March 22

 I had a very nice birthday with calls and birthday wishes from the children and Joanne. Tom worked very hard to make me a lovely “Eggs Benedict” breakfast and he took me shopping later. I bought some new shoes. Tom was the sealer in the Temple that Wednesday evening and I always go with him but he insisted that I attend the Relief Society Birthday party at the church with Cindy. I missed him so much and just wanted to get to the Temple to meet him at the end of the shift. We went out for dinner the next day at Beatniks in Fort Langley to complete my birthday celebrations. 

We had a fellow come on Thursday to check our gas furnace and fireplaces. It was to cost $210 for the visit but with repairs and parts it was closer to $750. Oh, dear! We visited the naturopathic Doctor Lemmon in Burnaby on Friday. He specializes in cancer treatments and he gave Tom a number of suggestions for extra supplements, juicing and such. We will give some of these things a try. We visited a chiropractor in Langley to see if he had some suggestions for Tom’s back pain but he was limited in his capacity to help due to Tom’s cancer. We don’t want to damage any of his already compromised bones in his back. We went Tuesday morning for Tom to receive laser surgery on his eyes to allow the fluid in them to drain. He was in and out of the office in literally minutes and now we wait to see if it is beneficial. 

Our challenge came Tuesday with delivery concerns of our new induction range - also for my birthday. They had called Monday to let us know they would be delivering Tuesday morning. Tom told them we would need a later delivery as Wayne Lavender could not come until after 1:00 when his morning Temple shift ended. They said they would talk to the the Brick manger and arrange it in the morning. After Tom’s eye surgery the delivery people called twice saying we are on our way and we said “no”, it had to be after 1:00  and the plumber’s visit. We attended a Temple session and Wayne came over to turn the gas off the stove. I gave him some lunch and we had a visit. Later in the afternoon when now stove delivery was happening, Tom phoned and they said that they had come at 1:00 and we weren’t home and they could not deliver until Friday. Tom said we should probably cancel the order and I drove down to the store. I wasn’t having much luck until an older lady started to help me and she and another gentleman said they would check with their manager tomorrow morning to see how they could help us but we now had a disconnected stove and Rissa’s family arriving any minute. We were both very disturbed especially when Tom checked on our front door film footage and noted that no delivery people had been there all day.

We were excited to have the Bulls this week and they arrived Tuesday evening. Lacking a range, on which I had planned on making dinner, we ordered pizza. Just glad they are safely here.

Tom’s tummy is still upset and really affecting his desire to eat. It just seems as though he has one thing troubling him after another. We just keep praying, hoping and trying to do our best. He is remarkable and still works to keep serving in the Temple.