Greetings Family and Friends,

Once again, we have had an exceedingly busy time since our last post. Myron continues to feel well, and he has been feeling practically normal since he recovered from last week's post-chemo tired spell. Following a new CTscan on Friday morning, we went up to the trailer and had our first overnight of the season there, coming home on Saturday. While we were at the trailer our niece Shirley and her husband Jim dropped out for a visit. We also visited with Karen (who is our neighbour both at home and at the trailer). Myron cut both Karen's and our lawns and we put in two new flower beds beside the deck. Upon our return on Saturday, Maggie came over for a visit and stayed for the night. Sunday evening we feasted on a beer-can chicken dinner at our neighbour Dianne's place.

 

Campfire at the trailer with Shirley and Jim

 

Out to dinner in Dianne's backyard

Monday was supposed to be our pre-chemo oncology appointment, but while we were at the trailer they called and postponed the appointment until next week as the doctor was attending a conference. It was a welcome reprieve for Myron, so we are off to the doctor this coming Monday. At that time we will get the results of Myron's most recent CTscan, and we discuss the options re Myron taking a break from chemo. He is definitely stopping it for the month of July while we travel to and vacation in Newfoundland. We will find out on Monday as to whether Myron will have one final session on Wednesday of this week or we will wait until August for further treatments. It will be a blessing for him to have a break and have a period without dealing with the side effects he experiences afterwards. With the doctor we also need to determine whether to keep the PICC line in place (this is the catheter through which he receives his chemo) and have the regular weekly dressings down while down east, or have it removed and then get it reinserted upon our return to Ontario. Myron also had an appointment for an echocardiogram this week, so they can make sure the fluid around his heart is not causing any problems.

We have been out for two short bike rides (approx. 3k each) this week, and Myron had no difficulties with his blood clots. Otherwise we have kept busy with a visit from and a lunch out with our cousin Helen and, a visit from Sadie one evening. Myron continues to work repairing lawn-mowers, and he also went out this morning and rode his bus run to visit with "his kids" again.

                                  

 

Myron tinkering with his lawnmowers

 

Upcoming this weekend is a wedding rehearsal party at our neighbour Gustavo's on Friday, Myron is going to his brother Frank's golf tournament in Waterloo on Saturday, Maggie is holding her sleepover 15th birthday party here on Saturday evening/night and we are going to Chris' place in Woodstock for a Father's Day celebration on Sunday. And that's about it for this week - back to the oncologist on Monday. We thank you all for your prayers and good wishes as they certainly seem to be working. Myron is feeling much better than we ever hoped when we were given his diagnosis in January. Keep us the good work! Cheers, we love you all and we'll be in touch again soon.

 

 

Myron and Wendy

Greetings Family and Friends,

We apologise for the tardiness of this blog post, almost two weeks after the last one, but life is busy and time just seems to get away from us. Myron continues to feel well except for those incredibly exhausting days he experiences a few days following each chemotherapy treatment. He has been enduring one yesterday and today, but if things follow to pattern, we expect to see a marked improvement in how he feels tomorrow. Wednesday of last week he had his 7th chemo session (which is pretty good considering he was originally told they would give him somewhere from 2-4 treatments). We were up early this morning and Myron went for another CTscan (7:00 am) as the cancer doctor is trying to determine whether to continue treatments or to suspend it for a time to give him a rest. It can be very wearing on the patient, so she is trying to figure out the optimum time to do this - to give him a break from the rigorous treatment, but not be a detriment to his health.

We have continued to be busy as ever. We went to Kitchener a week ago Sunday to attend the 90th birthday party of our friend Chris Duffenais. We also took a trip to Woodstock on Wednesday evening last week to attend Chris' Rotary Club meeting and to hear Rachael's speech to the club about her exchange visit to Brazil. Well done Rachael! This past Sunday we went up to the trailer for a few hours (got the bed made up, planted flowers in the flower pots, cooked and ate lunch, etc.), and then came home to go out for a turkey dinner at a neighbour's place. We have been working in our yard, spreading top soil and grass seed after disposing of the above-ground pool that used to fill the yard. Flowers are all planted in the garden and Myron has started a small vegetable garden with beets and tomatoes. That's about all the news for now. We will try to remember to post again next week after we see the doctor and get her decision. Please keep us in your prayers.

