November 8, 2021

 This has been an interesting  and very blessed week. I am writing from Germany and Tom is receiving his treatment as I type. We have prayed for this and continue to pray that the treatment will be a great benefit for him. We have certainly moved forward on the wings and prayers of angels. We cannot express our feelings when we consider all the prayers being offered on our behalf and the love people have extended to us and the arms that have been wrapped around us literally and figuratively. Friends like Sabina have helped us with German translation, others have messaged and reached out to us, Chris and Minna brought nose spray Chris has developed to protect us from the virus and we have truly felt lifted and loved. 

We went to see our medical oncologist Doctor Suo for the first time on Wednesday. We expected that he would be annoyed at us for leaving the country for treatment and encourage us to remain in Canada and go with chemotherapy or some such treatment. We were wrong and he was thrilled for us. He said he was planning on trying to encourage us to join a Theranostic clinical trial being done in Vancouver. We are aware of the trial but we also know that trials are random and Tom may not actually be given the real treatment and felt we needed to move forward on our own and insure he gets the needed treatment. Doctor Suo suggested we may want to participate in DNA studies that may be of help to Tom, our family and others so we gladly did that and we met with the fellow over the studies and Tom gave a blood sample. Our radiation oncologist grabbed us and said that a neck scan he had Tom take this week showed cancer at the base of the skull and in the cranium and he wants to do radiation in the area if Germany doesn’t provide improvement this week.. He seemed okay with us going too. Tom has also let Doctor Collingridge know and Dr. Vrabec has always been in favour of us going. We feel like our medical personnel are now behind us too. Tom had researched this treatment as soon as he was diagnosed and has always felt good about it. We prayed and he qualified with the PSMA scan and we feel we are doing what we are suppose to do.

We spent Thursday organizing and packing up and Friday finally came with Paul driving us to the airport. I had known we would need special blessings to make this journey as Tom’s back problems have limited his abilities and I have never taken the lead in travelling and it is usually Tom taking care of me and seeing to my needs. This would be an entirely different situation and I prayed for strength and for angels from both sides of the veil. They certainly came from the moment we entered the Vancouver airport. When I asked if I could leave Tom at the front of the check-in line while I stood and moved up gradually, the woman in charge put both of us at the front of the line and we checked our bags and then the “walker” before boarding the golf cart for a ride to our gate. They took Tom to the plane in a wheelchair when it was time to go and we were off. We had upgraded tickets in order to have more comfortable seating and the flight went well. When we landed in Frankfurt the airline had provided two wheelchairs to get us thru the airport and they insisted that I sit in the second chair as they wheeled us thru the airport at a fast pace, picked up our luggage, got us thru customs quickly and then to the train station connected to the airport. They remained with us until they saw to it that we were set up for our train connection. When we moved down to train’s departure area another man appeared having been assigned to help us onto the train. We went into Frankfurt where yet another man appeared with a wheelchair to transfer us to our next and final train. A couple befriended us on our three hour journey and when we arrived at Erfurt, our destination,  the husband jumped up to help us off the train. We connected with a bus in Erfurt and while boarding the bus I asked the woman ahead of us if this was the bus to Bad Berka and she grabbed our bags and got us settled on board. She talked to the bus driver to let him know we were to get off at the ZentralKlinik in Bad Berka before she got off at an earlier stop. We had arrived at our destination!  In Europe things close on the weekend and in the evenings and, though we were able to check into our guest room, there was no cafeteria open in the hospital and only vending machine food available. We were exhausted, hadn’t really slept for two days nor eaten since we left the plane. They tested Tom for covid, we bought some vending machine sandwiches and as it was getting dark and cold outside tried to walk to our guest room down the road but being tired and uncertain where to go, we failed in our attempt to find the yellow kindergarten building they had told us to go to. I left Tom seated in the walker with the luggage and ran back to the hospital to ask for some help. The night receptionist was alone and could not leave her post but a cute nurse came along and hearing of our plight suggested we wait until she had a break and she would get us to our room in the kindergarten building. Her name was Ronje and she finally bustled us down the road with Tom in a wheelchair, carried our bags and walker up the stairs and made sure we were settled before leaving. She was our angel as had been so many others that day. We felt cared for every step of our journey. It is difficult for us to have to rely on others and Tom has a hard time not being able to work thru our travel agendas on our own but today we were more than grateful for the help we received. We had literally been lifted and carried.

