day we had with family and friends today!  Everyone had a fabulous time reminiscing and catching up with each other; some of us have not see each other for 30 or so years.  Everyone still looks the same, maybe we are all a little older but we all still look great.  I hope you enjoy the little You-Tube Video I put together of the day.  It is about 6 minutes long, but fun to watch nonetheless.   Thanks to my wonderful husband for being the camera-man today……I know I give you a hard time but you did a great job! 

Enjoy the show………

MY DAD IS 90 YEARS OLD TOMORROW!

Happy 90th Birthday Dad!!  Wow, can you imagine making that milestone!  We are so very fortunate to still have our dad with us and being so healthy!  Other than having that bum leg of his (old war injury/surgery) and being quite hard of hearing, he is otherwise perfectly healthy.  Cognitively, he is still as smart as a whip! We obviously have very good genes on dad’s side of the family, so my brothers and I hope we have some of those longevity genes as well! 

We are having an Open House at Wellington Park Terrace (Dad’s residence) from 2:00 to 4:00 on Saturday and it looks like a lot of old family friends and the original members of the Woodstock Cricket Club are going to come; so it is going to be a nice reunion not only for dad but for everyone to see each other again.  It should be a great day and then we will do it again when dad reaches 100! 

I just want to say dad (since I’m pretty sure you are going to be reading this blog) that you have been a wonderful father. When I was growing up, all my friends were envious of how great my parents were even though I did have to warn them when they came to our house, that my dad would expect a hug and big kiss and none of them were ever offended.  My dad was always known as “hot lips” and he is the only man I know that can get away with loving up and kissing any woman he met.  He was always affectionate and there was never a woman that was offended by it, even to this day! All the women in his Senior’s Residence thinks he is just the “cat’s whiskers”.  I feel so fortunate to have been brought up in such a loving, positive and “fun” atmosphere but still with a stern guiding hand to lead my brothers and I through those growing up years and trying teenage years until they let us fly on our own but always there for us whenever we needed them.  Then as the years went by and my mom’s health deteriorated, my dad was there to love and support her and he looked after her until her last days with such love and care, never ever complaining.  So dad, just to let you know that we love you with all our hearts and wish you many more years yet to come!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

I can’t believe how quickly time flies by. We had an extremely busy week last week; first the doctor appointment which I have already written about, then the start of chemo round #5, then Brian’s birthday on February 8, 2012 and a 30th birthday party for David on the weekend.  I can’t believe David is going to be 30 and Breanne will be 29 next week.  Where did all those years go!

Brian’s Chemo round #5 went well (as usual); he felt a bit unwell the night of the chemo but woke up the next day feeling fine.  I think we have identified one lingering side-effect of chemo in that we are finding that Brian is coughing a lot and feels that he has to constantly clear his throat.  I goggled this and found that it is a side effect of most chemo regimens.  We are hoping that after his last round at the end of the month, he starts to lose the cough. 

We have started to plan our trip to Florida but have been very frustrated with getting out of country medical insurance. As I said previously, the oncologist said we could go away but we did need to cover his pre-existing condition.  The problem though is that there is not one insurance company out there that will cover a pre-existing condition of cancer unless you are 6 months past your last chemotherapy.  What is so frustrating about this is that Brian is going to be 2-3 years away from being 6 months past chemo as he has to have chemo every 3 months for two years. Even though the chemo is only one drug – Retuximab and not the CVP part anymore, it still is considered chemo. There were only two companies that would at least cover Brian for everything else as long as it was not related to the pre-existing condition and the company we went with also had a $200 deductible for Brian; so if we did have to be seen by a physician, we have to pay the first $200.  We have decided that we are going to go anyway since Brian is feeling so good and at least we have coverage for an accident or he falls and breaks an arm, etc.  Since we are driving, we have decided that if something should happen that is related to cancer, that we would just immediately drive home. Worse case scenario is that I have to drive the 17-18 hours to at least get to Windsor if it was really urgent.  We just want to get into the sunshine and get away for a couple of weeks, so hopefully everything will be fine. 

That is about all for now.  We are getting excited to get dad’s 90th birthday celebrations going on Feb 25th.  I have heard from a lot of people who are going to be coming and one of the highlights is going to be the amount of friends and family coming from Woodstock and all the old Woodstock Cricket Club members.  It will not only be a reunion for dad but for the WCC members as well.  We can all catch up with how everyone is doing!

