Health

Victoria’s Quilts

/ edebock / 10 Comments

I received a gift lovingly made by a total stranger today! Victoria’s Quilts Canada is a non-profit charitable organization with branches across the country that provides hand made quilts to comfort cancer patients and keep them warm during treatments.

Victoria’s Quilts was founded in the US by Deb Rogers as a tribute to her sister-in-law, Victoria, who had herself been a quilter. With Deb’s blessing, Ottawa resident Betty Giffin, seeking a way to share her faith and her love of quilting, started the Canadian organization in October of 2000. From its humble beginning with just 12 women, the organization has grown to include more than 800 volunteers who distribute approximately 400 quilts every month to cancer patients across the land.

Each Victoria’s Quilt is unique. Backed with soft flannel, they are very durable and can be machine washed and dried. There is absolutely no cost to the quilt recipient or the person who requests it and anyone can request a quilt for a friend or loved one by simply visiting the Victoria’s Quilts Canada website.

My quilt was requested by my friend Anne, an avid quilter who volunteers with the Russell, Ontario chapter of Victoria’s Quilts. Presently battling her second bout of cancer, Anne knows first hand what the quilt recipients go through.

You would think that the person who chose my quilt knew me personally. It’s the colours of our livingroom and is absolutely gorgeous! You probably can’t see it in the photo but the darker pieces of fabric have an ancient Egyptian motif printed on them in gold which adds an exotic flair. It’s large enough to wrap myself in if treatments leave me chilly or to snuggle under if I need a nap and, like all Victoria’s Quilts, it came with its own carry bag.

A label sewn on the back of the quilt identifies it as a Victoria’s Quilt and includes the scripture that Deb Rogers found comfort in after the death of her best friend and sister-in-law, Victoria.

“Be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Joshua 1:9

While the quilt will keep me warm, the verse will be a source of comfort and strength during difficult days.

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Today’s package came at a perfect time when I really needed a pick me up. There’s nothing too serious going on but I’ve been getting frustrated and a little anxious waiting to hear when my next appointments will be. I know that these things take time but it’s hard to be patient! Keeping busy helps and tomorrow I’m going to do that by playing in our local ladies golf tournament which is always a lot of fun!

Is it good news?

/ edebock / 23 Comments

We met with the doctor yesterday to discuss biopsy results. Apparently, I don’t have adenocarcinoma which is what he anticipated. Instead, I have been diagnosed with a “well differentiated neuroendocrine tumour” which is apparently less common. Is this good news?

Here’s what Dr. F wrote on a small slip of paper:

Adenocarcinoma            Prognosis: poor

Neuroendocrine             Prognosis:  ?

Question mark? My whole life, my future, is wrapped up in that one small question mark!

Dr. F, not one to give a person false hope, appeared to think that the diagnosis was good news, at least better than it might have been. For now, we’ll cling to that as a glimmer of hope.

So what comes next? We still don’t have a treatment plan. All of the information that has been gathered so far has been sent to the Cross Cancer Institute. Located in Edmonton, a two hour drive from here, the Cross is the comprehensive cancer centre for all of northern Alberta. As soon as I heard the dreaded C word, I knew that that’s where I’d likely end up.

The specialists at the Cross have requested a CT scan of my chest, presumably to ensure that the cancer hasn’t spread to my lungs. I fervently pray that it hasn’t and that it doesn’t. Once they have the results of the scan, my next appointment will be at the Cross where we should finally find out what treatment is going to look like.

So… for now, we wait some more! We wait for phone calls to tell me when to come in for these appointments. We wait to find out if the news is good or not.

Waiting is getting more difficult but we’re keeping busy which helps a lot and I know that the prayers of many people around the world are sustaining us while we wait.

A new journey…

/ edebock / 68 Comments

It looks like Richard and I are embarking on a new journey… not one that we would have chosen. It started with a phone call from my doctor on Tuesday morning.

If you’ve been reading my blog since we left for China at the end of February, you may recall that when we arrived we had to have complete medical check-ups including abdominal ultrasounds before our resident’s permits could be issued. That’s when we first learned that there was something on my liver but after having a CT scan, I was told that it was nothing to worry about. It was suggested that I follow up with my own doctor after returning to Canada.

Early in August, I went for my annual medical and took the ultrasound photos from China with me. Dr. H wisely ordered another ultrasound which I had early Monday morning. Immediately afterward, I was told that I should also have a CT scan and that was done before I left the hospital. I expected similar results to those I’d received in China but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I was walking a nature trail in a provincial park several hours from home the next morning when my doctor called. He didn’t want to tell me the test results over the phone but since he was asking me to abort our planned trip to Vancouver and come home to meet with him, it was obvious that the news wasn’t good. I sat on the grass overlooking a beautiful lake while he told me that I have colon cancer which has already spread to my liver!

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Cancer… that dreaded C word!   Wow!   How do you respond to that?

With prayer!

I am a list maker so as soon as we got back to our campsite, I started writing a list of people I needed to call, not just to share our devastating news but also to ask for prayer. Prayer for healing, prayer for peace and prayer for the strength to walk this pathway with grace.

After dropping our daughter and grandchildren in Calgary the following morning as planned, we turned toward home and started this new journey. It all seems a bit surreal at this point as I feel perfectly fine! I saw an internist yesterday and I’m booked for a colonoscopy and biopsy on Wednesday. As long as the growth in my bowel isn’t threatening to cause a blockage anytime soon, it will not be removed at this point and I will likely start chemotherapy soon.

We believe in a mighty God who responds to the prayers of his people and we are asking for a miracle!  Whether he chooses to heal me with a touch of his hand or through the more usual medical means is immaterial to me but I am boldly asking for more time… there is much that I still want to accomplish in this life!

