May 5, 2009

Happy 45th Birthday to Phil - Ger's twin brother... - hard to believe we're all that old! This was a very busy week as Sam and Debbie went to Vancouver to BCCH for another spinal injection and the start of another round of 84 days of treatment. Round one is over. Eleven more to go! Sam will go through 12 eighty four day treatment cycles. Dr. Bond switched Sam to 75% of his original dosage after his blood work numbers stabilized at 50% the past month and a half. We hope that his body will be able to tolerate this increase. We'll probably bring him in to do some blood work in two weeks to see how he's doing.

Debbie couldn't believe how gorgeous Vancouver looked. Green grass, people cutting their green grass, the smell of freshly cut green grass, flowering shrubs, cherry blossoms in full bloom, tulips everywhere, and sunny warm weather. Sam was out with Bob, Nathan and Carson, riding around in their 68 oldsmomile convertible. They accidentally were caught up in the downtown "Canucks just won the first game of the playoffs hoopla!" Sam had a blast! On Friday afternoon Sam, Debbie and Donna enjoyed a gorgeous hike around Lynn Canyon and crossing the suspension bridge and later joined the Hollier family for a barbque feast. On Saturday, Debbie, Donna and Lina had a girls day out, while Sam spent the day with his Grandpa Doerksen. They arrived home Sunday morning in time for church.

The weather in PG has been awesome. It is funny how the memories of a year ago come flooding back as the weather changes and Debbie and Sam traveled back to BCCH and the girls and I were alone again in PG. I said to Katelyn, "Doesn't this remind you of last year when it was just the three of us for two months?" Kate said, "Actually that kinda sucked!" And actually she was kinda right. It was a very hard time for our family. There was so much stress being apart, having Sam so sick, trying to find a safe place to live, traveling back and forth, looking after the high school and trying to figure out how our summer plans would take shape and what was in store for Sam for the next year. It's been a crazy year, but we have all done very well considering. We have so much to be grateful for.