Nothing like a health scare to make you appreciate your life even more!

I have contemplated posting this story, but the more I think about it, the more I feel compelled to share. Not only for the sole reason of getting it out of my head, but to make others realize how they need to pay attention to their bodies warning signs.

As I approached my 55th birthday this January,  I was bragging how good life would be when I was eligible to get 'senior' discounts at certain stores and venues. How else does one take getting older with a touch of humour? Not to get into specifics, but two days before my birthday, a portion of my body malfunctioned. I figured it was nothing important and dealt with it. Then I got to thinking, maybe this is a sign that I need to visit my doctor. Now my family doctor that I had since 1972 had retired last summer, so I would be telling my life history to my new doctor: a virtual stranger. He told me not to worry and set me up for blood work and an internal ultrasound. After having both done, I waited for the results. I had made a follow up appointment with the doctor for March 27th. Imagine my surprise when I got a call at the end of February asking me to come in and see the doctor ASAP.  The first words out of his mouth were " I need to let you know that 'this' is considered Cancer..." And he went on to explain how I would need to see a specialist and possibly have a biopsy. Of course, after the c-word, I blanked out.

The appointment was made with the specialist at KGH. Due to the fact that I work < 10 blocks from the hospital, I opted to walk over. I cried all the way there and back. The appointment, which was a blur, ended with a chunk of my DNA being ripped from the inside of my body. After loosing my mother to that f'ing disease, all I could think was that I was not ready to leave this earth. I have way too many things left to do on this earth. Of course I shared this with my husband, close friends and a couple of co-workers. There would be a two week waiting period to get the biopsy results. The first week was spend crying, worrying, planning the revisions of my will, and seeing what benefits I might be entitled through my work. After consulting with my friend Martha, a Cancer survivor herself, I realized that planning for the worst was counter productive. I oftentimes thought 'what would my Mom tell me to do?' So the second week I changed my tune, and put a positive spin on things. The good Lord was NOT ready for me to take up residence in his home.....

This past Tuesday was my follow up appointment at KGH, I walked over there with my head high. I could feel all those positive vibes coming from those who knew what I was up to that morning. As I sat in the room waiting for the doctor to arrive, I took two pictures out the window. The second picture I took looked like a beam of light coming down from the heavens.  I didn't notice this till much later in the day after posting the pictures to facebook. The doc came right out with the good news : NO CANCER! The technical name of the condition is called atrophic endometrium. He said if I have no further symptoms, he never wanted to see me again. I felt like hugging him I was so happy! I basically ran back to work, and didn't really realize my luck till I walked into my work area and locked eyes with my Supervisor Rupa. She jumped up and started to hug me....tightly! Of course, that's when the tears of joy started to slip out. I sent out a message to my dear friend Martha, and then got right back to work. Imagine my sheer joy when I came home and found a lovely handmade tag tied to a bottle of white wine sitting on my doorstep. How thoughtful of Ray and Martha in assisting with my celebration of life:)

I still am in awe of my incredible luck and the fact that my initial conclusion, as crazy as it sounded, was so wrong! It was not God's will to take me this early...he must want me to partake in the true senior discounts we are rewarded with at the age of  60 and 65!

It's been almost seven hours since I deactivated facebook

As hard as it is to believe, I have finally taken the plunge and deactivated the evil. Facebook. I have No self control, so I knew the only way i could walk away from it was to deactivate and remove the app from the phone and iPad.

Tomorrow may be another story. I am hoping I can make it a whole 24 hours and if I can, then I may consider a second day...and maybe ever a third. The reason you ask? Because I am sure there are better things I could be doing with my time. So far I have started watching a fabulous documentary on Stevie Nicks and David Stewart, did some gardening, watered my plants, had a visit with my neighbour who, owns the marina and his dog on my dock and wrote in my diary.

Now I plan on having a good nights sleep, no checking Facebook at three AM! Let's how the first 24 hours goes!! Wish me luck;)

And I believe I mentioned that I would write a blog every week.

