I need to start this post on a sad note.
On Wednesday, Sept 18, at 12:06 AM, Erin Grasmeyer passed away. If you recall from a few of my past posts, she was my neighbour while I was in the hospital. She was an accomplished singer and piano player who, at the age of 19, passed away from cancer. Shelly would visit her regularly while I was in the hospital and for some time afterwards. Her mom said that Shelly was one of the best therapy dogs that visited as she would make her feel loved as she showered her with kisses every time she saw her. I found out at my Thursday night hockey that I had another connection with her that I did not realize. Her brother Cam, who I had met a few times while visiting, played hockey with us this summer. He was not at the game this week however one of his friends was getting a card signed by the team to give to him later. If you are interested in hearing some of the music that Erin played, you can find her YouTube channel by searching for Erin Flat Fingers (https://www.youtube.com/user/PianistEG88). I highly recommend listening to her version of Leonard Cohen’s Halleluiah. Here is a link to her obituary https://www.arbormemorial.ca/kelly/obituaries/erin-grasmeyer/39121/.
After that, I am thankful to be able to bore you with my past weeks’ events.
Going back a few weeks to Monday, Sept 9, I visited with my hematologist, Dr. B-B. It had been some time since I saw her in her office though I had seen her the week prior while I was changing my IV bag at the hospital. It came with both good and bad news. Looking at my blood counts, I am doing much better as I am able to rebuild some of my blood cells to the point where I do not need transfusions. My hemoglobulins are holding steady but are still very low and hovering just above the level where a transfusion is needed. This is a good thing as it means that my body is building new cells to replace the older ones that are dying off however not overproducing to get me back to a normal level. On a plus side, my platelets are increasing steadily and slowly improving while working towards being at a normal level again. On a negative side, my neutrophils are still not producing without assistance. Since I was off the Grastophil, they have dropped again to a low level of 1.0. No need yet to supplement but definitely something we will want to watch in the coming days. We also chatted about my upcoming visit with my other hematologist, Dr. Kuruvilla, happening later this week. After my appointment, we went to visit Erin which ended up being our last visit with her and Shelly. We were not able to bring Shelly to visit anymore as I was no longer a resident and Shelly was not an official therapy dog, in the eyes of the hospital. We are still working to get her certifications but it is taking much longer than we had hoped to get this all in place. We left the hospital and I rested for the remainder of the afternoon. I was planning to attend my baseball game that night and, since I would be playing this time, I was going to need as much rest as I can get given the game was at 9:30. I made it to the game and, in order to make it through the entire game and week, I planned to only play my position at first and hit the ball but let someone else run the bases for me. We won the game but it was a close one. I was hitting well and was getting a lot of balls hit to me at first. This made for a busy night but I survived it, none the less.
Tuesday, Sept 10, was a travel day as MA and I were off to Toronto to visit with Dr. Kuruvilla. I still was not sure why I needed to go but it was part of the program I signed up for from the beginning. We left around 11:00 AM and I drove all the way. I had never experienced such amazing traffic while in Toronto. We were at the Lodge by 3:30 PM thanks to the little traffic on the 401 and DVP. I did not need to stop at all on the DVP which never happens. Once at the Lodge, I rested while MA went shopping for sandals. She did not think to bring any as the weather had not been that nice lately but it was going to be a balmy 28C on Wednesday in Toronto. Since there was no music at the Lodge this Tuesday, we decided to head out to Absolute Comedy instead. I have been going to Absolute Comedy in Ottawa for about 15 years but this would be the first time I go to a different one. We arrived at around 7:30 for the 8:30 show; early as we were told that we could get 1/2 off tickets before 8:00. We took our seats right up front, center stage and waited for the acts to start. This was a special night as they had more comics than usual who would be testing out new material. In the end, there was 8 comics coming to the stage vs. the traditional 3. Many were very funny but some struggled especially against some of the hecklers at one specific table who were ruining the show. I was pretty tired once the show ended so we headed back to the Lodge to catch some zzz’s right away.
