January 31

Judy had another good day.  She is eating more now and experiencing less nausea.  Although she is covering less distance due to back pain, she has 2 or 3 walks per day.  I think I mentioned yesterday that I took her an "Unbeetable" Booster Juice.  She polished the Booster Juice off today.  I am concerned with Judy turning into a mooch.  I am having to upgrade from "tall" to "grande" at Starbucks because Judy is taking more and more of my Decaf Caramel Machiatto Half Sweet Extra Hot as each day passes.
Mary and Judy were working on the guest list for Mary's wedding in September.  Mary planned a wedding in 5 days earlier this month.  Now, she has planned a wedding in 5 days again, but the wedding does not occur until September 17.  I am expecting Mary to give me a deadline for my fatherly wedding speech any day now so she can have it proofread and approved by the Queen.  David arrives tomorrow so I will have a house guest for the coming days.  Time for more shotgun therapy, I'm sure.

January 30

I was on my way for coffee with friends this morning when I got an emergency call from Judy.  She didn't like her hospital breakfast so she ordered an Bacon and Egg McMuffin and coffee from McDonalds.  I was running late so I had to move at WARP speed to get through my morning ablutions, go through the drive through at McDs, drive to RUH, find a parking spot, rush up to her palatial quarters, and deliver the Queen's breakfast.  After coffee, I delivered Judy's favourite Booster Juice in time for lunch.  Judy was a little tired this morning.  She is taking a nerve blocker and pain killers to ease the pain in her back.  The mixture of drugs makes her very sleepy.  She was ready to saw logs by the time I left her at mid day.  Apparently, she had a good afternoon nap and had good visit later in the afternoon with Mary and some close friends.  Judy now has a TV in her room; therefore, she will probably look forward to watching her favourite HGTV shows.  The Queen deserves the luxury.

January 29

The day started out a little rough for Judy.  The main source of discomfort is her lower back.  By the time I arrived at the hospital after 3 pm, she was feeling better.  Haley, Mary, and our niece, Michelle dropped by when they were done work.  Visiting in the private ward is heavenly compared to visiting the previous accommodations.  The main topic on the agenda was wedding plans. 
Over the past week, Judy, in consultation with the girls, the palliative nurse coordinator, and the palliative doctor has made a decision to access palliative care at St. Paul's Hospital.  Judy does not like to use the term" palliative" for obvious reasons.  She prefers "symptom management"; therefore, Judy is waiting for a placement at the SMU...Symptom Management Unit at St Paul's.  Everyone we talk to speaks very favorably about the SMU a.k.a. Palliative Care Unit.  All the rooms are private, spacious, and comfortable.  Parking is provided for the spouse. The staff are exceptional.  The list goes on.  Placement in the SMU depends on availability and severity of symptoms so we don't know exactly when Judy will be moved to St. Paul's.
For people who are emailing or texting Judy, please keep in mind replying to messages takes all the energy that Judy can muster.  I am sure you understand that she will likely not be able to reply to messages messages sent to her.  This is not to say, she shouldn't receive messages.  Indeed, she loves hearing from her friends.  Just don't expect Judy to reply.  Every time I write one of these directives, I feel bad because it seems I have people fretting about whether they are doing the right thing.  Trust me.  I know you love Judy and you are doing your best.  We are all trying to find our way and do what is best. 

January 28

Good News!  Judy has been transferred from a public ward to a private ward.  What a breath of fresh air!  No more room full of curtains.  No more neighboring patients listening to their TVs in the hard of hearing range.  No more squeezing 4 chairs into a space big enough for one chair.  Judy's new room is spacious, private, and bright.  Judy had a good day today.  She was not nauseous and she ate more than she has been eating.  One reason for the increased appetite is: she declined TPN.  The TPN was likely making Judy nauseous because her system was not able to digest all the nutrient.  Yesterday's news was the removal of the catheter.  She will be more able to access the washroom now that she is in a private ward. 
I need to make a clarification regarding Mary's wedding plans.  The wedding last Thursday was to make things legal in the eyes of God.  The wedding planned for September 17 will be the wedding with the dress, groomsmen, flowers, photographer, bridesmaids, church setting, wedding cake, speeches, and hoe down.  Mary, being a chip off the old block, has a book of detailed plans.  When I arrived at Judy's room today, Mary and Judy were busy adding more plans to the book. 
In sporting news, tomorrow has volleyball and hockey on the agenda.  Quoting my buddy, Rick, "Being retired is like being 12 again, except you have friends and money." 

