Great Train Ride - Great Visit

Today we went to the Peterborough area to visit our friends, Grant & Jean. We took the scenic route over the back country roads. On our way we stopped to check out the Riverview Park & Zoo in Peterborough because one of our day camps might be going there this week. The two highlights at the park, for me, were a ride on the little train and seeing the miniature village. After seeing the park we visited with G & J which topped off a wonderful day!

Birthday Dinner at Mark & Rosemary's

We were all invited over to Mark & Rosemary's for dinner on Saturday night, to celebrate Henry and my birthdays. Dinner was delicious and it was exciting for us to be there together and for Mark & Rosemary to host their first big dinner group in their new home.

Checking out over 400 wedding picture proofs!

Karen & Anna

Time for dessert! Mark & Rosemary serving up wedding cake and frozen yogurt.

Enjoying the blessing of family togetherness!

Saturday Continued

For some reason the last blog entry would only post four pictures, so here are some more.

I spent quite a few hours working in the garden and enjoying the flowers.

Everything is being revived by the rain.

This monarch butterfly allowed me to come up really close, and it didn't fly away.

Nick and Fanny dropped by before going camping. All packed - trailer, canoe, bikes.....

Saturday

Produce from the vegetable garden - lettuce, green beans, and swiss chard.

Preparing space in the front yard for our new rain barrel.

Weeding

Bee balm

Farewell to Sunnybrook Cancer Centre

Yesterday I officially said "good-bye" to the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital. It was starting to become a familiar place. Over the last three months I have spent many of my "days off" attending appointments at the opthamology and oncology clinics at Sunnybrook. There were so-o-o many people at the cancer clinic! After a while you start feeling like everyone has cancer. The nurse told me that they see 4,000 people there every week! It is a huge blessing to have a centre like this so close to our home where they coordinate all the care you need and have all kinds of technology for testing and treatment. However, it's unfortunate that so many people need this kind of care. Yesterday the oncologist confimed that they did not find cancer in any of my tests and so the appointment that I had that same day with the radiation oncologist was cancelled. The only unusual thing they did find was some antibodies in my blood, which indicates that I must have had some kind of infection or virus in my eye. I have now been referred back to the opthamologist at Sunnybrook for ongoing monitoring, but do not have to come back to the cancer centre anymore. So that's a relief!

These last three months have been a good experience - stressful and emotionally exhausting, but positive. I have felt so much love and support and prayers from so many people! I realized how many things and people I have taken for granted. I have been encouraged to live more in the moment. I like to think that I have gained a new perspective on life. I had no idea what many people go through when they get the dreaded diagnosis of cancer, or have other traumatic experiences in their lives. I hope that some of the lessons I've learned will stay with me and not fade out as my life shifts back to "normal". I've been thinking about the response, "God is good" when people heard my news that no cancer was found. It made me wonder whether that implies that God is not good if cancer had been found? I've been wondering why I didn't have cancer while so many people do. And what is really important in life? When I think about the three months it's really weird to think that from the very beginning to the very end nothing changed in my condition (unless I did have cancer and then there was a miraculous healing), but nine words, "there are suspicious-looking cells that might be malignant" changed everything! Lots of interesting questions and lots of food for thought. All part of the journey of life and these last three months have been a very special part of that journey.

Happy 87th Birthday to My Mother!

One of my favourite pictures of my mom, taken last summer.

March 2009

Canada Day 2009

Happy 32nd Birthday, Henry!

Proud new home owners

Gerard, Karen and I spent the day at Henry & Melanie's new house gardening, especially helping them clear the "jungle" out of their back yard. Some of their friends stopped by for a tour of the house and helped out too. We got a lot done!

First the front yard

Then the back yard

Pulling the vines that grew all over the place - wound around the fence, other plants, and a long way up some of the trees.

As we worked our way from the patio to the back of the property we found things we didn't even know were there, like an archway that had roses climbing on it. And by the time we were done we could actually see the end of the clothes line and the back fence. A very rewarding job!

More Good News!

Yesterday we heard the good news that there are no malignant cells in my spinal fluid and no lymphoma cells in the fluid they removed from left eye last week. So that is a huge relief. Thank you, Lord! This coming Friday we get the results of blood tests that might tell us whether the fluid in my eyes was caused by an unusual infection or virus.

Yesterday we went to visit John and Elsie at their family cottage up north of Bradford. We took the scenic route up through Holland Marsh. This is one of the canals that helps to drain the marsh.

The guys BBQing in the rain.

Holland Marsh vegetable fields.

