Quick post to share a campaign that just launched: Innovation is a journey

I am honoured to have been part of this project and to support the work being done by life-saving pharmaceutical companies in the cancer space. Their research and development in innovative medicines is invaluable. 

Thank you BMS - you saved my life!

There is also an accompanying article for which I was interviewed, please feel free to check it out, here. 

Claire and Cass came to visit us in Prince George BC!

The main annual holiday celebration for the three of us girls has always been New Year's Eve (in addition to our birthdays - we declare holidays on those days too 😇). Family fun NYEs being a lifelong favourite of mine, I passed down the tradition, and this year, we were reunited for bringing in 2023.

Travel was involved - the girls made the trek from Toronto on the two flights it takes to get here, including "the propeller plane" that Claire hasn't been super impressed with the thought of since I moved to the wild northwest. They arrived late afternoon Dec-31 and we were all ready for a full week together, relaxing, sightseeing, meeting our family and friends here, visiting Reese, enjoying the great outdoors, and talking, talking, talking!  

 

And we got to go to London, and Manchester, UK together in 2018! That was quite a trip, I'd love to go back to London again. 

A boat ride on the Thames after we visited the Tower of London

The girls' first time to BC was in 2019 - Vancouver, and Chilliwack for a friend's wedding.

Lonsdale Quay, North Van captured their hearts

Notable mentions also - in high school Cass went to Italy and Spain on a school trip, and Claire went across Canada a couple of times in a big truck.

Ahhh travel... I could talk about it all day. And the girls' travel to Prince George! SO thrilled to have been able to ring in the new year all together, and have a week to hang out.

We had a blast showing them the sights. Mr. PG of course, and we took them to their first winery, and brewery, grown-up women that they are now. We had a spa day, and spent lots of time on the deck with the fire pit, listening to the trains. We went bowling with Mike's kids and grands, had a meet'n'greet with several of our friends, and we went to a few of our favourite restaurants in between home-cooking our family-favourite meals. 

Oh - and giant trees! Unlike Ontario trees... this giant Cottonwood:

(that's me tree-hugging)

One of the highlights of the visit was the afternoon we went for a back-roads tour to show the girls some forest service roads and try to spot a moose. We went out to Blackwater Canyon for tailgate-BBQ smokies and to "pretend" we were camping for an afternoon. It was pretty wild! They've certainly never done anything like that before (as I hadn't before Mike showed me the ropes), and because they were here in January we couldn't camp, but we could do a day trip, give them a taste of how we do it here. They loved it!

Alas, reality called, and Claire and Cass had to go home to their lives in Toronto, but they plan to come back in the summer. We'll go camping then, and scout out more big trees - and bears! And the elusive moose we missed this time. I can't wait!! 😁 In the meantime I'll go back to visit them in the spring, and we'll plan more adventures then.

We🧡PG

Happy New Year!! All the best in 2023

***

Aside... something I'd love to share here too - I've mentioned before our stops at Mr. PG when we have company from out of town - we noticed a couple of interesting "offerings" at the base of Mr. PG. Pretty cute, and I'll be curious to see if it catches on. Here is a photo of one of the items we found at his feet...well, base.  

Cool video about him recently too! Landmarks S1 EP 2 Mr.PG

Over the last couple of years I have had the pleasure of doing some work with the GetSkinHelp team, and I’m pleased to continue! Wrote a blog for their site – click here to read the blog:

What to Expect at the Dermatologist

GetSkinHelp is leading the charge when it comes to digitizing the complete patient circle-of-care.

Not only are they providing quality virtual services across Canada, but they are collaborating with government agencies and hospitals to bring their technology and services to more people.

GetSkinHelp found its footing amid the Spring 2020 lockdown, when Dr. Colin Hong saw a surge in people coming in for skin cancer. Teaming up with entrepreneur, Keith Loo, the two began planning how to help patients right from their own homes. From there, what started simply as an online skin cancer screening tool, has quickly amassed to become a company that covers a variety of skin conditions.

They are also working to demystify the Canadian healthcare sector, particularly as it relates to dermatology, chronic skin conditions, and skin cancers. They investigate how drugs are developed, how AI will affect healthcare, and the forces at play in society that affect our wellbeing.

Some of the challenging questions they investigate include:

Why are there so few Dermatologists in Canada?

And

How much do you think it costs to remove a melanoma?

I'm fascinated to learn the answers to these questions - much of it is news even to me!  So thanks for your great work GetSkinHelp, I look forward to continuing to support your initiatives.

To learn all about how the GetSkinHelp app works click here to go to their website.  They also have their informative discussions and interviews on their youTube channel, and their podcasts are on Spotify and iTunes

Note from a reader: Enough gallivanting around Natalie, get back to work!  

OK, back to work I go - I have cancer to write about, experience to share, fellow patients and warriors to help through their crappy time the way others helped me through mine (and still do). 

Earlier this year I wrote about my most recent surgery (not cancer-related), and the results of that - not anemic anymore - good stuff! But there is more... I have learned a lot in the past couple of years about my health and options. Thanks to a move in provinces, I basically qualified for a whole new round of Physician referrals and perspectives, which is pretty interesting to experience. I was very happy with my care before, but now I have some new tools to add to my repertoire.

First off, I am fortunate to have another great family doctor (GP), who has been fantastic acting as my advocate and connecting me with specialists I may not have discovered otherwise. 

Right out of the gate he got me referred to the BC Cancer Agency (the equivalent of the formerly named Cancer Care Ontario, which governs all cancer care in the province - in the western provinces and some of the east, they actually refer to it as "Cancer Agency," which I had learned in my work with SYSF, but hadn't encountered personally, in Ontario). Every province has its own health care budget so if you move you get a new health card and you fall into that province's budget, and you no longer get services in the other province. There are times when patients can qualify for out-of-province treatment/care, but I'll save that topic for another day.

BC Cancer (BCCA) has a beautiful Cancer Centre here in Prince George, and a couple of CT scanners in the adjacent hospital UHNBC, as well as MRI (though for PET we have to go to Vancouver). My first experience with the centre here was interesting, as, being new to BC Cancer, I was to follow the "new patient intake" pathway. My intake interview was conducted by a nurse over the phone (thanks covid), and I was struck by the complete line of questioning as it was almost exactly what I had experienced seven years prior, when I was first diagnosed with melanoma. 

It was rather surreal, and to the surprise of the nurse, so many of my answers were detailed and knowledgeable. In 2014, being brand new on the scene I had stumbled with many of the questions, not understanding what the staff were saying to me, not knowing my family/cancer history, being in shock in general as a brand new cancer patient. They were very sensitive and gentle with the questioning, but to be asked again this far down the line if I had a Will in place and a Personal Care representative and my affairs in order was a stark reminder of the deadly disease I am dealing with.

