So.....what exactly do I write 10 hours before my wife's biggest surgery ever...we're lying 'together' in her room....as you can see in the picture, she gets a nice adjustable bed with an air mattress, while I get a beautiful sponge in the corner...she is reading her Karen Kingsbury book...and I was going to listen to a Ravi Zacharias Podcast, but then I found out we had wireless internet, so I thought I'd blog here instead. Ramona is amazingly peaceful. She used to fear the surgery as almost a deathlike thing, but now, waiting here she is just relaxing.















This is the stain on the ceiling about Ramona's bed













This is the clock in front of her bed





Here is a picture of us....anyway, the nurse told us the Mony needs to be up to take a shower at 6 a.m....then i guess she waits until 7:30 when they take her to the O.R. after that....we wait...the little, helping, assistant surgeon doctor talked to us before and said the surgery may take up to 10 hours...so I guess everything is approximate until the surgeons get in. Thank you to everyone who is commited to praying tomorrow.

Hey I finally figured this computer out. We got into the Mt. Sinai Hospital just before 1 this afternoon. Ramona has her own private room. This is a pretty good deal. Somebody (without us asking) decided to give her a $320 private room (per night) at no cost. The surgery itself will be at 8 a.m. tomorrow. Dr. Ferguson just got out of the O.R. and should be up here any time to come chat with us. We will know alot more after we talk to him. For now, they need to do a chest X-ray today, other than that, they have done the blood work and the IV will only be put in just before surgery tomorrow morning. Since it is a private room, I can spend the nights here with Ramona, and the family can spend as much time in the hospital as they want. The lounge on our floor here is very nice, it has about 4 leather couches and this computer that I'm sitting at. We feel pretty blessed. Ramona's first nurse here is also incredibly nice. It feels like the calm before the storm. The nurse just came to ask Ramona's weight so she could order a nicer bed for her. This is because they don't expect Ramona to be able to move well right after surgery. Once again, once we talk to the doctor we'll have a better idea. I don't think we really have an idea what the next few days will be like. Ramona's family is all in the hospital, we'll probably hang out here for a bit and then head out for supper later. I hope Ramona can write sometime shortly but for now I just wanted to update all you prayer warriors out there. For now, Earl

This is just a quick note to all of you who are wondering what is going on in our lives....
I'm doing quite well-I still need my sleep but otherwise I'm feeling good. Earl & I are spending quite a lot of our time hanging out with our friends and families.
My entire family is flying with Earl & I on Saturday, the 21st. We leave Winnipeg at 9:00 am. On Sunday I am admitted to the hospital at 1:00 pm and on Monday is my surgery. They've scheduled me in for 7 1/2 hours.
Yes I'm looking forward to getting my tumors removed, no I'm not looking forward to surgery. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about surgery. I find people ask me about it more than I think about it. I guess it's easier for me to not dwell on the future too much, especially if it holds things that are scary.
Enjoy your evenings
Ramona

Surgery Date

Just a quick note that I just listened to the messages on our answering machine and found out that surgery is being planned for April 23rd. I will need to be admitted on the 22nd to the Mount Sinai Hospital. I'm glad to finally have a date and yet wish it was even sooner. As Earl & I were discussing it we both realized again that God is in control and if He wanted me to have surgery sooner, He would have orchestrated it that way. Knowing that, we've just got to wait.
-Ramona

Home

We're home!! It's amazing to be able to be home and sleep in our comfy bed and hang out with our family and friends.
Our flight home the other day went moderately well. There was a bit of turbulence towards the end, but because Earl & I had flown numerous times, we weren't really worried. When we got off the plane there was a huge crowd of people there to welcome us. It was absolutely amazing. It was really special to know that everyone had come out simply to show us that they cared. The dynamics were neat-our immediate families, my extended family from Steinbach, university friends, friends from Earl's former church, friends from home, uncles & aunts & grandma from home and all the other people that don't fit in any of these categories. I hugged a lot of people and a lot of people I didn't. Whatever the case, each and every one of you that came out-THANK YOU.
Yesterday & today were spent unpacking and trying to get back into life back home. I still don't have the energy back that I had before radiation. It's a little frustrating as I want to do a bunch of things but don't quite have the energy for it. Oh well, I've just got to be patient.

