A year in Review -- 2017

During the last months of 2016, the song, Ever Be, was my focus.  It was a song that was introduced to our church in the week prior to me getting my diagnosis and then the following week Kent and I were part of the band that lead it again.  It was tough to sing, knowing what we knew could be an incredibly tough time, but I meant it prior to the bad news, it would be my anthem going forward. 

This year, my anthem was It is well.  It carried me through the darkest of times, in the middle of the night, I would sing to myself.  I prayed it when the pain was too much to bear up.

Despite the tough times this year, I am continuously thankful for the journey, for the spouse God has given me, for my kids that encourage me and for the people that surround me.

January

January I was recovering from my partial mastectomy in December.  Not thrilled with the outcome.  I've never had a great body image, but this was disastrous.  I think that the Doctors do this on purpose because if I needed a full mastectomy, anything would look good after seeing this.

Kent has been a rock through this process.  I appreciate his support so much. He is really an amazing man.

January started with the loss of a girl we once knew.  Jas.  It was when the fentanyl crisis hit home.  I arrogantly had a tirade the week before.  It will eventually hit every home in BC, just like cancer.  How to fix this...I'm not sure.  Carrying a Naloxone kit is a good start...if you can get your hands on one.

Mid January, Kent and I tried to get tickets to U2, the Vancouver show.  I tried for a while and gave up -- Kent persisted and gave me the dream of a lifetime, tickets to U2s Joshua Tree Tour.  We dated to the Joshua Tree, if I had a bucket list this would be near the top.

February

February started with a bike commute to work.  Was I ever thankful and happy to get back on my bike...it was an amazing commute, even if I got a flat tire and a little exercised induced asthma. 

In keeping with our love of live music, for Christmas Kent gave me tickets for the Switchfoot/Relient K concert - we were going to take the Helijet, but due to weather, we switched gears and took a free ferry instead!  We had a great little getaway to Vancouver.  I honestly thought I wasn't going to enjoy Relient K much, but it was amazing.  Song of the night went to them for sure.

It was also in February I confessed to getting sick of hearing, "Oh my Mom/Daughter/Aunt//Cousin's Friend/Coworker had breast cancer and after a valiant effort she died."  I'd smile, as the person obviously didn't realize that she had just been absolutely rude.....and it hit me...we don't know how to be empathetic in our society.  We look at a situation and throw our situation into thinking that will help.  Well this coworker sent me this:  8 Non-Traditional Empathy Cards  My favourite card:

We spent our Family Day with Dave and Sandy Friesen, we just happened to be in the same place at the same time, it turned into IMAX movie, coffee and great conversation.  A truly great day.  If we couldn't be with family on Family Day, they were amazing substitutions and friends that feel like family.

We celebrated the one who made us parents, she turned 25 this year.  We can hardly believe it's been 25 years since she came into our lives.  And we continue to be so blessed to have her in our family.

In a strange way, it was also Hailley, Chelsea, Charayah and Baylie's birthday on February 17th.  What a great day to have a daughter!

We also babysat (doggiesat) Bella on her birthday and had a little celebration with her.

March

March 8th we celebrated the International Women's Day.  Oddly, for me, it falls on my biological Mother's birthday, this year I reflected on the amazing women in my life:

International Women's Day. I reflected today on the women who have made me who I am today--when I was a child, my cousin Sheila, My Grandmothers, Olive Biddlecombe and Adele Fricker, Cindy and Rhoda who stood by me through THICK and thin. As a teen, my beautiful Mama, Jean Fricker who said yes to me and loved me like her own. My new sisters Arlene and Lanette.  The women in the church when I was growing up,  Lorraine, Vicki, Jeannie, and Sandy who showed me what it was like to a strong, confident, soft and loving woman. As an adult, my Aunt Esther, Sydney, Shannon, Kelsey, Warren-Pat, Kim, Sara-Lee, IrisLee, Margo, Elsie, Andy, Lynn, Alexis, Marilyn, Rosa, Ann, Niki Lynne, Brandi, Allie, Kimberly, Sandy, Cheryl, the baby chickens and so many other women I could keep listing and listing you!

And the most important woman of them all Melissa, she made me want to be the best mom and friend a girl growing up could have.

It really does take a village, I'm still growing, learning, leaving comfort zones for the unknown. I'm who I am today because of each of you. Thank you for loving me and encouraging me.

March 9th, I had the first of two Boobvoyages.  I gathered the first night my coworkers and we said see ya for 6 weeks.

The following day, March 10, I set up my out of office email reply:

I am on leave until 25 April 2017. I will allow each sender one email if you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until there is only one remaining. Choose wisely. Please note you already sent me one email.

I showed that out of office to my boss then, changed it to something more professional....

It was daunting to see March 10 to April 25.  Here it comes.  Ready or not.

