Brady has been home with us now for three months!! They have been beautiful months. VASTLY above and beyond the 2+ months he was gone. We do not care to relive those months anytime soon. Except just for a quick sec…
*shivers* Flat on his back after an invasive, emergent, complicated spinal tumour resection. Ugh.
He has come SO far since then, as if we don’t already all know that. From these last days alone…
He built our space for wood at the lake, and he even got into the lake with us!!! He is mastering the art of being a walking paraplegic, and not letting his change in mobility change much of anything. He is bound and determined to do just about as much as he did before. And I am SO proud of that determination in him! Thank you, Lord!
As if this all isn’t enough, you may remember Brady’s cancer diagnosis. Yes, that is still upon us. This last weekend up until last night, Brady completed his second full cycle of chemotherapy. A quick recap: Brady takes a dose of an oral pill – temozolomide (aka temodar) before bed for five days. Once thats over, he has 23 days “off,” and then the cycle restarts itself. Its like his period. Except scarier.
God has continued to show Brady grace, and for a second cycle now, Brady was not uncomfortable, sick, or in pain during his chemo. We always plan for that to change, armed with anti-nausea meds, gatorade, ginger ale, crackers, and the expectation of a weekend with more downtime than others. We still take NO risks on chemo weekends and book NOTHING that even MIGHT be stressful or strenuous. But we see God’s hand in Brady’s treatment, and we continue to trust His plan, even if it looks different. Two chemo cycles down, who knows how many left.
For now, I am just SO grateful Brady is well.
It is SUCH a relief to have him home with our family 💜Wherever home lands on that particular day, its just good to be together!
Laela has become something of a sidekick for me recently. She became extra protective of me when Brady was away at the hospital, and she tried a little too hard to take some adult responsibilities off my plate. I literally started praying for her to stay young, and not feel that pressure to be an adult so quickly.
Now, this summer, she has relaxed a bit, but she is definitely maturing. She is very much my daughter, and I am very much her mother, but we are also friends. We like to hang out and be together! She is a LOT of fun!
The other day, our family was at the beach, and Laela had to use the bathroom. I did, too, so we walked together. As we walked, I told her about how ladies often pee in groups. Boys not as much, but girls often go to the bathroom together. Sometimes even when they don’t all have to pee, they’ll still go together. We had a little giggle, because girls are funny like that, and that was it. We peed, and went back to the beach.
I have not peed alone since.
Laela took this information to heart, and now insists on joining me in the bathroom. She’ll pee, too, or she’ll wait right nearby, and we’ll talk. I’m also expected, though not required, to join her as well. She doesn’t push me to join her, but she always invites me. And I think its just the sweetest thing!
Today, she bounded off the playground and chased after me as I headed to the bathroom. I reassured her that she could stay and I’d be right back, but no. Because, as she says now,
The kids do a lot of biking here. Thanks to a handful of loving friends, our kids are WELL situated with bikes both at the lake and at home. Everyone loves having lake bikes. That being said, Solly doesn’t care for risk taking, really, and will sooner pick up and carry his bike than ride it 🤦♀️ His confidence grows sooooo slowly, so while we’re here, he tends to gravitate towards Waverly’s balance bike before his own training wheels bike. We’ve explained to him roughly a billion times that his bike without training wheels would be very much like a balance bike. Nothing doing.
Until yesterday! Our of nowhere, after supper, Solly requested his training wheels off. He had NOT been biking before he asked. Nope. It just came to mind. Brady and I were super surprised and asked if he meant now, or at home.
“Now, at the lake,” Solly decided.
So it was time!! We didn’t give him the chance to change his mind, haha!
His very first run, he GOT it!!!
Now he is a VERY loud guy, his volume knob always cranked to 11, and he just laughed and yelled and freaked out pretty much the entire time. He felt BIG the whole time, from excitement to fear to victory to nerves and back again. He didn’t wipe out even once!!!
I am SO impressed with how brave Solomon was and how quickly he picked up on his bike! There is still practice to be done, but he is WELL on his way! Amazing job, Solly boy!!! 🚲
Fires at the lake are some of the best times. I do recognize that there are fire bans ongoing, and no, we are not shaving fires right now. We respect the ban! But still, fires are a big part of camping!
Where we are stationed, there is firewood provided. It is out in the open for anyone to use from, so its accessible, but its also very much in the weather. So when it does rain, all of the wood is soaked. For this reason, we keep a good stack of wood at our site. Its just kind of been an unruly pile on our deck, and spills over underneath our camper. It stays dry, but its not pretty, or space saving.