January 26

Judy had a rough night last night.  She was awake several times because of a sore back.  When I visited her this afternoon, her catheter had been removed.  She wears a type of Depends, but the hope is that she will use the washroom.  Of course, she will have to wheel her IV pole to the washroom.  We will see how this arrangement works.  Judy is still on full foods.  She pecks away at the food on her food tray and still receives TPN in the evenings, but I believe they are cutting back on the amount of TPN.  Apparently, her nausea may be caused by having to digest too much nutrient.  Her system is not able to digest as much as before.  In other news, wedding plans are moving along.  We booked the ACT Hall this evening.  I had the pleasure of traveling out to Prairie View School today to see my old colleagues and deliver cookies to them.  For the last three weeks, I have been playing volleyball with my buddies in the Saskatchewan Senior Athletics Association.  Most of the volleyball players are people who I play 60+ slow pitch with in the summer.  Volleyball is every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:30-11:30 am.  On Friday nights, I am the old timer at hockey and at volleyball, I am the young pup.  Well, I better hit the hay so I can bump, set, carry, tomahawk, and swallow my pride tomorrow at volleyball.

January 25

Judy was feeling quite tired today.  She had some nausea in the morning.  She was feeling better by evening.  I want to remind people that Judy and I share the same home email.  Judy receives sasktel email on her cell phone.  If you are sending a message to me, you should know that Judy reads the emails.  There are times when I receive messages that may be discouraging for Judy to read.  Remember, Judy is very much alive.  She does not feel sorry for herself and does not like to hear about people feeling sorry for her or people feeling sorry for themselves.  She loves to hear stories of people loving life and enjoying the good things life has to offer.  Live victoriously, my friends. Rejoice always.  Give thanks.  Sing alleluia.  You know what Judy says..."It's all good!"

January 24

I spent most of the afternoon with Judy today.  Mary and I returned from Wishart just after 1 pm.  The Queen ordered a heating pad.  Arrangements were made to have a massage therapist this afternoon as well.  A friend of Judy's who attended high school and elementary school with Judy made a special trip from Edmonton with her husband to visit Judy.   After our friends from Edmonton departed, Judy was in wedding planner mode.  Lord, help me with my attention deficit disorder.  The dance in Wishart was amazing, as usual.  I clocked about 20 polkas, a butterfly, 2 schottische, a few old time waltzes, 2 cha chas, several western two steps, and a half dozen jives.  My accommodations for the night were at the home of an old teaching colleague from Saskatoon West School Division days.  Wishart hospitality is second to none.  Rest assured, I did not starve. 

January 22

Another "off" day for Judy, at least in the morning.  Judy was feeling a little better in the afternoon, but was very tired...no surprise given yesterday's activities.  Tomorrow, Mary and I are having our yearly Father/Daughter date.  We are going to Malanka in Wishart to polka until we drop.  Mary danced with Wishart's Hopac Dancers when she taught in Foam Lake.  The village of 120 puts on a dance and 450 people show up.  No one leaves hungry.  I remember going to Wishart with Mary last year.  I had played hockey on Thursday night and wrenched my back.  On Friday, I couldn't even walk the length of the mall because my back was very sore.  Of course, I didn't want to miss ballroom dance on Friday night so I popped a couple muscle relaxants and felt better with every cha cha cha.  On Saturday, Mary and I drove to Wishart in the afternoon, danced the night away, got back in the car and drove back to Saskatoon.  I got home at 2:30, got up at 6:00 am and played hockey at 7:20.  My psychologist says I should dial it back a notch.  Point taken.  I play hockey tonight at 11:00.  Have to run. Goodnight, couch potatoes!
P.S. We are sleeping in Wishart tomorrow night.