Our next concern was food for the next day, I prayed all night for help and direction. We had some bars I  had from my bag for breakfast and I had a strong feeling we needed to return to the hospital ready in our Sunday clothes in case we could make contact with the Bishop Tom had been communicating with and someone would  come to give us the sacrament. I also felt that food would somehow be provided for us. At the ZentralKlinik they have organized check-in times when patients from all over the country and world line up to check-in. Sunday afternoon is one of the main assigned check-in times. We were hours early but they checked us in anyway and told Tom to go up to his assigned room to let them know he was there. He hurried back down with news that they had told him because he was checked in, he qualified for lunch and because they had an extra lunch that day they would allow his wife to eat with him.  When we returned to his floor the nurse, appropriately named Christian, had a lovely hot pork roast dinner set out on a table in the visitors room with bottled water and juice. We were overwhelmed at what had just happened and how our prayers had been so literally answered in a way we could never have imagined. Our hearts and tummies were full. The Bishop said the missionaries would make contact with us but when we heard nothing, we returned to our room and had the sacrament on our own with a little bread from another vending machine sandwich I would be eating later for supper when Tom returned to hospital for the night. He would continue to revive his meals there now and I had enough to make it thru the night until the hospital cafeteria opened the next day.

Monday came which would be Tom’s treatment day. I returned to the hospital where we had WiFi and I could communicate with Tom. His area is considered to be an isolation area because the treatments offered there involve radioactive material. He spent the morning going thru tests and then just after noon he was administered lutetium 177 thru IV and then a water solution IV to wash it thru. He began drinking litres water as well to flush it thru his kidneys. They began scanning and could soon see that lutetium 177 was targeting the cancer sights. Wonderful! It was doing what it was meant to do. I was now able to purchase food at the cafeteria and stay in touch with Tom, our children and others as long as I was in the hospital and on their WiFi. It was somewhat lonely but I felt grateful to be there and have Tom being treated. I would walk home when it was dark having been able spend as much time talking to Tom as I could.

The guest rooms are literally in part of a kindergarten building. They are spacious and comfortable. I would take food to have for dinner and breakfast home with me and return to the hospital as soon as I could to make contact with Tom the next morning.  I would spend most of the day in the lobby area, talk to Tom, read, connect with children and others and take care of any business Tom asked me to see to. It was lonely but I was near to Tom and he wanted me near.

He was now in a 48 hour isolation period so we could FaceTime but I could not go up to see him. So passed my next two days - Tuesday and the first part of Wednesday.

November 2, 2021

 I am updating my blog and will write this week from Germany even though it happened the week before we came here.

It has been at week of Temple attendance and service and a significant week for other reasons. We attended the Temple during the week and then on Friday November 29th we went to the Temple again for Jack to receive his endowments. We met the family in the chapel just before entering the Temple to participate in Jack receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood thus qualify him for his Temple endowment. Those participating in that ordination were his grandfathers, his two older brothers and his father.  A special group of men. We had taught Jack Temple prep and we hoped that it had been a benefit to him. It seemed to go well and Sienne was there to meet him when he came out. He is a special young man and will be a fine missionary in Africa. We returned again on Saturday to serve our afternoon shift. I helped with a Laceste family sealing of Delores Laceste to two of her children - John and Grace and then John was sealed to his wife Amor and their son Eliot to them. It was so nice to be with there. Ron Komm performed the sealing and we had a number of clerical issues that kept me running up and down the stairs to the office but all was eventually accomplished. Jane was there with Ron too. I was exhausted that night and I think Tom was tired too. 

We also zoomed into the funeral service for Rosemary Burgess on Friday. It was lovely and I am sure Rosemary was pleased. Ruth Yates gave the eulogy, the three Burgess children spoke and George Goeders gave the spiritual talk. Our grandchildren and a few others sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and played their ukuleles. It was very touching. Liza sat behind Sayde and held her up because she didn’t want to be seen as she was crying. This has been a difficult few years for their family and hard for Liza too. Ted has been a kind caregiver and both Ted and Rosemary have handled it all with grace. 

We have been busy accomplishing our errands, attending to appointments and making preparations for our trip to Germany. I had a phone blood pressure appointment with the nurse and then the doctor and because my anxiety and blood pressure levels are up a little, the doctor has prescribed to new medication to take in conjunction with my ramipril. It seems to be beneficial and I feel like things have settled. I have a new young doctor, Doctor Song. She seems very nice. Doctor Brouwer has retired.

So our busy lives have gone this week as we move closer to going to Germany and Tom’s cancer treatments.