This time around I heard the questions and knew what to say and what to expect, from my years of personal research as well as work in the space, but I couldn't help being taken back to my first cancer centre experience, sitting in the waiting room holding that tell-tale newly-diagnosed envelope. It was emotionally difficult to answer some of the interview, as I had entered the process knowing I was new to this centre, but not comprehending that they wouldn't just read my file, they would treat me as an entirely new patient. 

Overall it was interesting to have that experience and it reminded me of the compassion all newly diagnosed patients require.

Intake complete, I was referred to the Medical Oncologist who travels here to cover melanoma patient care, among other indications. My first impression - aside from knowing no one could compare to The Boss - was that I would have to advocate for myself right out of the gate. Because I was past five years with no evidence of disease since melanoma diagnosis, in this Oncologist's opinion, I no longer needed to be followed. Well I know otherwise! 

A metastatic melanoma diagnosis is forever. It is a sneaky disease too, in which one might not experience symptoms of recurrence for months, and if not for being followed, one would not find out they have recurred until it is potentially too late to treat. 

A patient has the right to choose their follow schedule based on guidance from their medical team, but also on how they are feeling and doing, and any symptoms they may or may not be experiencing. I am clearly aware that I can request a CT scan any time I wish. I want one annually even in good health, so annually one I will get.

Simultaneously I received a referral to a Dermatologist for a full skin exam, which I should also have every year, but hadn't in I won't say how long. That one I'm not as hot to pursue, as I was educated from my first Derm years ago, my metastatic melanoma would not cause new moles or lesions. I may get new ones, but they would be unrelated to the first. While of course I do my monthly skin self-exams, it's the internal melanoma spread to lymph nodes and beyond I need the cancer centre's help watching out for. 

There are not official guidelines in place across Canada for metastatic melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers at this time. There are some guidelines in a few provinces, but not a complete set, so this explains why patients in some centres will receive completely different information about their disease than patients in other areas. 

It is a disparity that continues, and that should be addressed so that patients will no longer fall through cracks in the system, as I could for example, if I wasn't being scanned. Or as melanoma friends I have met on many occasion could, when they receive outdated treatment information or options. It is discouraging that we still see many of the same things happening in skin cancer care now as Mike experienced when he was first (mis-)diagnosed in 2007. But I digress...

Got a clear bill of skin health from the visiting Dermatologist, and that's great. Since then though, I'm happy to report that PG has gotten two new Dermatologists here full time, so that will help to address the Derm shortage for everyone in the Northern Health region of BC. I go see my new Derm for the first time in January so stay tuned for updates on that. You can be sure I'll be doing my usual dig-for-info-as-informed-patient at that one!

Alongside all this melanoma-maintenance, my GP referred me to an Endocrinologist. You may know from my thyroid cancer battle that I had dabbled in Endocrinology lessons in 2015-2016 at the same time as melanoma, and that involved neck surgery and radioactive iodine treatment. Completely different experience from skin cancer, but again a whole bunch of information a patient needs to know.

My new Endocrinologist here in PG was extremely compassionate and thorough, and once more it was like I was a new patient all over again. He requested all of my surgery and pathology reports from Sunnybrook, and explained things to me in a way I had not heard before. We did bloodwork several times to get full stats on my TSH/T3/T4/Thyroxine/Thyroglobulin, and he ordered an ultrasound on my neck/throat to get a baseline in case we needed it for future. 

It hadn't occurred to me to get an ultrasound sooner, as since my thyroidectomy and follow-ups in Toronto I was on a maintenance-dose of daily thyroid hormone supplement to keep my system running and keep any potential thyroid cancer cells away. Plus with the head to toe CT scans for melanoma I figured I was covered for metastasis-checks. Turns out an ultrasound every few years is a good idea as well. In any case, ultrasound was clear, bloodwork was good, he adjusted my dose gradually down a little bit, and I'm rolling with that for the foreseeable future, consistent bloodwork pending.

So that's my informal cancer lesson for the day, work done - check and check! Though I do continue to look for ways to help myself and others in this disease space, so consider this an open invitation: if you have any questions you need help answering, about cancer, but especially skin cancer or thyroid cancer, I may be able to steer you toward the right source of information. I hang out with lots of health care providers and patient advocates alike and am always open to helping someone get the support they need. With gratitude, chat again soon. 💝

If you don't already know this guy, let me tell you about him: 

When I moved to Prince George, he stayed in Ontario, moving from Meaford to Toronto with the girls to their new house. They were good for each other, I got to see him when I visited the girls, and Reese also had his little buddy Diego. 

As time went on and the girls got busier and I got Prince George-ier, we made the family decision to move Reese here to a new home where he could enjoy the fresh northern BC air and I could visit him lots. There were definitely stressful moments in this process, but in the end it was infinitely worth it. 

A blur of activity finding Reese the perfect home here, booking flights, planning the drive, having a giant kennel delivered to the girls' house (getting Reese used to being in a kennel), vet appointments, a wee bit of doggy sedative (and a lot of human sedatives!) and we were set to go: Reese would arrive in PG on March 20, 2022. Mike and I had even bought him a new collar from our fave brewery here in town! 

For the first time, I drove on my own all the way from PG to Vancouver - a full day's drive to arrive at the airport for my red-eye flight to Toronto that night, parking the Jeep there for the few days I'd be away. Had a whirlwind visit with the girls, and prepped for the tearful parting and our big journey home. 

In all the planning, we decided it would be best for Reese to have only one flight Toronto to Van, rather than add the second one from Vancouver to PG.  Plus then I could spend a couple of days with him coming back, let him recover from the flight and not land at his new home jetlagged, and "show him" the sights driving up the roads I mentioned in my post the other day. 

Labs are very intelligent, malleable, and reactive dogs, with human-like tendencies and charm. Knowing Reese's personality so well, I had full confidence he would roll with the trip and it would be fun, so I was looking forward to spending the weekend with him in this way.

A shout-out to WestJet - they were awesome. From booking the large pet flight to the helpful staff at check-in, to the compassionate care they took of Reese while he was in their possession, everything was outstanding. I was a nervous wreck, but the WestJet staff kept my pieces together, and delivered my favourite four-legged man to Vancouver, happy as a clam. 

   

We made our way out of the airport, onto the park 'n' fly bus, and to my Jeep in the parking lot (with MUCH help from random strangers - this dog and kennel combo was veeeeerry heavy) where I could finally release him from the kennel. He was pretty thirsty when he got out but I had brought a bunch of water, and clippers to undo the zip tie locks on the kennel (thanks for the tip Kath!) so in no time flat Reese was free, walked, quenched, and reunited with my Jeep. I swear he looked at me like... what the heck...I know this car! 

