03/08/09
Jan 30 (Fri): Ok day. Many thanks to Carol and Beryl. Andy slept lots, Mom says Grama is slightly better, and I was very productive at work. Just very tired. TGIF.
Jan 29 (Thurs): Thanks to our stellar Andy-sitter today, Mom. She came over early this morning and kept an eye on Andy most of the day, wearing a mask as much as possible (but it's hard when your glasses get all steamed up). Mom got quite a shock when she first arrived and got a look at the two pages of emergency information on the fridge. These were provided by the Haematology Clinic and include numbers to call 24/7. If Andy gets a fever or some other reaction, we are supposed to get her to Mac within an hour, even if another hospital is closer, as they know what's going on with her and can get her on IV antibiotics immediately. We were warned this would probably happen a couple times during her treatment.
Andy's day alternated between sleeping and getting her butt kicked at Wii Bowling. Mom even beat Ben's high score by getting 193. Now, if you're worried that this was taxing on Andy, don't. She laid on the couch, Mom sat in the chair, and they both just hung their arms over the side to play.
In fact, I probably had the more stressful day. When I got to work I was a bit of a basket case and had to take one of the Lorazepam relaxant pills the doctor gave me. I knew Mom would watch over Andy, but that must be how it feels for a mother to leave her baby for the first time to go back to work! I just wanted to run back out the door. I also had a brutal migraine. I blame it on the snow shoveling. Must've put out my neck. Thank goodness the very sweet neighbour, Frank, from a couple houses down, came and finished the deepest part near the road with his snowblower, where the snowplow had piled it up. He did it while I came in for a dinner break. I went back out the door ready for round 2 and could've done a cartwheel of joy - if I'd had any energy left.
This afternoon I left work early and went to the chiro. Had a good adjustment to relieve the headache. Feel much better, especially after some dinner and a short rest. Can't rest for too long though as it's been laundry-mania around here for several months. Night sweats is a big symptom of Andy's Lymphoma. She got through 4 sets of pyjamas last night.
After the chiro, I had to swing by the hospital again as Andy was so anxious to get out of there yesterday, she had forgot her laptop power cord. When I got home I sent Mom packing pretty quickly as the roads were getting snow-covered again, but it was still light. She called later to say that she got a call from the nursing home saying that Grama is not doing well. They think that her bed sore infection has gone deep inside and is really affecting her. They asked Mom if they should send her to the hospital, but we all know that is the last thing that Grama would want. Mom will go in tomorrow morning early unless the home calls to come right away.
Andy's parents also called to check in today - a nice surprise for Andy - and she got a very nice, encouraging and understanding email from her boss.
Tomorrow, our friend Carol has the morning shift with Andy, then Beryl will come for the afternoon. Huguette will come play some Wii with Andy Saturday so that I can go for groceries. So far, no real nauseau and she's even managing to eat decently.
Jan 28 (Wed) PM: We've just had a beautiful, big basket of spring flowers delivered from Andy's work.
They are gorgeous, but were a challenge to find space for. We've been in this house less than a year and we've filled it up!
So, after all the fuss and muss yesterday, Andy was perfectly fine last night and this morning she insisted on shoveling half the driveway. I did the rest then we went back to the hospital from about 9 till 12:30. We took the fantastic ladies in the Medical Day-Care a box of Timbits, so they were happy to see us again. Nancy jabbed Andy and got the next in the chain of meds running. This one was a "push", meaning she connected the huge syringe to Andy's tube then pushed the meds manually.
Then she got Andy's next drip running. I went off to the waiting room and had a little rest. Andy and I check in with each other via texting and occasionally I wander in - it's a rather "filled to capacity" room so I'm in the way if I hang around. All the nurses know me now: Olga, Nancy, Summer, and Sylvie, and of course the doctor's main assistant, Adele. After a while resting, I got a text from Andy that she wasn't feeling well. After yesterday, being summoned many times, I don't panic & run so much anymore. I know that the nurses are on their game.
It wasn't nauseau, but just a general spacey feeling. Apparently, this med can give a rush to the sinuses, but with Andy (maybe thanks to her deviated septum) she had a rush to the entire head. By the time I walked the hundred yards from the waiting room, they had Andy laying back and Summer had given her some apple juice and a Boost.
She was cold, so I got a heated blanket from Nancy. I can't believe how there is a room of 20 or more patients at times, yet these 4 or 5 nurses make you feel like you are their only concern. They've got real teamwork going.