Wednesday, Sept 11, started early as we needed to get an early shuttle to the PMH. Though my appointment was not until 10:30, I needed to give blood at 9:30 and the only shuttle that would get us there on time was the 8:00 shuttle (the next one was at 9:30). I went to give blood while MA got us coffees. Afterwards, we headed to the doctor’s waiting room to check in and wait to be called. When our number was finally called, we were checked in by the nurse to take my vitals and get an update on my status. I was surprised to see Dr. Kuruvilla come in to do my exam as I had gotten used to only seeing his residents. We chatted about my blood results and discussed what should be done. My neutrophils had now dropped to 0.4 so there was talk of possibly not doing anything and just letting my body build them up on their own. If not for the current infection that I am still battling, this may have been the course taken but, instead, it was decided to do 6 more days of Grastophil to build up this number while I continue to fight this infection. I also had the wound specialist come in to look at the infection and replace the bandage. Finally, another blood sample was needed as they wanted to check my IgG levels (immunoglobulins) and they could not do this count with the samples already taken. Once all this was done, MA deposited my prescription at the hospital pharmacy as my Ottawa pharmacy did not have this drug in stock today and I needed it right away. We went back to the Lodge for lunch and to pack up the car. Afterwards, we headed back to the PMH to pick up the prescription and head home. Again, I was going to drive all the way back. It was another smooth drive home but it was a bit slow getting out of Toronto this time around. Once home, I again rested for the rest of the night.
Thursday, Sept 12, was mostly spent resting so that I would have energy for baseball that night. We were playing at 6:30 against one of the two top teams in our division. Though we had a good game, we lost in the final inning when they scored 3 runs at the top of the inning to go ahead by 2 and we did not score any in the bottom of the inning. We were not out of the playoffs but it did mean that we would be playing on Friday.
Friday afternoon, Sept 13, was spent first by dropping off MA at her friend Rita’s place as she was having a Girls Weekend with her soccer friends. After dropping her off, I went to “home care” to change my bandage on my wound. I needed to go to a special office where they were going to look after my injury and change the bandage. I went to my appointment and checked in. The nurse took me almost right away. I was not in the best of moods as I did not see the point of the visit since we could do at home what they were going to do. While I was there, I was told I would need to make a special appointment with the “Wound Champ” to do a Doppler of my leg so that they can better treat it in the future. Personally, I thought this was unnecessary as I had already done an ultrasound of the leg and 2 wound specialists were ok with my current treatment plan. Anyway, I got the bandage changed and headed home to rest up for the ball game that night. The plan for dinner was that Geneviève was going to make it and her friend Pat was coming over after he was done work. The ball game was at 8:00 PM so, beforehand, I dropped off Isabelle at her Kamsok meeting and then came home to get ready for ball. It was another close game with us playing the same team as Monday night. We tied the game at the bottom of the last inning. This meant we would need to go into overtime to decide the game but we were already at our time limit with the other teams waiting to get onto the field. The umpire made a call to league officials and it was decided that we would play out the overtime inning. To help things along, each team would start with a player on second base with 1 out. We were able to stop the other team from scoring in the top of the inning. With our chance at bat, we had our runner on second to start while the next two batters made it on base to load them up. All we needed was to score one run to win the game and I was coming to bat. I took the first pitch and hit it just in the middle of the right field between the first baseman and the fielder. This allowed our runner on third to run home to win the game! Everyone was excited about the game and the great hit I had made. Unfortunately though, it meant that we would need to get up early for our next game on Saturday at 9:30 AM. We went to the bar after the game to celebrate as we always do and then I headed home to sleep. I was really tired after the game and fell asleep almost right away.