He waited patiently while I took the kennel all apart and jigsaw puzzled it and all of our bags and stuff into my baby SUV. It must have been a comical sight for anyone who may have seen us! I didn't care, I just wanted to get on the road and start showing Reese the BC sights.

We were going a relatively short distance to our first pet-friendly hotel, as we both needed to unwind after our long day. Reese had never been to a hotel before, or in an elevator, but he waltzed right through all of it like a pro. I had brought his blankets from home so he had lots of familiar smells and padding for the road trip and hotel rooms. Judging by how quickly he settled in, he felt like the royalty he is!

We went for walks, ordered-in pizza, watched TV, and cuddled. It was so much fun! Had a great sleep and a good re-set for the rest of the trip home. Woke up ready to explore and just soak up my brown fuzzy guy. 

He sat patiently in the front seat while I re-organized the Jeep, and we decided the kennel just had to go. It was too big to fit, and Reese needed the full back seat to nap between sights and stops. I found a local animal shelter to donate it to, so after a stop for *hashbrowns!* *doggy eyes!!* we offloaded the kennel, re-packed the Jeep again, and headed up the highway. 

First stop? Whistler of course!

We got a bit soaked from the March snow-rain, but we walked all around the village and Reese posed for pictures wherever we went. He always was a ham for photos so this was working out just as I had hoped it would. Too cute! Good stretch of the legs, toweled ourselves off, and got back on the road to head north. Over the Duffy Lake road through the scenic - and often harrowing - curvy roads up and down, we stopped a few times for photo ops, to go for walks, and have water and snacks. 

Destination that evening was our motel in 100 Mile House, about four hours south of PG. We had taken all day to get there, Mike suggested that I had set the family record for the taking the longest to make the drive from Whistler to 100 Mile. LOL - well we had to stop and sniff at every place!!

We checked in to our motel with kitchenette, ran over to the grocery store to get some dinner to make later, and then went to the pet store, for a BATH. Everybody appreciates a good shower after flying on an airplane, right? Hhmm.... turns out no, not everybody does appreciate that....but we did it anyway. Reese needed to be spiffy for his new family tomorrow!

Got back to the motel, cranked up the heat for the wet-fur baby, unpacked and settled in. Lots of cuddles again, honestly I could hardly believe we were doing this trip together, it was so fun, and funny!

After Reese had thoroughly dried, we went for a night walk around 100 Mile House, which now holds a sweet place in my heart, I'll always think of Reese and the time we spent there. I love that Mike and I drove through it a few times again later this year.

More walks in the morning, and we got all packed up and ready to head up the last leg of our trip. 

Lots of tourist stops in this stretch too - and I don't even feel like a crazy person for telling you I wanted to show Reese all the cool places I love. He was about to become a BC dog after all, he needed to know about mountains, gold, and jade! 

So we stopped at the jade place I mentioned on a previous blog - the folks from Jade Fever were planning on opening a smaller store south of Quesnel, and had already placed a bunch of their giant jade chunks on the property. We stopped to take a walk around. Claudia wasn't there, but we checked out the place and then went on our way. 

And the giant gold nugget pan in Quesnel!

Next stop - Prince George. I was starting to get a bit weepy-eyed, knowing we were getting close to home. I was thrilled to be introducing Reese to his new family later in the day, but it was bittersweet at the same time. I just love him to bits and miss him all the time.

We drove straight to see Mike, gather his supportive hugs, ask him to take our picture together, and then all go together to Reese's new home. 

And with that, it was time to take Reese to his new family, who were having a little welcome party for him. I had regaled them with stories, photos, and videos but they had never met Reese in person so I was deeply hoping that they would hit it off right away. 

Thankfully, our instincts about this family were bang on! In addition to being absolutely lovely in general, they are very experienced with Labs and understood his personality right away. By the time we got there Reese was a bit tired and worked up from all of the excitement, so Mike and I made a fairly quick exit so that they could all get to know each other, and Reese would be able to calm down without me there. I didn't say goodbye as I knew I would see him again soon.

And I did! I have several times and will be seeing him again soon. It's wonderful! I join his new owner on his morning walks every now and then, and this summer they even invited us to a banquet event for which Reese was the official mascot! It was awesome.

And here he is in all his BC glory, when we went for a walk together on my birthday:

🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎🤎

OK well, two of my family imported here, now two to go... Claire and Cass - PG is coming for youuuuuu!  😉

Among my BC-travel highlights are the times I have had the privilege of meeting people who I think are pretty neat. Of course family and friends rank at the very top of my neat-people list! But there are some additional folks that have touched my life that I'd love to mention here, in the name of blog-updating and British-Columbia-life-sharing. 

For years I have been honoured to meet, travel, and work with many of our absolute stars in melanoma skin cancer treatment in Canada, namely from Toronto, Edmonton, Victoria, and Vancouver. Last year I even got to pop down to the Okanagan to have an SYSF dinner with a number of our treating Dermatologists, Oncologists and Surgeons in the area. As always, it was humbling and inspiring at the same time: learning on behalf of skin cancer patients, and speaking on behalf of skin cancer patients. 

In addition to these meaningful exchanges, I have had the fun of meeting up with local celebrities that are on TV. And yes, I do count medical-educational webinars and recorded zoom meetings that are online as valuable viewing material! 

But in this case I'm referring to celebrities on Netflix, History channel, CTV, Prime, Discovery, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc etc etc - you get the idea. Sheer fun!

Let's start with Mike Hall from Rust Bros, in the Shuswap area. I've watched every episode of his show, laughing out loud at all the casts' antics, and learning a lot about cool car restorations at the invitation of my boyfriend Mike. Mike first got to meet Mike on a boys' trip a couple years ago, when he stumbled upon the Rust Valley Restorers shop/property/set and decided to pop in. As (my) Mike always says, just try... "nothing bad is going to happen" - they drove in, and were respectfully checking out the place when the boss came out and hung out to look at their cars and chat.

So when we were with the family in the area last summer and went out on some exploring, Mike said hey let's stop in - maybe you can meet Mike too! And so we did. He was so gracious, obviously busy but still stopped to chat with us and take a photo. So cool, very fun!

A second local celebrity honourable mention goes here, to Avery from Rust Bros, and Wildman Restorations. Little did we know, when we were in the Shuswap we drove right by Avery's place several times - and we didn't know it until this past season when we watched on TV and saw the road! Didn't get to meet Avery, but if you watch the show you'd know he goes with Mike Hall, two peas in a pod if you ask me. 😂

Shifting gears... ha ha ha...