The absorbent pad is for when they are changing lines as there are a few drips.
Next time I checked on Andy she was sitting up fine again. I twiddled my thumbs in the waiting room for a bit, then decided to get some lunch. Down to the cafeteria I went. The specials change every day, and today I was happy to find spaghetti and meatballs. I know this sounds weird when I have just been talking about Andy's chemo, but that was the best spaghetti and meatballs I have ever had - and it came from a hospital cafeteria! What're the chances?! Mid-meal I got a text that Andy was released. I threw the rest and by the time I got back upstairs, she was standing in the hall with her coat on, waiting for me.
The drive home was a minor challenge. It's snowed from since before we got up, sometimes heavily, and it's still coming down lightly, plus the wind is blowing it around. The roads and highway were very snow-covered and slippery. We saw a couple accidents on our way home, one where the car was totaled, but we were fine. Andy had some soup for lunch, then we went for a nap. I think I slept better than Andy. For once, I am more mentally tired than physically, but her mind was racing. Plus, even though we thought we'd turned all the phones off, we weren't successful and after the second phone call I gave up.
I'm sure Andy is getting tired of me repeatedly asking her how she's feeling. I'm cooking her some dinner now. She still hasn't had any nauseau (though the bucket is close at hand). She now has some meds to take orally over the next few days, so we shall see how those go as well. I also keep tugging on her hair. So far, it's still all attached. It's to the point now where she offers me the top of her head occasionally. ;-)
In other news, Mom is going back to work part-time starting Monday (since she broke her knee-cap back in August) and I think she's actually looking forward to it. She will work each day from 1 till 5. She's still using a cane most of the time but we are very pleased for her.
As for elaborating more on yesterday's VERY STRESSFUL time, in retrospect there's not much more to say. Andy reacted poorly a few times, they dealt with it, and I worried like a wife should. Thank gawd it's over - and thank gawd for the sleeping aids from the family doctor!
Ok, I've got shoveling to get at.
Jan 28 (Wed) AM: Hmmmmm. I love Andy's entry in her lymphoma log re yesterday. As it leaves out the emotion of the day, and has a smiling picture of her showing her IV line, with the laptop on her lap, it just doesn't feel like a true reflection of the day to me. But then that is supposed to be a more technical log, and this, the blog, is our thoughts.....
Bloody hell! That's what I thought numerous times yesterday. Now, don't get me wrong. The nurses were top-notch, the doctor was in several times, but Andy not reacting well to the antibody med was VERY STRESSFUL. I will try to elaborate more later. Right now I have to go. It's 7:30 am and Andy insisted on going out to shovel snow. I have to go take over for her. Quickly though....check the second picture - that's when she had her second reaction - hot all over and shaking, plus tight-chested so put on oxygen as a precaution. And the third one is after they moved her to a room.
This morning we go back for the two chemo drugs. After that, we'll have the bucket close at hand.
Jan 26 (Mon): We can't believe the irony.....all the ironies. If Andy had got cancer two years ago, we wouldn't have been in Ontario near my family & the majority of our friends, and we would have been double the flight time from Andy's parents. If this had happened one year ago, we wouldn't have been settled in the house, we wouldn't have been married, we wouldn't have recently spent 3 fantastic weeks with her parents visiting, and we wouldn't both have permanent jobs with benefits and generous management.
Some good news today is that Andy's boss was awesome when she finally was able to tell him. She can work as much as she wants when she wants. She has brought home her laptop, external LCD screen, keyboard, mouse, and files. Their IT guy installed VPN for her, so she can work at home connected directly to their servers. She also has great short-term disability - full pay for the first two months and 2/3 (but with no taxes) for the next 4, before long-term kicks in if needed. Phew!
Now, getting back to irony.....After all those years in apartments, with makeshift offices in the living/dining rooms, we've got a real office, with an awesome U-shaped desk and a door that closes.....a real sweet set-up. BUT... it's too cold right now. The desk is in a corner with an outside wall on one side and the unheated garage on the other. So, with Andy being extra cold most of the time now anyway, guess where she's set up her home office?
Looks like a nice, warm dining room to me! (which, ironically, also happens to be in a corner with two outside walls)
Jan 25 (Sun): Scot has posted his video of Mom's Surprise Party last weekend on You Tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbUaSZF9aYQ and note that on the bottom right of the video, you can click "watch in high quality" so it's not so pixely.