For now,
Ramona

Ramona and I just got back from the hospital...it feels like it's been quite a day already...anyway, Ramona wanted me to blog...she's pretty (meaning extremely) tired and just resting on the couch here for a bit...she wanted me to make the blog sound optimistic...which in reality we got some really optimistic news...Dr. Ferguson (the surgeon who will remove the armpit and hip tumors) chatted with us this morning after he had reviewed these latest MRI's....the armpit tumor has shrunk significantly...he said that on the MRI he could see 'residue' of the tumor...and when he physically tried to feel it...he could barely find it...the big concern was that the tumor was affecting the nerves and blood vessels in the area too much....making surgery incredibly difficult...with the good response the auxilla tumor had to radiation, Dr. Ferguson is now more optimistic about that surgery...it looks good enough at this point that they can do the armpit and the hip in one surgery...speaking of which, the hip tumor didn't significantly respond to radiation...which is okay...the armpit was the bigger concern...Dr. Ferguson confirmed that they would have to remove part of the hip bone during that surgery...they are not sure if there is cancer in that bone...but there is no point in taking chances...as far as the lungs are concerned...we will need to wait and see a little bit...Dr. Ferguson hinted that it might be possible to just do surgery without chemo...and do the lung surgery a week or two after the other ones...we're not really setting our hopes there at this point...I can't remember the lung surgeon's name...but Dr. Ferguson will talk to him about the timing and the steps that need to be taken there...I guess you could say that Ramona and I are both in pretty contemplative moods...while in the hospital after hearing all this stuff we waited long enough for the doctors to leave the room before we were hugging......but for some reason I appreciate Ramona as a visionary person...and I've noticed this from other times when we received good news...she almost immediately sets her mind on the next step...and doesn't neccesarily get caught up in the giggly excitement of the moment...i love her alot......i think i'm going to maybe quit writing now and help her pack...the limo (which apparently costs the same as a taxi) will be here in one hour and eighteen minutes...cheers...earl

Joanna and I are sitting around waiting for Ramona to finish talking to her mom...so we can start watching a movie...anyway...we thought it would be important to post the pictures of the California Rolls (sushi) we made......anyway...Ramona is off the phone now...and she wants to tell you about her MRI experience....i'll pass the computer to her...my MRI wasn't fun. I haven't been feeling that great the last few days and I knew that my last armpit MRI was pretty rough so I was hoping to get sedated. (On the form I have to fill out every time they have that as an option.) When I told the receptionist that I wanted to be sedated she said that they didnt' do it and that if I wanted that, I'd need to bring my own drugs. I didn't have much choice but to tough it out. It was frustrating cause it took longer than any other MRI I've had. They injected me with contrast which was something I haven't had for an MRI before. The needle hurt and their empathy annoyed me. They were trying to be nice and comforting but I felt like they really had no idea how it felt. It was one of those moments where I wished I could work in a hospital again just cause I've experienced so much medical stuff. I feel like I have an idea what patients are going to. Well, the MRI is over and the rest of me is also feeling a lot better than I have the last few days.
Even though the MRI wasn't that fun and tears were streaming down my face, thank you for your prayers. Maybe it doesn't seem like they did much but while I was lying there I reminded myself that my mom, Earl and another friend were praying for me during that time. Thanks for praying and yeah tomorrow's the big day when we talk to the surgeon.
-Ramona

It's finished! Appointments went well-all were on time or early. Ready to relax.

This is the machine, room and people (really they treated me very well, but you know what I mean) that I never want to see again!!!