After a bit of Pinterest-style research, we settled on a simple design for a wood “shed.” I struggle to call it a shed, because it isn’t a shed… but I dont know what else to call it so 🤷♀️ Brady ripped a few pallets apart and brought the wood out here to assemble it.
It happened on Friday, and was put in place yesterday!
Isn’t it pretty??? 😍
I am so grateful for a place to store our firewood. I am so grateful that it can be pretty! I am SO grateful that Brady can still build! Not only for my sake, but for his. Its a real confidence boost for him when he accomplishes something beautiful like this 💜 Now to get some rain so we can actually light a fire up here!!
I really love hanging out at Lakeview Park because it’s SO beautiful. Any chance I get to sit there, walk there, or be there, I’ll take it! So, this afternoon my mom and I went driving around looking at landscaping ideas and decided to get an iced coffee and sit at the park for half an hour or so.
I would say about ten minutes or less after we sat down with the pond in our view, I heard two teenage boys stop their bikes behind us to look under a giant pine tree at what had caught their eye. The older boy had taken a stick and walked to the trunk of the tree, and then I saw it.
A bird was shuffling and panicking and desperately trying to get away from where he was, but his wings were SO messed up. I decided to stay quiet and observe instead of investigating because I thought the bird would eventually fly away or run fast enough that they couldn’t catch it, but that didn’t happen. They kept trying to catch it with their hands. The one boy opened his backpack as if he was going to put the bird in there. They didn’t seem like they wanted to hurt him or anything, but they were also scaring the bird and causing more pain.
Finally, I said from about ten feet away, “I think you’re going to cause him more pain if you keep chasing him. Maybe he will just need to lay there and die.” The boy said back that he kinda just wanted to put him out of his misery. I could tell there was compassion there, but also helplessness. Then, the two boys rode off on their bikes.
Minutes later, the poor bird scuffled all the way to the path, taking one or two steps and falling flat on his face. He would lay there for a few seconds while he mustered up more energy to keep going. He got halfway across a four foot area and just layed on his face like a lifeless corpse. It was so hard to watch. More people would go by and his fear would get his wings to flap and shuffled forward an inch or two at a time.
I looked at the pond and tried to take my focus off the bird but I couldn’t. To see it work SO hard to keep going and keep falling, just made me feel responsible for his safety. He was now on the grass on the other side of the path, on his back and absolutely unable to flip over. I walked over slowly and noticed it’s colours. I walked back to where we were sitting and my mom said it sounds like it’s a woodpecker.
I felt so conflicted. I know it’s a small bird and birds die all the time in nature, but I couldn’t leave him like that. People would walk by and circle him and then walk or ride off. My mom suggested I could call the vet and ask what I could do. So I called Acadia Vet Service and the lady I spoke to was so friendly and caring about the situation. She explained how I should handle him and where I could take him. She even gave me their phone number and directions.
I hung up and called Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation while my mom got my sweater out of the truck for me to handle the bird with. When I got ahold of them, they were completely ready for us. So I scooped up the poor bird. He was strong in his legs and had a lot of life in his eyes so I felt optimistic for him. I walked to the truck and my mom got me buckled in since my hands were full, and we took off to Sutherland to get help for the bird.
About two blocks away from our destination, a slow train decided to make an appearance and stop a couple times which delayed our arrival time by twenty minutes. And that is not an exaggeration. It was PAINFUL because it was so humid, and I had this broken bird wrapped in a hot sweater. Sometimes his eye lids would start to drop because he was either too hot or too cozy, but if I shuffled at all he would kick his legs and wiggle a bit.
We finally made it there! We walked up to the door and they saw me through the screen and immediately welcomed me inside and reached for the bird. “AWE” the girl said as she took him from me and immediately took him to the back for care. Then, I filled out a form about his location and injury, followed by a case number they gave me so I can call tomorrow and see how he is doing.
They’re a totally non-profit organization that runs on donations. The workers are mostly volunteers and they will spend any amount of money it takes to rehabilitate the animal and release them back home. I thought that was absolutely wonderful. As I was writing down all the info, I could hear tons of birds they’re healing and preparing for going home. That was so nice. I am stoked to call tomorrow and see how he is doing!
I know I’ve posted a handful of these, starting in the beginning of the quarantine last year. We all needed a laugh, and frankly, that hasn’t changed! Its definitely still REALLY good to laugh, and to be honest, I get a kick out of seeing who shares my sense of humour and who suuuper doesn’t 😆 So hopefully at least some of you enjoy the dry ridiculous humour that I find funny!
I dont know about you guys, but this rings pretty true over here 😆😩 Whatcha gonna do?
Kids books, though. The author HAD to know the immature adults would be giggling. I can’t be the only one!
