February 22, 2022

Trevor kindly spent his days here following us to bank appointments, doctors’ appointments and helping us set our TV up so we can watch Zachary’s hockey games. We watched one game with Trevor and have watched two since. Zach made a goal in each of the three games, with the team winning two and losing one. Tom and I went in to do his sealing shift on Wednesday evening and Trevor stayed home to pack. We tried to book Trevor and I on a session that night and were unable to do so. Trevor did vacuuming for us and went to Gold’s gym a couple of times. It was lovely to have him with us. We made sure our egg supply was substantial before he arrived. He left for the Bellingham airport Thursday morning and arrived home late that night as he had a five hour layover in Las Vegas.

We caught up on our “Come Follow Me” broadcasts at the end of the week. We watch five different ones and really enjoy them and learn so much. We worked our Saturday afternoon Temple shift and I had multiple live endowments again - two sisters. The one sister started having problems and not feeling well during the session and it wasn’t until the end that her aunt informed me she was diabetic which answered a lot of questions and would have aided my responses when caring for her. She completed the session though and was eager to go to IHOP restaurant. Liza and Bryson drove to Calgary and back home in winter conditions for Bryson to participate in a wrestling tournament. He won his three rounds and his category. We knew Jack had, had a difficult week at the MTC and when Ross and Sarah dropped by Saturday on their way to Sam’s birthday dinner, they informed us that Sianne had broken up with him. Cindy says he is doing better and she feels it is for the best. We had our zoom church on Sunday and our family zoom. So went our week with our daily routines and walks.

We are preparing to leave for Utah on Thursday to visit Justin, JayLynn and Treyson. We will spend some time with Carolyn too. Tom is eager to see that baby and is concerned for Carolyn and wants to spend time with her. The trip requires being covid tested going and coming home and organizing transportation while there - uber or rental car. I fear Tom will be tired when we arrive Thursday evening and not feel like driving to Provo. Jadyn is going to meet us in Salt Lake and travel with us too so that is a consideration. Tom’s tooth, which bothered him awhile ago, is acting up again and I am concerned about that. I think he overdid walking and standing last week with Trevor here and he has had a bit of a setback with his leg. He begins to feel better and starts doing too much. We need to be praying for this journey.

February 8, 2022

We are home now and still feeling a little tired from our Germany trip but not doing too bad. We went to the Temple this morning and did some banking, getting our gift money transferred to Trevor today. 

Last Tuesday I could not understand why I couldn’t make contact with Tom in the hospital and when I finally did he told me they had been doing CT scans on him and were concerned with what they were seeing, more cancer spots in pelvis area and not the reactions they had hoped from the lutetium treatments.We were broken hearted and I didn’t sleep that night. The doctors have not given up and nor will I. 

I arrived back to the hospital early the next morning to receive my covid test. They had me isolate in the third floor waiting room for two hours until they had my negative results. Tom received his covid test too and was released from his 48 hours of isolation in the afternoon and able to spend sometime with me which was wonderful. Things are just better when we can be together. We stayed in the waiting room and listened to some Come Follow Me broadcasts. I managed to receive a FaceTime call from Cindy while standing in the hall as they were driving to the airport to take Jack for his flight to Salt Lake. I was able to say goodbye to him which was great. He will spend a month there for MTC training before leaving for Africa.

 I packed up Thursday morning and paid my room bill at the hospital and then went upstairs to get Tom. He had his final scan and packed up himself before coming out to be with me. He did some hall walking and was doing great. We waited and waited for the Doctor to come in for our final meeting. He finally came with little time before our limo arrived. He is not giving up on the lutetium. He wants us to change hormone therapy, check Tom’s genetic profile, get another PSMA pet scan in two months to determine if an addition to the lutetium would be beneficial and have us return in about 2 1/2 months. He said his PSA number would probably go down. Our limo driver arrived and while Tom was finishing up with the Doctor, she and I managed to get Tom’s walker in the trunk without taking it apart. The men drivers and Tom had not accomplished that before. We had a lovely drive back to Frankfurt and the Marriott Hotel. I went to Lufthansa service counter and booked a wheelchair pickup for Tom tomorrow morning and got out seat assignments and boarding passes. We walked to dinner at the Italian Restaurant and then for groceries. Tom walked the whole way without a walker and with little pain. A miracle! Also, another miracle - the cancer spot in his shoulder has almost disappeared!

