Let's all keep a good thought eh.

I spoke to Jennifer last night, and she was in some pain, but overall feeling better. I could tell by her voice that she is nervous about today. Today is when she will have a full body CT scan so that it can be determined if there is any more cancer in her body. We are all hoping and praying there isn't, but we have to be realistic as well. The good thing is that Jenn is determined to fight whatever is ahead. Like Scott told me, "she's a tough as nails".

On the plus side, I will be picking the truck up from the shop this morning. $14.95 for a fan belt. Whew... that sounds reasonable. I don't know what the labour charge will be. Keep smiling.

A few days in hell...

It was Thursday that Scott called to say Jennifer wasn’t well. For a couple of weeks now, she had such a sore back that she could hardly sleep at night. For several days, her only sleep was on the couch propped up with a bunch of pillows. Scott took Jenn to the emergency room several times and the doctors said they couldn’t pin down what was wrong. Jennifer was having severe back pain along with numbness in her belly. First they thought it might be muscle pain, and then they thought it might be a kidney infection. Then Jenn was out grocery shopping with the boys last week and she was having difficulty walking. She couldn’t feel her feet as they would touch the ground. Finally, the hospital people decided to do an MRI. That was Thursday and that’s when they discovered the tumour on Jenn’s spine. What a shock. A tumour! Where the hell did that come from?! Jennifer has always been healthy and fit and always makes a point of eating the right stuff and being safe and healthy. So our big question was, is it benign or malignant? That doesn’t matter said the doctor. He said we have to cut it right now and take the pressure off the spine.
Seeing her in the hospital bed was heartbreaking. Scott was hurting so much to see his sweetheart like that. Jenn and I spent some moments talking and she saw the fear in my face and I saw the fear in hers. She reached out and grabbed my hand just like she did 20 years ago when she first came to Sudbury General Hospital. She was in high school then and was washing dishes one night after supper when she seriously cut herself on a broken glass. I remember seeing the cut and telling Jenn we’d have to take her in for stitches. She was terrified then and I remember being with her in emergency when the doctors sewed up her hand. She had a fierce grip on my hand. It was the same thing a couple of days ago. Jenn grabbed my hand and held it hard. We both knew how scared we felt. We both had tears in our eyes. Jenn was worried for the boys. Thank God Scott’s Mom and Dad, Denise and Don, drove in from Westree to look after the boys and keep the house running.
On Friday, the surgery didn’t happen, but Jenn was prepared with anti-biotics and then steroids to reduce inflammation.
Friday night Jenn seemed in better spirits. I sat with her and Scott for awhile and then she said she wanted to walk. So Scott and I held her arms and we walked all around the hospital. For a moment I was so encouraged, but then the reality of it hit me… Why did we have to hold her up? Why was she losing all feeling in her legs? What the hell is going on?
This morning as she was getting ready for the surgery, things were not better. She had less and less feeling in her legs. I tried to be positive. I told her Jenn - you’re gonna be okay, you’re gonna get through this. Jenn seemed to sense my own fears. “I love you Dad,” she said with tears. “I love you Jennifer,” I said as I started crying. “I love you Dad,” she said again. I couldn’t talk. I could barely see as my eyes fill with tears.
I had to come to Timmins this morning for a few hours. I cried all the way home.
This afternoon, Jenn was still in surgery, I showered, put on fresh clothes and started driving back to Sudbury. My thoughts were everywhere. I barely noticed anything. Suddenly steam started coming out of the engine, from under the hood and then through the vents in the truck. The engine was overheating because my fan belt broke. I sat on the side of the highway for a couple of hours waiting for a tow truck. We dropped the truck off at the shop and I got in the door just before 11:00 p.m.
Scott says Jennifer came out surgery okay this evening, but not everything is okay.
It broke Scott’s heart to tell me that the tumour on her spine was cancerous. The tumour was also bigger than expected. The surgeon says he hopes he hopes he removed most of the tumour, but says he is not sure. Tomorrow Jennifer is resting and recovering. On Monday, the doctor says she needs a full scan, head to toe, to see if there is any more cancer. I spoke to Neil some minutes ago. I could tell by his voice that he too has a hard time accepting this. This is all so unhappy. I can barely write anymore. My heart is broken.

FROST WARNING!

Yes, it's hard to believe for August, but Timmins has it's first frost warning of the "fall season" for tonight! Oh well, such is life in Timmins.
ENVIRONMENT CANADA: Forecast
Issued: 4.00 PM EDT Wednesday 26 August 2009
Tonight:
Clear. Low plus 2 with patchy frost.
Thursday:
Sunny. Becoming a mix of sun and cloud in the afternoon. High 15. UV index 6 or high.