That night, I gathered with my girlfriends and we toasted farewell to "Betty and Veronica" and we ate some good food and laughed.  It was so good to be surrounded by so much love....and they brought presents!!  What?!  That was a real treat!

March 11th, our son Max turned 23.  Amazing.  Life continues to pass with lightning speed.  We celebrated him, as much as he'd let us.  He never feels that it's a day to celebrate him....rather a day for me as I did all the work!

I spent my last day of freedom with my Sister-in-law, Cheryl.  We got some tea for after my surgery, we got pedicures, so at least my toes would look nice.  I couldn't imagine my 'Victorian Life' without her.  She is a constant encouragement, we laugh, we have such fun together.

March 14, you'd think it was the dreaded day of my surgery...but I was really at peace.  When Kent and I got to the hospital, we were greeted by Georgie, the RJH Cat.  She was greeting people as they entered the hospital for surgeries, we were all there about 6 am.  Ridiculously early.

We went up to the Surgical ward, they were right on it, I didn't sit for more than a minute or two when they called me back to change.

At 8 am, they rolled me into the surgery room.  I wasn't nervous, I was at complete peace.  The next thing I knew it was 7.15.  I woke and was actually feeling awake.  I do remember waking 3 times before that, with some pain, so I asked for pain meds all three times.  Each time, the nurses gave me an injection.  At 7.15 when I woke for real....I noticed a nurse at the end of the bed beside me.  I closed my eyes, when I reopened them, I saw the clock on the wall read 7.20.  I looked back at the nurse and smiled.  She smiled at me.  Then she started running towards me, she said, "She's not breathing!" and then there were alarms.  So many loud alarms.

The next time I remember waking I was in my hospital room with Kent.  And oh the pain.  Holy, I have NEVER experienced anything so painful in my life....and I knew I was being well medicated.

I had an ocean view!

Through the night, the nurses came in every hour to check my new foobs.  (fakeboobs) and they would check with cap refill and a Doppler.  During the night, they couldn't find the arterial/venous flow.  They told me it could be that they were failing.

I texted my sister in Ontario in the very early hours and asked her to pray.  It was about 3.30 am...our time.  She texted me right back.  I knew she'd have my back in prayer.

By the time the shift change was about to happen we final found the sound of the arterial/venous flow.  Only to fail to find it again for hours on end. Finally, the surgeon came in and found it and we were on the way to recovery.

31 hours after I was rolled into surgery, the physiotherapist came in with 2 nurses and said, you're going to sit up!  I was in pain, I couldn't imagine sitting up.  Well, I did it, not without some drama, some near puking.  I was insanely proud of myself.  They then said, I was supposed to start walking the floor, as soon as I did 3 rounds of the ward, I could go home.

I did the laps on Thursday, and had a shower and was headed home on Friday.  In Kelowna, the same surgery gets you 3 days in the ICU and 3 on the Surgical Ward, and in Victoria, you're sent home in 4 days.

Pippin was on nursing as soon as I got home.

Recovery was long, painful.  I stopped taking my meds for pain as soon as I could...and by that, I mean Thursday.  I wanted to make sure I could handle the pain with Tylenol and Advil at home....before I got home and found out I couldn't take it.

Kent.  Kent was incredible over the next 6 weeks, he worked, he cared and nursed me.  He fed our boys.  He set me up to sleep in the living room every night.  Most nights, when I got up in the night, he was right there to make sure I could get in and out of the recliner.  He lost a lot of sleep.  He never complained.  He never got grumpy.  He was a solid rock of support.

March 30th, I got my pathology results back.  Earl. Is. Dead!

April

April 1 is our engagement anniversary.  We celebrated 29 years together....I wouldn't want to do my life with anyone else.  Kent is an amazing partner.

End of April, I went out into the backyard and was stunned.  We had grass that was long enough to lose Pippin in.  I'm not kidding.  Just keeping the house running the past 6 weeks has taken all of Kent's energy.  We went out to by a proper mower.....our push mower couldn't take on the jungle.

End of April I started a return to work plan, 2 hours/day the first week, 4 hours/day the second week, 6 the next and then my 8.38 hours/day for the final week.  I am so grateful for the return to work plan.  I was exhausted the first week.  I returned to pink cherry blossoms on the trees.  It was very cool.

May

In May we got to hang out with our friends from Kelowna, as he was here for treatment on his heart, not the most fun way to spend time in Victoria, but we were really blessed to have time with them.

We went to Vancouver to see U2 kick off their Joshua Tree Tour.  I was in awe.  I loved seeing them live.  Kent and I had a blast!

On the May long weekend, 8 weeks since my surgery Kent and I put our backpacks on and hiked into Grant Bay on Vancouver Island.  We camped directly on the beach.  We had a great time, it's an amazing place to see, white beaches and Caribbean coloured seas.  Pippin didn't like the logging roads.  We didn't like the 2nd night when some kids came to party *right* beside our tent.  We left at 1:30, arrived in Port Hardy at 4 am, found a hotel and crashed until 11 and then made our way home.  We would do the trip again in a heartbeat, it was amazing.