One day left

Radiation ends tomorrow!!!!
I'm definitely very excited. Originally I was supposed to finish next week but the radiation technicians realized that I was eager to go home and so they arranged my schedule that I'm getting treatments twice a day. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I have to stay here til next week anyway as I have appointments until Tuesday. There are a few technicians who are really compassionate- I really appreciate that. It makes such a difference when you can tell that they actually care. So yeah here's the schedule for the next few days. I had radiation twice today and twice tomorrow and then I'm done! Tomorrow will be kind of crazy as I need to be at the hospital at 7:45 a.m. I'll have my treatment and hopefully come home to sleep for a few hours. (Sometimes I think I could sleep all day and still be tired) I have an MRI of my hip at 12:45 and then my last radiation appointment at 3:00. Monday I have an MRI of my arm at 8:45. These MRI's are going to show the doctors what radiation has done. Obviously I pray that it's had dramatic results. Tuesday morning at 10:00 I meet with my surgeon and he gives the results of the MRI's. Hopefully we keep talking surgery and he tells me when those dates are. Our flight leaves at 7:45 and we arrive at 9:20. (That's if I don't convince Earl to try and fly stand-by)
Today is one of those days where I catch myself staring off into space thinking and being pretty emotional. I met with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Catton, after my first radiation appointment today. He's amazed that my skin is doing so well. He expected that it would be peeling and super sore but I seldom think of anything except that it's more red. However, he also talked about my lung tumor. He confirmed what the surgeon, Dr. Ferguson, said a few weeks ago. He added a few more details. He said there was only one tumor and that this tumor WAS there when I was told that they were all gone. The tumor that is there now is just larger than it was in December and is obviously growing. Somehow for me it's a little comforting cause I think I'd rather have it be just a larger version of what I had before as opposed to something new. It's frustrating though, when you are led to believe so many different things. I feel like I can never completely believe or trust the doctors cause things always change. He also confirmed the need to remove the hip and armpit tumor before tackling the lungs. He mentioned the word chemo. It's not the first time that that word's been mentioned in the last few weeks. No, there's no guarantees that I will have chemo but that is definitely a possibility. I know that my heart muscle was weakened from the chemo I had previously but I'm still barely in the 'safe zone' . Somehow thinking about having to do chemo again makes me think a lot. I think about loosing my hair again now when it's finally starting to grow, I think about having to be back in the hospital, feeling like I'm in prison, I think about feeling weak and sick and not being able to enjoy the summer like I've been looking forward too. I want to go camping with my families this summer since we couldn't last year cause I was in the hospital. I want to enjoy my garden- everything dried up last year with no one to water it. I long to have weiner roasts and barbeques and mow the lawn and go for walks, etc. etc. I feel like last summer was stolen from me and I really don't want to have to give up another one. Oh I know all the good sayings that say that two summers is nothing in comparision to enjoying all the summers after that. I know all that, but there are no guarantees that I will enjoy another summer to the extent that I long too. Again, no one has that guarantee.
Just so that it's clear and no one starts thinking that I'm having chemo-At this point there is no chemo in my horizon but I'm musing the obvious possibility.
The bright spot in my day was when I was walking down the steps, out the door to my second radiation appointment. A huge care package was sitting on the steps as well as a card from my grandparents in Phoenix. I excitedly opened the package on the way to the hospital. Wow-I feel so blessed. The carepackage was from many different members from our church. All the notes, the popcorn, the hot chocolate, the gum and all the chocolate and all the other things in there are really special. It's amazing to feel cared for. To all of you who contributed- a huge thank you. Whoever came up with this fabulous idea-thanks so much.

Last Sunday I felt like pouring out my thoughts but was too shy to publish them. Somehow they're still in my mind so here they are today.