Saturday, Sept 14, started off on the wrong foot. During the night, I was awakened at 1:00 AM for my typical pee. Outside, it was raining and lightning which was scaring Shelly and she was not sleeping becasue she was shaking too much. I did not get to sleep right away as the blinds on the open windows in the kids’ bathroom were making a lot of noise from the wind so I needed to get up to shut the windows. For some reason, I guess I did not close my bedroom door well so the wind opened it during the night. I can recall at some point I woke up and Shelly was gone from our room. I found out in the morning that she came downstairs and peed on our kitchen floor. Once up, I got ready for ball and I packed up my stuff for the day not knowing how long I would be out. If we won in the morning, our next game was at 9:00 PM that night. Also, we were planning our annual end of year party that would happen sometime in the afternoon so I would need to plan for this as well. After cleaning up Shelly’s present, I packed the car and headed to Timmies to grab a coffee and some Timbits for the team. Once at the field, we noticed how wet it was especially the huge puddle between first and second base right where I would normally stand when playing my position. The team we played against was the one we beat on Thursday. It was another close game with it being decided in the last inning again however, this time, we could not take the win. Though we were sad to lose, many of us were glad that we were done for the season so that we could rest our aching bodies. It was a good playoff run with us playing 4 games and making it to the weekend games. It was a good finish to a good season (just wish I could have played more of it). After the game, we went to our sponsor’s bar for breakfast. The plan was to head back to Richard and Li’s place for the post season party around 2:00 PM. I went home to drop off my ball stuff and take a shower. After my shower, I laid down on the couch and could not move anymore. I was so tired and sore that my body just sat there not moving. Luckily, the kids and Pat got together and made a veggie tray for the party without me needing to do anything. We all then headed to the party for lunch. Pat and Geneviève had plans for the late afternoon so they left early while Isa, Cassy and I stayed a while longer. To my surprise, Cathleen, one of my teammates, handed out some trophies this year, something new. I was lucky to win one for my amazing hit on Friday to win the game. The other two trophies handed out were to Kaylee for MVP and Chris for something I can’t remember right now. He had a cheerleader on his trophy so it could be for most sportsmanlike. We finally headed home around 7:30 and I was completely drained by this point. I could barely move nor keep my eyes open. I forced myself to watch the football game I had recorded the night before. It would be another early night but a proud one as I was able to play ball all weekend.
Sunday, Sept 15, was spend relaxing and resting up my achy muscles. I watched a movie in the afternoon and made dinner for the family. MA showed up at the house from her weekend with the girls around 5:00. That was pretty much all that happened.
Monday, Sept 16, was our wedding anniversary but we did not celebrate it that day. It was going to be a busy evening for the family so we decided to wait to celebrate later in the week. MA, Shelly and I went to the hospital so that I could give blood and visit with Dr. B-B. It was a pretty uneventful meeting as there was not much to talk about. It took a long time for my blood results to come in so we could not talk about that and my wound was progressing well so nothing to discuss here either. It was a short visit and we headed home with the promise that Dr. B-B would follow up in an email should anything need to change with my medications. I did not get all my final blood results until the next day.
Tuesday, Sept 17, was an early start. I decided to try to make it to hockey that morning for 7:00 AM. I got to the rink and suited up. I was able to play for about 20 min before I had to stop because I was sucking too much wind. I was getting really tired and could not continue. It was my first game in months so I was not surprised that I was in such rough shape. Also, we were a little shy on the bench with only one spare on each side so that did not help my cause. After the game, I headed home for my usual morning routine. I had another appointment with Home Care in the afternoon and this time they were doing the doppler on my leg. The appointment did not start well as the nurse doing the appointment was very rude to me when I asked a question. After that, I was pissed and stated that I would not be asking any more questions as it seemed they were unwelcomed. She tried to correct this but it was too late as I had already made up my mind that I was not going to make this any more difficult than it needed to be. I was very disappointed with the doppler test. I could not understand how it provided any data as to better assess my treatment plan moving forward based on what it was testing. The procedure involved simply taking my systolic blood pressure on both my arms, my ankles and my big toes. I failed to see how this information was going to decide how they would treat my wound moving forward which further pissed me off more as I feIt it was wasting my time. After putting on a jelly that would numb the area around my wound, the nurse proceeded to scratch off some of the dead skin and scabs to allow better air circulation and help the healing of the wound. After the appointment, I headed home and made dinner for the family. The good news though was that the NHL season was officially starting tonight with the Senators first preseason game against the Leafs. It was great to finally watch NHL hockey again, even if it is only preseason.
Wednesday, Sept 18, was going to be the day that we officially celebrated our anniversary. After my morning routine, I went out grocery shopping for supplies for dinner as I was going to make my famous steak and salmon with double stuffed baked potatoes, grilled peppers and a Caesar salad side. The prep work for the meal started around 3:30 and I was able to get dinner ready for about 6:45, in time for Isabelle to come back from school. It turned out great but I was really tired at the end of it so I spent the rest of the evening resting. I taped the second preseason hockey game as I knew I would not get a chance to watch it until later, if at all, that night. In the end, I spent some quality time with MA after dinner and went to bed early as I was already getting tired.
