February 21, 2019

We endured our first treatment day yesterday. We left the house at just after 6am and got home at almost 8pm last night.
Other than drowsiness from the benadryl cocktail Ron received from Chemo, he's feeling well. The radiation treatment was very quick and his only comment was about the hardness of the bed on his bony body.
Today we meet with the nutritionist, then on to radiation again. We anticipate leaving Victoria area by noon today. Tomorrow is the meeting with the oncology nurse, then radiation therapy number 3.
The dogs are happy to be with us, even if they spend a lot of time waiting in the car. I take frequent breaks to give the walks or just hang out in the car with them. Isis continues to be even more attached to me than usual.
We are very grateful for the beautiful traveling weather. The Olympic Mts in Washington were stunning from the top of the Malahat both last night and this morning. Unfortunately, I was driving didn't get any photos.

February 12, 2019

We have been getting some snow over the last few days. Anywhere else in Canada it's just a mild wintery few days. On Vancouver Island and environs, it's a paralyzing event. Many businesses have shortened hours (if not closed entirely), the schools are closed, and people are being advised to stay home. On our part of Gabriola we have received about 8" of snow with more lightly falling now. No biggie, until you think about the unplowed roads and inexperienced snow drivers trying to negotiate hills and corners.
One illustration of how this is such a crippling event was demonstrated to me in a hilarious statement by one of our daughters in a phone call last night. It went something like. ". . .my car is buried, so roomie is taking me to work tomorrow. I know we have a snow shovel, but I can't find it, so I used a piece of cardboard and a dust pan to clear enough snow to get it parked."

Ron came home from the hospital with me last Thursday. While in hospital they pumped him full of electrolytes and ran the tube feeding continuously. He's now on tube feeding at home. To get the amount of formula recommend into his system requires about 16 hours a day hooked up to the pump .  He remains very low energy, but his color is better. He's scheduled to begin Chemo/radiation on the 20th. We had thought it was to begin tomorrow, but with the current driving conditions it is probably a good thing we don't need to get to Victoria tomorrow. We will have to brave the roads and super scary drivers tomorrow to pick up a few supplies in Nanaimo.

On a side note, I have been posting from my phone, so pictures don't work. One of these days I will fire up the computer and do a "proper" post with photos.

Thanks again for all your kind thoughts and prayers on our behalf.

February 4th 2019

With the weather guessers calling for snow last night, we weren't sure how the travel conditions would be today. Ron and I took the dogs with us to church yesterday, then we all stayed the night with his sister in Langford.
We had a leisurely start to the morning, then I dropped him off at the hospital around noon and headed home with the dogs.
As I was loading on the ferry home, the surgeon called and said his operation was successful and he now has a feeding tube placed. He will spend a couple of days in the hospital before I can retrieve him. Hopefully he'll see some improvement in his energy levels once he's getting nutrition again.
The cold has definitely arrived, but only a dusting of snow for the most part. Of course, cold is a relative term. . . I think cold for much of Vancouver Island is anything near/below freezing. Basically we do wet, not white around here.