Sunday's blog:
Right now I'm sitting on the couch watching Dayna, Joanna & Earl play "Crazy Eights". I'm tired from a day of radiation and sightseeing so instead I'll try to blog. Like we already mentioned, Earl & I and Joanna, went to a different church than we had ever been before. It was definitely an inspiring service. I've really struggled with being able to praise God inspite of having cancer. On Sunday I was once again really not feeling like singing Praise & Worship songs when my heart and soul were definitely not wanting to praise God. It's hard for me to say that "God is good". The preacher was talking about God being good and in my heart I was totally disagreeing. Getting cancer doesn't exactly seem like a good thing. I know a bunch of you who are reading this might think, "Oh, but such good things are happening because of it." That may well be true, and I'm really thankful for that,but no matter if everyone in the world was brought closer to God because of this, I still don't think that I would be thankful that I had cancer. I'd still probably wonder why it had to be me. Cancer sucks, it's horrible. The emotional and mental turmoil is so overwhelming sometimes.It is my heart's desire that God uses this horrible thing for something beautiful-I know He is and I know that He will. However, knowing that doesn't take away my desire to be healthy and not have this cloud over my head.After church Earl & I had a good chat about God's goodness and that I need to remember God's sacrifice. Not only can I have Jesus be a part of my life, I can know that my life has purpose, that Someone is in control. There is a reason that I'm going through this. God uses every experience in our life for our good, if only we allow Him too. Earl made a comment something to the effect that someone in hell would probably give anything to be able to have a sarcoma on earth instead of being in hell. It's true-God is good in that in spite of allowing cancer He saved me from eternally dying in hell. Really God is super, super good. Way too often I forget the incredible sacrifice He made for me.

Well these are the thoughts of Ramona today.
By the way, I'm really dreading the MRI on Monday. Last time I had an arm one was pretty traumatic. I'd really appreciate your prayers. And those of you who are praying for restful nights, I really appreciate that. I haven't been able to fall asleep as well as I used to. Thanks.

-Ramona

We have a few minutes before we need to head out to Ramona's appointment, so I thought I'd post a few pictures. All the deep thoughts/questions/confustion/excitement I'll save for later.

We had a lot of fun with Dayna while she was out here. I'm not sure what kinds of martial arts they're involved in.


This is my wallet. Maybe not significant to you, but it is to me. It was lost for a week. A few days ago (after the snow melted) I saw it right outside our front doors. It was nice to have all my cancelled credit cards back.










This is Kensington Market. Just west of Spadina Avenue. Close to China town. Anyway, it feels and smells much like Haiti. We really enjoyed hanging around there with Dayna.






The end...we're heading to Princess Margaret.

We spent the day at the Niagara Falls. Here's just a few pictures before we head to bed. We're going to the Willowdale Pentecostal Church tomorrow. We heard their pastor during the week and we were incredibly encouraged by his wisdom and passion.
-Earl and Ramona
Mony in the stocks at Ripley's Believe-it-or-not













The Falls are very frightening (and also disappointing when all you see is fog)

I realize we haven't posted anything for the last few days. My parents were out here and we were hanging out with them and going to Missionfest out here and stuff like that instead of writing, but we still often check it. Caring people are always encouraging. I was looking for recent pictures of us and this is what I found on our computer. This is Ramona and I having twin day. We figured this is the most we would ever look alike with our identical haircuts and everything so we were fooling around with our new web cam for a while trying to capture the moment. We were both wearing black pants to match our old BCBC shirts but unfortunately we didn't think to back away from the camera. Oh and as I'm seeing this we were trying to get a picture of how our tongues are different. Mony's is pointy, mine is fat...I kept paging through the pictures and I was taken back to different times in the last year...the range of emotions is huge...I saw pictures from the first few weeks after diagnosis...those were incredibly scary times and yet filled with all sorts of prayer times and talk of purpose and healing and how God would be doing all sorts of amazing things...the picture of the hockey tournament is an incredible show of support...and I also realize how easy it is to forget some of the good things and horrible ones (like chemo)...as I went further into the archives I found the last picture. That is a picture of us on our honeymoon. That feels like a lifetime ago. We spent so much time walking around the slums of Hait, visiting the orphanage Mony had previously
volunteered at, playing soccer with kids. And we were dreaming...alot, talking about where we would go and what we would do. I'm not gonna lie to you, we never mentioned Toronto other than maybe it would be a layover to somewhere else.....................I'm sitting here not sure where to go with this thought and I'm tempted to erase this whole thing...but I've been challenged by Mony in the last little while. There are many times in the last many months where things have frustrated us incredibly, and things have been especially tough on Mony for varieties of obvious reasons and she'll be at the point of tears, and it's at that point where I decide that we should pray together to make everything better...it doesn't work that way...i have treated prayer as a band-aid...I'm not going to preach a sermon...only, I've been confronted on the fact that I often pray out of tradition or feeling that if we pray then Mony will be happy or pretend she's happy and then we can forget.......as I'm thinking about this you can't see all the minutes between each sentence...I'm only beginning to understand those verses in the book of James about trials perfecting our faith...in enduring trials anything that isn't....real....is useless and becomes much more harmful to relationships.