Thursday, Sept 19, started with my morning routine as I waited for MA to get up. She decided to sleep in the living room after she got up with the kids who were getting ready to go to school. Once she was up, I was able to watch the hockey game I recorded the night before. During the game, she reported to me the bad news she received from Erin’s mom. We were both very sad to hear about her passing. We told Shelly but she did not seem to have a reaction. Not sure she understood what had happened. I spent the rest of the afternoon resting as I knew I had a long night ahead of me. MA and I went grocery shopping in the early afternoon to get supplies for dinner. I helped her make tacos later that afternoon and we had an early dinner. I needed to get out quickly as I had a knife sharpening course to go to in the Glebe before I went to hockey that night. I got to the store where the course was being held around 5:50 PM. It turns out that this night, I was going to be the only one taking the course. We waited a little while to start the course to ensure that no one else would be attending. My teacher Alex walked me through the finer points of knife sharpening by hand on a water stone for the first 1/2 h, after which, I spent the next 1.5 h practicing sharpening my knives to a razor’s edge. I did not have the high quality Japanese knives that they sold in the store but I was able to get a decent edge none the less with Alex’s help. I was amazed at the difference in how these Japanese knives can cut and how sharp they can be filed compared to my not so cheap knives. By 8:00 PM, the course was done and so was I. I was on my feet the whole time I was there and was pretty tired afterwards but this was not going to stop me from playing hockey that night. It did not make any sense to go home in between the course and hockey so I headed to the arena early while gassing up the car along the way. Once at the arena, I stayed in the car, dropped my seat down and rested up prior to the game. It was a good thing I did because we went into super overtime. For some reason, the arena staff did not kick us out at 10:50 PM like they normally would and we continued playing until well after 11:15 with me playing the whole time. I had decided to take one more shift when some of the players started heading to the locker room and then the game just kind of ended after that. I got undressed and took a shower before heading to the bar for beer and wings. Yes, I had my first beer in a long time though I did start drinking again during the ball party the weekend prior.
Friday, Sept 20, was another wound care day. This time, MA was joining me at my appointment. She was able to experience my frustrations with this office first hand as the receptionist started by saying that my nurse was not in yet though my appointment was in 10 min and she was not sure when she was scheduled to arrive. The nurse arrived not too late and she called us in for my treatment. My wound is still not completely healed so more work is required to treat it. It is really slow to heal due to my compromised immune system. After the appointment, we went grocery shopping for some supplies for dinner and then grabbed a quick lunch. We ate lunch at a local park and then headed home. Later in the afternoon, MA went to get Isabelle from her friend’s place and take her to her Kamsok meeting while I made burgers for dinner. We had a very late dinner with the other two kids and then relaxed for the rest of the night.
Saturday, Sept 21, was a relatively active day. It started with my typical morning routine and then I sharpened the remainder of my knives, the ones I could not do on Thursday. I should have started with them while I was at the course as these were trickier to sharpen than the ones I started with. I did get them sharpened but will need to ask questions to the experts to see if I did it correctly. Later in the afternoon, we headed to my buddy Rick’s place to celebrate his 50th birthday. We got there earlier so that we could give him his present of a massage from MA. I sat around watching TV while MA gave Rick a massage. Afterwards, we all headed to the restaurant for the birthday dinner. It was a nice meal and had a night cap at Rick and Karine’s place afterwards. MA and I finally got home around 1:00 AM and went to bed right away. I recorded both the Redblacks football game and the Senators hockey game to watch on Sunday. Even though I told Rick to keep his mouth shut, he still hinted that it would not be worth watching either. I guess I will wait until Sunday to see how bad both these teams played.
There is not much planned for the coming week but will still seem like a lot when I list it out. On Sunday, we may go to Pat’s godchild’s baptism which will be in Orleans, very close to us. Monday is another visit with Dr. B-B and then hockey on Tuesday and Thursday. The next weekend will be my turn as I head out for a Boys weekend. All this leads into a very important week for me as I will be back in Toronto for my 3 month update where new PET and CT scans are scheduled. These scans will provide us with a status update on how well my treatments are working on the cancer with the hopes of getting positive results and some great news. More on that later. Have a good rest of September and I may only catch up with you in October.