I will end with some pictures we have taken over the last couple of weeks: 

David at his party with Jenn (his fiance), Ian (friend) and Tom (Jenn’s brother)

David’s good friends – Karsten and Justin. 

The surprise party was actually on Super-Bowl Sunday, so everyone was watching the game!

Breanne and James – who put the party on for David. 

Now it’s Papa birthday…….Happy Birthday hug from Annika!

Selena a little unsure about Papa Sid!!!! 

Annika helping Papa blow out his candles!

Selena helping with the dishes after supper!

Brian making a funny face…….

Good news day!

We were so excited about the news we heard from the oncologist today that I couldn’t wait to write about it.  Brian had a CT scan two weeks ago and the doctor has now declared that he is in REMISSION!!!  The next two rounds of chemo are “insurance rounds” and then he will go on maintenance therapy of only the Rituximab every 3 months for a two year period.  His liver and spleen are now normal size, his abdominal and chest lymph nodes have now reduced from centimeters to millimeters and his blood work is completely normal.  He also has gained another 2 kilograms, so now he looks nice and healthy from how skinny he was just before the diagnosis.  He has gained probably 10 pounds total in weight since starting chemo and he looks great. The oncologist was quite happy with how Brian has responded to the chemo as were we.  So the next question out of our mouths was whether we could go to Florida for a couple of weeks and she said yes we could as long as we got medical insurance that covers a pre-existing condition.  We still have to look into that to see the costs but we were so happy that we would get a couple of weeks of Florida sunshine sometime in March, as long his last round of chemo goes as well as the rest of them. 

We feel so blessed that everything is falling into place for us; God is good!  It has driven home that you just can’t take life for granted and we now appreciate every moment that little bit more than we did before and we plan on living life to the fullest while we still can.  Thank you everyone for your interest, thoughts and prayers that you have sent our way over the last few months; it has meant the world to us.  So chemo round #5 starts tomorrow, and hopefully Brian sails through that as he has done with the last 4 rounds!

GOURMET NIGHT AT DAD’S SENIOR RESIDENCE

As most of you know, my dad lives in a Senior’s Residence (Wellington Park Terrace) and at the first of every month they have “Gourmet Night” and every gourmet has a theme.  This month’s theme was “Chinese New Year 2012”.  Since it was dad’s birthday month, he is allowed to invite two guests.  It is always hard for dad to make that decision as although he doesn’t have to worry about Roy (since Roy works there and always helps out on Gourmet Night) but dad struggles with Roy/Janet or Bob/Gwen and what about Pat (Roy’s wife) – she gets shafted all the time!  This year we took things in our own hands and made the decision for him – Gwen and Brian graciously gave my brother, Bob, and I the okay for the two of us to go. Dad then didn’t have to worry that he was hurting anyone’s feelings!   We all feel so blessed that we still have dad here with us – his birthday on February 24th he will be 90 YEARS OLD!!!   He is such a healthy man and still with it cognitively; he has many many more years left in him yet!  If was a very enjoyable evening for Bob and I as we sat at the table with dad and his good buddy, Bill, who himself is just as healthy and cognitively with it as dad and he is 93 years old!!!!!  Thanks Dad for your invite – Bob and I enjoyed ourselves immensely!

Here was the menu!!!!  It was buffet style that night!

My brother, Roy, who works as the maintenance man at Wellington Park and for every gourmet, his wife, Pat, makes him an outfit that goes with the theme of that particular gourmet.  This year he was a “Chinaman” I guess??

My two brothers, Roy (known affectionally by dad as “Nuck”) and Bob (known affectionaly as “Bob,Bob,Bob” and although I’m not in this picture…..I’m known as “Fanya”.  Don’t ask us how dad came up with these names!

Roy and Miranda who were our servers on the buttet – Miranda is the Activites Director at Wellington Park.

My dad to the left, Bob, me and Bill Richardson.  Isn’t it hard to believe dad and Bill are in their 90’s!!!!!

Roy and Miranda busy at work!! 

A picture of the dining room with everyone enjoying their Chinese meal – it was delicious!

After supper, the entertainment was some Chinese dancers!

It was a very enjoyable evening.  Thanks Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way…..We are having a 90th birthday Open House to celebrate dad’s birthday on Saturday, February 25th, so all are invited – I have sent out invitations via email  and if you would like to come and need more info – just e.mail me – jsharratt@rogers.com.  The open house will be at Wellington Park Terrace on Janefield in Guelph between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m.  Come one, come all!!