This morning we went to Scot and Monica's to tell Ben and Grace about Andy being sick. She showed them this picture:
Then she explained that the green nodes are soldiers that fight the bugs that make us sick. They fight along the green lines, but that her soldiers are sick and not working right now. She will get more sick before she gets better and sometimes will be in the hospital - the same, really good one where they were born. They looked at her stitches and asked some questions. She told them how her hair might even fall out because the medicine she will get is so strong. We talked about Andy have to stay away from germs, and Andy and I wore surgical masks through the entire visit, as did Monica because she has a cold. We also took antibacterial hand cleanser and ate lunch at separate tables. The kids seemed to take it all in stride and agreed that we can videochat and play some games over Skype. We had also taken the Wii over and played a while as it will now be quite some time till they can come over - the reasoning being that they are little germ factories thanks to going to school, basketball, Beavers, dance, etc.
So, the two books Andy got yesterday are:
After getting home from Scot and Monica's today, we went over to Costco looking for a few things that fit what Andy has read about so far, especially cereal. The main point is to stay away from refined sugar as it feeds the cancer.
While there we ran into Mom's sister and her grandsons. I hope we weren't too rude, but we were so tired and really didn't want to talk to anyone. Not even Ghandi passing through would have tweaked our interest. We were both exhausted. We had a nap and are better this evening.
Andy sent an email off to Dr. Walker with a few questions earlier. He replied telling her the only prep for chemo is to try to drink lots in the preceding 12 hours (kinda hard to do when you are sleeping), and clarification that her index rating of 1 means that she has a 90% 5-year survival rate and a 70% 10-year survival rate - which are much better numbers than what we had been reading and getting stressed over. He also passed along a PDF document regarding this index rating, which you can read or download from Andy's Lymphoma Log - link near the top of this page.
Darn cold weekend here, but at least no snow to shovel!
Jan 24 (Sat) - Andy writing: Heard from my specialist (Dr. Walker) yesterday. Apparently the pathologist had been scratching her head over some aspects of the lymph node biopsy and eventually made a change to the diagnosis. Then they rushed a sample over to the Henderson Cancer Clinic in Hamilton where their pathologist confirmed the new diagnosis. Instead of Diffuse large B cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL), I have Follicular B cell NHL. Doesn't sound like much of a change but, in fact, there are some important differences. Follicular NHL is more receptive to chemo treatment so they can use one less chemo drug in the cocktail. I will now get R-CVP. If you manage to get the treatment right the first time it is an easier cancer to send into remission than the diffuse large B cell. However, as there is usually both good and bad news, the follicular cancer has a higher rate of recurrence.
No news yet on the bone marrow biopsy results but good news from the CT scan. The lymphatic system consists of surface nodes that you can feel when they are swollen and deep internal ones. I only have one internal lymph node infected (which is behind my trachea) and there are none in the abdomen. So in my case what you feel is what you get. My International Prognostic Index (IPI) is 1 out of 5. The IPI predicts the risk of the disease reoccurring and overall survivability by taking into account such factors as stage of the disease, general health, etc. The following stats are somewhat general and different people respond very differently to NHL but an IPI of 1 indicates a complete response rate of ~ 87% and a relapse free 5-year survival rate of ~ 70%. So that news is good as well.
In the evening, I had an appointment with my Naturopath to see what I could do the help support my system through the chemo. She suggested several relatively easy things for me to do. The chemo is good at killing the cancer cells but does not remove them from your system. I am starting contrast showers each day. These are 1 min of as hot as I can stand it and 1 min of ice cold. Repeat 3 times ending on cold. Then I have to let my body warm up by itself, so no toweling myself dry or hugging a hot water bottle as the idea is to make my whole body shiver. As the muscles contract they force the lymph into the lymph system where it heads to the nodes to be disposed of. Right now these aren't pleasant but I'm guessing it is a breeze compared to the chemo. Also, I have to try to cut as much refined sugar out of my diet as possible as cancer is really fueled by this. A sauna each day will help to sweat out the toxins and plenty of water to help flush trash out of the kidneys.
Chemo starts 8:30 Tuesday morning. There will be a blood test first, then I'll have a drip for the "R" part of R-CVP which will take 4-6 hours. The next should just be an injection and the "V" will take 1-2 hours to drip in. The "P" is 5 days worth of steroids. I then get to recover and start the next cycle 3 weeks later.
I believe that love can cure many things and with all the love and good wishes that we have received over the last few days I'm already half way there. Thank you all.
