Sunday, February 24, 2013

2 posts in 2 days?

I know it's unlike us recently but Sunday seemed like a day worth adding another post for.

Jen's choir had a great concert this afternoon - Grandma, Auntie Cathy and Uncle Bob joined Kris and I to be entertained.  It's a busy time for the choir between this concert and an upcoming opera and as always they were fantastic (I know I'm bias but they really are great!)

After the show we went to Riverview and more family joined us to celebrate the February birthday boys in the clan.  Karen seemed to really enjoy getting out of her room and spending a few hours in the common room we had reserved - the kids had room to play cards and do puzzles and the adults could sit and visit.  Thanks to the unit staff for all their help (and the curling score updates!).

That's it for now. Thanks as always for all the love and support!
Doug and the gang

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Therapy Dog(s)!

There's been quite a few furry friends coming through lately.  On Thursday, Rigby one of Riverview's many doggy volunteers dropped in for a visit.  Then on Friday, Carmen, one of the St. John's Ambulance therapy dogs cuddled up in bed with us.  But the best visit was today, when our beautiful puppy, Hope came for a visit!  She cuddled up with mom and then took up guarding the door.  Oh and did I say that Hope made friends with all the nurses that looked at her?  We all really enjoyed these visits!

Last weekend the three of us went off to Fargo and Albertville for some fun.  We got stuck in Fargo on Monday and ended up staying an extra night due to the blizzard.  We had lots of fun!  Thank you to our dog-sitters!  And to Lise and all the others that spent time with Mom while we were away!

Now it`s Dad`s turn to type for a bit...
Hi everyone!  I get to do the Karen update part apparently?  It`s been three months now since Karen went to hospital and as usual she exceeds expectations - I don`t think the doctors then thought she would do as well as she has but having said that she is steadily declining.  Today they changed the note about transferring her to the red one requiring a mechanical lift as she is not able to offer much support to the staff when they were transferring her with 2 people the last few days (when she got to Riverview in January it was the green one for a standby assist).  She sleeps more and is less talkative now but as one of the nurses said to me last week, when you spend time with her ``you really get a sense of Karen`s spirit and who she is and it`s clear that`s all still inside unaffected by the tumour, other than that it can`t always get out``  On that I should tell you that Karen and I were watching the noon news the other day and they were doing a story about Festival du Voyageur - they interviewed this man from the Festival and when his name came up on the bottom of the screen it was the same Icelandic name as ours!  Karen and I looked at each other with strange looks, she said in her normal volume (as opposed to the whisper she mostly talks in) some smart remark about Icelanders and we both burst into laughter!  The kids and I experience similar little bursts of Karen from time to time and they help make visits special.
Karen enjoys having friends visit, but not crowds or a lot of commotion in the room.  You won`t get a lot of conversation but you might just get one of those little bursts, or a look or something that you`ll recognize as typical Karen.

That`s enough from me - back to Jen...
I`m back!
So, thanks for all that everyone does for us!  We really appreciate it!   Thank you for taking Hope for walks, driving Kris and I to school, driving me to my many choir practices, visiting with Mom, bringing flowers for the room and bringing us meals.  I`m sorry if I forgot anything but I don`t remember everything (I don`t know if that`s good or bad!)

-Jen and the gang