October 26, 2021

 We had Tom’s PSMA test last Tuesday and sent to Germany via FedEx that day. It arrived in Germany quicker than we anticipated and by Friday morning Germany had messaged us back telling us that Tom’s test results  indicated that he qualified for the Theranostic treatments in Bad Berka and we should make travel arrangements. What a blessing! We started to put things in motion and will be leaving on November 5th for Frankfurt and on to the Bad Berka clinic. The clinic has arranged for me to have a guest room on site which will be helpful as Tom will be in isolation for a couple of days after treatment due to radiation levels on him. One of our main concerns is staying healthy for travel and treatment so we each received the flu shot this past week at an Abbotsford pharmacy. People are so kind and helpful offering to do anything they can to help us. Sabina helped us interpret some German documents concerning my accommodations and Chris and Minna Miller arrived last night with a box of travel safe necessities. They brought their nitric oxide nasal spray to kill viruses, including covid, masks, wipes, surgical gloves etc. and lots of love. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful caring people in our lives. I credit the gospel and our years in the church for that great blessing. We are trying to put everything in order and be ready for this trip and praying that it benefits Tom. The CT scan and bone scan results indicated that soft tissue areas are fine, lymph nodes smaller and though new bone areas have cancer, old ones are the same or less active. Not perfect but good in some ways. Grateful for anything good.

This week was Liza’s Iron Man race in Sacramento and it proved to be an adventure. The forecast was not good for race day and we were hoping and praying that it would improve and besides, how bad could it be?  Well - after a difficult trip down, Liza got things organized and race ready but then race day came along with what is known as a Bomb Cyclone which threw the city of Sacramento into turmoil and caused the race to be cancelled for safety reasons. In the midst of the cyclone our daughter decided to release her pent up energy by going for a three hour run until she decided it really was not safe. What a disappointment! Brendon was home alone with the children and preparing for his mother’s funeral. Dear Liza, her life always seems to be full of adventure. Before she left for California she witnessed an accident involving a motorcycle and after chasing  down the offending car until they stopped, she dealt with the accident victim until help arrived. On the trip home from California she helped a gentleman in the airport who seemed to be having a seizure and/or heart attack until help arrived for him.  She said everyone was standing and doing nothing so she had no choice. Even his friends were frozen. She fears that he may have passed away. What a week! We just keep praying for her and her family as we do for all our children and their families.

I have removed most of my summer plants, getting ready for bulbs and winter. We have been attending the Temple and serving in the Temple. Tom performed the sealing for a lovely family on the weekend and I helped with their three children. Such a blessing to be involved in such a great work. We continue to watch our Come Follow Me broadcasts each week but we are doing home church to remain healthy. We are hoping Temple going is okay.

The Musical “Les Mis” has a line in one of the songs that states “to love another person is to see the face of God.” I truly believe that, and I have always felt that to have the privilege of loving and being loved by Tom Walker has allowed me to come closer to God and understand the character of God. Tom has always provided me with a heavenly view. I have always recognized that he is extremely special and have realized that I, for a reason beyond my understanding, have been blessed to have him as my own. I love to see the face of God and I love Tom who makes that face much clearer.

October 19, 2021

 Our Thanksgiving celebration lasted the full week as Trevor, Tammie, Jadyn and Treyvn finally made it to Seattle on Tuesday as Rissa and her family left here the same day. Because they were late arriving, they stayed overnight at the Marriott, driving up on Wednesday. We so appreciate them making the effort to get here and not giving up on us. Tom left for the his Wednesday evening Temple service and we ate before taking the children to the Temple do baptisms. Max and Jack met them there and helped out with the baptizing and recording and Trevor helped with confirmations. We gave the children money to go to “Wendy’s” to get something to eat and Trevor, Tammie and I went to do sealings with Tom. Tammie had some family names she wanted done and David Bigler managed to get things cleared for her to complete the work she desired to perform. There was such a lovely spirit in the sealing room and I think we all felt it. Trevor’s family went to the North Shore after I made a visit to Roots with them. It was their day at their North Shore home and we met them there for Chinese food in the evening. The Hardy boys came over later to help Trevor give Tom a beautiful blessing. Trevor and Tammie went to a Coquitlam gym early Friday morning and then went to White Spot with the kids and Jack and came home to clean up our garage. All of our kids have been so good to us. Cindy and family came over to visit with the Walkers before they set out for Seattle. Brendon and the three oldest children arrived an hour and a half later just missing their cousins. Brendon left the children with us and he went to the Temple. They then went to a Hotel where they were staying with the rest of their ward youth and members. We did our Temple shift on Saturday and Brendon and the children did a baptism session as well as an activity before heading home. We have had a wonderful family filled week!

