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Laurie had a serious brain lesion that was surgically removed on July 24, 2011. It was uncertain exactly what the disease was and to me, these days were really the fight for her life. After the surgery, Laurie spent two weeks in an Ottawa, Ontario hospital. This period was full of events relating directly to her and to other patients and aspects going on in the hospital during her stay. Laurie came home on Friday, August 5th, 2011. Since being at home, events have settled into a routine but not without the ups and downs of recuperating with a rare brain tumour. Her story is one of hope, struggle, patience and above all, courage. The current update is presented at the top of the page with her day-by-day story presented from the bottom upwards.
This story also has pictures of Laurie. She is a woman of many interests and dimensions. She and I love to travel and September has been our favourite time of year to do so. The trips taken over the past six or seven years have seen us in places like western and central Scotland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, New Zealand, Australia, Cape Breton, Charlevoix, Ireland and to Newfoundland a couple of times. The first things that Laurie always packs are her plant press, silica gel bags, binoculars, loupe, botany reference books, bird books, hiking books, note books and always a good raincoat. If there is any room left she packs some clothes. You can usually recognize her at the airport because she is one with three or four layers of clothing on.

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Ringing the Bell

Monday, September 19, 2011
 
It has been a full week now since the last update on Laurie's health. I am pleased to report that she is maintaining course for her recovery plans. She is now participating in more activities around the house and we venture a little further each day along the road on her morning walks. Her sleeping is going well and her sickness has not returned since her first two days of radiation. A good balance of resting, eating, drinking and exercise continues. She did take time to down load the photos from the BlackBerry to the home computer. I took many pictures of her along her journey that she had never seen before. In fact, she really did not know that I had taken them. Some of the photos are very poignant and I was not sure how she would react. Not to my surprise, she simply went through them and asked the occasional question or two. I was more struck by some of the photos than she was and I was the photographer!
 
The appointments last week were at the end of the afternoon which meant commuting to the hospital was typically slow in both directions. Once at the hospital, the sessions went well. Laurie must be close to being a model patient for the radiation staff. Always pleasant and undemanding and a good listener. She is taking everything in perspective. There are other patients in the waiting room who appear to be suffering more, at least outwardly.  It seems to me that many of patients are there alone and not with any family or friends. This must be difficult for some of them.
 
The bell to signify the last of someone's chemotherapy sessions rang twice last week while we were present. In the first instance, a little boy of perhaps six years of age, head completely devoid of hair and quite red, had finished his treatments. He was a little small for reaching the rope on the bell but his father pulled the cord and the three or four staff there with them all clapped and smiled as we did. He seemed to be in good spirits and I wondered just how rough a start in his life that he has experienced and what his future may be like.   The second ringing was from a woman whom I would estimate to be in her fifties or early sixties. It is difficult to give an age since the treatments may dramatically affect the person's appearance. She rang the bell with vigour and cried and smiled while doing so. The sound of clapping accompanied her joy and I am sure that there is emotional sentiment from those thinking of her and the completion of their own treatments.
 
Last week also saw us visit her neurological surgeon at the Civic Hospital. This is a rudimentary follow-up that we were anxiously waiting for. He is a very genuine doctor who took his time with Laurie. He is very interested in seeing the results of his labour, starting with the healing of the incision on her head. All is well there and he seemed pleased. He conducted a number of physical tests with Laurie and asked her about how she was feeling. Overall, a nice meeting to have had. The next meeting with him will be after Laurie has completed her radiation sessions at which time another MRI will be taken. He will review the baseline images taken just prior to the sessions starting and the images after her six weeks of treatments. It is good to know that there are several doctors who are following Laurie's progress and doing their own assessments.
 
