July 17

Good afternoon from *still* sunny Vancouver. Every day dawns bright and clear with blue sky and a gentle breeze. Yesterday was spent at the hospital with Sam receiving his last chemotherapy in a four week rotation. He won't receive another IT (injection into his spine) until the next stage which is about 4 weeks away although next week we start the 4-times-a-week-at-the-hospital part again.
Yesterday they tried a new kind of drug (for him) for sedation before he received his spinal injection. This drug was much better for Sam and he made sure to tell the doctors afterward that he greatly preferred this to the Ketamine which he had received on all his other procedures. The side effects were much less yesterday.

However, these drugs are powerful and cumulative. He continues to be weak and tired and nauseated most of the day. It is hard for him to see the summer go by and to feel so lousy. Doctor Bond said we could make a quick trip to the lake this week if he felt up to it but he has to be back by Wednesday to begin a 4-day-a-week chemo treatment starting on Wed or Thursday. We are tempted to make a quick trip to Vernon for Sam because he really wants to go and at least jump in the lake one time this summer. We'll see how he feels on the weekend.

At the cancer clinic in the hospital I went outside to the outdoor play area to answer my phone while we were waiting and found myself behind a wooden fence. Finding your way around a hospital can be a little confusing sometimes and just at that moment I realized where I was.

This was the fence that I had sat down and leaned against after going to Starbucks on the morning of May 16. This was where I had sat and cried uncontrollably with a starbucks coffee in my hand and people walking past. I'll never forget the first day at BCCH when they told us that Sam had Leukemia. That was the diagnosis side of the cancer fence. It is strange to have found myself on the other side of that same fence, the treatment side, so many months later. This side has more clarity, we know what we have to do, but it is no less challenging.

On the way home we stopped at Pizza Hut and used a coupon someone had generously given us months ago. All we got was a personal size cheeze pizza for Sam because that's what he was craving. We got home and he got to eat half of it before he felt too sick to eat any more.

Yesterday I spoke with my Auntie Susan to ask if Debbie could stay with her while Karly is playing at the Summer Games in Kelowna next week. She told me some stories of 40 years ago when her little Kenny (my cousin) was diagnosed with Leukemia in the 1960s. She rememebered going past Peter's Ice Cream on the way home from the hospital and how Kenny just wanted an ice cream cone. She stopped and got him one but he couldn't keep it down.

Our experiences are so similar.

Today I had the van at Toyota to be repaired (yet again). For those of you who drive your vehicles until they move no more, you can probably relate to our predicament about knowing when to move on to a newer vehicle. Our last Toyota van gave us 330,000 km but this one seems to have reached old age at 260,000 km. It is going to have to give us a lot more before it retires!

We have many blessings in our lives. Despite how lousy Sam feels, the doctors assure us that he is progressing very well on his treatment and his fever went away with two trips to the hospital and the anti-biotics last week. Mel and Ladonna continue to help us with Karly and her basketball practices in Prince George where Karly is peaking at 7 hours of bball per day. A friend drove Kate back from Vernon yesterday. We have a wonderful place to stay in Vancouver and it is very close the hospital. Hundreds of people are praying for us and helping us in so many practical ways. We will continue to count our blessings and trust that God will provide for our every need.

Tomorrow we will pick up Alanna from the airport and on Saturday send 5 Cedars' kids off to Campbell River for a week of sailing. After that, Kate will be at NLBC for the rest of the summer.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

Ger