Remember the other day when my whipped coffee had a face?
Well very close to that day, multiple other foods in my kitchen had faces. And I just found that… whimsical? I don’t know. But I liked it.
I never thought about this 😳 Did ALL the kids bible story books have this error?!
So I DON’T hate broccoli. But maybe broccoli hates me 🤔 This guy looks ticked.
I really got a good giggle at this one 😆 That man was really thinking!!
The dog wins 😆
This one might take you a minute to figure out, but I will say it is deeply rewarding 😂🤣
This bird is SO perturbed!! I love his face.
Aaaaand speaking of birds, this one is my favorite. True colours coming out here…
Guys. That last one KILLS me. Ask Brady. Out of nowhere, I’ll just giggle and say “plain chachalaca.” I LOVE the plain chachalaca. Its just way waaaaay too funny.
Ok, I’m laughed out. I hope you at least laughed at a couple of these with me 🙂 We can all use some light laughter from time to time. And tonight is one of those times!
This is Hailey’s rainy day blog post. That means I wrote this, NOT today. Past Cher wrote this. I might be a lot smarter by now, or taller! Or RICHER! Yup – I’m shaking my head too.
Maybe COVID is done?? Pfft.
So, this might be random, but I wanted to write about dreaming! I am an active dreamer. I dream nearly every night and remember it. When traumatic events take place in my life, I tend to have bad dreams that lead to sleep paralysis. When I watch too much stressful TV or listen to negative music, or spend time with pessimists, my dreams get creepy and harder to ignore during the day.
I wanted to share a little bit about how I cope with that, because it might be helpful to some of you.
1. Take note of what you are listening to and watching during the day. If you struggle with turning your brain off at night, or have anxiety before bed, there is a huge link to what you have been hearing and seeing that your body is trying to process. If you don’t process it properly, it will affect your sleep quality, and/or your dreams.
2. I promise you that not getting enough nutrients in your day plays a huge roll in sleep. I started to drink boost in the morning just so I can get the proper nutrients but taking magnesium supplements has calmed my heart rate and my muscles a lot and I sleep much better. I wish I knew this in my early 20s. It takes about 90 days to build up in your system, but it is worth it. It also helps me to be way less cranky during the day which is a bonus. Right, Hailey?
3. Every night around the same time, Hailey and I text goodnight. We sort of generalize the day and thank each other and God for the day and end the day on a positive note. It’s especially good because we talk so much and are so close that sometimes there is a little awkwardness in the day (girls be girls) so we always end the evening with love, grace, and forgiveness. If you have someone or something that frustrates you or worries you, take the time to fix it before you go to bed. I promise you will sleep WAY better.
4. Pray. I know some of you don’t believe in God, and I am not here to judge you. I am here to tell you that you have nothing to lose by praying. Some people pray out loud without ever believing in more than just the moon. But if you do need someone, and you feel like no one is there for you, God will always be there for you no matter what, and he will take your burdens if you ask Him to.
5. Dehydration is unhealthy for the brain and the body. Consider that every organ in your whole body needs water every day to just perform. If it doesn’t get water, it will die in less than a week. Your brain uses water more than any other organ, and your brain oversees your sleep and your dreams.
I didn’t list anything else because these are the 5 most important things for me to have a good sleep. Watching Netflix shows that move too fast (the flash, not even kidding) gives me active dreams. Medications can also trigger very graphic dreams. Too much caffeine or sugar before bed. But mostly, the five things I listed. Sleep is so important. Take care of yourself. You are worth the effort to problem solve any sleep or dream issues you might have. If anyone has terrifying dreams and has tried it all, there are medications you can try for those too. I urge you to investigate them if your sleep is being affected that much.
For anyone with children who are active dreamers or sleepwalkers (medicated or not) from my time studying childhood psychology and children’s health, there is a strong link to the worries they think about in the day. They could have reoccurring thoughts that need sorting through. This can explain SOME outbursts, impulsive behaviours, sleep anxiety and sleepwalking. As most of you know, Rowan has tried magnesium too, and it has helped him like it has helped me. I would also encourage you to end the day with good discussion about any worries, just like adults need sometimes.
I didn’t share much at all for pictures of our last stretch at the lake, so here you have them! Be ready. There are lots.
It. Was. So. Hot. And Wavy was SO hot, and SO itchy with her gigantic mosquito bites, and SO in need of a snuggle. But it was almost too hot to snuggle.
You think she has a giant bum here, but its actually bug bites! She reacts SO big to them!