 

Myron in the living room

 

 

Myron on the deck at the trailer (note the flowers in the planters)

 

 

Take care and we'll write again next week. Love to you all.

 

Myron and Wendy

Hello from London,

We are still sitting here, relishing all the wonderful memories of visiting with our family at the Dennis/Sanderson barbecue last Saturday. It was an absolutely amazing day, and we are so happy that so many people made the effort to attend. What started out as a small idea grew to incredible proportions and thrilled us so much. The timing was good (between Myron's chemo treatments), and even the weather cooperated better than we had expected. I am including a few pictures from the big day for those of you who are not on Facebook and therefore have not seen them. The first is of the group who were here on Saturday (or at least the majority of us), and I have also included two family photos taken that day, one of Myron with Chris' family, and the other of Myron with Heidi's family (but not Heidi).

Health-wise, Myron is doing quite well. He does have a few really tired-feeling days during each chemo cycle, but other than that, he is doing quite well. He suffers some side effects from the chemo, but no pain, and overall we feel it is worth the effort - especially since his tumor has shrunk as we told you in the last posting. Today we were busy doing some yard work, and other assorted chores around the house. Myron's chemo treatments have been switched to Wednesdays starting next week in order to give us a little more freedom on weekends. Myron is hoping to attend his brother Frank's golf tournament in Waterloo on June 14th, and if things go according to our hopes we will be heading for Newfoundland in early July. Below is a photo of Myron, taken today, as he sits on the front verandah doing a sudoko puzzle - taking a rest from his chores. (You can see Wendy's reflection in the window as she is taking the picture).

 

 

Overall, it has been quite a week - from burgers to brats to breakfast, from stool samples (inside joke there) to quilts, from casino visits to lunches out, from paintings to peanuts to pecans to popcorn. Oh, the memories! Thank you all so much. We'll write again soon. Take care and lots of love.

 

Myron and Wendy

We are just home from our bi-weekly visit with the oncologist. We were given the results of Myron's CTSCAN (on April 27th), and the news is good that the tumor on his pancreas had shrunk from 4 cm down to 3 cm. The doctor believes that this is very good news. As a result, we are going to continue chemotherapy treatments for another 4 sessions, up until June 25th and then we will take a break for a vacation in Newfoundland in July. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well in the meantime, and we can proceed with this plan. We will be seeing the haematologist on May24th, and finding out from him whether the use of a compression stocking will help control the swelling in Myron's leg (caused by the blood clots).

On the home front things are as busy as ever. Yesterday we drove out to our trailer, cut the grass, set up the gazebo on the deck etc. (see photo below), and we're looking forward to spending a few days there in the near future. We are going out to our bowling banquet this evening (even though we only bowled the first half of the season). We are eagerly anticipating the Dennis/Sanderson family barbecue this weekend and are looking forward to seeing our family, many of you who we haven't seen in quite some time. We are expecting Betty and Red to arrive from Texas some time tomorrow evening, and Vern and Dale will be arriving from Wisconsin on Thursday evening. We raised our US flag today in honour of the visit of the Americans in our family (see photo below).

That's all the news for now. Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday.

love,
Myron and Wendy

Greetings Family and Friends,

We have had a good last couple of weeks. A few tired days for Myron, but overall, not bad at all. We are excitedly looking forward to the family barbecue on May 17th and we really hope that everyone can come. We seem to be constantly busy, from doctor's appointments to running errands to household chores. It never seems to end. Thank goodness we are retired or we would never keep up.

We went out for an evening of bowling yesterday with our former bowling league and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Myron (with a PICC line inserted in his arm, and using an unfamiliar bowling ball) still beat Wendy. Next Monday evening we are attending the bowling banquet, and we are looking forward to that. Thursday morning this week Myron is going out on his bus run to visit with all of "his kids" and he is joyfully anticipating it.