We have started a new webpage (see link above) to document the whole NHL process so if you are brave enough to see some medical pictures please check it out.
Today we received a lovely, colourful basket of cheery yellow flowers from Mumsy and Dad. Thank you!
Heather writing: Went to the home to see Grama this morning and she was pretty awake. Mom also came in. I'd taken the laptop so we showed Grama the slideshow and video from Mom's Surprise Party. We heard a few giggles, so are pretty sure she enjoyed it. After lunch, Andy and I went to Chapters and found a couple books on the Macrobiotic Diet that the Naturopath recommends, then we went to check out the new Wal-Mart Superstore at the corner of Brant and Fairview. What a zoo! And many people were complaining about the lack of parking, including me.
Jan 22 (Thurs): So, Andy's Bone Marrow Biopsy went well this morning. She didn't even have any pain, which is quite unusual. At her request, I videotaped and took pictures. She wants to chronicle her journey. For those of you who don't know it, she loves medical stuff. She will sit watching surgeries on You Tube. She made me watch the posted biopsy procedure last night so that I would know what was going to happen and then not get queasy or something while I videotaped.
She also had a CT Scan, which was fine - with the only challenge being that she had to drink a litre of water in the hour before hand - a difficult task for her. We were home by noon.
It was a good morning for me because I got to meet Dr. Walker. We got to chat with him and a great nurse named Olga while they did the biopsy. I now see why Andy and our family doctor, Dr. Nash, have so much confidence in him.
We are now just waiting for confirmation that chemo starts on Tuesday.
Jan 21 (Wed): So, here we are. Hopefully we haven't missed getting in touch with anyone with the news of Andy's Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. If you are a friend or family member and need the email with the details, please let us know.
We are going to continue living as normally as possible. This is just an issue we have to deal with and a disease we can survive. Thank you so much to everyone for your incredible support. Andy goes for a Bone Marrow Biopsy and CT Scan tomorrow. Chemotherapy starts next week. My work is allowing me a "Come and Go as you please" policy to deal with this, but Andy's boss (the president) is away so she hasn't been able to tell anyone at work yet. I'll do my best to post any new info and updates as soon as opportunity presents.
Now, getting back to life as usual.......we had a FANTASTIC party for Mom on Sunday - a Surprise 65th Birthday Party. We had started planning this back in October and sent out invitations at the beginning of November. We rented two large meeting rooms and kitchen usage at Copetown Lions Hall (Community Centre), and Monica came up with a cover story to lure Mom there when it was party time.
Grace worked hard over several evenings to create the main decoration:
Scot, Monica, Andy & I also worked on lots of prep. We were all very organized, thanks to Monica. I would email her numerous random thoughts and she would send back organized lists. The party was to start at 2 and then I would go pick up Mom to return at 2:30, continuing until 7ish. We had 78 people RSVP that they were coming, so were quite pleased when 68 actually turned up (you always lose a few it seems). Appetizers were various kinds of chips, veggies and dip, and party spirals. I don't know how long it took Monica to prep all the veggies, but Andy built "party spirals" for hours.
I helped her a bit by smearing cream cheese or roasted red pepper hummous on the wraps before she added the turkey and provolone or ham and swiss. It took Andy a few tries to perfect her rolling technique, but after 40 wraps she was an expert. They sat in the fridge overnight to bond to their shape, then she sliced them up on Sunday. I also spent two hours washing and cutting up lettuce.
For dinner, we were serving Caesar Salad, Lasagna (meat or veggie) from Zarky's, Stuffed Shells, and buns.
Saturday night, we got about 8 inches of snow, so Sunday morning, with Andy still recovering from her groin lymph node removal on Friday, I had to shovel. We headed off about 10:30, picked up the cake, then went out to the hall. I unloaded and started setting up while Andy sliced her party spiral wraps. From my work, I borrowed a screen, projector and PA system , then connected our laptop to them. We also took our little LCD TV with a built-in DVD player and movies, as it would be a long day for the kids. Scot, Monica, Ben and Grace arrived at the hall shortly after us and the kids were extremely psyched. Then we all worked to turn these two ugly meeting rooms into party central and got the lasagnas in the oven - the biggest ones had to cook 3.5 hours.
Dad had snuck beer and nice clothes out of the house early, then was able to leave to come to the party unquestioned because we had previously got Uncle Lanny to phone him with a fake invite to come over.