Like many of you we find that weekends are something that you look forward too. Not only do we not have the drive into Ottawa but there seems to be a fall fair or event taking place every weekend. These activities offer variety to our weekly routine and with the nice weather here in Eastern Ontario we have some choice. Last weekend we went to a nearby apple orchard and bought some nice fresh fruit. We did not pick ourselves this year but many of those there were doing just that. We did some walking by the Rideau waterway and St. Lawrence River where Laurie was identifying plants and birds. We met a mink at one point that seemed as curious about us as we were of it. It seems to me that there are many events taking place in the small towns and villages that the city folk travel too with anticipation. I am not sure how many of us country bumpkins are heading into the city on the weekend. I believe that there is a special appeal to being in rural Ontario in September, especially with sunny skies and comfortable temperatures.
 
Treatment number 12 was today along with a consultation with her radiation oncologist.  Monday is his open clinic from 13:30 to 15:30 when patients can see him. I am not sure where the onus lies on prearranging the topics of discussion. The wait was quite long, well over one hour in fact. He came into the consultation room with his usual vigour and confidence. He seems to have an overabundance of patients which means that his time is carefully rationed. As Laurie appears to be doing quite well, he does not spend more than a few minutes with us. We think that he must be devoting his time to those patients where things are not working out as well. This is quite understandable and we hope that all of his future Monday sessions with us will be short ones.
 
Waiting in the hospital is something that you must adapt to. It is amazing to me how many National Geographic magazines from the mid 1980s to the late 1990s are there in excellent condition. We are typically careful about what we handle in the hospital and take precautions that others may feel are unnecessary. However, with Laurie's decreased immune system she must be vigilant in minimizing her risk to catching something.  Some people seem to wait with impatience and others simply fall asleep. I tend not to be able to read as Laurie usually does. My mind wanders. I look at the other patients and the doctors and hospital staff and think about different things. I know that there are people there who are just beginning their journey and the apprehension is there to show this. For others, it appears that they have just finished work at the office and they stopped in to get their usual treatment before stopping at Swiss Chalet for a take-out. Still, for them, there is a story that lies in their recent past. I seem to be the only person who is taking notes, at least those of the written kind. My small binder is quite full now and yet I am adding paper weekly. Not just my daily updates but notes relating to upcoming appointments, prescription renewals and the names of new support staff that Laurie can call upon if needed.
 
As mentioned, we had a long wait between Laurie's 12th radiation session and the meeting with her radiation oncologist. My mind wandered again back to grade school and to poor Harry. You see, after Harry's regrettable performance relating to his essay on summer fun, he landed himself in more difficulty with Mr. Connors. This time, Harry had to write a 500 word essay on "The air inside a ping-pong ball". It amazes me that I can still remember this sort of thing and I wonder if Harry does to. The essay itself was not presented to the class as his first one was. So, I can not report now what Harry was able to write on such a topic. This is what I was wondering about during our lengthy wait having gone over my mental assessments of the waiting room persons and activities. It is strange that the subject would even be imagined. What could someone, especially in grade seven, write on this? I put my mind on to the subject and it is not an easy one to deal with. I could not even reasonably put my first words together. I know that I would have received an F- from Mr. Connors for my lack of original thinking.
 
This week's appointments are quite diverse for timing. We have two days where we will be part of the rush hour crowd. Three of the appointments are at new times and it will be interesting to see the hospital at those times and what may be different than during our usual hours. I am sure that some new faces will be there in the radiation waiting rooms. Perhaps new radiation technicians will be there as well. There are always two of these people taking care of Laurie and they always seem to be congenial and quite young. The latter feeling is probably simply due to my age. I know most of them by first name basis even if they are in the hallway somewhere outside of the radiation area.  Laurie will be taking her fifteenth session this Thursday (September 22nd). This date will be a half-way milestone and one that I am sure she will be most proud of. She does not show much emotion throughout her sessions as she has accepted that these are integral to her recovery. The only time that she has really shed a tear or two is when she is playing a song on her guitar. I think that doing both of these things are good for her.
 
I need to think of something special to do to mark her milestone achievement. This is a more practical subject to consider compared to meeting Harry's challenge and I can put my mind to it over the next few days.  I know that there will be no deductions for brevity, poor grammar or spelling. Whatever this something special is I hope that she will be as pleased with it as I am in her achievement. 
 
 

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