Yeah, that was 12 days ago. A lot has happened in that time. Let's see, we had a major storm, which covered everything in three inches of ice. That negated me having a parking spot downtown, so I have managed to use vacationing friends parking spots. ( big props to Caroline R & Anita I ) Add to this, the minus 30 degree Celsius weather that arrived right after the freezing rain. Suffice to say, we have not travelled far from work or home! Today was the day that was spent chopping said ice....my arms feel like butter right now.

Last night, we actually got out of the house and went to visit friends. We shared a free #5 from Capri and played euchre for a few hours. What a treat, human contact with a couple we have known almost all our lives. We used to do that almost every weekend. I wonder why we don't visit with friends anymore?

This week I work 8-4, so I should be home before dark each night;) sweet! I need to fit in time for an e-test on Malibu Molly and get my license sticker before the end of the week too.  Another big plus is that I get to visit my friends at the legion for dinner this Friday! First time since November! In a few weeks we are attending a dance at the same legion, with Steve Cheeseman and The Heaters. This will be the Heaters last show, so it should be a hoot. It seems odd that we tend to hibernate in these cold winter months. Shouldn't we be spending time with family and friends and plan upcoming outdoor occasions?  Personally, I can't wait to May 24 weekend so we can get our boat launched and start our boating season. It seems so far away.....

Sleep well friends....it's almost time for me to go allow George Stromo put me to sleep;) Every Sunday from 9-12pm, the Strombo show can be heard on CBC Radio 2. It's three hours of great tunes and conversation. If you're not careful, you may learn something!

Ciao

All is quiet on New Years Day

It's been a few years since I have visited my blog spot. Why, well there really is no excuse. Maybe it is the time-sucker called Facebook that has kept me away?

Here I am, starting into my 54th year on this planet. As a wise woman mentioned, it is best to start the year with a clean slate. Forget all the bad stuff that has happened in the past year and concentrate on the good things to come.

Do I have a resolution, why yes I do. I will keep it to myself, for now. I really need to make changes in my life and this one resolution will certainly help. I have already quit smoking 11 years ago, and I know what I need to do to get on better shape....but this one resolution will tie everything together to move in a more positive direction in life.

Hard to believe that I have been at my new job for ten months on the 4th of  January.  I think they like me there and although I may be a bit slow in remembering 'everything', my support staff and co-workers have been fab. It really is an amazing place to work.

There we go, day one of 2014 and I finally made it back to my true love....blogging;)

Living each day to the fullest.....

Recently, a childhood friend of mine asked me if I felt a story coming on about our fragile existence. She is going through an awful time with her father who is in a home and suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Witnessing such a tragic event must be devastating, to say the least. To add to that, she is also loosing people to cancer and heart disease in her own demographic. Did we ever think we would get to this time of our lives where are friends are passing away?

Well Roxanne, I didn't feel the need to write when you first approached me, but these past few weeks have certainly changed my mind. One of my dear friends (who just successfully beat breast cancer for the third time) lost her Mom to cancer on March 17th and just last week I have discovered a new friend of mine is battling Ovarian Cancer. Add to that, the 2 year old daughter of one of my ex-co-workers is battling a form of juvenile leukemia. Now it feels close to home. Way close. So I need to write...

When I was nine, my Grandfather Guthrie passed away from cancer. Up to that point, I had never known anyone who had passed away. I didn't understand why people seemed to be so happy at his funeral. Later on I was told because grandpa wasn't in pain anymore. That made sense, in my 9 year old mind, although I was still sad that he was gone.

Fast forward 1975 - I am in Grade 10 at Napanee District Secondary School, my new 'Townie" friend Deb Magold, convinces me to skip school & go to Wartmans Funeral Home with her. A friend of hers had died in a car accident and she wanted to go see him. All I remember of that visit, was the pale, see-through skin and how I felt that I had seen a ghost. It was terrifying and unforgettable. If memory serves, this young man took his own life by driving off the road and into the North Channel of Lake Ontario. What seemed so unbelievable was that this victim was not much older than myself. How could THAT happen?

Over the years, I have had a few friends pass away, as well as grandparents and my own parents; but the majority of them were all over 50. Understandable. But not when it comes to people *my* age. I thought I was going to live forever...I thought my friend Rhonda Woodcock once told me that we were 'bullet-proof'! Did she lie to me?

