This is the seventh update I have started and I am very hopeful that I don’t get a writer’s block with this one! I have mentioned it in other entries, and it is just as true now, I am struggling these last many months to find the words that do justice to my feelings regarding […]
Today is Cailyn’s MRI. Throughout her journey and over the course of almost 60 MRIs, I have never had pre-MRI dreams in which I learn the results. Last night I did. I didn’t like the results and the emotions I felt wakened me. It took me some time to fall back to sleep as my […]
This is my third post in honour of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The month is over but the need for a cure remains. I watched a burial service on Facebook last month for a young person that we know through our journey. Anthony’s tumour, like Cailyn’s, was also diagnosed as a slower-growing tumour (glioma) in […]
Tomorrow, Cailyn has her next MRI. We are both very hopeful we’ll learn that there is no continued growth in her tumour. If there is any further growth, her oncologist believes that the only course of action is treatment. I appreciate that we’re not out of the woods if the MRI is stable, but it’s […]
There are many, many Tuesdays over the last number of years that have involved a visit to the hospital for Cailyn and me. This last Tuesday was no different! I picked her up mid-morning from school and we headed to London for a follow-up appointment with her oncologist. We had a few conversations over the three […]
This is an overdue update. Rather than writing about my intense conversation with Cailyn last Friday, I was trying to process it and figure out what I needed to do… more on that later. Then, Monday arrives and brings with it some interesting symptoms. My first thought was that the discomfort she was feeling […]
As I have mentioned a few times, this year promises to be challenging. Two imposing mountains are in my view. The most intimidating and overwhelming mountain is the growth in Cailyn’s tumour. Being Cailyn’s advocate requires me to use my project management skills. If the desired outcomes of this project weren’t so critical, the […]
An update that seems to have been forever in the making… and yet, there’s still much to be decided. It was a very long day yesterday, involving over 3-1/2 hours of meetings with three specialists about the latest growth in Cailyn’s tumour. Thankfully, my headache didn’t start until we were driving away from the hospital […]
Next Tuesday, we will be meeting with Cailyn’s oncologist and a radiation oncologist to gain as much information as we can about the options that are available to us for stabilizing her tumour. We are also getting the opportunity to meet with one of the neuro-radiologists who has interpreted her MRIs. It’s a weird feeling… […]
I am so very thankful for all of the support we are receiving from our circle of family and friends. I can easily state that this support is a life-line for me. Twelve years in, I am painfully aware of how effectively my resilience has been eroded by the stress I feel managing Cailyn’s health journey. I first noticed my shaky […]