p.s. one little story I forgot about. How God Provides. Many of the attenders of the Morweena EMC church will remember a little story from my second year of university. While I was brushing my teeth one morning my tooth brush fell into the toilet...not a big deal...it happens to every one I'm sure...but...I still needed a new toothbrush...sure enough the next day I got a care package from the Friendship Circle group in our church...and wouldn't you know...and new toothbrush...I was happy....the significance of this story had been lost until today...yesterday...while putting on my deodorant it must have caught on my bushy armpit hair and the whole big inside white part of my deodorant fell into the toilet...not a big deal, I'm sure that happens to everyone....but when I got home from breakfast with my dad there was a care package on the table with a new can of Axe...thanks Lyn and Vi...bet you didn't know just how timely of a provision that would be.




-Earl

Thank you

I just wanted to thank all of you for the phone calls, emails and comments on the blog. It is once again amazing how many prayers are going upward on our behalf. It's been really encouraging for me to sense that Earl & I are not at all in this alone-we have a huge Christian community backing us up.
Earl & I have both for the most part experienced a lot of peace today. Thanks for your prayers.
-Ramona

Today was one of those days that I long never to repeat. We found out that the tumors are back in my lungs. I had an appointment with Dr. Ferguson, my surgeon, this morning and asked him a bunch of questions. He looked over the CT that I had taken on the 15th of February. He confirmed what we already suspected-there is a tumor on my right lung and a few smaller ones. In reality this doesn't really change anything medically. I will still continue with my radiation. I have 3 weeks left. After that they will do MRIs to see how my hip and armpit tumor have responded to the radiation. I'll go home for approx. 6 weeks and then come back for my armpit and hip surgery. Dr. Ferguson also confirmed that these surgeries are both quite intense and will probably require some bone being removed. Only after these surgeries are done can we even consider doing anything with my lungs. It's pointless to deal with the 'little tumors' when the 'big tumors' are causing the lung tumors. I really have no idea what will keep going on in my lungs-there is still hope that surgery could be done there as well.
It's frustrating when I realize that time is so important. If I had come to Toronto sooner and had my surgery sooner, maybe I wouldn't have any tumors in my lungs. It's hard to be positive when I have chest pain and have shortness of breath and know that there is something inside of me killing me and there is absolutely nothing I can do about that except pray and try to cling to hope.
Last night I spent a lot of time on a sarcoma site on the internet. There were a lot of stories from others who also have sarcoma. It was interesting how many of them were Christians. It was also terrifying as I read story after story of people with different kinds of sarcomas or even the same kind I have, synovial sarcoma ,who were fighting desperately. Many of them had part of them amputated and others had their sarcoma returning. There were very few who had success stories. I realized once again the seriousness of my disease.
The last few days I've spent a lot of time dwelling on what it really means to live. I think about what my life is all about and if I've accomplished the purpose for why I was created. I think about how to really live when I am constantly faced with death. I realize that having death staring me in the face forces me to think thoughts that many don't until they're older. Have I done with my life what God intended? What am I doing now that is bringing glory to God? How many people have I influenced for Christ?
I don't want to have to think these thoughts. There are thousands of dreams that I still have. Thousands of things I want to pursue and tell people. And yet how can I do that realizing that I might not have years left? And yet no one has that guarantee. Really my life is no different than anyone else's. No one knows if they'll live tomorrow or get to do all the things that they desire. I guess my challenge through this all is to live life to the fullest. Pursue the things that are important now, before you can't.