I picked Mom up about 2:30 to go to the "fundraiser for Grace's Dance Studio". When we arrived, everyone yelled, "Surprise!", but Mom doesn't even remember that. She does remember that they then sang "Happy Birthday".
She started shaking furiously and many tears fell throughout the afternoon. She was SO incredibly surprised. And we think she even went into shock for the first 15 to 20 minutes. Thank you so much to everyone for keeping the secret. Aunt Cathie said she couldn't go near Mom for weeks beforehand for fear of blowing it.
We had most of both sides of the family present. Mom's brother and his wife even drove down from north of Gravenhurst - a 4 to 5 hour drive. We had a scare when we thought that the disabled transport had been cancelled for my aunt and her boyfriend, but then they turned up. Here are Mom, her sister Susan, her brother Bob, and sister Debbie.
There were also a handful of friends. We had asked all couples to bring a helium balloon, which really helped decorate the rooms.
We had a corner set up for the kids with lots of games and colouring and they were all so well behaved.
I had spent a great deal of time stealing all pictures from Mom and Dad's house, sorting through them, scanning, sorting through newer digital pictures, and then creating a slide show of Mom's life. I researched music from years that corresponded to the pictures and added it. We then showed it on the projector. It was 10 minutes of laughs and sweet moments that everyone seemed riveted to.
We'd handed out small glasses of sparkling wine and followed the slide show with Scot toasting Mom.
Mom, who rarely drinks, was happy to have the wine to help calm her nerves, and later, when I was passing around extras, she might've chased me if I hadn't offered her more. I think she finally stopped shaking after that second small glass, but the inner trembles continued all night. A bit later we did a group photo.
Dinner seemed to be a hit. That lasagna melted in our mouths and I ate too much. Then came the cake - a "tuxedo" cake....marble sponge with cream and chocolate mousse woven throughout, topped with a layer of hard chocolate and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Oh, so heavenly!
After cake, we started cleaning up. Washing the few dishes, mostly coffee cups, was pretty easy since the hall had full kitchen facilities including a dishwasher. We split up all the leftover food (thankfully we'd remembered to bring Tupperware), and we had to get all our gear out and then put the tables and chairs back stacked up as they had been when we arrived.
Overall, it was a resounding success. Mom really enjoyed it and felt special, which was the main goal, but we also think everyone had a great time. We all also agree how great it felt to actually have a tribute to someone while they are still alive to enjoy it. Maybe that sounds morbid, but that's not the way we feel. We had a blast. Later that night, we called Mom from home and shared many laughs with her while explaining all the lies and cover stories - and how difficult it had been to sneak pictures out of her house when she is always home since her knee-break.
Unfortunately, Mom's high came to a crashing end last night when we broke the news of Andy's cancer.
Today we stayed home from work so we could process the news and get our bearings. By afternoon, we felt we needed to get out and do something. We went to see:
It was excellent and not at all what we expected with the story. Unfortunately, the end was very sad, but also very satisfying.
Thank you to everyone who has been emailing and calling, but we are now going to be quiet for a while - we're all talked out.
Jan 12 (Mon): Not much to say about the weekend. It was nice'n quiet, which was welcome after the holidays. As we are now into "tax season" and I had 9 new staff starting today to prep for, I worked a bit on Saturday after a Costco run. We also did housework, played some Wii Sports, and fell asleep watching the Canucks lose to the Sharks. Andy did some chores and played in the garage a while, reorganizing. Then she started cleaning up the office where things have got stashed since before Christmas.
Sunday, we'd got a couple inches of snow, so Andy shoveled while I went to visit Grama. We were very disappointed to see that Andy's shoveling buddies (neighbours across the road) had buckled and got a snow blower. We now think we are the last ones on the street without one, but Andy is still insisting on doing it the old fashioned way - and frankly, our driveway is the clearest around. In the afternoon, we went to see...
It was 2 hours and 40 minutes of sad. I was choked up for about two thirds of it. We must've heard the word "sad" twenty times as we left the theatre. The aging effects were very good, but otherwise we don't think we would give it a recommendation. Forgot about the Golden Globes in the evening. Played some Guitar Hero, Tennis and Baseball, and watched Mamma Mia again - with the sound cranked!
Jan 5 (Mon): Back to the grind today after a 5-day holiday. No more partying till Monica's birthday in February.
So.....remember those high winds I mentioned in the last entry.....well here is some local evidence.
Andy and I both had Wednesday and Friday off around the Thursday holiday. Wednesday, we went to see...