January 21

The dishes are all washed, food is stored away, chairs are returned to their places, floor is swept, and clothes are put away.  Now, it is time to report on the day.  The girls arrived in the early afternoon to have their friend, Nadia, apply make up.  We arrived at the hospital around 3:00.  The nurses had begun to dress Judy and hide all her tubes/bags within her dress.  There were three nurses involved in styling her hair.  I will never get tire of saying the nurses on the surgery ward are world class angels of mercy.  We were all prepared for family pictures by 4:00 pm.  Morgan was looking dapper in his new suit.  The suit even looked better when he removed the price tag.  After pictures, we went to the chapel where Uncle David performed a wonderful wedding service for Morgan and Mary.  Thank you for all your prayers for Judy because she was feeling well during the service and she even felt well enough to come home for the post wedding celebration at our house.  Everyone was thrilled to see her beautiful face.  The day went as well as we could have expected.  The only glitch was: Haley was not feeling well as a result of food poisoning from something she ate yesterday.  Mary was a radiant bride.  You couldn't wipe the smile off her face.  Who says you can't organize a wedding in 5 days.  Mission accomplished.

January 19

Judy had a rough night.  She wasn't up for her daily visit with David when he arrived at 8:00 am.  I believe they upped the dosage on her anti nausea drug.  The usual practice is to start out with a lower dosage then increase until the effective level is reached.  Because Judy was sleeping, David and I decided to make our ritual trip to the farm at Wakaw.  We made our usual stop at Crossroads Restaurant to support the Barley Growers of Saskatchewan and to have the perogy, cabbage roll, and kielbasa combo.  After lunch, we enjoyed some 12 gauge shotgun therapy at the farm.  There are some old oil cans that won't mess with Alvin and David ever again.  When we returned to the city, we visited Judy.  She was feeling better.  Haley and Mary were with Judy doing her nails and finding out how Judy wanted to make herself pretty for Thursday.  

January 18

Judy was up for physio, a shower, and a few short sessions in her chair today.  The palliative care coordinator for RUH and the palliative care doctor met with Judy today.  A decision was made to start Judy on a new anti nausea drug administered through a patch on her leg.  We will wait and see whether the drug is effective.  Wedding plans are falling into place.  The chapel is booked.  Flowers are being delivered.  The photographer is committed to the cause even though she had her own personal tragedy.  Apparently, her house burnt down.  Mary came to the house today to pick out a few dresses and shoes for Judy to wear. Alvin had his hair cut at Tragic Cuts. (When asked how I wanted my hair cut, I asked for the stylist to remove all the grey hairs and now I am bald). A special angel is making a cake.  The post celebration is planned.  The nurses have even created a space to have a post service get together at the hospital in case Judy is not well enough to join us at our home.  Judy loves these nurses and they love her.  We are overwhelmed by the love and support we continue to receive from every person who knows Judy's story. The outpouring of love and congratulatory messages Mary and Morgan have received has been heartwarming.  Joy in the midst of adversity.  Man, what a ride.