As I've mentioned before, since I've moved here I've learned a lot about gold mining, minerals, the environment, and the terrain in northern BC. Mike and I dabble in gold panning and have plans for more next season. But in the winters when we can't be out on the land, we occasionally watch TV. And guess what's on there - Gold Rush! Yes, I am completely hooked. But alongside Gold Rush are the likes of The Curse of Oak Island and Jade Fever. Ok no we haven't met the Lagina brothers or Parker Schnabel (though last season he did visit Barkerville!), BUT - Jade Fever! - Claudia Bunce! 

In my last post I talked about our visit to Jade City on the Yukon loop. The one thing I didn't mention is that Claudia was actually there, at the Jade City store when we stopped in. I didn't think she would be there, as it was the start of summer, and one would suspect they have to make the most of their time on the land up north in the short summer season. But lucky us - she was at home! I wasn't cool calm collected enough to ask her for a photo, so you'll have to see her in this one (and at the links below).

She chatted with Mike while I (gaped and) shopped (quickly) - Claudia even said to Mike "Wow you are a Champ for letting her stop here to shop with your hurt arm!"  A Champ! Well yes of course Mike is a Champ, but now it gets a capital C because Claudia said it too. She also referred to another shop she is/was working on, closer to us, but you'll have to wait to hear more about that one in a future post.  Claudia and her family happen to be from Prince George, so that bought me time to shop while Mike chatted. We have actually seen her at Costco since then but without picture proof I feel like I can't say that 😅

https://jadecity.com/

https://www.ctv.ca/shows/jade-fever

And I will close with a couple more honourable mentions for Jade Fever.  On the day of the Father's Day Show n Shine fancy car tour here in PG, we saw Claudia's nephew Shane, to the very right in the crew photo above. I saw him and (so elegantly) shouted (from the window of Mike's Camaro) Oh wow it's Shane from Jade Fever!! and he smiled and waved. Yep, totally cool. 

Also Scrappy Larry, in the middle of the Jade Fever crew photo above. Scrappy Larry is a side-story in the Jade Fever show, and a captivating one at that! We love Scrappy Larry, have spotted him in PG, and we are thrilled that he now has his own website even. 

He is funny, sweet, genuine, and he loves cookies. We had brought a freshly baked care package of cookies for Scrappy Larry when we were planning to visit Cassiar and find him on our Yukon trip, but when we had to cancel that part of our trip we missed the chance to deliver to him. In any case, we'll keep trying!

So that's is for my BC celebrity update at the moment, but stay tuned... hangin' out with Mr. Nothing-Bad-is-Gonna-Happen you never know what  - or WHO - we might encounter next! 

Ryan Reynolds is from Vancouver after all..... 

😈

Another check mark on my "wow I never thought that could happen!" list - we went to the Yukon. Commonly known here, the Great Northern Circle Route can be traveled in either direction. We went from PG up to Dawson Creek and north to Fort Nelson, Liard River Hot Springs, then Watson Lake (Yukon), then back down the Stewart-Cassiar highway through Jade City, to an overnight in Stewart and then down and back across through Smithers and hwy 16 eastbound home. We did it in nine days, though really we could have spent weeks and taken more time to go farther north and/or to poke around more at all the incredible spots to see along the way.

Mike had done this trip in varying degrees over the years, sometimes with off-roading as part of it, but this time we took our RV and camped every night in a different spot along the route. To give you a visual of the route and this part of BC in relation to the world here is a screenshot of our map:

This was the longest I had ever gone without talking to my girls... six. whole. days.

But it was worth it, we had a tonne of fun along the way, wildlife views galore, adventure of course, and a sprinkling of peril here and there to keep us modest. 

I was intrigued by this trip from the time Mike suggested it, in part because I grew up with some vague knowledge of the far northwest from my Dad's truck-driving days. I knew from his lore that he used to haul dynamite somewhere up here at some point in history, perhaps for mining, or for highway building? I don't know the specifics but maybe my Uncles will be able to correct my missing details - I do know there was dynamite involved, crazy driving narrow northern highway passages, and Dawson. I'm assuming Dawson City, Yukon, though we couldn't go that far (yet), we have been to Dawson Creek a couple of times now, so that will be my Dawson-Dad connection for the sake of this story. :-)

In any case, as we were planning this trip and knew we would be stopping at the iconic "Sign Post City" in Watson Lake, it felt like the perfect time to commemorate my Dad in a small way. He passed away in 1998 when I was 21, and since then I have had in my possession his cowboy hat. It lived with us in Cambridge, then Meaford, Waterloo, back to Meaford, and then came with me across the country when I moved here to Prince George. Now it was going back to the Yukon.   

Another part of the allure of this trip was traveling the famous "Old Alaska Highway," which was built during World War II to connect the contiguous United States to Alaska, across Canada. It begins in Dawson Creek, at Mile 0.

To get the trip started, we left mid-day for Chetwynd, a few hours up the road to get a head start, fill the gas tank, and camp the night in order to be close to arrive at Dawson Creek first thing in the morning. 

We were pretty excited this was to be my first time "boondocking" - camping here can be quite wild in general but I was new to boondocking: no reservations, no organized park with hydro or water, just bush, wildlife, darkness, and whatever supplies you brought yourself. Here there is so much open land and it is not illegal to just pull up a piece of riverbank and set up camp on it. I was quite astonished when Mike first told me about it and my Ontario-brain couldn't comprehend, as I am used to two options: all the land everywhere being privately owned so you can't camp there unless you're invited, or an expensive and densely populated campground. But here there is so much open land the options are endless. Boondock wherever!

We used the iOverlander app to pick a cool-looking site on East Pine River outside of town with good road access. It was a former rec site so no problem, it was a nice easy way to break me in to being in the bush with no services (except of course for the glampy luxury of our trailer shower, battery, lights, heat, and propane lol 😇). 

We pulled into the little roundabout and settled in, left the trailer hitched, quickly BBQ'd dinner and then dashed back inside the trailer to eat without mosquitoes! We played cards in the shelter, hung out and passed the evening, making jokes about the remoteness of the location and slightly creepy road in - this is where I was introduced to "The Hills Have Eyes" reference. We did go for a quick walk (if you walk fast enough the bugs can't get you) (or the potentially creepy other inhabitants) and that confirmed our plan to get out of there ASAP in the morning.

All primed for the trip, we hit the Alaska highway. The evolving scenery and glimpses of wildlife began immediately, and we had a couple chances to pull off the main road to see historic sites and cool stuff on our way to Fort Nelson.

Every day on this trip brought us different types of mountains

...and wildlife

and crazy curvy roads!

In Fort Nelson itself too we got a great tour (outdoor tour, it was covid at that time) of the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum. It was quite something! And it was a short walk from our campsite so a fun way to spend the evening after the day of driving. 

We hit the road again in the morning, with the Liard River hot springs as our next destination. On the way we passed Muncho Lake, the bluest water I have ever seen. Gorgeous! And more mountains, and more wildlife.

And treats!! (did I mention we travel in style?)