The end of May we went through a very challenging weekend with our family.  I can't post it here, it's not my story to tell.  We felt completely supported by friends and family.  We knew that we were being held up by prayer.

June

I went into work to find that I had 270+ voicemails dumped onto my phone.  It took me 2 hours to make sure that each person had been followed up on...and then dealt with.  Thank you IMIT for the glitch.  Seriously.

Kent: Kim, smell my finger.
Kim: No. Last time this didn't end well for me.
Kent: No, really, smell my finger.
Kim: No.
Kent: Sticks finger in Kim's face.
Kim: Holds breath, turns head away.
Kent: Holds finger under my nose until I gasp for air....
Kim: Your finger stinks.
Kent: walks away laughing.....#marriedlife #lifewithmen Again.  Seriously.

We took off to Saskatoon to see Jon and Melissa for a week.  We had a restful time.  I took care of laundry, housekeeping and meals and Kent helped Jon replace the roof and put solar panels on the roof.  We had some great weather when we were there and some GREAT weather in the form of storms...and rain.  Melissa and I took a succulent class, we enjoyed the Jazzfest and they made us some amazing food from their green egg (bbq), fireworks, a slip'n slide on Canada Day and a great walk and picnic in Cranberry Flats.

Kent: Want one? (Holds out bag of desiccated brown balls)

Kim: No.
Kent: Are you sure?
Kim: I learned my lesson with 'smell my finger'.#marriedlife #lifewithmen

July

July brought fire.  And lots of it.  Although Kent didn't have to leave town to support the firefighters that were fighting the fires. Definitely something to be happy for.  Kent's first day on call was an 18.5 hour day.  That continued through most of the summer.

August

In a very strange turn of events, Kent was given 3 days off on the beginning of August, we took the opportunity to go North and camp with Kent's Brother, Sister-in-law and kids.  We took home their tent trailer!  Woot!

On the 4th, it was Jon and Melissa's 5th Wedding Anniversary! So much to be proud of them.

August 10th, we took a couple days off work and we took a trip to Salt Spring Island, with a guide we were going to circumnavigate Prevost Island by kayak with our good friends Mark and Jackie Jennings-Bates.  We had a blast.  I would highly recommend doin this (we used Salt Spring Adventures).  We will do this again.  Just not sure when....maybe 2019?

We had a garage sale to help Max ready for his move to BCIT.  We also had an eclipse.  Both fun.

End of August, we took our new-to-us tent trailer out for a spin and spent the weekend camping.  It was a great relief to have time off -- Kent had been working non-stop for most of the summer.

Complete with a solar panel!

Sleeps 6 very comfortably

We took a day trip to Rathtrevor Beach

September

In September we hosted for an evening my cousin Sheila and her husband Jim.  We had a great time with them, catching up and sharing good food and Victorian scenery.

We moved Max to BCIT and I got 2 first day of school photos.  Melissa is in her last year of getting her Masters.  We're incredibly proud of both of them.

I turned 49.  What!?!  I can't be that old!

Then, on a lazy Monday day off, (September 11), I got a call.  I would be in for surgery tomorrow.  Kent and I quickly got ourselves organized.  Made some food for the freezer, picked up medications, and got my bed in the living room ready.  Oddly, I thought I might be hit with some PTSD, but I really didn't.  This surgery was to correct some things that had gone wrong the first time around.  I was looking forward to the changes that would be made and the  2 weeks off  to recuperate.

October

October 1 is our wedding anniversary, we were delayed in celebrating as I was still recovering from surgery.  We were both a little disappointed as we don't like to let things like this celebration (29 years married) go by without some celebratin!

Middle of the Month, we went to Vancouver for a quick getaway, (at a very Scottish Hotel) we took Max for dinner at East is East and then returned home.  For our anniversary, we went to Nautical Nellies for dinner, we had a great time, reminiscing and reminding each other how much we love each other.

Best Western Abercorn Inn, Richmond

For Halloween, we had 2 events, I dressed up as BJORK on Halloween for work and a party we went to.  For the church function, I dressed up as a Jellyfish and Kent as a Pirate.

 At work

At friends

November

Has been completely uneventful for our family...and I can tell you we have ENJOYED it.

December

Max has rocked his classes and is now home for the holiday, we hardly see him, but we're happy for the times that we get with him.

Melissa and Jon are with his family this Christmas, we miss them terribly, we find this "sharing" thing highly overrated.  Really overrated.

We have a houseful coming over Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day.  We love our Victorian Life now more than ever.

Doesn't that mean a move must be coming?  We have no idea, but we are praying for a happy, healthy, uneventful 2018.

Psalm 62:5-8

   Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.  

Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
    he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;
    he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  

Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, 

for God is our refuge.

I leave you with Melissa's Plate Art, made with Bacteria: