Archive: August 2004

Slept fitfully, turning over every half hour or so. My back and hips are bothering me more than usual.

Hardly any mosquitoes this afternoon. I could even barbecue without bug spray.

Same lousy sleep routine as yesterday...

Went for a walk this evening. Had not felt like a walk since the beginning of last week. I barely did 4 or 5 blocks and had to go back.

Up at 4:30am so you can imagine how fit I felt today. Did go for another walk, a bit longer than yesterday. I'm in worse shape than my son Vincent, who smokes and sits on his behind most of the day. Yikes!

Saw Dr. Stewart (surgeon) today and he says that the bottom wound does not need packing anymore. It will be another month or so before the wound closes but it's getting pretty small. For the "waterworks" problem, he thinks it just needs time for the nerves to heal and reconnect.

I'm happy that I'm making such good progress with the wound. Got a call in to Home Care to see what I need to do for wound care, but at least I won't be going in every two days anymore.

Finally got my insurance form back from the family doctor. Got it off to Manulife right away for the LTD claim.

Did some lily pruning today, cutting off spent flowers to make sure only the ones I hybridized would produce seed pods. The rest of the plant's energy can then go into the bulb.

Darn, those "skeeters" are bad. Thank goodness for DEET!

Joke: One good deet deserves another. OK, it's a lame joke. :)

Good news! I only need to go see Home Care once a week now...

Attended the wedding ceremony of Dirk Apon this afternoon. We've known Dirk since he was born to very good friends of ours.

Congratulations Dirk and Amber. May God be your guide on your journey! Wasn't up to the reception, dinner, and dance festivities.

Vincent and I went to Elk Island Park today. Never saw so many bison on a single day.

It seems lately I'm up around 4am because my back and hips bother me. I think the chemo is making me calcium deficient. That would explain the cracked finger nails too.

Van T. took me to a photographers seminar. Vistek was promoting Phase One backs for Hasselblads. It was very interesting to hear the experience of professionals going from film to digital.

Duh, chemo brain again... Put my jacket with my wallet by the door and then left without it...

Did some weeding today and trimmed my Stella D'Oro daylily so I can see the pond again.

About supper time I was just pooped and then diarrhea started. Perhaps a result from not enough sleep, though it might be due to conflicting meds.

Slept about 14 hours. Feeling much better than yesterday. Today I noticed some of the cherries that I ate from yesterday, had fungus on them. Cecile figures you can just rinse them off, but my take on it is that fungus grows from the inside out.

Used the weed-whacker to cut down some grass. Unfortunately I cut down some lilies too. One of them, OT Sonora, is still in bloom so it's in a vase inside now and smells heavenly.

Good news. Home Care is closing my file. I'm done there... A big thank you is in order to all the nurses who have attended to me.

Beautiful weather, no mosquitoes, so I could actually sit outside.

Looking like another fine day. Forecast of 30°C, so I'll be outside again! :)

Had a very nice lunch with Leslie. Thanks, girl.

Duncan and Monica's wedding was a beautiful event. Great weather, although I spent a bit too long in the sun, I would not have missed the photo shoot at Devonian Botanic Gardens for the world. I wasn't the official photographer, but I just took some candid pictures as I had no official role, other than father of the groom. When we got to the hall for the reception, I found the chairs impossibly hard and being tired already, a friend drove me home around 8pm so I could go to sleep.

Slept a total of 11 hours after taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol 3. One of the best sleeps in a long time. And yet, at noon I had to take another nap, and another one after supper.

Feeling much more rested today. I guess the wedding took more out of me than I figured. Oh well, got all week to recover before chemo starts again.

Manulife called today to talk about my LTD benefits. I'm OK until the end of October.

Did some weeding today.

Cecile is digging up her potatoes, seems somebody is trying to steal them.

A neighbour's car was noticed across the medium, stereo ripped out... What's this world coming to?

Was a bit depressed this morning, not looking forward to chemo next week. So to cheer myself up, I went in the garden to do some weeding and lily transplanting.