The bulk of this route is extremely remote, with long stretches between places, people, gas stations (we carried a full jerry can of gas with us) and attractions. Because I'm basically highlighting our stops, I may not be properly conveying the long stretches of remote Alaska Highway we traversed. Even the truck nav system went blank and had nothing to say.

But we stopped at the few and far between options, one being this cinnamon bun shop in the middle of nowhere. Super cute little place, and again because it was covid it was pretty empty, though the owner told me on a normal summer day they would have 400 people by 9am!

A LOT of driving... absolutely beautiful, but a lot. 

We were starting to feel pretty far from home by this point. 

This is where patience really starts to come into the picture, between zero cell service, 

winding roads pulling a trailer, and random sheep attacks we had to stay chill. 

Mike loves Liard hot springs and had told me about it a few times - and now that I've been there I can see why, and it is one of my favourite places we have visited. It is a natural hot spring, where the water comes out of the ground and into a natural pool with a gravel bottom and literal forest surround, not like a concrete pool fake-y hot spring. 

We set up the trailer at our site and headed off down the trail toward the springs. Normally visitors have to book a time to go to the hot spring and swim etc., but because we were there during covid times it was not busy at all, and we had free run to go in and out whenever we wanted to. There is a long boardwalk through the boggy area leading to the hot springs, it is very beautiful and serene. Then the boardwalk goes through lush forest with some sign markers explaining the flora and fauna. 

There is a platform of change rooms and a deck with steps down into the hot spring, but beyond that it is all natural.  And hot! The water is very warm, it's gorgeous! (even in a record-breaking late-June heat wave) Therapeutic mineral water.  You can see where the spring comes out of the ground, and if you can stand it long enough to get close you can place a rock on one of the informal inukshuks people have built there.

We checked it all out, walked the boardwalks viewing the "Hanging Gardens" above the pool area, got smart reading all the signs around, and then headed back for dinner before we'd come back for a swim. These photos really tell the story, but they still don't give full justice to the beauty of the place. 

Having had a blast at Liard, it was time to move onto the next monumental stop on this trip: Watson Lake, Yukon! Today was to be the day - if we kept driving, we'd smack right into it!  And so we did... but not quickly... it took a while, as every bend in the road risked a surprise. :-)

One does not speed by these. 

But we did make it! And once we were through the covid checkpoint entering the territory, complete with warning to "be fast!" and not interact with anyone (the Yukon was experiencing a covid outbreak that we hadn't heard about as we had had zero cell service for 3.5 days) we headed straight for Watson Lake Sign Post Forest - yay!

So I didn't know this before, but Sign Post Forest is a collection of signs at Watson Lake, Yukon and is one of the most famous of the landmarks along the Alaska Highway. It was started by a homesick GI in 1942. He was assigned light duty while recovering from an injury and erected the signpost for his hometown: Danville, Ill. 2835 miles. Visitors may add their own signs to the over 80,000 already present. *

We added our own sign, and one for my Dad, along with his hat. 

And we found signs from all over the world; I was astonished to see signs of all kinds from many places I had lived or visited, including Meaford! (check out the bottom right of this photo below)

Mission accomplished, we dutifully left the Yukon, now officially heading "south" back into BC, and onto the Stewart-Cassiar highway. It was early afternoon of day four, and we were getting a bit tired from all the excitement, the driving, the heat, plus setting up and taking down the campsite every day. That is quite different from setting up camping somewhere and staying for a long weekend or vacation. So we decided to stop earlier in this day, and enjoy some time at Boya Lake. 

Again my breath was taken away by the scenery. Crazy blue water with a white silt bottom, gorgeous to look at, and heavenly to swim in. Cold! But heavenly. 

The next morning we suffered one of the perils I referred to earlier, Mike got a pretty bad burn cooking breakfast. And we were hours of driving away from the nearest centre. We patched him up the best we could with the trailer first aid kit, but then swiftly packed up and hit the road for Dease Lake, the nearest community which would have medical care. Mike was gracious for that few hours, but it was a pretty quiet drive. Burns are the worst, ouch! The scenery was a welcome distraction, as the mountains were changing yet again. 

Originally our goal for this day on the trip was to stop at Jade City, which you might know from the TV show "Jade Fever." We had planned to take a drive into Telegraph Creek as well, but the road was closed so no-go. It all worked out for the best anyway, after a quick tourist stop n shop at Jade City we bee-lined for the medical centre at Dease Lake and got Mike's arm properly fixed up to get us through the next couple of days (which would still be remote). Technically we were in our health region in northern BC so no problem getting care (thinking it was a good thing this didn't happen in the Yukon).

Looking back on it, I wish I had bought a set of these, but in the moment I cheap-ed out.

But I love my Jade City hat and hoodie! And we have a piece of jade from Claudia herself 

in the back yard pond stream now at home.

Anyhooooo... after that we were a bit deflated, hot, tired, and sore, so we again decided to pull up camp a little bit earlier in the day. We found a rustic little place called Red Goat Lodge, at Iskut, on Eddontenajon Lake. We napped, had dinner, and then amused ourselves playing with the washed up sticks all gathered around the little dock on our waterfront campsite. Camp-margaritas helped ease the pain, and I got to see what summertime looks like so far north, in the land of the midnight sun.

Unbelievable sky... and this was 11:30 at night!

Rested and refreshed, in the morning we set off on the next leg on this big journey. Destination: Stewart! Back onto the Cassiar highway twisting and turning and bumping along we stopped to make our lunch at the interesting little hamlet called Bell 2, surrounded by massive mountains. There is a beautiful lodge there, and a helicoptor company that flies in and out. We strolled around the little hobbit-ish buildings before getting back on the road.

Bell 2 Lodge

Next point of interest was to be Meziadin Junction, where we would turn to head out to Stewart.  By this long time on the road I was starting to seriously look at our maps to try to stay on track with wherever the heck we were - LOL - planning this trip at home is a far cry from actually doing it! We had had a couple hiccups and plan changes and we were prepared for all of it (thanks to Mike!) but I did have to do the odd double take to understand where we had been, the parts we had had to change or skip, the parts we had added on, and now the road out to Stewart would be the same one coming back out. Confused yet? Might be good to scroll back up to the map for a second! 

All that to say... the road to Stewart was breathtaking, in a whole new mountain range kind of way. Massive mountains. AND... drumroll please.... a massive glacier. Bear River Glacier, check this out:

And then we drove into the town of Stewart itself, remote scenic historic artsy colourful quirky little tiny Stewart. Even though it was rainy and misty while we were there the colours were so striking, all the little buildings and houses were painted and decorated brightly and stood out beautifully against the mountains soaring above.

After we replenished some supplies (this was day 6 after all), set up camp, and learned that "May is B.C. Mining Month," we went for a walkabout to explore.

