Road Trip Goes Awry

I was home from Lake O'Hara only a couple of days before we set out on our B.C. road trip. To celebrate my 70th birthday and our 49th wedding anniversary our first stop was Island Lake Lodge for two nights. We arrived September 12th, right on time for me to go directly to the 2.5 hour spa treatment/massage I'd booked. The clouds were down to the ground and it rained for most of our time there. On the heels of the O'Hara hikes (which I will never regret) I confess to not being up for the steep trails at Island Lake. I may have mentioned that both my knees need replacing, well patella resurfacing for sure. My left knee constantly radiates pain up to the hip and down to my foot. Until surgery (likely in the new year) I'm managing with T3s and Diclofenac cream.



On the porch of Red Eagle Lodge (our lodge, one of 4) in a brief moment of sunshine on my birthday, September 13th, 2018

The food at Island Lake Lodge is extraordinary. We'd eaten a substantial lunch en route, so we simply grazed on sumptuous appetizers that first evening. On our day, we indulged in a full-on decadent dinner that night ...

Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary in the Tamarack Lodge Dining Room at Island Lake Lodge, September 13th 

September 14th, leaving Island Lake Lodge.  The eco system on the west side of the Rockies is entirely different from that on the east 

Next stop was four nights with Win and John. Meg and Paul, from Canmore, timed it so they would be staying in Creston at the same time. It had been two years since the Skimmerhorn Sextet had assembled at the Dinn's. Unfortunately, it was too cold to sit on the winery's amazing patio - which affords a view to rival any in Tuscany. Their food and wine more than made up for the weather plus the company was in fine form.



The Skimmerhorn Sextet after yet another fantastic luncheon at Skimmerhorn Winery

At this time of the year one must wander through the vineyards!

The boys were left to their own resources while the gals played with paint in Win's new studio - they've moved since our last visit ...

Lots of industry but nothing was completely finished!

Of course there were the daily happy hours!

It was while we were in Creston that I began feeling 'off'. I couldn't get through a day without having a nap, nor could I focus on making more than backgrounds.

On the 18th, we bid farewell to our pals in Creston to embark on a long travel day along Highway #3 to Tsawwassen where we caught the ferry to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. A half hour drive from there brought us into Victoria. Promptly on arriving at our accommodation I vomited for the second time that day.



With Sharlene in Victoria's Chinatown, September 19th

After gallivanting, with me/us, all day long, hitting all the art supply stores, and other favourite haunts, Sharlene went home to prepare a fabulous dinner for us. The meal stayed down and I even braved some wine ...

With Sharlene and Ray at their place


The following day Bill drove me, Carole and Sharlene to Sidney for lunch and a look see. On our arrival, at 11am, I was so tired that I crawled into the back seat and slept for an hour while everyone shopped. Driving back into Victoria we stopped in to see "Oh the Places We've Been!" Sharlene was one of the artists in the three-woman-show exhibited at the Coast Collective.

With Sharlene and Carole.  You'd wouldn't know that minutes before this photo was taken I'd barfed up my lunch

Over the next two days the gals pleaded with me to go to the ER but I held off. I stopped thinking I had a flu bug when I vomited white rice. Then overnight, when I got up to go pee, nothing came. Still unable to pass urine Saturday morning (October 22nd) we took me to emergency at the Royal Jubilee Hospital.

It was a few hours before I got to see a doctor. The results of the blood work, which was done as soon as I arrived, indicated that my kidneys had failed. Not being able to void was frightening enough but imagine suddenly being told I was looking at dialysis?  The Foley catheter they installed produced nothing, my ureters were obstructed. 

My blood pressure has never been high but that morning it was off the charts at 197/89. It remained high during my eight day hospital stay even though I was put on a beta blocker, Metoprolol, which I am to take for one month. My blood pressure has since returned to normal.

Bill keeping the girls informed.  I spent a day and a night in the hall of the emergency room

On the morning of September 23rd, I had nephrostomy tubes installed. The right kidney drained copious amounts of urine while the left seemed to have little to give. Neither the CT scan nor the ultrasound detected tumours and scar tissue was suspected to be the reason for the blockages.

I missed the last two nights of our Airbnb booking and when Bill left the accommodation he moved in with Carole, who has lived a four minute walk from the Jubilee for the past thirty-eight years. It was Carole's husband, Chuck, whose memorial we missed, in May, because of my hospitalization then, and subsequent surgery.  

The nephrostomy tubes drained into my urine 'purses'

There was also bloody, foul smelling discharge from both my rectum and my vagina. You'll recall that both are truncated; I no longer have a uterus and with the colostomy bag my rectum is not attached to my colon. I honestly thought I might be dying. It certainly seemed as though I was rotting from the inside out.

For five days, I was pumped with IV fluid, supplemented with magnesium and potassium. My kidneys responded beautifully and on September 28th the external nephrostomy tubes were internalized as stents from my kidneys to my bladder. I stayed in hospital a few more days to insure all was stable and that I was voiding smoothly in the normal way. I contracted a bladder infection and left hospital armed with a ten-day regime of antibiotics.

Our Island friends were so kind and supportive, many visited me daily and I did get to go outdoors on fine days ... 

With Arlene in the Royal Jubilee's charming Japanese garden courtyard

The west coast was showing off its autumn colours

I was discharged October 1st. Excited to be free, we met Joe and Carol for lunch before wandering Fort Street and Oak Bay Avenue. Forgetting that I'd been mostly bed ridden for a week I expended too much energy. By the day's end I crashed. It was apparent that our plan to stay on the island for a few more days, with Mary and Tom at their place, had to be cancelled. We spent that night at Carole's and caught a morning ferry back to the mainland on the 2nd. We took two days to drive home, narrowly missing Alberta's freak October 1st blizzard.

On October 4th, we were to have flown to Saskatoon to spend Thanksgiving with Denise, Larry and Avery but that too had to be cancelled. I was delighted when they said they'd make the seven hour drive here to be with us for two nights ...

October 6th after our Thanksgiving feast, cooked by Larry

We also celebrated Avery's and my birthdays

Since being home I've had another CT scan (October 10th) which revealed that my kidneys have made a total recovery but that the cancer has returned. There is a growth in my pre-sacral area and there are hypodensities in my liver. Dr. Glaze, my surgical oncologist, tells me that without treatments I won't be fairing very well by March. We meet with her October 29th to discuss the course of action. For my family and because I myself want to 'buy' more time I've reconsidered and I'm prepared to undergo chemotherapy, again. In spite of the anger I have over all this, I'm in a  good head space and have no physical pain, beyond the leg. I prefer to say I'm living with cancer as opposed to fighting it. Please root for me in any way you wish - thank you.   

I'm thrilled to report that Laura is coming (solo) for ten days, arriving from Manila on November 11th. Denise too will be here with us for the weekend that falls within her sister's visit.