Now that I am over 50, as are most of my friends, it appears we no longer have a lifetime ahead of us. When I think back on some of the crazy stunts I pulled in my youth, it is truly amazing that I am still here to talk about it. Even though the world was a different place when I was growing up, something always made me want to push my limits. Maybe I somehow knew that it was the right time to explore and experience life....before marriage, before adulthood. I have no regrets. I managed to find my life mate and have had a good life. Many are not as fortunate.

If you are looking for the moral of this story, I would have to say that it is to live life to the fullest.
Call or email an old friend...don't keep saying "We need to get together" and not take steps to make it happen. Do things that you always planned on doing, but kept putting off. I will take my own advice, as I am not getting any younger:)

An chance encounter with an *old* friend:)

Last night I ran into a long lost friend. We had not seen each other since 1980. Unfortunately I didn't recognize him at first...until he spoke. How odd that I can identify voices better than I can faces or names.

In 30 years this man has built his career to a position of prominence and respect. But to me, he is still just Andy! In a short time, we both managed to re-cap our lives and shared some delightful old memories of our years being schooled in a two-roomed school-house. We spent the first 5 grades being taught by Nuns; then in Grade 6 we were 'blessed' with a young male teacher named John Burke. He was fresh out of teachers college and he certainly made a huge impression on all of our young minds. "Mr Burke" spent hours playing football and baseball with us. No doubt these were things that the Nuns were not allowed to do. One of the things that I remember most about his unique teaching abilities was how he blended modern music into our education. How unheard of in that day and age...especially at a Catholic (or as they called it then: Separate) School. I remember learning all about Jesus Christ Superstar and thinking how cool it was to twist the ancient words of the gospel in with music of the era. I also remember listening to the Rolling Stones song Brown Sugar and trying to interrupt the lyrics. Perhaps this man was the one who developed my intense craving for music? 

So getting back to Andy...he had moved out West when most of my friends from the area did and I don't think I have seen him since. It is ironic that was our (Billy's and mine)plan as well! Bill's Mom asked if we could get married before we flew the coup, so I asked Bill to make an honest woman out me and we got married 6 months later. By that time, Bill had a good paying job with his brother in an auto parts store and I had started my short lived career in radio. This was our reasoning for staying 'at home'. As I said to Andy last night, I didn't think I had a choice to leave Bath :) My grandparents and parents worked so hard to make our village a better place to live...someone had to stay to enjoy these virtues. Many times I wonder what life would have been like had we moved out West.  Would I have come back 'home' often? Would my hometown be a place I would have been so proud to be from? Would we have still had only one child? Would I still have been working in the radio business and would Billy have found his fame and fortunate in the oil fields? Maybe I would have crossed paths with Andy sooner, instead of later. 

As we chatted last night, I asked him about his life & what it was like living so far from 'home'. He mentioned how proud he was of his wife and children & that the prairies were 'home' for his wife. That was when he said how lucky *I* was to still be here...still able to take in the beauty of great lake every day and the ability to stay in close contact with those we had known since childhood. I have to agree, he had a point. I spend every weekend with those I have known forever. So as Andy gets ready to travel back to his home, I will think of him fondly and hope his short trip 'home' was rewarding and filled with pleasant memories of a childhood in a much different world than we live in today! Thanks for the memories Mr McG :)

2012 - almost 1/6 completed.

And this is my first blog of the year. I have no excuse as I have completed nothing since the xmas holidays. In fact, I have been quite a sloth. This must change. Perhaps I am stretching the truth somewhat. I have fulfilled my requirements of the United Way Citizen Advisory Committee in the past month. So that is something. A LOMA course through work has also commenced and I will be starting a French course soon. Oh yes, and I forgot that I have set a schedule for my return to CJAI in May. (hint hint Jim Elyot, Greg Hunter & Chris St Clair) Next on the agenda is buying a new bathing suit and pool membership and get my body moving again. We have taken the plunge and become pet owners again. We adopted a 7 month old kitten named Cindy Lou and she has already developed the same kleptomaniac ways that our last cat Jethro had! We are so happy to be a complete family again. It seemed empty without a feline in the house. This winter has been an odd one. The North Channel froze for less than 48 hours and the geese, ducks, swans and seagulls are still hanging around like its mid October. In fact, why we dragged the dock and the boat out of the water still doesn't make sense. The count down is on for summer holidays. I have all but one day booked and cant wait to start on the May 24 weekend! There are many that have to travel down south to make it through the winter, I wish to spend my money here at home. And besides, I can barely keep up to my property taxes so I cant afford a trip down South:) Enjoy the long weekend everybody. I plan on studying and relaxing. Isn't that what family day is all about?