Foreshadow...you have to know someday I'll blog about this and 

May being Melanoma Skin Cancer Awareness Month

Stewart is at the mouth of the Portland Canal, a 144km fjord separating BC and Alaska. Stewart is also right at the tiny border crossing into Heider, U.S.A., but due to the pandemic we couldn't cross. We happily settled for wandering around the estuary and awesome walking trail/boardwalk.

I fell very much in love with Stewart.

Would have been neat to stay longer; coincidentally we were there the day before Canada Day and they were about to lift some covid restrictions so there was going to be a big town party, that would have been so fun (and funny) to see! But that's okay, I know we will go back again. 

At this point we had also regained cell service, so we spent a bit of time catching up with home and kids, and then hit the road again - back to the main highway and head south-east-ish to next stop Smithers. We did a couple of slow drives around the Hazeltons, noted that we needed to come back to the area again to see the lava beds, historical totem poles, and explore westward toward Terrace and Prince Rupert. But at this point we were homeward bound. Well, with a couple of stops in between. 

We went to the hospital in Smithers to get Mike's arm re-checked and re-wrapped, and then went toward our camping spot for the next two nights. Tyhee Lake Provincial Park was huge, and really lovely! We set up, had a camping-food leftovers meal, and then checked out the park. 

The next day we drove into Smithers to go hiking at Twin Falls. 

Long story short, we saw Twin Falls, but we never did actually get TO Twin Falls. We mis-read the trail map, took the "difficult" route by accident and almost fell off the side of a cliff before turning around to take the shorter trail to the riverbed instead. 

Gave up on the hiking, went into town to go out for lunch, and then went back to the park to chill for the night before our final drive home. 

A little tired, but still smiling :-)

And to home we did get, parked the trailer in it's spot, took in all the laundry, and collapsed. LOL What an adventure! This trip was amazing in so many ways, incredibly memorable, and serves as a major highlight in our travel-together-repertoire. It gave me a huge education in northern BC terrain, history, and culture. And some lessons we learned from it will be very useful on our next big remote-explore camping trip - to Bella Coola!

To add to my highlight reel version of our trip along this route, I have pasted below a link to another website which goes into great detail (and with many helpful links to places and things) about the Great Northern Circle Route. They don't go to the Liard River hot springs (and we skipped Tumbler Ridge on this trip), but otherwise they cover the trip extremely well, and they even list a bunch of stuff about Prince George that I haven't yet shared. Feel free to check it out, we found it very helpful in planning our trip. Enjoy!

https://www.hellobc.com/road-trips/great-northern-circle-route/  

~

~ In Loving Memory of my Dad ~

~ Cheers! ~

~

As I gathered the photos for this post, I had a chance to reflect on all of the ground we have covered traveling in British Columbia over the past two years. I'm never complacent about all of the sights in this province, but they are everyday life for me now. I get to see the Fraser River daily, a thought I hadn't considered when studying elementary school geography textbooks. Funny how life goes - I now know exactly where the Fraser River begins (we've seen it!) and how it flows all the way down to Vancouver, passing directly through Prince George and the Cariboo Region on it's way to the ocean. 

Mike moved from Vancouver to the Cariboo in early adulthood, and has extensively traveled the area so he knows it inside and out, from current population, culture, and mapping to historical exploration trails, geological details, and the local gold rush in the 1860's. He's been everywhere man! And now he's taken me to so many of these places. Whether we go by car or take our little RV, we always have an adventure and learn things along the way.

Mountains too! I didn't know there were so many different types of mountains and mountain ranges. Thinking of BC before I had the picture in my mind of Vancouver and the mossy coastal mountains, or the snowy Rockies from my Banff trips, but in our travels I have seen the many terrains and rock types of this diverse province, from the glaciated rock of the Okanagan, up through the desert hills of the interior, the bush-y gold-bearing river-covered Cariboo, and all the way north to the Yukon and mountains with even more varied rock types and colours. I'll be sharing stories from all of our trips, from the bustling lower mainland to the off-grid north north, but let's start in the middle, at home here in the Cariboo-Prince George region. 

The very first road trip Mike took me on once we settled in from the move was to Barkerville. Barkerville is at the heart of the Cariboo Gold Rush, and is preserved in a living, working "pioneer village" town waaaayy off the beaten track southeast of Prince George. It is stunning! I have visited several pioneer villages in Ontario of course, but this is totally different. It is quite large, and very dense with buildings and preserved like it would have been in the 1860's, with so much historical value and information (we've since gone several times and I learn so many new things every visit). 

There are museum-style exhibits throughout, packed with gold mining facts and history, including a portion of the original town populated by the Chinese, who were also a large part of the gold rush.  Barkerville is staffed with theatrical folks who actually run the town, ie. blacksmith shop, several stores and hotels/B&Bs, gold-panning lesson area, and I must mention the bakery, which makes the best sourdough bread in the world, serves a traditional "miner's lunch," and sausage rolls that taste like they are straight out of an 1800's gourmet cookbook! I can already tell our Barkerville trips will end up needing their own whole blog post, and at this point I honestly wouldn't even blame you if you left this reading right now to click off to Barkerville.ca - it is SO COOL!

But if you're still with me LOL, I'll move on through our travels. After our first day trip to Barkerville and Wells, we went on our first long-weekend camping trip, north to Azouzetta Lake, through the Pine Pass to where the Rockies begin from the northwest. We don't fish, but we always camping-walk and explore, have fire-building wars, cook amazing stuff, play games, and do whatever adventuring the area offers. On this trip we enjoyed the lake as a home base, and did a day trip to Chetwynd (major chainsaw carving area!) and up to Hudson's Hope and the W.A.C. Bennett Dam.

As autumn set in, we put the trailer away and the Camaro away, and took to flying instead. We spent a weekend in Vancouver to meet Mike's sister and family, get a tour of their childhood area in West Vancouver, and take a ferry to Bowen Island. I had/have flown over that area so many times, and had been to Vancouver, North Vancouver, and even East Van before, but this personal tour was as heartwarming and scenic as it could possibly get. 

I cherish all of this and enjoy getting those perfect shots with Mike at every chance. Could be part of our "live each day to the fullest" thing.

Giant gold nugget pan in Quesnel

My first time panning for gold, in Likely

Mike in the Likely jail

We find all sorts of sassy photo ops!

And will climb into any mine

Or just goof around :-)

Okay back to the tripping. The camping season here runs from the start of May through to mid-September, which is about 18 weeks. In 2021 we were out by a campfire for more than 40 days through that time period, and we camped at all different spots - never the same one twice! We went to Hixon, Bear Lake, Whiskers, Likely (with day trips to Quesnel Forks and the Bullion Pit Mine), the Yukon loop (more on that later), Shuswap Lake, Barkerville/Lowhee, Valemount, Sowchea/Fort St. James, St. Maries, and 10 Mile Lake near Quesnel, with day trips to the Pinnacles plus gold-exploring in the Quesnel Canyon.  