Grumpy stuff

Saturday Things:
I am grumpy about phone voice systems… they keep telling you to hit the Pound Key! This is the Pound Key - £. They really want you to hit the Number Key, which is this - #. I sure hope somebody else speaks up about this.

Don’t argue. I got into an argument this week with a guy on the phone. I was fed up about something else, but this guy didn’t like something in the paper so he called to B*tch about it. Well, I B*tched right back. It wasn’t nice. I should really know better. We agreed he should write a letter to the editor. That should be interesting when it arrives.

Lost any socks lately. Yeah, me too. For about two weeks I have been wondering where my socks went. Today I went to throw a load of clothes into the dryer. Woohoo… there was about six pairs of socks in there.

I will be going to the library today to do research. I notice lots of kids go there on Saturdays… but nobody reads books anymore… they’re all on the internet. Everyone thinks Google and Wikipedia are research. Hmmm… they’re not. They will point you in the right direction, but always check it out. NEVER trust the internet.

I having buying beer lately, but not at the Beer Store. In Ontario we have Beer Stores and the Liquor Store. Lately I have noticed that its cheaper to buy beer at the liquor store!

Hmmmmm. That is all for now.

Sabre makes a comeback

I am sorely going to miss seeing the annual air show at the Canadian National Exhibition this year. When I was a kid I went with my Dad often. When I grew up, I took my own kids many times. This year the Ex air show is featuring a CF86 Sabre fighter jet, in the colours of the Golden Hawks. What a fabulous plane. I remember seeing the Hawks when I was a kid living on the airbase at Portage La Prairie. The Hawks would land there often. It was a time when Canada’s air force had real fighter jets for an air show team. The Snowbirds are nice, but nowhere near as cool or fast or good looking as the Hawks. Interestingly, in those days, the jets were not required to fly at a safe distance from spectators. Flying low and fast right over the crowds was done often. The Sabres were fabulous birds and even though they were created by the US, the Canadian-built version was actually faster since it carried the Orenda Engine. And oh-my-god they were so fast. I remember seeing one zooming over the field at Portage. It was like a blur. There was not a sound. That’s when we knew to cover our ears. It was breaking the sound barrier. Then the sonic boom hit like the sound of the throat being ripped out a dragon. What a thrill! When we lived in France, the Canadian Sabres were screaming over the base all the time. Canada had two complete fighter squadrons there and they would patrol over northern Europe back in the days when we all hated the Soviets. If you want to see the first flight of the “Hawk One” Sabre, go here: http://www.asb.tv/videos/view.php?v=605190c0
Photo Credit: Canadian Forces Combat Camera

Just some stuff...

Saturday morning and it’s a hot morning in Timmins. I shouldn’t complain. We’ve had so much rain this summer that it’s nice to get some days without rain. But the heat just comes on so quickly. I spent the night flipping my pillow trying to find a cool spot on the cotton. The only thing I enjoy when it’s hot is my cup of coffee.
I went to grab some photos last night as the Trailer Park Boys were at The Mac. I didn’t hang around for the backstage stuff. I find concerts just too crowded and noisy. Its one thing when I’m working, but I can’t relax with all that noise. They keep sending me free passes to concerts, but I don’t find it relaxing. It didn’t help that the arena was sweltering. It had to be 35 degrees in there. The show itself was as funny as I expected. But I couldn’t believe some people brought kids to the show. How dumb is that? I went to bed early and got up early. It was 6:00 a.m. and I suddenly had this craving for stew. Then I remembered that I had a really good beef stew at Jennifer’s place a couple of weeks back. Funny how cravings happen. I had coffee and chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.

Grrreat weekend

It was sure a nice weekend. I got back into town last night after visiting Jennifer and Scott and the boys. It was nice to just relax and forget about everything. Jenn and Scott live in the country and it is sooooo quiet I actually slept eight hours! I was able to spend time with the boys and we went out to a restaurant where it was fun to order dessert BEFORE our meal. So we had a round of chocolate fudge sundaes as appetizers. I was able to snap a nice photo of Tyler and Nathan because they're great guys and really cool brothers for each other. The drive along Highway 144 was interesting. Aside from seeing two bears, I also noticed there has been plenty of claim staking going on near the junction of Highway 101 near Timmins. Prospectors are finding lots of new gold zones out there so it seems everyone is looking to cash in on the action. I could easily count at least a dozen claimposts along the side of the highway. And even though I was tired getting into town after a four-hour drive, I stopped at Wal Mart to grab a few things before going home. That's where I bumped into Aline who was on her way home for supper. So I was pleased to enjoy a nice hot meal of lasagna, garlic bread, red wine, chocolate cake and ice cream!