May 25, 2021

 Two steps forward and one step back. Tom has been doing really well - blood count numbers down, energy up and very minimal pain. He has been going on regular brisk walks, working in the yard, helping with housework, power washing and then ... Saturday he began getting pain down his backside and upper leg, very much like sciatic pain. It has continued since then and gotten somewhat worse. He feels well otherwise. He had a phone appointment with Dr. Bahl, the oncologist, today and Dr. Bahl really had no suggestions and told him to call Dr. Collingridge so we have a phone appointment with him on Thursday. My main concern is a possible stress fracture but it could be sciatica too. Dr. Collingridge will probably suggest an X-ray or CT scan. We just keep praying. Tom wants to be ready to serve in the Temple when the doors reopen.

Tom did a blood test last Tuesday in anticipation of his appointment with Dr. Bahl and his levels had improved even more. We had an appointment with Dr. Vrabec the same day for a lupron injection. I purchased a plant and card for Marie the same day and took it over to her. We spread our last bits of soil on her plants and I made her blueberry muffins later in the week as she said those are her favourites. We have been trying to stay in touch with her and I called her on Saturday as that was a week since Gene’s passing and we wanted to comment on the lovely obituary she had put in the Vancouver Sun. We cut Tom’s hair this week and I worked on the Relief Society lesson I taught on Sunday based on President Nelson’s priesthood conference talk on Recognizing lessons learned while experiencing adversity (eg, covid) and then Remembering those important lessons. We did the Sacrament for Carol on Sunday and Sandra brought us yet another meal on Wednesday. We cannot get her stopped. I can and do cook every day.

Cindy dropped by on her way home from work today and we had a porch visit. We talked to Rissa earlier and have been messaging with Jadyn and Tammie. We have good kids. We really appreciate our family, Sunday zoom meetings. Justin is still in Nampa doing his practicum and JayLynn had driven up to be with him again this weekend. Zach is home now after their series win and he was excited. Max’s Jacqui is going to the Sydney, Australia Temple on June 12th for her endowments. Our province announced some new opening plans today and it looks like our Temple will be open for endowments in mid June so hopefully Max and Sarah can then get their endowments and Ross and Sarah be sealed. Liza is looking at an Iron Man race in Idaho if the borders are open the end of June. Trevor and Tammie are leaving for a Maui break the end of this week. Zach will stay with Trey. Rissa and Cindy have both planted their vegetable gardens. Busy family.

We may have had a little set back this week but we will keep marching forward and hopefully get ahead.

May 18, 2021

 We had a sad week as Gene, our next door neighbor, who has been suffering from cancer, passed away Saturday morning. Marie, his wife, had told us the day before that he was not eating anymore and he had, had the palliative care nurses coming to care for him the past few weeks. We were out working in the front yard when Tom noticed a van pull up and two men take a stretcher into Gene and Marie’s home. We knew he was gone and we discussed what we should do next and decided we would stand and show respect as they took him away. I went across the the street to discuss the situation with our neighbors Kirk and Krista and while talking with them the gentlemen brought his body out and we all just stood out of respect and love. When we spoke with Marie later that day she told us how much that show of respect meant to her. We are concerned for her now. They have no children, just their two dogs. Gene was 69 and I think they got married later in life. She is from the North Shore and has her mother, brother and work still there. We are hoping she doesn’t move away. She has her horse stabled nearby and they have a cabin up North and I think those interests brought them here to Langley and I believe this was their dream home. She has a lot to think about and to take care of. 

We have been busy with gardening this week. Our big bag of soil arrived on Thursday while we were out getting groceries. We came home and started spreading the soil on our flower beds and then spreading seed and soil on the grass for “top dressing”. That continued into Friday and we finished on Saturday. We also went to the nursery on Friday and picked up some plants for the garden as we had removed the bulbs. The weather has been beautiful and the yard is looking lovely. We, however, are exhausted and our bodies sore. I hope I didn’t work Tom too hard.

Our days continue to be full. I have been asked to teach Relief Society this coming week and I have been working on that lesson.  It is based on President Nelson’s April 2021 priesthood talk entitled “”. Charmaine sent us some of her recent piano performances from her university in Salzburg, Austria. She is so talented and we thoroughly enjoyed hearing her play. Her mother, Jean, worries that she is having too much fun and not giving her full attention to her music. What can I say, she is 18 years old and away from home. We listen each week to five different “Come Follow Me” broadcasts and get so much out of them. We watch them after dinner each night. I have taught seminary and institute thru the years and am still gaining so much from “Come Follow Me”. It is truly an inspired program. We still hear from friends regularly checking on us. Sonny called to let us know that his mother had passed away.  She was 101 years old and had been one of Tom’s patients and we loved her.

We had blood tests for Tom’s oncologist this morning and are at the urologist’s office now for Tom to receive his second lupron hormone shot. He is to receive lupron every 4 months. Treatment are looking hopeful and our prayers are for that to continue.