It was so good. All we knew about it was that Angelina plays a woman whose son goes missing. A boy is returned and she claims it's not her son. We didn't know John Malkovich was in it, any more about the plot, nor that it was a true story. It was riveting, and we highly recommend it.
In the evening, we went to Kathy and Denise's for a very comfortable & relaxed New Years Eve gathering. There were K&D, us, Huguette, Beryl, Carol, David & Phil, Brian & Fred, the two Craigs, and a couple we had not met before, Glenn and Margaret. They may have been the neighbours.
As well as ringing in the new year, we were surprised to find ourselves at a bit of a birthday party for Glenn (31st), Andy (1st) and Phil (3rd). After presents and cake, we watched poor, old, stroke victim Dick Clark help out Ryan Seacrest with the New York countdown, then switched over to CHCH and watched "Max Webster" playing in Niagara Falls, all the while trying to remember who the heck they were (name of the band) - they'd been popular in the 70s and early 80s.
January 1st, Andy's parents called at 9 to wish her Happy Birthday, then the Coopers started arriving shortly after 10. We'd warned them they might like to come early since we bought Guitar Hero. It was a busy day. First, Andy opened her presents. She got two books from her parents, a gift card to Chapters from my parents, a "Best Auntie, Hands Down" t-shirt from Ben and Grace, along with "Scene It: Harry Potter Edition" from Scot, Monica, and the kids. From me, she got 5 new Wii games: Lara Croft: Underworld, The Golden Compass, Cars, Game Party 2, & African Safari.
The kids love how I wrapped the games and packed them in a box with lots of tissue paper, then wrapped the box, then put the box in a gift bag and stuffed lots of tissue paper on top! Hah hah!
Just as we were booting up the Wii, Kath and Michael called from BC to also wish Andy a Happy Birthday. We had a lovely chat, except for the part when we heard how Michael burned a couple layers of skin off of one hand by trying to fill the hot tub manually. He then had to drive himself to emerg. Bloody hell!
Andy had told me in the morning she wasn't feeling like being the centre of attention that day. I replied that she had nothing to worry about now that the Wii lives here too...and sure enough.....the basement TV was monopolized by Wii play most of the day. The kitchen TV started off showing "Mamma Mia" for Grace, who was dying to see it but then she got moved to the laptop when Dad's football game started.....but after about 5 minutes he abandoned that to go back downstairs for Wii Tennis and later Golf. He has a relaxed play style - note the hand in pocket.
Mom pays for any time she spends on her feet. Good thing we have a couple ice packs.
We took a break for a good, winter lunch of Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches, made by Mom and Monica. I was trying to help them not burn the soup but got kicked out of my own kitchen for fussing (in my own defense, they are not used to our stove!) (and I did turn the burner from 7 to 3 in the knick of time!) After lunch, Grace ended up moving up to the bedroom to continue watching "Mamma Mia" with Andy as she wanted to have a rest. Unfortunately, this was right when Grace started coming to life so she ended up disturbing Mom who was trying to catch 40 winks in the next room.
Then Andy and I did a demo of Guitar Hero and that was a done deal. It may look silly.....till you try it, then everyone is hooked. Thank goodness for "Beginner" level for the kids.
Finally, we played Scene It: Harry Potter Edition - and it is darn hard! Then we had Andy's requested Mexican food for dinner followed by cake - and trifle that Andy made herself. Want to guess what everyone was asking for seconds of? You bet. Trifle!
Friday, we finished cleaning up, went to visit Grama (who remembered immediately to tell Andy Happy Birthday) then went to see...
It was not at all what we expected and although it had some humour and some good story parts, we are not sure if we liked it. One thing is for sure, we never knew what a beefcake Hugh Jackman is!
Saturday, we were off to another matinee. This time it was...
It was quite good for the kind of movie it is and considering it's completely Canadian. It's also a true story.
Sunday, for our last blowout of the holidays, we went to Cora's for breakfast. This time we tried the Burlington location and it was very good too. Then we came home and got to work. Andy got out the ladder and I went up and took the Christmas lights down, then I undecorated the tree and wound up too darn many strings of lights, while Andy packed things in numerous Rubbermaids. By early afternoon we were done and it was back to the boring, old jobs like banking, vacuuming (yep, those real Christmas trees really do spew needles in all kinds of odd places), and grooming fluffy cats. Next stat vacation day arrives in just over a month.....come on Family Day!