Sunny Vancouver

Family at the Sea Wall in West Vancouver

It is Tuesday morning and I am getting prepared for chemo treatment #5 today.  Matthew is home as Maddie is sick, so it is a bit of a busier house this morning.  I am feeling the anti-nausea drugs start to relax me already and to be frank the sunshine helps as I get ready.  It always helps here in Vancouver.

We had a beautiful sunny day on Sunday.  Finding a parking spot near the beach was worse than the mall at Christmas as everyone was out walking and enjoying the day.  We joined my Mom & Dad and Max the puppy on a family walk.

I am feeling the increased impact of the drugs as we get closer to the end of my chemo.  I do not recover as quickly and I feel weaker each time.  I am still getting back to 70% or so in the last week, but it is still a slow climb.  I met with the plastic surgeon and my oncologist yesterday, so all is on track with surgery March 3rd, and radiation following my recovery.

Maddie & SJ at the beach

Ethan and I did a presentation on Cancer & My Family for his Grade 4 class this week.  This was a great time for he and I to create some presentation slides, do a little research, and talk a fair bit about our family experience and what we would share with his class.  Ethan does a fair bit of his processing out loud so this was a helpful way for him to gain a bit more understanding and reflection on what is going on in our family.  My dad was home, so he came along and video taped the presentation.  Ethan was thrilled to have this "feature" in his class and have his Mom and Grandad at school with him.

I spent a few days at InspireHealth - an Integrated Cancer Care Centre here in Vancouver last week.  It is the only centre of its kind in Canada and I met people from across the country looking at complementary cancer treatments.  It was quite a learning experience and I look forward to continuing my learning and involvement with this group.