January 17

Yesterday, I got a text from Mary's boyfriend Morgan.
Hey Alvin, how's it going?
Good, I just finished my housework.
Is it okay if I stop by your place?
Sure, come on over.
Morgan arrives.  Yes, Mary and I have been talking and we would like to get married.  Do I have your blessing?  Yes, Morgan, you have my blessing.  (Now let me state here that Morgan and Mary have been together for nearly 5 years if my memory serves me correctly.  Those 5 years have been the happiest years of my daughter's life.  Morgan loves Mary very much and treats her like the lady she is.  He would never do anything to hurt her.  He pretty much does what Mary tells him to do...similar to the relationship I have with Judy.)  Later yesterday, Morgan went to Judy's bedside and said to Judy, " I love your daughter very much and I would like your blessing to ask for Mary's hand in marriage.
Of course, Mary and Morgan would like to get married soon because they would like Judy to be a part of their marriage.  If all goes according to our impromptu plans, we will have a small private ceremony at RUH chapel on Thursday evening.  Judy's brother, David, will officiate.  Hopefully, the photographer who was going to do family pictures ( a gift Haley, Mary, and I gave Judy for Christmas) will photograph the event.
Judy had another rough night.  She began with a migraine and then fought nausea for half the night.  She got some rest and was up in the morning for some breakfast and a shower.  We visited later in the afternoon.  Haley, Dustin, Mary, Morgan, David, and I had a good visit with Judy, but she was quite exhausted by the time we left.
I know people are wanting to visit Judy, but visiting really takes more energy than she has right now.  If you are wanting to visit Judy, please consult with me before making plans to visit her.  Visits have to be very short.  Five to ten minutes will have to suffice.  If she is asleep, the visit should consist of looking at her beautiful face, blowing a kiss, and mouthing an "I love you".

January 16

I mentioned in an earlier post that Judy was having a CT on Tuesday, January 12.  The results are as follows:
1.  The cancer in her body has become quite agressive.
2.  There are multiple lesions in Judy's liver.  The lesions have doubled in size since the last CT in early December.
3.  There are lesions in her lungs and in the bones of her lower back.
4.  Lymph nodes in her groin area are also cancerous.
Judy still looks as beautiful as ever.  She is still attempting to eat, but nausea continues to be a problem.  More of her day is occupied with rest.  The nursing staff has been wonderful in keeping her comfortable with anti nausea meds, heating pads, and pain killers. Judy usually showers and does physio in morning. We usually visit Judy later in the afternoon when she has had her rest.  She is still very much "with it" after her rest.  In spite of all the bad news Judy has received, she is quite serene.  She continues to charm the doctors and nurses.  Furthermore, she continues to inspire everyone who knows her...forever the teacher.  A good friend of Judy's who was a colleague at Martensville High School told me, "When we have challenging situations with students at our school, we still go by the motto of 'what would Judy do'."
As for the girls, they are coping as well as can be expected.  Of course, I would be lying if I said this is easy for any of us.  We just take life one day at a time and enjoy every precious moment we have with Judy.  The girls are very proud of their mother and strive to be like her.  Indeed, there is a lot of Judy in both of them.  Judy and I couldn't be more proud of our daughters.  They are jewels in the crown of the King and Queen.

January 14

Judy had another good day.  Although she didn't eat much lunch, she had a few bites of her roast beef dinner and she is ploughing through her orange Ensure stockpile one teaspoon at a time.  She added another duty to my cleaning list. Apparently, she informed her brother, David, that, "Sometimes Alvin cooks chicken and only uses a dish rag and dish soap to clean the counter.  He needs to use Lysol wipes to get the counter completely clean."  You see, I wasn't even aware that I was in breach of counter cleaning protocols.  Now that I know, I won't make the same mistake again.  Judy is quite proud of me for the money saving measures I have taken in her absence.  Most of the measures have been taken without her approval, but I can't tell you what they are because the Queen has snitches everywhere.  One measure I can tell you about was stealing power from my neighbors.  They just found out yesterday that their power bill and gas bill is two times as expensive as mine.  The reason for this is: I have been running the cord from my electric heater to their outdoor plug in.  I also run as many of my appliances as their circuit will tolerate.  I didn't think they would notice the spike in their bills.  I thought they would blame the outrageous bills on the fact they keep chickens in their garage.  Those brood lamps really suck the power.  Tomorrow is another busy day.  Car to the garage, play volleyball from 9:30-11:00, visit Judy, eat, afternoon nap, happy hour with my girls, dance a few dances at the Scandinavian Club, and cap the night off with late night hockey.  I'm really slowing down as I approach 60.

