June 13

I have been falling down on the job again. I should have posted on Monday, June 8. Judy and I met with a thoracic specialist at St.Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon on Monday for a follow up appointment to April's surgery. Xrays indicate that all is well. The lung is healing as it should. The doctor also explained that Judy's persistent cough is normal following lung surgery. The coughing should clear up in time. We found out yesterday that Judy has to be in Vancouver for July 3 rather than July 5 as earlier indicated. Surgery is still booked for the same day. The anesthetists want to see Judy for a pre op on July 3. Fortunately, I was able to switch flights and make adjustments to accommodations. The good people at Westjet did not charge us a flight change fee. Judy is feeling stronger every day. The cracked rib resulting from her last operation seems to have healed and she has minimal pain from the two areas where her drain tubes were inserted. Hopefully, the next operation will be minimally invasive and the recovery time will be shorter. We are off to the lake this weekend to watch rain from a different point of view. I am hoping to get in a couple rounds of golf. Ideally, it may be wet enough that Judy won't be able to use her pointing stick, but dry enough that I will be able to use my golfing sticks.

June 4

We just returned home after Judy's appointment with Dr. Ahmed, Judy's oncologist. He decided Judy should not have chemo tomorrow because there are only 4 weeks before Judy's next surgery. We are relieved because Judy needs to build her stamina before another major operation. The flight is booked for Vancouver and hopefully, there is room at the inn. There was another mix up in sending CT results to Vancouver, but I believe the wrinkle has been ironed out. We also found that Judy and I don't have to fly to Vancouver until July 5, the day before the operation. Judy will be having CT scan later in June, then the results will be forwarded to the surgeon in Vancouver. Judy has been doing well, although she is experiencing discomfort in her rib area. The most likely explanation is: the surgeon fractured a rib when he was going in between her ribs during the April 27 operation. We are off to the lake this weekend. Judy is still carrying her stick around pointing out jobs at the lake. Whenever work slows down, she applies the stick to my back. Thankfully, she is not the muscular type. The pain is minimal.