Quesnel Forks

Our humble abode

McGregor

Sowchea, on Stuart Lake, at Fort St. James

Ghost Lake

Matthew River Falls

Off-roading on old tailings from gold mining

Kenney Dam

We harvest our own firewood too, just saying

We've taken a few trips south of the Cariboo as well, with Mike's son and family and friends to Shuswap for a week, for a work trip to Penticton, for the fun of driving on the Duffy Lake road, for an errand to Mission, and most recently to Osoyoos, wine country!

It was a bit smoky when we were at Shuswap

Salmon Arm

Seaton Lake, Lillooet area, you'll hear more about this later too

Near Mission BC, we stayed at the Sasquatch Inn

Chasm Provincial Park, near Clinton

Osoyoos

Fraser Canyon

Speaking of the Fraser Canyon, that kind of brings us full circle, back to the Fraser River and the route that goes along it from BC's northern capital all the way to the lower mainland. This year I've had the opportunity to drive up and down this route (hwy 97) a few times to varying distances for different events - a couple of times on my own even - so it has been a really great immersion into the landscape and culture. 

Hopefully our photos give you a glimpse of all of the water and terrain there is to be found here. We sure love it! 😁

Next stop - the Yukon loop story! 

~

Thought I'd share some links to more information about some of the interesting things I just touched on. If you'd like to read more about these places, here you go!

Fraser River

Alexander MacKenzie Heritage Trail

W.A.C. Bennett Dam

Bullion Pit Mine, Likely

Barkerville.ca

~

Over the last few days (months) I've been toying with how to title this particular blog - it could easily be "The Evolution of the Journey I Didn't Plan to Take... Ex-Motherhood, Melanoma, and still no Maserati" LOL  but I'll go with the move to BC header. :-) 

I do recall earlier this year promising to blog more - a promise to myself as much as anything - and here we are, a bit late but it is still 2022 after all. A health update from that same promising blog - I am happy to report that since hysterectomy and (occasionally reluctantly) increasing my iron intake, I have been determined no longer anemic! Cool! My hemoglobin is higher that it has been since my late twenties, and that feels like a really neat medical success. 

On the "Ex-"Motherhood front, as I've mentioned before, the girls are all grown up, living together in the GTA, both have graduated their college programs and are working toward apprenticeships in each of their fields. They finished high school the spring that covid took over our lives, and then they worked, bravely moved out on their own, completed college programs (one by online education and one travelled via the TTC every day - eeek) and found their next-step jobs all in a little over a year, and during the height of covid 2020-2021. 

For years Claire and Cass were by my side for awareness events and opportunities when we would share our story about how I was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, and how it went from there for our family. Especially with Save Your Skin, we did many video and print advocacy pieces, often making the trip from Meaford to Toronto to meet with journalists and crews, SYSF staff, the La Roche-Posay team - anyone who would listen, really! - to raise the profile of skin cancer and the importance of early detection. The three of us were a melanoma-awareness-posse! And we had some great media hits in addition to my guest blogging for HuffPost, Her Magazine, Yahoo Canada, and others.

A few years ago I posted about finding this group called Save Your Skin Foundation (SYSF), founded by BC-based melanoma survivor Kathy Barnard, and all about how Kathy and the SYSF team helped me through my cancer experience.  (Click here for a quick re-cap: "Queen's Park Yesterday")

Since that time I volunteer-blogged for SYSF, and was a Spokeperson for them at Ontario events and then nationally, until I felt well enough to go back to work, knowing I needed to do something meaningful with my career and help others the way SYSF had helped me. I badgered Kathy into hiring me part-time as a Project Coordinator, and off we went! 

I tested the employment waters for about eight months, got my legs back under me, and then moved into a full-on Director role in which I have been working for the past five years. As you know, that didn't leave me much time to write on my blog - but it's okay - I was able to pour all of my creativity and combined professional skills into my work at Save Your Skin, and I love it. Love working in this field, though stressful at times, I am proud of what we do, and I endlessly appreciate my mentor and friend, Kathy.  

Recently we were both interviewed for a joint article for AIM at Melanoma in the States, and this write-up took me right back to how I felt about Kathy and SYSF six years ago, and it is still how I feel today:

From Survivors to Advocates: Two Leaders are Pushing for Progress in Canada and Around the World

It is true that the Oncologists on our team joke with Kathy and I about how they help save melanoma patients and then Kathy hires them.  Kathy saved me - then she saved my career, and then she saved my love life LOL!  (More on that later - as I mentioned, Mike is a melanoma survivor and he has long been a Spokesperson for SYSF, and that is how we first met and became friends years ago. 😊 )

In the last five years, along with the Team and Board and Medical Advisory Board at Save Your Skin, I have supported the Foundation's work by:

• facilitating 14 educational webinars on melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancers, and ocular melanoma 
• hosting two fund raising Galas in Toronto, and one virtual one (since covid)
• attending the Canadian Melanoma Conference in Banff three times
• traveling around the world to attend conferences such as the Society for Melanoma Research Congress, European Post-ASCO Melanoma/Skin Cancer Meeting, CureOM Science Meetings and Patient Symposiums, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, European Society of Medical Oncology, and many more - next post is all about these! (Travel to all the conferences helps us learn all the latest news in skin cancer and advocate for the best treatments to come to Canada)
• representing SYSF and working with many Canadian and international groups to endorse and support work in the field of melanoma skin cancer research and support, including being on the cover of the newest National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) Patient Guide for Melanoma. True story:

• writing content and guiding awareness and support initiatives in all aspects for the SYSF community across Canada - annual Melanoma Awareness Month, Cancer Survivor Day, press releases, city proclamations, media opportunities, development and publishing of video productions, educational materials, blogs, newsletters, countless patient/caregiver meetings and roundtables, the list goes on...

Giving Hope Gala

<--- oh and there's Mike! :-)

           ( and you might recognize this guy... --->  )

Conferences and Roundtables

And some random shots from over the years at the Cdn. Melanoma Conference at the Banff Springs Hotel:

Save Your Skin Foundation (SYSF) is a patient-led organization dedicated to the fight against non-melanoma skin cancers, melanoma, and ocular melanoma through education, advocacy, and awareness initiatives across Canada. SYSF provides a community of oncology patient and caregiver support throughout the entire continuum of care, from prevention and diagnosis to survivorship.

A few weeks ago I had major surgery - unrelated to cancer, not to worry - and I can't help but notice how the whole experience took me right back to 2014 when I got a diagnosis of advanced melanoma. If you know me from those days you will remember my tales of traumatic surgeries, bizarre post-op procedures, life-saving immunotherapy treatments, and all that goes along with. 