 

And its over !!!

Yes, I made it through the holiday they call Christmas. I smiled, I laughed and I stayed as positive as I could through the whole day. You are welcome!

Friday night I started a new tradition of doing a radio show over on Amherst Island. And what a delight it was to join my friend Erin Merry and her niece Emily Merry for our first " Merry - Christmas " show. We both brought some tunes and even played some requests. I had not been in the studio for a few months, so it was nice to have some of my old listeners back:) It felt good, which actually made me smile. Things were starting to change.

I never left the house on Saturday. My day was spent cleaning and baking. In between, there were visits with a couple of close friends...tea and sweets were had and hugs were exchanged. They knew what a hard time I was having, and they were there for support. Many thanks to them for understanding and not lecturing:)

Sunday commenced with exchanging gifts with my hubby and having a delicious breakfast consisting of bacon and Irish Creme Pancakes:) I got a beautiful book on the history of Lennox and Addington County, which I am having a hard time putting down. The afternoon and evening were spent at my cousins house for Christmas dinner. It was a blast to connect with many of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins that I only see a few times a year.

The absolute BEST day of the holiday had to be Monday - Boxing Day. We traveled to Toronto to visit with our son and his 'zoo' :) Upon arrival, we were greeted with Bryce holding onto a little chiwawa named Nu Nu....he said "Merry Christmas ... here is your gift!" and held her out to us. I barked NO WAY, and he started laughing. He went onto explain that he was dog sitting for the girl who lives downstairs. Whew...

Dorrie (our oldest grand dog) was so excited to see us, but couldn't keep her snout out of the gift bag with her gift(s) in it:) Jacob (the black great dane) was all over me when he realized I had treats. We had a great afternoon visiting and exchanging gifts. Bryce's freezer is now full of a month's worth of baking...hope he enjoys all that sweetness!

After being trapped in the automated parking lot (long story) we 'escaped' to Yonge Dundas Square for some sight-seeing and lunch at Milestones. It was lovely - and the view was captivating. The mass of people down below made us realize how lucky we were to live in our small Village that only has that many people in it on July 1st:)

We stopped to take pictures at the rink at Ryerson University. It was so great to hug my little boy again. He has been gone from under our roof for over 10 years, but never far from our hearts. We can't wait till he comes down for a Summer visit with the Grand Dogs:)

After yesterday, I feel like I have the ability to embrace the New Year and all the joy and goodness it will bring to us all.

Thank You for allowing me to vent as well as be unique in my distaste for the end-of-December holiday season.

Count Down to the day after Christmas !!

Every year, people look forward to this thing they call Christmas. Personally, I could do without it. People have been jamming the whole "try and remember all the good times you had"! Bahhh Shall I just blurt it all out here so I can point everyone to my blog to read.

Shall I clarify:

When I was 5, being an only child, I acted badly and my father boxed up all my presents and gave them away to a charity. I remember looking out my bedroom window and seeing all my toys in a big box on the front doorstep.

When I was 24, my father, who had been missing for over a year, arrived on my doorstep. Ten minutes later he walked away from me and I never saw him again, till he was on his deathbed.

When I was 26, my mother re-married. We were forced to share our xmas meals with another family. They made sure we knew that we were intruders.

When I was 42 my mother passed away. 13 days before xmas. Her husband wasn't even there....we couldn't find him. It was just my brother and I and reverend Andrew in the room with her. Two days after the funeral I had the joyous task of wrapping all of our families xmas gifts that she had purchased a month earlier. A year later, her 2nd husband re-married, sold his house he shared with her and confiscated her belongings. Many of them were things that my parents had saved for years to purchase.

Now, please tell me where I can find any type of JOY when it comes to December 25th? The only thing I look forward to is the day after...