I am sitting at the cottage today after an early morning
shift at the airport. The house is empty
and the animals are all sprawled about the floors like carpets. They are resting as they all have been very
busy over the last few days. A great
deal of time has passed since I last sat down to address this blog to report “Goings
on” and I feel very badly about that. Time seems to just slip away during times of
busy schedules and family activities.
Where do I start?
It seems that I pulled through Session 10 after some fairly
normal but uncomfortable reactions to my treatment. I recall it being a slow recovery and
significant enough that I suggested to my Dr that I skip one treatment
(scheduled for July 9th) due to a full schedule of activities at
work as well as the impending arrival of our guests from Great Britain. That meeting, on June 25th, was a
routine meeting where Dr Jonker advised me that my growths of Cancer on my
liver and lungs were smaller than the last test but once again he reminded me
that they would not go away. Of course
he was sympathetic to my situation and we agreed that we would do our next
treatment on July 23rd. With
that in the books I set out to undertake some training at WestJet and planning
activities for our guests during their stay with us. A little more detail will be covered later in
this post.
Session 11 happened on the July 23rd as planned
and the event was routine and uneventful.
I managed to do some grocery shopping on the way home but I spent the
rest of that day resting and hoping I would feel better soon. Unfortunately I woke up the next morning with
a head cold to be combined or added to the nausea, listlessness, fatigue and
irregular bowel operations that are typically side effects of the
treatment. The head cold has persisted
through today but the effects of the treatment have run their course and are
now receding into the memory book.
Having both a cold and treatment happened back in March also and I only
managed to get well again based on a couple of weeks in Hawaii. Perhaps that is what I need now to make all
of this go away. Today is day 7 and I
finally feel a wee bit better and know that tomorrow will be a better day. The only thing I really have left to deal
with is a runny nose and a deep cough.
Prior to this treatment cycle I managed to have some pretty
intense times as well as some very relaxing and pleasurable social
experiences. My training at work
provided me with more stimulation than I needed as the 4 day course was
interesting, stimulating and in some parts fun.
We had a small band of GSA’s making the transition to CSA’s and that
meant that we had to be trained on the computer aspects of our business. Our new positions require us to create travel
experiences, check-in existing reservations and trouble shoot travel itineraries,
deal with flight cancelations or delays, re-accommodate guests and do a number
of admin functions focused on getting guests to their destinations in an
effective manner. The actual training
time was intense and we managed to succeed in our testing to allow us to go
ahead with “on-the-job” training the following week (July 2nd
week). The OJT was like throwing us into
the fire with support from one of our long term CSA’s. She helped us to recall processes and
procedures and made sure we did not send anyone to a location they were not expecting. The OJT was very effective as we dealt with
real problems and checked people into their flights etc. as a part of normal
business. I found the training brain
draining but very effective since it has many diverse processes or procedures
to get our guests on aircraft in a timely fashion. My first full shift without a trainer on July
12th was pretty intense as we had 3 cancellations in the early
morning due to weather the evening before.
That was trial by fire and I learned a great deal that day. A couple of weeks have passed now and I have
had a few shifts under my belt and I am feeling more confident but the learning
continues. This morning, I was assigned
as the GSA of the day and I enjoyed chatting up guests in wheelchairs as I did
as part of my old job. The difference is
that now I could handle their ticketing issues on the computer if need be. My job has evolved and I am getting more
comfortable and I am learning new things from my co-workers every day. All is good!
