Every step of the way

I must begin this update with an apology for the length of time that it has taken for this note to be produced. I am disappointed in myself for not having news out earlier - much earlier. I will strive for more periodic updates over the coming months. I wish to thank those who did email specifically to enquire about Laurie and to those who made the trek to Oxford Station. Our friends from St. John's, Newfoundland, visited over the Easter weekend. It was great to see them and they were kind enough to bring up some items that we had left at our house there way back in the spring of 2011. Our house there has now been sold. Various day trippers from Ottawa have been highlights of Laurie's day I think.

In summary, Laurie has had no seizures since the last one in late February. Since being home, my impression is that she is not regressing and not really progressing in her recovery. Physically, she is mostly alright but still uses a cane while walking outside. Her balance is not always 100 percent. Emotionally, Laurie seems quite good. She is not getting depressed but sometimes she becomes anxious. I have learned to see anxious moments developing and realize that this is part of her recovery process. Cognitive skills are still quite weak. Her ability to speak in complete sentences is still not there. She is having a speech therapist in for about 90 minutes every two weeks. These sessions are very difficult for me since basic communication abilities are lacking and it is not listening to the Laurie that I know. However, Laurie continues to work on becoming better. Many unusual things take place as Laurie is not aware of what she is doing. Not a day goes by when I look at something and wonder how it got there or how did that happen?  Overall, however, each day is much like the last and likely the next. She is usually tired enough to have a rest in the afternoon and sometimes in the morning. Sleeping soundly at night is still a problem and it is not usual for us to be up two or three times over the night. We have a registered nurse come every two weeks to see how Laurie is doing and take her vital signs. Home-care continues, usually, for eight hours a week. It is not a lot really as I typically spend the time shopping or doing house related things. Now, yesterday was a bit of an exception to the routine type of day.

Mondays are days when there is a home-care person here for a five hour period. This is really useful since I can get up to Ottawa, if necessary, or just catch up on other things in Kemptville or even around the house. When I returned, the home-care person pointed out something on Laurie's hamstring. Well, I looked at it with a magnifying glass and it was a tick. The tick lookes firmly attached so we went up to the local hospital ER. Well, after two hours of waiting we were called in to one of the rooms. About twenty minutes later the doctor and an intern came in. Then another doctor came in and the three of them were quite interested in seeing the tick. After some discussion the two doctors were able to cleanly extract the tick. It will be sent to a lab in Winnipeg to see if it was carrying Lyme Disease. Chances are that it was not, but we should find out in a few weeks. I will keep an eye on the area to see if the redness fades away or stays. Kudos to the home-care lady for spotting the tick in the first place.

We have had several follow-up appointments with the oncologist in Ottawa since the last update. Nothing has changed in the chemotherapy prescription. The program is that Laurie takes chemotherapy pills at home five days in a 28 day cycle. The week that she is on the pills tends to be more challenging. She is quite a bit more tired and has less appetite. Her dilantin level is still up and down but blood testing has until lately been once every two weeks. Recently, her level is elevated and a dosage change has been given. Hence, until the dilantin level is back in the normal range weekly trips to the clinic are done. The next appointment with the oncologist is in mid June. We are hoping that an MRI will be scheduled.

With the coming of spring and summer like weather, we are out walking a little more now. We can sit on the front or the back deck and listen to the various birds and animals. We have left up the bird feeder as it is still an attraction for Laurie. We have at least five male rose-breasted grosbeaks along with a number of females, some lingering black-capped chickadees and white-breasted nuthatches, mourning doves, the odd hairy or downy woodpecker, gold and purple finches, sapsuckers and some blue jays and juncos too. We have three barred owls making a home near the house - exactly where we are not sure. Last week we were lucky to have both a male and female northern cardinal at the feeder for a while. Critter-wise, the family of chipmunks seems to enjoy the area as do the red and black squirrels. We had an abandoned baby racoon last week which we tried to look after but he, or she, is now gone. The place is looking pretty good considering that we have been without rain for quite some time. We are actually having an approaching thunderstorm right now with a steady rain so being on the computer writing this is probably not the smartest thing to be doing.

Laurie and I went to the local garden centre and Laurie more-or-less picked out the plants that she wanted. I did the planting this year and tried to involve her where possible. It would have taken less time just for me to do everything by myself but it was good to see her interested in the plants. After all, we really do have quite a bit of time to do things but our days do seem to be quite fragmented. That is one difficult part. Our pace in life has dramatically changed where we are essentially at home most of the time without being able to do things that we once did. Our bikes go un-ridden and the kayaks un-paddled. Our hiking boots are gathering dust. I am hoping that there will be a time when Laurie will be able to engage in things that we normally did, at least partially or sporadically.

Well, I decided it prudent to turn the computer off as the storm gradually got closer. Good thing. The power went off, then on, then off and then on. A tremendous lightening explosion rocked the house followed by a heart-rending crash. Lightening struck our large old (100 year plus) maple in the back next to the house. A huge section of tree crashed taking with it some fairly large trees. Branches missed the house by only a meter or so. We took refuge in the basement until the winds subsided and the torrential rain became a light shower. Upon investigation, we have serious tree damage in the back and branches all over the place. The composter is pancaked. Could have been worse but the place isn't looking so good anymore....sort of like a small tornado touched down momentarily.  My concern is that about one-half of the large maple tree is now missing in the middle where it looks like the lightening hit.  Called the insurance agent where I was passed to so many people asking for our policy number that I now know it by heart. Waiting for something to happen now from them. Normally, I would try and tackle the clean up by myself or with a friend, or two, or three. However, I can't be outside working on that now with Laurie inside by herself. Something tells me that this is going to be another long challenge. I hope that bad things are not coming in threes.....ticks, trees.....

It has now been more than ten months since Laurie was first diagnosed with a brain tumour. I keep thinking back to that day when our lives completely changed. Many of you have been with us, in one way or another, since that day in July when Laurie entered the hospital. It is good to know that she has support from friends around the world who keep her in their thoughts. Please keep doing so.

I hope that this short update has given everyone a sense of where things are with Laurie. I feel somewhat better now having composed this. I think back to that terrible day in December when the surgeon felt that Laurie only had a few months left. I am fortunate that his feelings did not turn out to be correct. So, each new day continues to be rather special here and no matter what happens to us our main focus is to keep Laurie safe and happy and to work on her becoming healthier. No matter how long her road to recovery, I will be beside her every step of the way.