We held another progressive euchre here last Saturday evening. We had 7 couples in attendance and a good time was had by all. The upcoming week is going to be a busy one. We have a doctor's appointment on Monday (where we are hoping we will hear news concerning the results of last week's CTSCAN), Vern and Dale are arriving from Wisconsin on Wednesday evening, Myron has his chemo treatment on Thursday, and then we will be busy preparing for the barbecue on Saturday - with a short trip to the casino slotted in there some time.

We dashed outside to the front yard a few minutes ago and took this picture so you could see us as we are today. So ... here it is:

 



Off to do some more work and errands now. Looking forward to seeing as many family members as possible on the 17th. Let's make this a family barbecue to remember! Take care, love you all and keep us in your prayers.

Myron and Wendy

Hello everyone,

Belated Happy Easter to you all!  We just thought we would check in with you and let you know how things are going. I had my 5th session of chemo last Thursday and have been feeling pretty good overall. Today I am feeling somewhat tired but this is the normal time for that during the cycle. I always have a few tired days during the week following the chemo treatment. I have seen a hematologist and he increased my blood thinner medications, and it does seem to be helping my leg which has the clots.

We have been really busy lately, we went to Chris' Rotary Club's Fish Fry in Woodstock on the 12th, we drove to Ajax and visited with Wendy's family on the 13th. This past weekend we were out for a fish & chip dinner on Good Friday, and we had all the kids and grandkids over for Easter dinner and an Easter Egg hunt. A good time was had by all. I will include a few pics further down.

We have also been preparing our gardens for spring planting and we have some seeds started in our mini greenhouse. We are so looking forward to spring and nice weather.

Next week is a busy week medically as I have my pre-chemo oncologist appointment and routine blood work on Monday, and chemo will take place on the following Thursday. On Tuesday of next week I go up to University Hospital for a CATSCAN to determine whether or not the chemo has had a positive effect to date, and from there they will determine whether or not to continue the chemotherapy treatments. Please keep your fingers crossed that the chemo has done some good and has shrunk the tumor.

Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers as we can use all the help we can get. Keep in touch.

with lots of love,

Myron (& Wendy)

Hi again,

I'm just checking in again to let you know how things are going for me. As you know, I had my fourth chemotherapy treatment last Thursday. It went quite well and I haven't had a lot of side effects to deal with. I still have some mouth sores, and I do have a few really tired-feeling days during the cycle (today being one of them), but overall I am feeling good. Every two weeks I go in on the Wednesday for bloodwork and to see the doctor, and then I have the chemo the following day providing my blood shows it to be okay. So far, so good. We were originally told that they would do another CATscan following either the 2nd, 3rd or 4th chemo treatment, to determine whether or not it was successfully shrinking the tumor and doing some good. I have now had 4 treatments and am scheduled for my 5th next week. Sometime during the next couple of weeks they will be setting up for and doing that CATscan, but it seems to us that this is good, that they have waiting this long to do it. As you also know, I have been having considerable trouble with the blood clots in my right leg, but the good news is that I finally got them to look at it and they did another ultrasound (which did determine that the clots had worsened since January), but as a result they did increase the dosage of my blood thinner medication and it seems somewhat better. They also scheduled an appointment with a hematologist this coming Friday, so at least the blood clots will be followed and cared for from here on in.

Otherwise, we continue to live one day at a time and to live our lives as normally as possible. We have had lots of company, the most recent being a visit from Leona and Shirley and their families. See the pic below. We went out today and renewed out campsite at the trailer for this summer, and we pray that we will make good use of it. This Saturday we are going to Woodstock (with some friends) to Chris' Rotary Club's Fish Fry and Silent Auction. On Easter Sunday we will have all the kids and grandkids over for Easter Dinner and an Easter Egg hunt. We are still hoping to travel to Newfoundland this summer (the doctor has given her okay as long as Myron feels up to it), and we have started making tentative plans. I think that's about all the news for now. We'll be in touch again shortly.

I really enjoy the phone calls from family, so keep them coming. It always brightens my day when I hear from you. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

 

love always, Myron (& Wendy)