My heart is so full tonight. I'm clinging to the hope that God is the Healer, God is a God of Miracles. My life is in His hands. I long to be healed and have my life make a difference. Maybe this is my plea to everyone out there who can dream, who are healthy, to all the people that I am a little jealous of-make your life count.

I apologize if this blog comes out preachy. With tears streaming down my face I've written down my heart.

Oh and to all of you who are praying for the pain in my arm to not be as bad while I'm having radiation-I'd just like to let you know that it is a lot better than it was in the beginning. My arm is almost used to it.
Thank you
Ramona

Hey everyone. It's been one of those not-so-fun kinds of days. The CT shows that there is "something" in Ramona's lungs. The doctor said, "Don't worry, Don't worry, Don't worry" and such type things but it's hard when we let ourselves believe Ramona's lungs were actually clear. He also said it might only be scar tissue in the lungs. The day was spent adjusting our minds to that concept and trying to round up information to send to Mayo. Just wanted to keep prayer warriors in the loop. Thanks.

PS Information like this is pretty vague. We are trying to figure out what is actually going on. As far as medical information is concerned we'll try writing a long detailed blog later. Good night

Feb. 19

Hey ya'll. I've been trying to post more pictures but it hasn't worked so I'll keep this blog short until I can figure this out. Ramona's parents are living with us here right now. They came Saturday morning and will be flying out tomorrow. It's really nice to have them here. In fact as I'm sitting here everyone is in the kitchen making brunch. Ramona is feeling okay I guess. She feels tired, like they predicted. At this point there is no visible sun burn from the radiation. The radiation schedule is as follows
Mon.: 3:45 p.m. Radiation

Tues.: Ramona's parents fly home in morning. 3:45 p.m. Radiation

Wed.: Radiation 9:15 a.m. Meet with Dr. Catton, hopefully he will know if the recent CT Scan shows Ramona's lungs are clear

Thurs. Radiation 8:15 a.m. Kevin and Karlene arrive in the evening
Fri. Radiation 3:00 p.m.

That's the schedule for this week. Ramona is given her radiation schedule 10 days in advance.
In other news, it's been amazing for us how transportation for us is being provided. We have often taken the Transit system, but everyone one here at AIM was going to make a schedule so that they could take us instead of having to be jerked around on the Subway. Then we also heard that someone wanted to let us use her car. So she'll be here tomorrow to drop off her car. We feel people rallying around us here in Toronto too. A big thankyou.

Yesterday we went to the People's Church. It was ironic for us that in this giant city that Joanna and Sam and Bonnie here at AIM happened to go to the same church......oh end of story...brunch is ready...

For now,
Earl and Ramona

Pictures

Luckily for me I'm not intimidated by all you people out there who actually spend time on with your computers learning how to make things look good. Anyway, as Ramona is sleeping and I'm...well...whatever...I thought I'd post a few pictures. This is Jason taking a few shots at the Hockey Hall of Fame. From his shooting it became apparent I should have learned him a few more things when he was still young and teachable. Anyway...all this to say we had a lot of fun hanging out with Jay and Lisa the first few days here.




This is Lisa recreating a pose from when she was 1 year old (in CN Tower). For family historical reference see my mom's Creative Memories books.







Completely changing the topic, this is the lamp in our bedroom in the Princess Margaret Hospital Lodge. There were other factors that kept us from staying there but this was a large one. And by the way, We really like staying in the AIM guest house. We appreciate them figuring out rides for us, and it is very nice to be around people we sort of know and are getting to know better all the time.



On the subway Mony once tried to sleep. Who would have thought that a camera flash would wake her up.

The CT scan is done today and for the first time we're actually sitting down and wondering what to do and what we would like to be doing when medical things aren't happening.

