My Grandpa

In April my Grandpa was told he had a 

tumour on his lower calf.  A cancerous tumour nonetheless.  It needed to be removed ASAP.  The following week he was booked and scheduled to have this giant tumour.  And by giant I mean his pants were very tight to put on. So the survey was completed in early April by a surgical oncologist by the name of Dr Jay Engle.  Dr Engle is also a Associate Professor at Queens University. Smart guy!  For the surgery he would have the lump removed along with a skin graft from his upper thigh.  Surgery went really well, he stayed in Kingston General

Hospital for 2 weeks recovering.  He was then transferred to Lennox Addingtons hospitals convelesant home for long term care.   Every couple days we drive up to see him.  Usually bearing donuts or some

kind of delicious pastry. He absolutely loves seeing the kids.  Even though they are usually hyper and a bit crazy.  Playing with the bed and getting into everything.

A few appointments later due to post surgery follow up we hear things are healing well and other then him not walking we think he will be home in no time!

June 13th my Uncle Mike and I take him to another oncology appointment at the cancer Centre in Kingston.  The appointment was to talk about the possibility of Chemo therapy.  Dr Baetz the oncologist takes a look at his leg and looks concerned.  A new mass on the same site as his tumour has started. She immediately called in Dr Engle to take a second look.  Luckily he was on the floor that day. He looked at this new mass and

said he wasn't happy.  He took a biopsy on the spot.

Dr Baetz then sent us home with a referral to get a CT scan. 

Wednesday June 25th I picked up my Grandpa to take him to his scan.  He was feeling a little sluggish and was concerned as to the Ct scan.  I explained to him how it would work.

June 27 I pick Grandpa up nice and early and we drive to his oncology appointment in Kingston.  Dr Baetz would be reviewing the CT scan results as well as a follow up to some

Blood work and biopsy. 

The news was not what I wanted to

Hear/. I immediately was overcome by emotion as we listened to her speak.  My grandpa just nodded his head as he understood. 

The new mass had a name.  Merkel Cell cancer.  A very rare and extremely aggressive type of skin cancer.  Not only was it in his leg but a 10 mm growth on his bladder and a 4 mm growth on his right lung.  

Because of his kidneys being so weak Chemo is just not an option.  Radiation is far to risky because of the open site on his leg. 

Before the appointment started I asked my Grandpa if he wanted to consider moving home and getting some round the clock care.  He declined.

After the diagnoses he looked at me and said 'Jennifer, i want to go home now, where I'm comfortable'  

So now instead of focusing on my Grandpa getting better I need to

Focus on making him the most comfortable for how ever long he has left with us on this earth. 

As much as my heart aches I have to be strong now.  Knowing that soon he will be around those in heaven.  His daughter, his wife and many many relatives. I feel at peace knowing he won't be alone.

Despite the news that day was also Sophia's 5th birthday. He wanted to

Celebrate so off to Red Lobster we went. 

Peterborough Zoo

Well after a extremely rough week of illness after illness we woke up today feeling the need to escape the house.  Somewhere fun and somewhere free!  Off up Riverside Park and Zoo in Peterborough .  Perfectly sunny day.  Packed a light picnic, saw the animals, rode the train and called it a day!

Birthday x 2

Yesterday our sweet Charlotte turned 1.  I picked her up a couple small gifts.  A glow worm and leap frog spinny toy thing.  More so for Chris and Sophia to see her get something.  I picked them each up a helium balloon to pls with. I'm sure Charlotte was saying balloon, sounded more like ball though. We had cake from Riverside bakery and pancakes, sausage and bacon for supper. (Pancake Tuesday) we spent the evening doing what I love. Being with the 4 most important people in my life.  Oh and Parker to.  

Today our Christopher turned 3!  

He is absolutely the most interesting person right now.  Every day he just wakes up smiling and eager to make everyone's day brighter.  In absolutely love our mornings with him.  He just wants to snuggle right in.  

After we got up and around he decided to take Daddy's ipAd to his room for some quiet time before breakfast.  

He heard me mention presents and whisked his way down the stairs to see what I was talking about.  What a great smile he has. We spent the morning lounging around and then saw Daddy off to work.  We watched Frozen and played.  Once Jason came home we headed into East Side Mario's for a special birthday supper.  The staff even sang to him. , which he didn't like.

After supper we quickly picked up a chocolate cake and headed to Great Grandpa Thompsons for some celebration.  Aunt Jill, Kevin, Makayla & Jackson were all there too.

Perfect way to close out a couple great days.

Christmas 2013

Well it was here and then gone in a blink of an eye!! The weekend prior we travelled to Oakville to spend Christmas with Jason's parents.  The kids loved spending the two nights at the holiday inn.

Christmas Day was a hoot!! The kids were absolutely spoiled rotten by Santa.  

Charlottes Cheese face

In January every time a camera flashed in front of Charlotte she would make this hilarious cheese face.  Over and over.  It never got old.  Sadly it was just a phase because she no longer gives us this happy grin.  

Sweet moments

It's the moments like the one tonight that make all the sleepless nights and constant bickering worth it.   I came into Sophia and Christopher's room tonight to check on them and I found them curled up on the floor beside each other.  Total heart melting moment. 

Man I love them. 

First rEal snow fall of 2013

Yesterday morning I was woken up by Christopher at about 730 saying mommy it's snowing outside.  Sure enough the ground was covered in snow.  The heavy wet kind perfect for Making snowmen. So we put on our gear and outside we went.  All this before 8am.  Gah!  

Jason was working at Kevin's shop so it was just me and all three.  All the busses were cancelled so I decided to keep Sophia home.  After a good hour of playing outside we came and had some breakfast.  We decided to do some Christmas decorating.  I remembered a  I had seen on Pinterest involving handprints forming the shape of a Christmas tree. We made a mess but we're really happy with the results.  Both Christopher and Sophia managed to play well so I tidied.  Charlotte napped which was a nice treat.   For supper web decided the Kitchen was to clean the mess. So we packed up our things and went to the black dog across the road for grilled cheese and beef au juice.  

After supper we decides on a winter walk.  When we got home it was still early and the kids were anxious I stay outside.  Even though it was dark.  So we shovelled the driveway (I shoveled the driveway). Soon we went inside I warm up and watch Tv while we got ready for

Bed.  Christopher ended up passing out on the floor at 6:30.  Ha!  It's days like these that appreciate the job of a stay at home Mom.