The next day was Canada Day. Wavy wiped out HARD running to the swings, but wouldn’t let me clean her up because she REALLY wanted to swing, hahaha! Later on, I found Laela had taken the initiative, found some bandaids, and cleaned her up herself. To me, this picture of Waverly is the epitome of summer time.
It was very very beautiful out on the beach. VERY hot, but very very beautiful. It eventually FILLED with families, but we had a few stretches of just family time. I loved being at the beach, and so did the kids.
Though you wouldn’t know it by the amount of walks we all took to the bathroom, lol!
Burgers and hot dogs for supper, as if an obvious staple. My mom got the kids these crazy adorable sunglasses (I’m sure you’ve seen Wavy wearing them almost constantly) but the kids who face the sun tend to wear them at meals. That will never get old to me.
Solly probably wears his the least but he, too, looks totally fly in them.
The next day was Wavy’s birthday!!! It, like the other days, was SO HOT. Grandma came out for the day and took her for a float 💜 It was VERY cute.
Even cuter from a distance 😉 When you don’t have to be the one in the water!
We put the young ones down for quiet time and Dekker and grandma put up balloons!
He is absurdly tall, all of a sudden!
Our site is nice and shaded, so we spent some time there, out of the sun. Wavy played with her crutches…
and Laela tried our Brady’s leg brace.
I know I’ve said it before, but it warms my heart that my kids are learning about accessibility and differences in this way as young people. They won’t stare or be uncertain, but they’ll know a bit about special needs, and can maybe even educate their friends. I know its a struggle, but its also an opportunity.
Rant over.
Brady made Wavy’s birthday supper of choice – pancake – on the barbecue. We were going to make them in bush pie irons, but there was a fire ban. The grill worked great, though! I’m glad I saved our old pans when we replaced them a few months back. Good idea, mom!
Wavy was grossly exhausted, but she was SO happy to have her special supper! It was the highlight of her day, believe it or not. Pancakes and watermelon.
As if pancakes and syrup and watermelon aren’t sugary enough, we threw some cupcakes on top, at her request. Thank you, mom, for baking SO MANY CUPCAKES for her birthday!!
I mentioned on her actual birthday blog that we drove around to share some of the baking with our friends, but unfortunately the whole group couldn’t hack it, and it ended up just being the two of us. Which was sad, but also really really special 💜
We had a LOT of fun! She loved going fast across the big open field. She squealed and her hair just blew all over the place. It was awesome.
The next day was another outside, hot, sweaty, lake day. No complaints from meeeee!
Rowan was tasked with pulling the wagon to the lake instead of riding the golf cart. It was a dreaded position, but he (ready?) rolled with it.
Wavy’s main beach goal was to bury daddys feet.
Waverly sucked mud into one of those water squirters, propped it on the ground, and squirted herself in the face with it. It wasn’t funny right away, but she got there 😉
Laela is just SO stinking beautiful.
Laela’s hair curls with the right ratio of water and gunk. BEAUTIFUL!
Solly is getting SO bleached out in the sun! He reaches that crazy point where his skin is considerably darker than his hair! I love that!
We drove home the next afternoon, and made a quick delivery in town that Laela was adamant we do before we got home. I had no idea she was just in her bathing suit 😆Whoops!
And just like that, we are ready to head out again tomorrow, and soak in some more sun and fun. Sweat, campfire, coffee, and bug spray! Ah, the smells of summer!
Thank you for caring about my procedure, friends. It was really comforting to receive your messages, comments, and texts. While ALL extra feels gigantic still, clearly I am ever so slowly healing, because yesterday felt doable and decently simple.
The part I was most dreading was getting up early. But it was ok. I checked in and took a selfie to prove to my people that I was well.
The next picture I managed was while I was eating some cookies. I was in and out of consciousness. But I remember thinking the digestive cookies were yummier than I had anticipated.
I know. I look so fly.
I was still mostly asleep when they asked me to get up and try to walk. When it was clear I was about to be released, I asked if I could call my ride – Cher. Apparently they already had!
She was patiently waiting in the little women’s health waiting room for me. I hear she was only there for about ten minutes or so before I was ready to go. It was pretty seamless!
I was actually advised to grab coffee along the way home if I thought I could stomach it, so I did. It was really nice to be home with my people so quickly after my procedure.
I slept most of the day, and went to bed at a pretty good time. I was just zonked, but it was nice to rest so well when I did.
I am pleased to report I have experienced next to NO physical discomfort. *knocks on wood* I haven’t cramped much at all, and I’m barely bleeding. I still feel a touch wiped today, but that could also just be psychological from all the lead up, and then the come down. I’m not sure, but I’m also not worried. I feel very much like myself.