May 11, 2021

 Tom continues to improve and seems to feel stronger and he is eager to do more these days. He has been walking farther and faster. He washed the car one day and power washed the driveway on another day. We took the car for an oil change today and we went for a walk and for groceries at Nature’s Fare while we waited. He doesn’t seem to find such outings to be too much. He is ready for his next shot of lupron (hormone) and he has ordered that. We will take it with us when we visit Dr. Vrabec next week and he will administer it to Tom. We went for his monthly zometa infusion at Dr. Vrabec’s office last Wednesday and his next bottle of xtandi was delivered yesterday. We are getting into a treatment regime.

We drove to the North Shore on Thursday for my hair appointment with Karl and while I was getting my hair cut Tom went up to Capilano Chinese restaurant and picked up some Chinese food - without MSG. We brought it home to eat and it tasted so good. I am trying to make different types of food these days and so I have been introducing some new Greek and Mexican dishes into our meal plans.

People have been very kind to us and have brought us some lovely meals. We made an effort on Friday to return dishes. We dropped dishes off at Sandra Barroby’s, at Cheng-Hao and Joanna’s and at Rosa and Keith’s. Sandra has brought us several meals. Rosa is not well herself and we took her a plant and our dear Brother Coad passed away and we dropped a plant off for Sister Coad. Dropping things off during these “covid” days literally means you just drop things off at their door and say a few words. Dan and Alice Davies left a plant and rhubarb crisp at our front door on Sunday.

We have heard from some of our London Temple friends this week and we are pleased that the London Temple is now at phase 3 and the British Temple workers are beginning to return. They will probably be moving into our apartments. How we long to be there. Tom would like to find some way for that to happen. We are still waiting anxiously for the Vancouver Temple get to phase 2 so Ross, Sarah, Max and possibly Jacqui can have their endowments completed and Tom perform their sealings. We miss the Temple desperately.

It was Mother’s Day this past Sunday. I had made orange rolls and chicken salad to take over to Carol when we went Sunday morning and we ate it for our dinner too. Tom gave me flowers and made a beautiful brunch. We talked to the children throughout the day - at the zoom meeting, on the phone, on FaceTime and in person. Cindy and the family came over with flowers and a cute book and visited on the back deck. Rissa and family were in Utah and she called from there. JayLynn had driven up to be with Justin again in Idaho where he is doing his PT practicum. Jean and Cheyenne brought me some lovely yellow roses and I gave them some orange rolls. Our healthy diet has had a dip this weekend. It was a lovely day. I am very blessed to have the best people around me.

We heard from Marlene and Sonny this week, as well as Don and Ruth Ann, Peter Kutney and others. All are checking on Tom and extending their love. We have truly been blessed and lifted by the love and prayers of our friends and family and we pray for them in return.

May 4, 2021

 Tom is seeming to feel stronger these days - walking further and faster, helping more with housework and we even cleaned the garage today. He usually makes breakfast, sometimes lunch and always washes the dishes and does most of of laundry. It makes him feel good to accomplish things. He continues reading books, scriptures and doing his daily exercises as well as doing our family business. He is a pretty busy guy and he really hates not being busy. He had his monthly blood work done on Monday and his numbers were very good. We pray that things will keep moving in this positive direction. We realize that there is no cure at the moment for this disease but there are treatments and when one treatment starts to fail you direct your attention to another. Our hope is that the hormone treatments he is on now will be beneficial for a number of years and that new and even better treatments are being developed in the meantime.

Friends continue to being meals and send messages. When we made a run to return dishes to people who had kindly brought us meals, Sandra Barroby insisted on making arrangements to bring us yet another dinner on Saturday. We cannot seem to stop her. On our way home that day we stopped by the Temple to see how the new landscaping and fence were coming along and while there we ran into Cheng-Hao Wang and his daughter Michelle and they ended up bringing us some lovely food on Sunday. We also visited with the Wanners at the Temple grounds too. We spend time regularly responding to messages and emails and visiting on the phone with friends and family.

Our new BBQ was our project last week and we managed to get the parts around to the back deck and complete the assembly on our own. I don’t recall putting a BBQ together in the past but maybe Tom did that on his own because this was certainly my first involvement in the process. We have used the BBQ a couple of times already and Tom insists on having it completely scrubbed and clean after each use. We will see if that continues throughout the rest of the summer. I have never really been involved in cleaning the BBQs either. Tom has taken care of that too.

We had our Stake Conference this past week so we watched our meetings Saturday evening and Sunday morning via zoom. The Temple President and Matron spoke on Saturday evening along with the Stake Presidency. Unfortunately Paul froze as he was nearing the end of his talk. It was an excellent talk too and we felt badly. The Sunday morning session had the Mission President and his wife speaking, the Stake President and numerous primary children and young men and young women. They had prerecorded the youth and primary children. It was a different conference but very nice. We also had an interlude musical number at each session and the Tabernacle Choir singing the hymns. We have become very adept at zoom meetings. I have been asked to teach Relief Society this month via zoom of course.

The weather has not been too bad and our walks have been quite pleasant other than the fact that  I tripped on a curb yesterday and now have a banged up nose and scraped hands. I am just grateful it wasn’t Tom as his bones are compromised due to the cancer. My bones are also a little compromised with osteoporosis. We just need to stay on our feet. The joys of aging.