Friday, July 6, 2012

Looking Good

Joel is looking really good these day.  His hair is growing in very nice and it is curly.  He went to work for the first time today and said that it felt really good.  I am a little nervous about it but he is just wanting life to be normal again.  He has been working hard on his Calculus…… in this unit he is learning how to figure out the optimal size of a can and how to describe the location of a rainbow in the sky….. yes, things that he will use often in everyday life.  His counts have been too low again and he has been feeling quite tired.  They are checking them again on Wednesday when he goes for chemo in Vernon and they will probably lower all his meds again. 
I am finding myself saying thing to him that I never thought I would.
Things like…..
"Make sure you ask for the stockings that are the same colour as your legs"
"Let me pay for your $140 stockings"
"Joel, can you please hand wash your stockings in the sink and hang them in the shower to dry so that they don't accidentally go into the wash"

Sienna is starting to look just like Boo from the movie Monster's Inc.
 Last month when Joel was in Vancouver we were asked if we wanted to go to the golf tournament fundraiser.  Joel was having chemo that day so it didn't work for us to play golf…. not that any of us know how to golf anyways.  But we were invited to go to the dinner in the evening and Richard asked me if I would say something……. I said yes because I though it was the least I could do but then I though OH CRAP…… I am going to have to talk in front of people.
Ari was just very excited that he got to go to a very fancy dinner and have very yummy food.  He was very brave and tried a mussel.  He thought it was disgusting but then he ate two pieces of cheesecake for dessert.
 I was feeling very nervous about speaking but then Richard told me that he had just done another fundraiser  a few weeks ago and the person they asked to speak got quite intoxicated and told every one to get off their 'bleeping' wallets and give money.  So then I relaxed, stayed far away from the wine and took a different approach.  I just talked a little bit about our family and about our experience, said a big thank-you for everything, and talked about what a blessing Ronald MacDonald House has been to our family.  
After there was an auction, Joe and Mary Ann G. from MacDonalds bid on a PS3, 8 games and a tour of EA Sports and then gave it to Joel and Ari.  Everyone went out of their way to make us feel like the guests of honor.  Steve invited Joel to come see the morning show next time he is in Vancouver. He said he would give Joel a tour of the news room and then take him out for breakfast afterwards.
  As soon as we got home from Vancouver, we snuck in a quick trip to Manitoba and had a very nice visit with Grant's family.  It had been way too long since we had seen them.  We were just gearing up to do the strawberries when we got back but then the Fortune Creek Dyke broke and the bottom half of the garden got flooded.
I was thinking of just dumping out all the sandbags and making a beach, building a dock and calling it Fortune Lake. 
 And then the wildlife moved in.  They run every time I get the camera out so you will have to take my word for it.  The pretty brown wood ducks have been doing laps thru the strawberry rows.  A big majestic grey crane sits on the top rail of the fence and watches me work.  Most mornings the heron family and their little turkey sized baby pick at the waterlogged strawberries and in the afternoons they are usually wandering the blueberry rows.  The resident doe has twins this year, we saw them for the first time yesterday.  And there are countless turtles, frogs, mosquitos, red and yellow headed blackbirds.  I don't mind most of them….. but I could live without the mosquitos and the duck concerto that starts at 4 o'clock most mornings.
 But most of the blueberries and the top half of the garden has never looked better.  Thanks to Sleepy Hollow Greenhouse I got an instant garden…… eggplant, pumpkins, squash, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, several kinds of peppers, all sorts of herbs, onions, leeks and flowers.  Yesterday we ate potatoes carrots, beets and lettuce from the garden.  Yum!

Make-A-Wish approved Joel's request for a trip to Israel so that is the next thing we have to look forward to.  Joel has to do the trip before he turns 19 so they are sending us to Jerusalem for 7 days in the middle of August.  They like to keep everything a surprise so I don't really have any details yet.  All I know is that we fly out of Vancouver on August 13th and we fly back to Kelowna on August 22nd. 

2 comments:

  1. It has been almost a year and half (a year and five months or just a few days short of that) since your last post. Perhaps it is time to make another entry or two as Joel gets near the end of the maintenance phase of his chemo. There have been lots of things happen in that time, and lots of them are good things. Make a note of them.

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  2. Hear hear...nearly 2 years later!!! ;) Would love an update picture of everyone, and the new additions to the family!!?? <3

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