We have done some medical testing for Tom amid the children being here and after their leaving. We did a bone scan at the Abbotsford Hospital on Friday as Trevor’s family were leaving and today we were up early and off to Initio Clinic in Burnaby where Tom was finally able to received him PMSA pet scan. We took the burned disc, which recorded the test, directly to a courier to have it sent to Germany. Now we wait for the results. We stayed home and zoomed church on Sunday as we are trying to keep ourselves healthy for tests, treatments and travel if necessary. Our dear friend Wendy Jack has helped us speed up some of our tests and we so appreciate her efforts and the prayers and help of so many.

Our house cleaner “Tom” arrived today to do the parts of the roof  he missed cleaning the first time. Terry Gledstone, our upholstery fellow called today saying our kitchen chair fabric had arrived and could I get a chair over so they could cut out the fabric for all six chairs at once and have them sew before his seamstress leaves for month. I took it over after lunch. He is such a nice fellow and so kind.

Busy lives but blessed and today I have a radioactive husband. I love him so much! 

October 12, 2021

 Every week seems to fill up with important events, appointments and people. This week we made the decision not to go to Germany to get PMSA pet scan and start treatments but to have the test done here and then make the decision about getting to Germany. We would then be able to still have all our children come for Thanksgiving, as well as insure that Tom is illegible for the treatment before actually going. As a result we spent the week preparing for and planning for the children. We attended the Temple on Tuesday, Tom served in the Temple on Wednesday and on Thursday we went for Tom to perform the sealing of Josie to her husband who passed away a year ago. That was a lovely experience for us and for Josie and her dear friends, all of whom are dear to us too. We asked others to serve for us on our Saturday shift to allow us to be with our visiting children. We were excited.

Rissa, Scott and the children drove all the way from Whitefish in one day with Rissa doing most of the driving and Scott working. It was a beautiful day and drive for them. They arrived on Friday. Brendon had a cold so Liza drove down with the children by herself on Saturday. She didn’t tell us until she arrived that Rosemary was not doing well and they were putting her into hospice. Rissa and Scott went shopping on Saturday and put up our Christmas lights and did other needed chores to us zhelp out. We gave them our big edger and blower that were both too much for us handle and they bought us smaller battery operated ones. Trevor and family had their SouthWest flight canceled and had to reschedule. We had booked a hotel for Liza’s family on Friday and Saturday nights but without them here or Trevor’s family arriving, the Bull’s took the Hotel and our home was empty. The flight cancellation was not a one and done event for the Walkers and it would take them three times to eventually make it here. They had to keep getting covid tested with each cancellation and next booking. We ordered pizza for dinner Saturday evening. Those who were here attended Sacrament meeting on Sunday except for Liza and her two girls who stayed in the booked hotel Saturday night and zoomed their Kelowna meetings. Everyone came for pancakes after church and the girls helped me work on Thanksgiving dinner. Many hands really does help and I had made cake, cookies and stuffing  in advance. We were deeply saddened when Liza received news early Monday morning that Rosemary had passed away. This has been a difficult few years for Ted and Rosemary and their family but they have passed through it with great dignity. Liza and the children packed and left for home. We were grateful that they had made the trip. The Hardy and Bull families headed for the North Shore on Monday and all that means home to our children - their schools, their home, the beach and the Quay. We miss the North Shore so much but feel blessed that we have such wonderful memories and such a beautiful place to call home. We ate Thanksgiving leftovers on Monday. Jack had developed a cold during the weekend and he was keeping his distance. We managed to celebrate three holidays while everyone was here - Thanksgiving, Christmas and Halloween. I think we should do that every year as we get together and fit a few other holidays in too. Rissa’s family packed up and headed toward home on Tuesday, stopping overnight in Spokane. We are tired but feel very loved and love them all in return.