January 13

Judy is beginning to eat a variety of foods now. Fortunately, we have 40+ bottles of creamsicle Ensure in the pantry. She is no longer limited to sips of water because that plan wasn't yielding any results.   She has not been experiencing as much nausea now.  Perhaps the decreased nausea is due to the fact her ostomy is continuing to work. I should mention a milestone was reached today.  The number of hits on the Diamond Judy blog surpassed 40 000 today.  Now my son in law wants to purchase advertising space on my blog.  Actually, he can't afford my rates. 

January 11

Judy started the day feeling rather "off" as she describes the condition.  She had recovered by noon in time for our oncology appointment at 1:00 pm.  There was no real earth shaking news coming out of the oncology review. We know the following:
1.  Judy still has a fistula between the bowel and the bladder.
2.  There is still a chance that chemotherapy may be used to limit the growth of lesions in her liver.
3.  A CT scan will be conducted tomorrow to determine the amount of cancer growth in Judy's body.
The other thing you should know is that Judy is one of the toughest little ladies on God's Green Earth.  She continues to fight, embrace hope, and rise above all the adversity that comes her way.  

January 10

Okay, we have a new problem.  Now that Judy is on fluids again, she thinks she can hog all my caramel machiatto.  I guess I will have to start ordering grande rather than tall.  Judy had a good day today.  All of her bags are filling as they should.  David and I did not visit Judy until mid afternoon because we went to see The Revenant after I got home from church.  I think Leonardo deCaprio is going to win an academy award for grunting and labored breathing.  You will understand my prediction if you have seen the movie.  Honestly though, the movie is incredible.  The cinematography and special effects are amazing.

January 9

The insertion of the nephrostomy tube was successful.  To review the bag situation...Judy has an ostomy, a catheter, and two neph bags.  The ostomy is continuing to work and as hope for, Judy is experiencing less nausea.  She is still on clear fluids.  I am not sure how honey dew melon qualifies as clear fluids, but there was a bowl of honey dew on Judy's tray and she chowed down the complete serving.  She also slurped down all her grape juice.  Reporting all these things may seem trivial to the uninformed, but followers of this blog will know this is progress.  I know many of you are probably wondering about my first session in the Mennonite Pro Leagues.  Well, there were two 50 year olds, one 59.9 year old (me), and the rest were 20 somethings.  One young guy sees me getting dressed and says," I suppose it has been a few years since you strapped on the old blades, eh?"  Now, I didn't skate circles around these guys; however, I was able to keep up and I even managed to score a couple goals.  I had a blast and I will be back next Friday night while the rest of the world is sleeping or watching The National. 

January 8

For all the issues that Judy is dealing with, there is a host of specialists.  Surgeon, oncologist, urologist...  The urologist met with Judy today and a decision was made to insert another nephrostomy tube.  Now Judy will have a neph tube for each kidney; therefore, there will be no urine passing through the bladder.  Judy also went on full fluids today.  She had broth at noon and supper.  the meals were accompanied by the appropriate drugs to keep the meal down.  So far, so good.  I really don't know what the overall plan is going forward.  We should know more after Monday when we have a meeting with the oncologist.  On the Alvin front: I finally got around to playing volleyball with a group from the Saskatoon Senior Athletics Association.  The group plays every MWF from 9:30-11:00 am.  A lot of the players are people I play SSAA slow pitch with in the summer.  And just to prove I am certifiably nuts, I am heading out in the minus temperatures tonight to play hockey at Archibald Arena with group of guys from Cornerstone Mennonite Church.  If you don't care for fighting in hockey, play with a bunch of "Conscientious Objectors".

January 7

I had an enjoyable day of herding cats a.k.a. teaching grade 7 at Warman Middle School.  After work, I visited Judy.  She received the cystogram results from Dr. Kanthan.  Apparently, the fistula has not healed.  In fact, the tear is larger.  This news is not actually surprising because fistula usually require surgical repair.  So the news is not surprising, just disappointing.  Judy is looking forward to tomorrow because her hair stylist is going to be styling her hair later in the afternoon.  I approved the transaction because a haircut is still cheaper than a dog license.  Oh, if Judy ever found out some of the things I write, I would be sent to the dungeon.