The wheelchair pickup arrived in the morning at the hotel and got us to our gate. Upon arrival in Vancouver, we were randomly selected to be covid tested at the airport. Paul picked us up and got us safely home. Dear Jean brought us dinner which was much appreciated. We got ourselves settled and did our laundry and then slept for 12 hours, waking when Trevor FaceTimed us Saturday morning. We were exhausted. Just relaxed for rest of Saturday and did our Church and family zoom meetings on Sunday. We were up early on Monday for Tom to receive blood tests and we picked up some groceries. As predicted Tom’s PSA was down but so were his white and red blood counts. 

Our life is a series of ups and downs these days but we have faith and hope and carry on just grateful to be together.

February 15, 2022

 Trevor spent the weekend with Zachary in Boise and then flew up to Bellingham to come and visit us but on our Sunday “family zoom” Cindy and Paul began to question whether we could get down to the Bellingham airport to pick him up and get back without having to have a covid test. We all looked into the current regulations and realized that we could not. We messaged Trevor who was flying thru California on route to us and phoned Tammie explaining the situation. He booked a car for Monday morning and Tammie booked the Bellingham airport hotel for him to stay at Sunday night. The car rentals shut down in the evenings so he would not be able to get one when he arrived. Upsetting but he and Tammie seemed to be alright making those adjustments and reservations. He finally arrived Monday morning after having to reroute to the Peace Arch crossing due to protests at the Pacific truck crossing regarding covid restrictions. So much commotion but we were grateful to have him finally here. We had just been working on our laundry and cleaning that day and because it was Valentines Day we ordered in Italian food for supper. Trevor went to Gold’s gym in the afternoon and we went for a walk. On Tuesday Trev went to the gym earlier and then we took him to Lulu Lemon at the mall to do some shopping for Olympic clothing for he and Tammie, to London Drugs to fill prescriptions and to the bank for an appointment. I made Chinese food and Cindy and Paul came over to visit in the evening. 

Last week before Trevor’s arrival was busy with an appointment for a zometa infusion at Doctor Vrabec’s, a phone appointment with Doctor Collingridge, eye appointment for Tom, grocery shopping, walks and correspondence with and phone calls with various individuals. On our Saturday Temple shift I had three Philippine sisters to assist in taking out their endowments. The one sister was sealed to her husband and two sons afterward.  It was a lovely experience for me and they were all so sweet. Tom finished his shift about an hour before me and rested in the car until I was done. We watched the Ward Chinese New Year zoom celebration that Jean and Cheyenne hosted Saturday night. It was very cute and well done. We continue with our zoom church meetings on Sunday and our family zoom meetings. 

Tom’s leg and back have been doing better since our time in Germany. He is not experiencing the tingling down his leg or as much pain and it seems to be centralizing more toward his back. We are hopeful about this and all of his concerns. His eye appointment showed that the eye drops have brought the pressure in his eyes down significantly, so that is good. We look for every positive we can. I love him so much and he is so good and so precious. He is the most Christlike individual I have ever known and has devoted his life to serving the Lord and loving his family and me. How blessed am I? 

February 1, 2022

 We are in the midst of our third Germany experience and once again feel we have been blessed all along the way. We finished our preparations during the first part of last week. Brother Jung told Tom to come pick up something he had for him. We dropped by while out doing errands and he had a whole bag of vitamin supplements for us in hopes of curing Tom’s ailments. People are so kind and we really do appreciate their concern and efforts on our behalf. We spend Thursday before our trips packing and prepping.