Update on Sweet Potato - Growing Experiment

Sometime during the week of May 22 - 27 I started trying to grow sweet potatoes. I began by following the instructions on how to sprout them in the house, but they started to get mouldy so I dug them into the garden to see what would happen. Well, 7 of the 9 pieces of sweet potatoes sprouted. Here is one of them in the picture above. I put my hand beside it so you can see how big it is. I've read that if you water them too much they will be less flavourful, so I guess this dry weather is good for them.

And today I checked through my blog to see when I last posted a picture of flowers and it was almost a month ago, so here are some nasturtiums to cheer up the page. I seeded them in my vegetable garden, and they are starting to get lots of flowers and also to spread all over the place. They're taking over! They're supposed to be helpful to include when you do companion planting in your vegetable garden.

Eco-Taxi in Toronto

We saw a couple of these downtown the other day for the first time. It's basically a guy pedalling something like a low covered bicycle, with room in the back for two passengers. I took this picture through the window of the street car. The yellow dots and the vertical line were on the street car window.

Warm Summer Evening Stroll along Toronto Waterfront

Good News So Far!

We were told by the oncologist this morning that they found nothing out of the ordinary in my blood tests, CAT scans and MRI's. Everything was clear. So that's great news so far! They are still testing for lymphoma of the eyes - which is quite rare. So now we are waiting for the results of the tests on the fluid they extracted from my left eye yesterday and I'm also scheduled for a spinal tap next Wednesday at noon so they can test my spinal fluid. The other possible explanation for the fluid in my eye that has "suspicious looking cells" in it, is that it is caused by an infection or virus, so he also ordered more blood tests to see if I have any anti-bodies to those infections or viruses. Our next appointment with the oncologist is on Friday, July 24th to hear the results of these tests.

I am feeling fine, going to work, and doing everything else as usual, except just today I have a patch on my left eye from yesterday's surgery, because my eye is very sensitive to the light and my vision is still quite blurry - but that's normal. My brain has been feeling a little overloaded with emotions the last few weeks, with the excitement of Mark & Rosemary's wedding, Alida's coming and leaving for Australia again, and all this medical stuff. But through it all we feel so blessed by all the love and support we are experiencing. Except for an hour here and there that I panic and feel anxious, we experience a peace that passes all explanation and understanding. Thank you so much for your ongoing support and prayers!

Vacation's Over - It's Back to Work

Well, my vacation is over and it's back to work. We had three weeks (I was still working the first week) packed with action and emotions. A happy reunion with Alida, anxious moments about the potential diagnosis based on the tests I'm having, wonderful tokens of support from so many people, peace that passes all understanding, exciting and wonderful wedding celebrations, joyful reports from Mark & Rosemary as they returned from their honeymoon and settle into their new apartment, tearful goodbyes when Alida left, great visits with friends and family.... up and down and all over the place, but they were wonderful weeks. And we packed a lot of action into a short time...

Alida arrived for a visit from Australia for three weeks
Visited Mark & Rosemary to see their new apartment
Got our first peek at Henry & Melanie's new house (they get the key on July 17)
Finalized wedding preparations
Hosted the rehearsal party
Had a wonderful celebration on Mark & Rosemary's wedding day
Karen moved in with us for the month of July
Brought Mark & Rosemary to the airport for their honeymoon trip to Jamaica
Met with our small group
Shopped at Value Village
Tried new recipes from the Australian cookbooks Alida sent me for Mother's Day and tried one out on Henry & Melanie who came over for lunch before leaving on their vacation
Went for a CAT scan
Visited my parents in Stratford on Canada Day
Watched Canada Day fireworks at Downsview Park
Went strawberry picking and put lots away in the freezer for smoothies
Checked out the new Faith Family Books and Gifts store in Scarborough
Watched a Fringe Festival play
Read three books
Had an MRI
Spent a day at the beach at Sibbald Point
Watched Patch Adams
Watched Shakespeare's "The Tempest" in High Park
Brought Alida back to the airport for her trip back to Australia
and
Went back to work today - Phew! - It was so quiet and boring there because everyone else was away on vacation so to brighten up the day we went and watched another Fringe Festival play

Our day at Sibbald was beautiful, but a little on the chilly side. Gerard, Karen and Ruth-Ann actually went swimming and said the water was beautiful. Alida and I played it safe and just lazed around on the beach.


Evening out at "Dream in High Park" with Gerard, Karen, Alida and Jessica to see The Tempest

Alida's on Her Way back to Australia

Henry and Melanie stopped by for lunch last Monday to say goodbye to Alida before they left on their vacation.

The honeymooners came home last night from their week in Jamaica and the four of us came to see Alida off at the airport today.

It was great to have her here for three weeks for the wedding and to just spend time together.

She'll be arriving in Sydney in 36 hours, so with a 3-hour lay-over in Vancouver and a 9-hour night at a hostel in Honolulu, its a total of 24 hours of flying!!!

Strawberry Picking