In this same period we had some guests from Great Britain
come and stay with us for 10 days. In
November of 2017 Freddi and I took a cruise in the Caribbean with Holland
America and during that cruise we met Sue and Paul. During the cruise we met often and shared
some dinners together and enjoyed the chats we had enough that we agreed to
stay in touch. We corresponded from time
to time and our notes turned towards helping them organize a Canadian visit in
the early summer of 2019. They organized
a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, a Rocky Mountaineer train ride through the
mountains, some time in Jasper, Banff and then a stay in Calgary during the
Calgary Stampede. Those activities in
themselves were ambitious and promised some spectacular scenery and action in
the western part of Canada. They also
decided to accept our invitation to visit Lake Bernard, Ottawa and Quebec City
and stay with us for a period. Sue and Paul
arrived from Calgary on July 13th and we drove them through Ottawa
en route to Lake Bernard. We settled in
at the lake and prepared a quiet family meal in the tree house (our screened in
porch). They had many a good tale to
share with us about their experiences in Canada. The following day we went about normal
business at the lake, feeding, food prep, relaxing, chatting and all of the
good things in life. We invited some
friend over for cocktails to get to know Sue and Paul before any more formal
activities happened. The following
Saturday was scheduled as the Lake Bernard Golf Tourney and Sue and Paul agreed
to take on golf for their first time. So
meeting some of those folks in a relaxed setting was ideal. Our late afternoon stretched into the evening
and a good time was had by all. During
the early part of their stay we generally hung out at the cottage doing cottage
things like boating, eating, swimming, did I mention eating, tasting the grape
and relaxing. I am sure it felt good for
them as they had been on the road and active in western Canada for 3 weeks
before arriving in Ottawa. On Tuesday we
set out by car to visit Quebec City and to stay in the Olde city for a couple
of days. We all enjoyed the brief but pleasant
stay in the Chateau Frontenac in the heart of Olde Quebec. We naturally ate well and tasted some fine
wine while we prowled though the streets learning about early Quebec history
and the antics of both the English and the French colonists of the day. We took a walking tour for a 2.5 hour period
with an ex-school teacher as our guide.
She was excellent and jovial and very well informed about the history of
Quebec. It was a very informative and
fun walk about. We had our first dinner
there at La Vieux Canadian restaurant which happens to be in one of the oldest
houses in Olde Quebec. The food was
excellent as expected but the service was not what we had expected based on our
earlier experience at the restaurant.
Regardless, we had a nice dinner, good conversation and a nice evening
to start our time in Quebec. We used the
time to be inquisitive about the city, relax as it was a vacation, and to wander
about the shops and to share our own stories about places we have been and
seen. I enjoyed the visit, the company
and we capped off the 3 day stay by taking a bit of a driving tour of Ile d’Orlean
just east of the city. It is a picturesque
farming community situated in the middle of the St Lawrence River. The subsequent drive back to Ottawa was an
easy and entertaining drive as we chatted amongst ourselves.
That evening we left Sue and Paul at the Chateau Laurier for
the night and the following day so they could have some time to themselves and
walk about Ottawa by themselves to see and do whatever they wanted to do. Freddi picked them up on Friday night to
return to Lake Bernard in preparation for the golf event on Saturday
morning. Sue and Paul are real
sports. Even though they had never
played golf before they wanted to join in and meet some of the Lake folk. We had a fun game with all of us taking more strokes
than necessary to get around the 18 holes.
Post game activities included swimming and relaxing in preparation for
the evening dinner party that was held at the Carr Cottage. It was a great event with lots of golf
chatter as well as some serious discussions about sports, world politics and
other such important subjects. All in
all a good day with lots of exercise in the warm weather and lots of good
interactions with friends and family.
On Sunday we had a quiet day around the cottage topped with
a farewell dinner with family in the tree house. It was quite amazing how quickly and easily
time went by with Sue and Paul as our guests.
I believe they had a nice stay and were exposed to lots of Canadian summer
cottage activities. On Monday morning I
drove them to Ottawa to catch a train to Montreal for a brief stay before
returning to GB. It was sad saying good
bye as there are many miles between our respective homes and that will limit
the opportunities to share time together.
Freddi and I are resolved to visit with the Eaton family in the near
future.
As outlined in the above passage the last month has been
well scheduled with lots of good activities.
As a result I was delinquent in my blogging and fully enjoyed the extra
time without Chemo treatments to hamper our enjoyment. I will resume my normal 3 week cycle with the
next scheduled date being August 13th. The only potential change could come if my
immune system does not respond well and my WBC count is low when I take my
blood tests on the 12th of August.
My next CT Scan will be in mid September with a follow-up with Dr Jonker
in late September.
This week we have Bree and Skylar along with Tara-Lee, Kaia
and Brehn here. Gray is arriving on
Thursday for a few days before they return west on the 5th of
August. So this week is family week at
the Rodier’s and there will be many good hours down by the water enjoying water
sports during our short summer.
Thank you for dropping in to catch up and I do hope you will
reach out to me should you have any questions or thoughts on this blog. I appreciate your interest and look forward
to further discourse on any of these subjects.
Be well ......
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