Also took a few stoma photos.

Went to plant lilies at a friend's. Good grief, was I stiff later at night. And I did not even do that much...

Hope you enjoy them next year, Irene. 

Glad we planted those lilies yesterday. Rainy, cold weather would not make it a pleasure today... Still stiff and sore from yesterday...

Slept almost 11 hours last night. Taking it easy today, as I have to get up early tomorrow.

After adding a new domain (Parkland Perennials) to my server, it decided not to work anymore. Don't really feel like mucking with it today.

8:30am - blood test - was good! :)

9:30am - exam - Dr. Tankel (filling in for Dr. Pedersen) ordered x-rays to check on the back and hip pain. Just to make sure nothing funny is happening there.

11:45am - chemo treatment cycle 3 of 4 - driver: Cecile

I was rather exhausted after spending the morning at the CCI. So I had a 2-hour nap when we came home.

Now to check on the web server... Turned out to be one of those automatic updates that turned on a firewall. Good firewall--nothing got through. Thanks, Vincent, for your help!

1:00pm - chemo treatment cycle 3 of 4 - driver: Rey Wosar

Slept long (ten hours) but fitfully. Up to go to the bathroom every hour or so, turning over and over.

Still lousy weather. Time to bring the Christmas and Orchid cacti inside, I think.

4:15pm - chemo treatment cycle 3 of 4 - driver: Dan Nguyen

Amazing how sunny weather improves one's outlook on life. Doing fairly well today. Talked with my sister from Holland for over an hour, and then got to work on emptying the pond. Someone is picking up the fish and lilies tomorrow. Then I can begin phase 1 of my garden make-over, removing the pond and making a new lily bed. Next year I will put in a smaller pond in a location where it gets more sun, so I can enjoy my waterlilies longer.

3:15pm - chemo treatment cycle 3 of 4 - driver: Vincent Danen

Just figured out that my insurance benefits drop by $734 per month by going from STD (short term disability) to LTD (long term disability). And for August they're taking off another $642 which they overpaid on STD. This is no reflection on my employer; I just did not ask enough questions to get the full financial picture.

Had a good 11-hour sleep, probably due to my extra activity in the garden yesterday.

12:00pm - chemo treatment cycle 3 of 4 - driver: Fran Lucas

Thanks, Fran, for jumping in on short notice. Was it not for the unnecessary poking (ouch), the whole procedure was rather pleasant. Unless you see for yourself how people joke around with each other while receiving chemo, it's hard to imagine how sick people make light of their condition. I attribute a good deal of the humour to the nurses. They don't work with sick people, they're working with people who are getting better.

Did some more work in the garden. Got the pond out, ready for Leslie to come and pick up. Also went to Greenland Gardens with Irene to check out trees for a few hours, so I was really bushed.

Would you believe a twelve and a half hour night of sleep? Not continuous, of course, but I think it's a record. I'm beginning to think my energy is not back to the same level at the beginning of each chemo cycle. I think the fatigue is cumulative. I feel much more tired than at the same time in the first two cycles. But perhaps I'm more active with gardening, who knows... After all, I filled the pond space halfway this afternoon. Good thing Cecile was available to carry the bags of topsoil.

Happy anniversary to long-time friends, Fred and Irene! :-)

My tongue is again very sensitive, maybe a precursor to mouth sores?

Nice easy day. Duncan, Monica and Alicia came for supper, and to pick up their wedding photos.

Duncan dropped off the computer for fixing and/or upgrading. On first inspection, that machine was full of viruses and spyware. For those who don't know what spyware is, think identify theft...

Went to Kuhlman's today with Vincent to pick up 8 bags of top soil and 1 bag of sheep manure. The old pond is starting to look full...

Diarrhea is beginning to run rampant today--sh!t... Imodium to the rescue!

Lovely day today, as far as the weather is concerned. Bugs were bugging me a bit outside. After the mosquitoes and aphids, now we have flying ants. Started packing the new "pond" flower bed. I guess I need some more soil now...

Another month finished... Six and a half more weeks of treatments...