Busy Last Week...

...Hibernating This Week!

Thought I would post a quick update from the last week-ish around here - seems it flew by and was super productive.  I did manage to keep up the pace (mostly) but must admit by Thursday afternoon I was on overload and had to pull over in Angus for a nap on the way home from Sunnybrook.  Totally embarrassing. But we survived. 

After our busy Melanoma Monday we decided to stay in Toronto an extra night.  There was just so much to do and enjoy, pool, arcade, Hard Rock Cafe - plus the rooftop patio on the 27th floor of the Eaton Chelsea was just too fun to see only one night!  We went up and saw the full moon right above the CN Tower all lit up.  On the Monday night it did a veritable light show - purple just for Cassie!

Tuesday morning we all slept in, then went down for breakfast, then we goofed around in the teen room (arcade) at the Chelsea.  Guess what I found to dump an unmentionable number of quarters into!?? An old-school Ms. Pacman machine!!

Kicked Claire's butt at air hockey too. Momma's still got it!!

Then we checked out of the hotel and made our way down Bay Street, past the bank buildings, and a couple of loop-dee-loop weird turns? to somehow land at the Rogers Centre underground parking to go to Ripley's Aquarium.  A fantastic Toronto driver I am NOT.  But we got there, and almost got run over by a tour bus only once!  :-)

We did manage to be home for almost 24 hours, enjoyed learning from the piano tuner Wednesday afternoon, then loaded up again to head to Barrie for the girls to cook dinner at Gilda's Club "Teen Scene" evening of fun.  They had fun and made some new friends, all of us parents and staff had to drag them out at home time.  We will be going back for Bowlerama Night in June! 

We stayed in Barrie for the night, in a fantastic jacuzzi suite king bed room HAHA Who knew Barrie is so busy these days? It was the last room available, so thankfully they took pity on me (I admit, I pulled the hospital card) and gave us a less-than-inflated rate.  I guess I am spoiled by the Radisson in Toronto where we usually stay for the Sunnybrook trips, they are very reasonable! (and the rooms are larger though not as quiet)

Up and gone early Thursday morning, we people watched through morning traffic, and made it to Sunnybrook almost as early as I had wanted to be there.  I had an appointment with my Head & Neck Surgeon, for the ultrasound-guided biopsy of the enlarged nodes showing on my CT scan.  

I am happy to report that I had a good one-on-one meeting with my thyroid surgeon, and he did a careful ultrasound on my neck and looked all around and decided to NOT do the biopsy!  I am very happy about that, because I HATE lymph node biopsy.  Yes I may have mentioned that before. 

He did say that the nodes are indeed enlarged, but they are evenly-rounded, and do not seem to show anything sinister in them.  He said he is confident that they are just "reactionary" and puffed from "working overtime" on everything my body has going on.  He told me to go have a good summer and we would look at them again in the Fall. 

I am comfortable with that, as I will have another CT scan in July and again in September so.... I trust his obvious expertise.  And if that comes back to haunt me then well, I guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it.  

After all that stress and lead-up I crashed.  We did manage to get home in time for the girls to go to their school orchestra practice, and I slept on the couch until the girls baked dinner (thank you!) and then tucked me into bed.  Friday back to the grind, I did errands etc. while the electricians were at my house installing a new electrical panel - a job that I have wanted to do for the 12 years I have owned this house!! 

Funny how life goes on..... yes I am tired but this stuff still has to be done.  And I feel that on some things I am still playing catch-up, as they have been neglected for a year already.  We had the basics covered well thanks to the support of our family and friends, but stuff like the electrical - and the flower garden! - need my attention now.  

One day at a time I tackle it.  I am still working to maintain my "just get ONE thing done per day" "be gentle with yourself" thing... some days my one thing is to get up and make a coffee.  Other days I exceed my expectations and drive all over hell's half acre and still manage to write about everything we did that day.  ;-)  

This week I am continuing the restful approach that I accomplished all weekend, no appointments all week YAY!!!  Next week the girls go on their grade 7 class camping trip to the Outdoor Education Centre in Oliphant and Scott will be back to work, I might just tackle that garden.  In the meantime I will just soak up my family and rejoice in the gratitude I still feel from yesterday's relaxing day.  

I had a wonderful Mother's Day with all three of my girls.  We just chilled out and they spoiled me... and I was so happy to be alive.  I remember last year staying in bed all day and crying so deeply when anyone called or texted me a Happy Mother's Day wish. Terrible but true... that day I was convinced it was to be my last Mother's Day.  I am so grateful that it was not.  

Yesterday I danced around all day driving the kids nuts, and making my Mom a bit peeved for posting photos of her on facebook.  I was wishing her Happy Mother's Day and celebrating her!  --eek I have to watch my step as she has now returned from winter in Florida - Welcome Home Warden!! 

Photo of us ~ August 2004, Cassie yanking on my Mommy's necklace, my Baba sitting down, Auntie Bev from BC behind her, and Claire trying to get away from skinny tanned me.  Happy Mother's Day Mom! xoxo

Article & Photos © Natalie Richardson 2015