The only thing I feel a bit weird about with this WHOLE thing is that I have no idea how it all went! Haha! I assume all is well, but I was clearly not all in there when the procedure finished up, so I didn’t really get much of a report or result, and I’m curious like that. So I’m hoping Dr. Guselle receives an operative report soon because I know she’ll get in touch and share it with me. I’m curious, but I’m not worried. This part of things is behind me now. Onward and upward.
My morning began early, as did Cher’s. We drove to Saskatoon together just shortly after 6:00am, and she dropped me off at City Hospital right around 6:45. I registered quickly and painlessly, and was directed to the women’s health clinic.
I didn’t talk about it in detail here, but I had a test done in March where a doctor inserted saline solution into my uterus and took a really good investigative look around in there. I tried to rebook the appointment, because it was right in the thick of Brady’s stay at rehab, and you may or may not remember, but I had ZERO capacity for extra anything. However, I could not reschedule without fully cancelling, and the doctor who was on the books to do it was about to go on sabbatical. So, I went through with it. Turns out, they found at least one decent sized piece of scar tissue that could very well be affecting my fertility. Even if I were to become pregnant with it in there, it could actually cause growth restriction.
So, even with everything going on as it is, Brady and I do not feel ready to completely close the book on our fertility. So today turned out to be the day I went in to have the adhesion removed.
It was actually a pretty fast paced morning once I got there. I sat in a waiting room for about ten minutes, and then I was brought in for a covid test. My first one. I passed! 🥇While the rapid response machine worked, I was talked through the lead up, the procedure, and the after. It all seemed pretty straight forward. I signed some waivers, and was walked to a room to change into a gown, robe, and slippers. It was a look. I put everything else into a locker, and was brought to another room right away where I answered some more questions, and laughed my way through a couple of unsuccessful IV attempts before we got it right.
Before I was finished in that room, my OB came in to touch base and ask if I had any questions or needed any clarification. My main question was about my previous D&C. I was curious how they were similar and different. They said it was similar, but on a much smaller scale pain- and recovery-wise. She then asked about Brady, which I thought was really lovely and a lovely example of a doctor going the extra mile. When all was done, I was walked to yet another room and wrapped up in a warm blanket to wait.
I only waited maybe five minutes before it was time to go.
I was taken into a procedure room and put up on a bed. Rather that stirrups, they hooked my knees up, which was vastly more comfortable. My favorite part of this story is my sedation nurse. I wish I remembered her name. She was SO warm to me. She stayed by my side and reminded me that her entire job was to make sure I was comfortable, so if I felt at all uncomfortable, she would absolutely help me. She was very reassuring. She told me what medications she was putting into my IV, and it was explained to me that I would be conscious and awake, but likely I wouldn’t remember much, if anything.
I was to receive three medication. Gravol was first. Next was a relaxant. That did its job beautifully, because I don’t remember the third medication going in. But what I do remember is my nurse laying her hand right on my hairline, and gently rubbing my forehead. I would lull here and there through the procedure. I think I told her stories. I remember apologizing to her, saying I probably didn’t make sense, and she told me I was doing just fine. Her hand was still there.
I don’t know about you guys, but I am a touch person. If I laughed with a stranger in a public place, I would often touch their shoulder. I like touch. I’ve missed touch. I think touch is SO special, so I really notice it in a different way in these months where no one touches each other anyone.
The men who helped build our lake deck hugged me when they left.
Dr Guselle touched my arm when she noticed the scars where I anxiously pick.
And today, my nurse who had a hand on me through my entire procedure.
I don’t remember everything finishing up, but I lulled awake in a recliner, once again wrapped in a warm blanket. I dozed in and out for about an hour. I kept water down, so I was given juice and digestive cookies. That worked too, so I just had to pee.
Buuuuut I was too asleep and considering I had been required to fast beforehand, the fluids just weren’t ready yet. They told me I was allowed to leave without peeing, but to come back in if I couldn’t pee within a couple of hours.
Spoiler alert. I can pee now.
Cher took me home 💜 Per nurses orders, we stopped for coffee along the way, because it would motivate my peeing. And it sounded good to me so I knew my stomach could handle it. Woot!
We brought home three americano nuevos for us three adults, and since then, I’ve pretty much been in bed.
So. So. Tired. I’ve slept a lot.
But its been ok, honestly. I have no regrets. If all of this craziness blows over and I never get pregnant again, so be it. But if we do decide to try again somewhere down the road, then I know my uterus is ready.
Tomorrow I’ll show you a few cute pictures from today 🙂 Buuuuut I don’t have the energy tonight.
All in all, I am tired, but I am content. Thats my story for the day. What a big Monday!