January 6

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone.  Khrystos Rodyvsya!!! The big news from yesterday was that Judy had her first BM in 3 months.  Now, I know this is not the kind of news that a husband shares about his wife, but the event is so long in arriving that I was passing out cigars last night to strangers in the waiting room.  Hopefully, the event will lead to good things like relief from nausea.  Judy has not received the results of the cystogram yet.  When I was visiting with my cousin, Gord, this afternoon, I was reminded of a book I read by Mitch Album titled "Tuesdays With Morrie".  Our usual meeting time is on Mondays.  I should write a book titled "Mondays With Gordie", I treasure the times we meet together on Monday afternoon.  Gord, along with a multitude of others have come along side me to show they care.  Some other books I would like to mention are as following:
1. Happy Hour With Raymond and Bridget and Jack When He Is Available
2. Drop In Any Time With Dale and Trish
3. Zuma Borscht and Nien Kukken With the Bartsches
4. Thursday Steak Nights With Ed and Jane
5. Long Distance Chats With Sister Polly
6. Sports Talk With Wayne and Vinny
7. Gourmet and Hilarity With the Oxelgrens and Craigs
8. Texts From Huatulco With Tom and Anita
9. Esoteric Chats With Cam
10. Knitting Updates With Mom
11. Coffee Time With the Loser's Club
There are so many to mention.  There is a host of other people who did not make my top 11 titles, but everyone who has shown me love and support is in my heart.  You are all angels of mercy to Judy, the girls, Judy's siblings, and me. 

January 5

I visited Judy in the morning yesterday.  She was feeling "a little off" as Judy likes to say.  She was informed a cystograph was scheduled for 1:30 yesterday.  The results will be delivered in a couple of days.  After visiting Judy, I drove up to Big Shell Lake to visit my friends, the Buswells.  Wonderful visit.  Lynna whipped up a tasty lunch, then Neil and I walked for just over 2 hours in the bush.  After Buswells, I went into the town of Shell Lake to visit the Felds.  Another great visit ending with a delicious meal.  Of course, the Felds and I had to do a ceremonial trading of my perogies for their coubassa...a very sacred Ukrainian rite. 

January 3

Not much has changed over the last 2 days.  Judy's routine is to get up in the morning for physio and a shower.  Audrey is faithfully visiting Judy every morning and makes sure the Queen's personal effects are alphabetized then placed in right angles to the equator.  Judy does like organization.  After morning activities, Judy usually has some meds that help her to rest so she can be as radiant as ever when I visit after 3 pm.  The girls have enjoyed having the luxury of time over the holidays to visit their mom every day.  Tomorrow is back to the salt mines for both girls. They are looking forward to using the can openers I gave them in their Christmas Stockings.  The can openers are used to open up a great big old can of "you know what" if students misbehave. Of course, I supplied them with cans of "you know what".  Actually, the cans are full of Stag Chili (I just turned the labels around) that their Uncle David left in my pantry so they really do contain "you know what".  Mary is quite excited because she traded in her 2011 Rav for a 2016 Corolla.  She is sentimentally attached to Corollas because she was brought home from the hospital as a newborn in our old 86 Corolla.  Judy and the girls seem to be in a good place emotionally.  Judy's condition seems quite stable.  No drastic changes.  She looks as bright and beautiful as ever.  In an earlier post, I mentioned Judy will be having a csytoscopy sometime in the coming week. Apparently, the proper term is cystograph.  Oh yeah, and pic line should actually be picc line. 

January 1

Judy texted this morning to say she was feeling quite nauseous; therefore, I planned my visit for later in the afternoon.  Haley, Dustin, Mary, and I parked at the weir and walked to RUH around 3:30 pm.  Judy was feeling better by the time we arrived.  Our lake family, the Cubbons and the Felds had sent video messages for Judy to Mary's iPhone that she was able to view during our visit.  The messages really gave Judy a lift.  The catheter continues to run clear.  Hopefully, this means the fistula is healed.  From what I have read on the internet, fistulas usually require surgery.  The upcoming cystoscopy should give a clearer indication of Judy's inner plumbing.