Goodness gracious, could I be any slower on posting about Michael ?!
Sorry boys and girls. Our move from Gay Pareee to home sweet home has kept us on our toes.
The good news is that our container of household goods arrived from Paris this week.
Uhm, just so we are all on the same page….that also means the VIN ROUGE ARRIVED !!!!
As Canadians moving from Paris back to good ol’ Canada, we are allowed to bring 1500 bottles of wine home.
Seriously, I didn’t. NOoooo, I didn’t.
Only because I was afraid that it may be a teeny wee bit excessive. Who needs THAT MUCH French wine ?!…. little whisper voice…Meeeeee.
Truth be told, we only imported about 60 bottles. I am all talk about that wine drinking, and clearly not enough action. I am going to need a lot more wine to share with all of you, so we can all muster our way through all of this.
One big fat confession tho; The best part about the wine purchases, was the “girls road trips” that I HAD TO TAKE, to buy the wine.
It was so difficult to do. There were no kids, no Michael, just girlzzz….driving in the stunning wine regions of Bordeaux, and Saint Emilion, in search of delish French wine.
We stayed at FREAKIN AMAZING CHATEAU’s and I thought I may never go back home.
It was a tough job, but someone had to do it. I took a bullet for the team. My next blog entry will be about a few of those road trips. For now, I need to behave myself and post an update about Michael.
You must be sort of wondering why I am sharing island life photos on this update. All of these photos were shot by MOI from the gorgeous island of the Seychelles.
I have a creative visual mind, so of course, I MUST imagine a beautiful sacred place while telling you all this news of Michael.
Our goal is to put our minds in a beautiful fun place while getting through all of this…so I hope I can share the same with you…and you feel the gorgeous positive energy of it all. As a designer, a travel gal, and a newbie photo girl…..this is how I get through these times.
I put my mind in a place of beauty. Come join me. Never mind that this next photo shows a dirty old boat, I see the beauty. Dig deep. You will find it too.
Michael has blood that is sort of like that boat. It is “dirty” cancerous blood, but it is in a beautiful place ~ Michael.
Sad to say, his health has still been on a steady decline.
I would like to be not so technical , so from a layman’s terms (or layWOMAN) the big picture is that normal hemoglobin for a man is 135-175.
Michael went from 135 down to 115 in 4 years. Not so bad, as it was a slow steady decline, which is “normal” for his type of cancer.
Slowly declining. Like a turtle.
Well, suddenly it is moving like a jack rabbit.
Bastard jack rabbit.
His hemoglobin dropped from 115 to 94 in Paris in ten months.
In the past two months, it dropped from 94 to 72. Definitely speedy, sprinting, hopping, crazy jack rabbit. I would like to kick that jack rabbit right between the teeth.
I am sounding crabby ( oh, that crab picture does look creepy !) ~ but that cancer rabbit has had it coming to him. That rabbit is about to get it socked between the eyes by chemo. Michael will start chemotherapy on August 8th.
This Monday.
In addition to the hemoglobin problem, and a host of other blood issues, Michael’s spleen is mildly enlarged, he has some small lymph node enlargements, and his liver is DOUBLE in size.
He has continued to lose weight.
I have been on a SKINNY BITCH diet, and he is whooping my butt.
Actually, we are trying to eat super healthy (we have always been pretty good about that), but we are really making a big fat effort now.
Excuse the pun. No fat, all skinny bitch.
He has also had fevers on a daily basis, and night sweats that could make an ocean appear dry in comparison.
He has also had very low energy. Lots of naps, and gets winded from climbing stairs. Almost makes me feel bad for putting in a new central staircase in our home. Almost.
The designer has not taken her hat off yet 🙂
For an added boost, Michael had a 7 hour blood transfusion this week.
He came home looking the same, but with a bit of blood in crazy places. Drips everywhere. I have confirmed that blood is not my favourite visual thaang. I am working on those Seychelles photo visualizations as I type! haha !
I was also trained by the oncology nurse how to give Michael a weekly needle.
OMG, OMG, OMG…..needles ?!?!….
My worst fear realized~ and I must inject them into Michael ?! I will never be a heroin addict. See, there are advantages to cancer. Preventative heroin addiction.
The other beauty of cancer care is the oncology nurses. We have a favourite. Her name is Ellen. Michael will require a special medication ( via needle ) every week for 6 months, to help boost his immune system during chemo.
Each injection is $ 500 each.
NO KIDDING !!!
Holy smack, huh ?
Well, nurse Ellen pulled some hospital strings and gave us 4 needles/supplies for the month. FREE. Unfortunately, we don’t have the medical coverage (private health plan for prescription drugs), so Ellen went over the top of the moon and made it happen for us this month. Incredible soul.
She is going in my will, that’s it. Enough said.
Michael’s chemo treatment will be for 6-8 months and then a maintenance treatment for 2 years after. His chemo will be administered for one week on, and three weeks off, for a duration of 6-8 months.
It is called CPR.
I can’t spell out the proper medical terms for these three particular chemo drugs ~ because I would need a PhD to really get that spelling right.
I am sure I could have faked it, and you would have never known. Why did my parents teach me to always tell the truth ?
It is a pain in the neck. Whatev MOM, you win 🙂
So I hope you hang with us, kids. I love this picture of Mackenzie on the beach. So introspective. Taking in the moment. Soaking up the good ions of that vast ocean. That is where our hearts and minds will be. Thank you for sharing this journey with us. We can feel the love and we are so grateful.
Peace Love Happiness