October 5, 2021

 Cancer is a very up and down way of living and we are constantly praying for direction to help us maneuver thru the various routes and options available to us. We have been looking at the Theranostic targeted radiation therapy that is one of the newest and most successful and aggressive treatments for prostate cancer available at the moment. Tom found it almost immediately after he was diagnosed but the oncologist suggested we try hormones and other treatments rather than jumping to the most advanced first because the other treatments might not work if and when the Theranostic treatments begin to fail. That is the course we have been following with the xtandi hormones but as that has prematurely been failing we have turned again to the Theranostic as a possibility. Tom has been communicating with Germany, where the treatment was developed, and they are prepared to get us in quickly. Tom needs a PSMA preliminary test to determine if he is illegible and he could receive that here in BC or in Germany. We were ready to get over to Germany this weekend but the oncologist we met with today again suggested we check Tom’s condition out more here and consider less aggressive options first. Tom has decided to take the PSMA here on the 18th and consider things a little more after getting an updated bone scan, CT scan and talking to the neurologist regarding the results of the MRI for his herniated disc. All this is draining and tiring. It really does require  that you be your own advocate and do a great deal of praying. Thank goodness for prayer.

Tom served a sealing shift with Brother Barrette on Wednesday and another one for Frank Deyell on Friday evening as Frank had to serve as the Temple recorder. Friday was a lovely sealing session as we had Cindy, Paul, Max, the Leonards, the Wolseys and Ruth Pullman. We didn’t even need any ordinance workers. Jack had to work late on Thursday evening and Dago came by himself for our second Temple Preparation lesson. He is such a nice fellow and has such an interesting background. He was raised in Cuba which is a communist, Godless country and he tried taking rafts to freedom. Though that failed he eventually found his way to freedom and the gospel. Max and JayLynn both celebrated their birthdays on the fourth. They were born on the same day, same year.

The highlight of the week for us was two days of General Conference. We need the boost that conference brings every six months and we loved the wonderful messages delivered by our leaders. They certainly seemed to be encouraging vaccinations, covid testing and social distancing. They leave the decision up to individuals but “as for me and my house” they seem to be indicating. I am so sorry that this has become such a controversy in the church. I thank the Lord for our wise and humble leaders who seek nothing more than to do His will and bless our lives.

September 28, 2021

 This was a busy but a very nice week too. We delivered our BC Thanksgiving Food Drive bags to our neighborhood and the Kennedy’s picked the food up for us on Saturday as we had our Temple shift and we were concerned about getting it done before we had to be at the Temple. We went over to the North Shore to have Karl cut my hair and I told him for that for the time being, until we were a little more settled in our lives, we felt we better not be driving over for my hair to be cut. I hate to leave him as his needs mothering and help and so I will stay in touch with him. Jean came to mow our lawn. We did our Temple session on Tuesday and Temple service on Wednesday evening and Saturday afternoon. Tom had a family history consultation with George Hara on Thursday afternoon and we had our first Temple Prep class here at our house that evening with Jack, who is preparing for his mission, and Dago, a new convert to the church, We got to the swimming pool once.

Our involvement with Tom’s health needs and concerns were ongoing, as we talk to different USA cancer clinics to determine if they are offering the Theranostic treatments we are seeking. It seems that the Mayo clinic has it already and we are working with them and others are expecting it to be available next year. Tom has worked hard to get thru to Doctor Baum’s clinic in Germany but language and messages that hang up have been a problem. He has to call in the middle of the night to hit their office hours and he finally got thru later today. Our dear Wendy Jack managed to get us in for an MRI for Tom’s back at the Abbotsford Hospital at 4:00 AM Saturday morning. We slept, got up, went, came home and slept again. We actually loved it as there was no traffic on the roads and the hospital was quiet and quick. We had been on Friday, the day before, to the Abbotsford and Langley hospitals to request copies of Tom’s imaging tests. Tom has the written reports but the Mayo and possibly other clinics want the real images. We requested the MRI on a CD too. It is full time job trying to insure your best interests health wise are being met. We are trying very hard and praying.

The highlight of our week came when Charmaine put on a recital Sunday evening at the church and dedicated it to us. She wanted to play for us while she was home from school in Austria. We felt using the church’s grand piano would be the best thing and then we felt perhaps we should open it up to others that would like to come. The Bishop agreed. We had a very nice turnout of friends, church members, her piano teachers and our neighbor Marie. It was lovely. She began the by playing “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing” specially for Tom which had us both in tears and then she went on to play many beautiful classical selections and others numbers. She is extremely talented. The whole evening was special personally and I think it was for everyone who attended. Jean and the girls are so good to us and so kind. We love them. They came over for Tom to give all three of them blessings before Charmaine flies back to Austria and Jean and Cheyenne go forward in their schooling here. I have included a picture of Tom just before they arrived for their blessings.

Another busy week trying to push forward with health needs and concerns but finding we are receiving many blessings along the way.