It is a head space that a cancer patient may endure for all or part of their journey, or they may go in and out of it as the situation strikes - our "Cancer Companion" as my therapist called it. When your Cancer Companion taps you on the shoulder, you may need to sit with them for a while, work through it, maybe hear them out, maybe tell them to piss off, but they will choose when they may leave again or come back. Might as well keep the kettle on the back burner as you never know when they could drop in for tea.  

My cancer companion has found me here in my new home in northern British Columbia, where for the last few months I prepared to have a full abdominal hysterectomy.  One benefit of regular CT scans for surveillance of melanoma (I have been N.E.D. for six years but will be monitored for life to check for recurrence) is that things can show up that one may not have know about otherwise.  I have had some trouble with my "lady plumbing" for a couple of years now, nothing too crazy, or concerning enough to look into - I kind of assumed it was just related to peri-menopause. My Mom seems to get a particular chuckle out of telling me that I am "at about that age." Thanks Ma LOL

But when my new GP reported that I have lots of fibroids in my uterus, and we cross-referenced that with my ongoing situation of low iron/hemoglobin which has led to anemia, it seemed like the time had come to investigate further. I had been having some new tummy pains on top of the monthly aggravation, and some early steps to helping the anemia did give me more energy, so I agreed to a consult with a Gynecologist.  45 seems like a good time for a tune-up, right? 

I'll spare you the gory details, but the Gyno did her exams and biopsies, and gave me a thorough and much-appreciated presentation on my options for remedying a fibroid uterus.  Given all my variables a full hysterectomy sounded like the right option. 

So I signed the consent forms, remembering all the paperwork I filled out to take part in the clinical trial at Sunnybrook in 2014, and sat back to relax until my year-long wait for a surgery date would come to fruition (thanks covid, for the extra delays in our health care system).  On my way out of her office, the Gyno commented that if I was to end up in the hospital or have a blood transfusion to let her know, as that could shorten my surgery wait time.  

Weird, I thought... why would I have to have a blood transfusion?   And went on with my day. 

Fast-forward a month from that time, to a night in early November. I was having a particularly tough time with my "cycle," and was taking a new-to-me drug from the Gyno to help with that. Apparently weird reactions or allergies to random drugs runs on my Mom's side of the family, and I ended up in the emergency room at 3am with the most severe abdominal cramping I have ever experienced. Like - worse than be in labour with and give birth to TWINS bad.  

Poor Mike - my loving partner and reason I moved here to Prince George - not an ideal time to introduce you to this fabulous man, but I digress... Mike sped me to emerg (he happens to be an epic race car driver, actually) and advocated for me when I was unable to speak (Mike is also a melanoma survivor - he takes no guff!). 

An hour or so in, bloodwork assessed, morphine running through veins, x-rays inconclusive, I was able to speak to the doctor while we waited for an emergency CT scan. She said my hemoglobin was dangerously low (hhmmm where had I heard that before..?) and she wanted to give me a unit of blood while we wait to see if I would need some sort of surgery or procedure to deal with this mystery lower-abdominal pain.  

A blood transfusion? Must admit, that freaked me out. Not only did I feel that those are only for people in accidents or emergency situations, I was a bit weirded out by the thought of having someone else's blood given to me.  If you recall, I have always been a supporter of blood donation and always wanted to give it - but it never occurred to me that I would ever be on the receiving end. 

I'm happy to report that they were very careful about the procedure for this, testing my blood again for some sort of matching criteria, blood type etc., and then giving me a special green band with a code to match the labels on the pint that would arrive soon as my new gift. I was nervous but grateful. 

One result of this however, was a phone call to my Gyno to let her know I had had to have a blood transfusion, and a subsequent iron infusion, so.... poof that got me on the emergency surgery list and I was scheduled for mid-December.  *gulp*  Surgery, full on. The goal of this hysterectomy is to get rid of the fibroid uterus, and with it any chance of random crazy pains, but also to stop the extreme monthly loss of hemoglobin and give my body a chance to fix the anemia.  

So here I sit, 3.5 weeks post-op, comfortably tucked in and recovering well in the grand scheme, pampered by Dr. Mike. Can't help but have some mega deja vu though, after a major surgery with all that time to stare at the ceiling between pain-med-induced naps I couldn't help but remember all that I/we went through years ago.  And I have the exact same feeling of that in-between and frustrating phase of starting to feel better but still not being quite up to snuff... no driving, reduced work capacity, etc. This surgery requires a full eight weeks recovery, no heavy lifting and all that stuff.  No snow shoveling either - bad timing with this PG winter! 

While I rest and recover, figure out some adjustments in my career (more on that later), and reflect on "life after cancer" I find myself here, blogging.  Hello old friend!  If you only knew how much credit you deserve for getting me through 2014-2016 wowww... you are amazing. I think of you all the time but never give us time to spend together. Well guess what - 2022 is our year. :-)  

Might have to re-name this blog to "Menopause, Melanoma, and making it to my Maserati"  haha!  But we shall see... and of course I'll keep you posted.  My desire to share (bitch about) medical experiences is never far from the surface, and of course has served as a perfect segue back into writing here on my blog.  Thanks for reading! (apparently I have not lost my long-windedness)

And thank you to my gorgeous grown-up girls who have been a huge support from a distance.  It was weird for us to be so far apart during this recent hospital event, when they were so entwined in the past. But they are excelling at their exciting Toronto lives, and we are always connected by skype (yes, people still use that), TikTok, and bank account haha.  They connected with Mike too - I suspect they warned him of my post-surgery whiny-ness and consoled him by text, though he is a champ caregiver and claims I was angelic and wonderful. Ahh love... 😇 😍  Thank you Mike 💖

Hi - if the other day you received a weird email containing one of my old blog posts from 2016 I just want to say sorry about that!  You weren't hacked, I wasn't hacked, my health is okay (that was an old post from the glory days - ugh) and all is well.  

I did spend some time that day updating my desperately outdated blog, but I didn't get a chance to post anything new other than the content down the right hand side.  That activity must have generated a system email from Blogger - or maybe it was my writer's conscience giving me a subliminal message to get busy writing on here again! 

I will do, as there is much to update on, though (thankfully) the updates have less to do with my melanoma and thyroid cancers than they do with life in general.  Hard to summarize the last two+ years in one blog post so I'll just start with this:

Thank you to everyone who contacted me about the email, I appreciate your caring, as always. xoxo

More updates coming soon. 

Stay safe during this crazy time 💝

SYSF Teams up with La Roche-Posay at OneWalk Toronto 2018

 

 Oh yes, here we are with Toronto Mayor John Tory

 Team LRP at the Finish!!