A Year Like No Other

       As we were reflecting earlier in January, on the year 2018, Beth said something to the effect that it was probably the craziest year we'd ever had in our marriage. The more I thought about it, the more I had to agree with her. One thing that pushed it over the top for me was the realization that each of us (mom, dad, Beth and myself) had all spent time in the hospital during the past year, and that is unprecedented!
       However, the significant events and changes we've experienced lately really began in November of 2017 when our daughter Alison moved out to live in Barrie with her boyfriend Pete, who had just bought a house there. A month or so later our oldest son, David, who had been living in our basement apartment for the previous year and a half, got a new job with the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation and he and our granddaughter Lindsay moved to a small apartment around the corner as well. Then our youngest son Joel, who was still living at home, bought a house in town and moved out in April, making us true empty nesters. [Our second oldest, Josh, had moved out back in 2014]
       In early 2018 we were able to meet with some local surgeons who were interested in helping to remove the hematoma (collection of old blood - about the size of a fastball!) which had formed under Beth's right arm as a complication from her breast cancer mastectomy back in 2014. There had been some previous hesitation about performing this surgery as her skin in that area had been radiated twice and there were concerns about healing. However a new technique where healthy skin from the back can be transferred to the front has been quite successful and a local husband and wife surgical team (one general surgeon, one plastic surgeon) were willing to operate on Beth. So she had the surgery at the Cambridge Hospital in April and everything went very well, although it did require several days in the hospital. The main result of this surgery was a much greater range of motion for Beth in her right arm. One of the unexpected benefits was an improvement in Beth's ability to climb stairs or perform other strenuous activity without becoming short of breath. When we saw a CT scan cross-section of her lungs (see photo) from before the surgery, it was pretty apparent that this hematoma had been pressing on her lungs and was compromising her breathing.
      Beth did have one complication with her surgery where she got an infection of the transplanted skin, so she ended up back in the hospital in early May (Grand River this time) for a couple of days for an antibiotic treatment. However right at this time Mom started not feeling very well, and she also went to Grand River Hospital (by ambulance) and was admitted to ICU. Her heart was racing and her breathing was difficult but eventually we did feel that the likely cause was her taking a smaller dose of her steroid (prednisone) than she was supposed to be on. Once that was corrected she felt much better and has done quite well over the subsequent months.
    Of course in August Dad ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks before passing away on August 30th. I've written about that lots in earlier blog posts but I should say that we were pretty overwhelmed by the support of all of the people who came to the visitation or funeral for Dad. It was a difficult time for all of us but the funeral was a meaningful celebration of his life and a chance to connect with family and friends who we really wish we saw more.
     In the midst of all this we had some great things to celebrate as well. At the end of June Beth turned 60(!) and we wanted to make sure she was well celebrated, so there were several gatherings of various sizes to wish her happy birthday. In total I think I bought 5 cakes! My gift to her was the promise of a trip to Hawaii and as it turns out we're going to Maui next week!
     In early July Pete and Alison surprised us with the news that they were engaged and getting married  September 29th. David's proposal to Laurel, and subsequent plans for a wedding in early 2019 added to the fun and busyness. So the fall filled up with showers and related wedding activities. Oh, and Laurel moved into our basement apartment in August as she needed to vacate the place she was renting near Brantford. Pete and Ali's wedding was beautiful and was held at the church camp where they had first met, near Parry Sound. David and Laurel got married January 5th in Kitchener and had their reception just around the corner from us at the Victoria Park Pavillion. They were both lovely, joy-filled celebrations.
     In November I ended up being the last person to go into the hospital for the year. I posted updates of the process on Facebook but the bottom line is that I now know the steps involved in dealing with a larger kidney stone. I dealt with kidney stone pain for a week and then went to emergency because of a fever. Once I got on an antibiotic I felt much better and was pretty much pain free, but needed to go under anaesthetic twice - the first to have a uretheral stent put in which allowed urine to bypass the stone and the second to have the kidney stone blasted into little pieces. The stent was removed later (without anaesthetic - don't ask!). All in all I was thankful that everything went smoothly and that I could function fairly normally.
     So it's been a bit of a whirlwind 15 months or so but maybe that's to be expected sometimes when you have 4 children and want to support your parents as well. Our kids sometimes ask us when we plan to actually retire, as in slow down I guess, but we're thankful that we can be as active as we are. However we are looking forward to our upcoming holiday!