Radiation begins

For those of you who fear that we may have fallen off the face of the earth....the answer is no, we are quite safely in Toronto. We did not have internet connection for a few days and so that is why it has taken awhile to blog.
We flew in to Toronto Sunday morning and were picked up at the airport by Sam & Bonnie Thomas who are working for Africa Inland Mission, the same building that our apartment is on top of.
Monday morning Earl's brother and sister flew in so the last few days have been filled with lots of touristy things. We 'climbed' the CN tower, went to the Hockey Hall of Fame, Earl & Jay went to a Leafs game, etc.
I don't know how to describe radiation. On Monday I had a trial setup just to make sure that everything was measured correctly etc. I thought that this would take maybe 15-30 minutes. I was in there for about an hour and a half. There was a bit of confusion and minor problems that I don't really understand cause I don't understand their lingo. Anyway everything worked out okay in the end. Yesterday the real radiation began. It took about 50 minutes. I am getting radiation in two spots so that's why it takes so long. Radiation in and of itself is not painful. I can't feel anything different. The only way I know that it's happening is cause everyone goes out of the room and this big arm circles my body stopping at certain angles makinga buzzing sound. However, I have to put my arm above my head in a very awkward position while doing radiation. This might not sound too bad but I have to hold it there for 25ish minutes. It ends up falling asleep and still I'm not allowed to move it. I have to admit this hurts incredibly much. When I finally am allowed to move it, it is pretty floppy. That is the hardest part of radiation.
Right now I am waiting for Earl to get back from the airport as he brought Jay & Lisa there. Radiation begins again at 3:45. Tomorrow I'm going for a CT scan as well. We're hoping that it will clarify that the lungs are clear.
Thanks for your prayers
Ramona

I just read our last post and was excited to find out that we were in Toronto a week ago. Wow, it feels like a bit of a blur. Anyway, since that last post radiation has been scheduled to begin on Monday, February 12. Or, I guess, Ramona has a pre-radiation appointment on the 12th and radiation technically begins on the 13th. Our flight leaves Winnipeg at 7:50 a.m. February 11th. We will be staying in an apartment located in Scarborough in the Africa Inland Mission Head Office. We are incredibly thankful that that is working out. Ramona spends some time looking for places to volunteer when we're out there. True to my nature, I'll begin looking for something any day now. We're pretty excited that my brother Jay and sister Lisa are coming to hang out with us shortly after we get there. Ramona hasn't been feeling incredibly healthy in the last couple of days, and we always wonder if that means something. It's hard not to worry. Mildly changing the subject, Missionfest in Winnipeg was incredibly encouraging. Singing with 1700 ish people and listening to Steve Saint and chatting with friends was awesome.
I guess these are merely facts for now. When we're sitting around picking our noses and wondering what to do (apparently, i'm told, thats disturbing) we'll write stories.
-Earl and Ramona

Toronto Again

We're back in Toronto. It was a fairly uneventful day of travelling. The flight slightly behind schedule. We used our subway tokens from last trip. We walked a little way to get to the Princess Margaret Hospital Lodge. It is cold. I think it's a bad sign that I want to go back to Winnipeg for the nice weather. Anyway, we've been curious for a while what the PMH Lodge would be like. The picture I posted the other day was correct. That is the Lodge. So you know what the outside looks like. We had to buzz the front door to let us in. We walked to the security desk since there was no one at the reception desk. The security guard made us wait for the nurses. The nurse came and asked Mony many medical questions and showed us around the place. It feels very much like a personal care home here. We had to sign out of here to go have Gyros on the harbourfront with Joanna. So we have our two single beds in our little room here. Which is probably better anyway, since the nurse will be checking up on us. I realize how grateful I am that Mony is feeling well enough that after traveling and everything we can be out in the city until 11:30. We're a little tempted to mock the hospital feel of our 'hotel', but incredibly thankful that Mony doesn't need daily nurse care now. Speaking of which, a concern we have is that Mony is feeling more out of breath in the last few days. It needn't be anything, but alarm bells start ringing in our heads and it's something we definitely want the doctors to check out tomorrow. Ramona and I spent alot of time dreaming in the last little while of how we can serve God. These surgeries/radiation and being out of breath are constant reminders to live each day to the fullest.
Quite sincerely,
Earl and Ramona