Jean had insisted on driving us to the airport as Cheyenne was off school on the Friday and they were headed out to do some kind of activity in Richmond or Vancouver. She felt that meant they could drop us off on their way. She is so good to us. The airport and our flight checkin seemed very busy with a lot of young people checking in. We later discovered that they were all German exchange students who were heading home after six months in Canada. They were nice kids and kind to us. All their families were waiting to greet them in Frankfurt when we finally arrived. Our flight was late leaving as BC Hyro power was out and they unable to fuel the plane. It seemed a little strange. When we arrived in Frankfurt the luggage was delayed in coming but our wheelchair helper managed to get us to the Marriott in time to meet our limo driver. I was even able to run to the grocery store and pick up food we would absolutely need. I picked up a sandwich for us too and then we were off - literally as our driver was moving at 190kms at times. He was very nice and we liked him but he was certainly making up time. We checked into the hospital and got the key for our guest room and our driver drove us down and helped us inside. We had arrived, tired but in one piece.

We had our sacrament meeting in the morning in our room and then we walked up to the hospital for Tom to checkin. We completed the checkin and went up to the Nuclear Medicine wing but no one seemed to be there when we rang the bell and we couldn’t understand the German message recorded so we sat in the hall where we could have WiFi connection and waited until a nurse finally arrived. She was expecting us and ushered Tom into his room. He came back after settling in and having a covid and blood test. We stayed together until he had to go in for dinner and I returned to my room. I cannot seem to connect with the WiFi in the lobby this time so that has proved to be a challenge. I have a connection only when I stand in the hall outside nuclear medicine.

I returned as soon as could on Monday morning and Tom wanted me to find Sabine in the other hospital wing. She was Tom’s first English speaking contact at the hospital and she has been away the other two times we were here. She wanted to meet us and we wanted to meet her. I found her immediately and she walked back with me to meet Tom. He was having tests but had not yet started his radioactive treatment so could come out of the sealed area and visit. She is a cute girl and younger than we had expected. She was surprised to even see me in the hospital as they are restricting people due to the virus but I seem to make it in each day and other than standing out in the hall trying get WiFi connection while nuclear medicine personnel walk by, I try to stay in a waiting room near Tom’s hallway and fly under the radar. The entrance to the hospital is not monitored in the afternoon so if I don’t make it in during the morning I could return in the afternoon. Tom received his treatment around noon and began his 48 hour isolation. I stay as long as I can and then walk back to the guest. I stop on the way and wave to Tom who stands in his third floor window and waves back at me as he monitors my short trek. I listen to audio books, eat and watch a downloaded movie and fall asleep while doing so. I repeat this same routine every night that I am alone during this process. I never quite get my sleeping adjusted.

I return in the morning as soon as I can and make contact with Tom and message the children. I buy some food at the cafeteria if needed and sit in the waiting room close to Tom’s hall and I miss him. It snowed and then melted on this Tuesday morning but walking to and fro was not a problem.

January 25, 2022

 As we have spent the last week in Germany and my WiFi connection options were very limited, I am late in writing this particular blog post and it will be abbreviated. We spent the week before leaving for Germany preparing for the journey doing banking, getting money to our daughters that we we want all the children to receive, getting meds for the trip, meeting with doctors, Tom having a bone scan and attending the Temple. Tom had been struggling with vertigo and we were praying that it would settle down for the trip as it makes him nauseous and takes a lot out of him. I hemmed Jack’s white pants for his mission and Tom’s new temple pants. We had to rethread the serger which is a challenging task and Tom managed to get that in order for me. We are trying hard to do a little outdoor walking each day to keep ourselves mobile. Heather called, Joanne called and others keep checking in on us and our well being. Toese brought us a meal. Jack continues to do his home MTC and seems to be enjoying it. We love to hear from our children and grandchildren and keep abreast of their doings. Covid restrictions and our own personal restrictions keep us from more immediate contact with them and it is hard on us. We pray for the completion of the world’s pandemic trial as we need to come together again without constant fear of virus transmission. We are grateful to Chris and Minna for bringing us more nasal spray and capsules for nasal rinses in an effort to keep us healthy on our trip into the current virus riddled world. The journey looked a little daunting at this point for numerous reasons and we were praying for sustaining heavenly help from both sides of the veil.