On the long drive home on Wednesday, as the doctor’s words rang in my head, I heard the still small voice of God’s Holy Spirit speak to my heart. I grabbed my notebook and wrote down his words so that I can recall them over and over again when things get rough and negative voices threaten to overcome me.

“I’ve got this in my hands. I know what’s going on. I’m going to take care of you.”

Where will this journey take us?

Where will this journey take us?

Shingles… but not the roofing kind!

/ edebock / 5 Comments

The itch came first followed by intense pain that had me pacing the floor at night. A quick online search confirmed what I was beginning to suspect; I had shingles! I was almost relieved last Sunday afternoon when the telltale rash finally appeared. Without it, there was nothing to show a doctor; no way to get a definite diagnosis and the medication I needed.

Within minutes of Wendy, one of our helpful office gals, typing the word shingles into her trusty translator on Monday morning, she and I were in a taxi and on our way to the Second Hospital of the Dalian Medical University. One glance at my rash was all the doctor needed to confirm my self diagnosis. He prescribed an anti viral medication as well as a vile smelling lotion to help with the itch and an antibiotic cream to use at night to prevent infection from setting in.

Shingles, or herpes zoster as it’s more formally known, is a reactivation of the virus that originally causes chicken pox. It had been lying dormant in my body for more than five decades waiting to spring into action again! Fortunately, unlike chicken pox, shingles usually affects only one area of the body, in my case a band extending around the left side of my torso at shoulder blade level.

I don’t actually remember having chicken pox. I was very young at the time but I do recall my mother talking about having three children sick with it at once; my older brother, my sister and I. My younger brother missed the first round of all the childhood diseases to hit our home and instead, made a habit of coming down with them when we were on holiday! I remember him having whooping cough in Dawson City, Yukon and mumps at our grandmother’s house. I believe that it was chicken pox that he had while we were camping on Galiano, one of BC’s beautiful gulf islands. I guess I must be following his example by coming down with shingles in China of all places!

Fortunately, I seem to have had a fairly mild case and I think I’m the mend. The blisters have burst and the rash is beginning to heal. The pain, now worst in the morning, eases off after awhile and is easily managed with Ibuprofen.

Though uncomfortable at times, I’ve been able to continue doing everything I needed to do. The blog’s silence this week has had more to do with the fact that I’ve been busy giving and marking final exams than with the fact that I’ve been suffering from shingles. My university classes came to an end this week and for the remainder of the month I’ll have only my students who are preparing to study abroad; just seven hours of teaching a week! No more classes at 8 o’clock on Saturday mornings and no more climbing the stairs to the sixth storey classroom! Even with shingles, life is good!

My love/hate relationship with Chinese food

/ edebock / 3 Comments

Simply said, Chinese food is delicious! Absolutely delicious! In the past three months, I can only recall one dish that we didn’t enjoy. It looked tasty and there was nothing wrong with the flavour but it consisted mainly of gristle on bone. We didn’t know for sure what it was but we called it knuckles because that’s what it most resembled!

There are a myriad of tiny restaurants within a few blocks of our apartment where we can easily buy a meal for the two of us for significantly less than $10. If we weren’t as health conscious as we are, it would be easy to eat out even more often than we do, especially considering the limited cooking facilities we have here at home.

China is a huge country, of course, and cuisine varies from one region to another but in general, a Chinese diet is heavy on rice and noodles. We do our best to balance the carbs with healthy amounts of meat and vegetables but there’s not a lot we can do about the fact that almost everything seems to be cooked in oil.

I know that there are healthy and not so healthy cooking oils but then there’s Chinese cooking oil! The following is a direct quote from our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook. Be forewarned! If you have a delicate stomach, you may not want to read it!

"In 2010, diners in China were appalled to discover that one in 10 meals cooked in Chinese restaurants was prepared with cooking oil dredged up from sewers and drains. Oil is lavishly employed in Chinese cooking and generates considerable waste.

This waste oil is harvested by night soil collectors who scoop out the solidified oil from drains near restaurants and sell it. The oil is then processed, sold to restaurant owners and it re-enters the food chain…

Once used again, there is nothing to stop the waste oil from being harvested afresh for further recycling. At present, no regulations preventing the recycling of waste oil exist in China."

Yum!

Food scandals abound in China. A couple of them have made headlines in China Daily, the English language newspaper that we read regularly. Several food stores in Shanghai have been temporarily or permanently shut down for selling fake mutton made from fox, mink and rat meat! We’re a long way from Shanghai and I don’t care much for mutton so we’re not likely to be affected by that one.

We watched with great interest when a restaurant below our window underwent a complete makeover recently and we looked forward to stopping in for a meal when it opened for business. Even after one of our students told us that the sign indicated that it served "everything from a sheep" we thought we’d give it a try but they lost me with the severed goat’s head! It was on display on a table out front one morning when I visited the street market and it remained there all day! Though I was tempted to take a picture, I didn’t, so you’re spared that gruesome sight! It seems to have been effective advertising though. The restaurant has been doing such a booming business that they’ve erected some temporary shelters on the sidewalk across the street and serve their overflow customers there. When we go to bed at night, there are still patrons enjoying whatever it is that they serve!

Then there’s the tainted rice scandal that hit Guangdong province recently. An inspection campaign found that the cadmium levels in six batches of rice and two batches of rice noodles produced in two different factories exceeded national standards. Cadmium is a carcinogenic substance often used in fertilizer. Fortunately, no cadmium poisonings have been reported.

Armed with this kind of information, how can we stand to eat at all? It’s easy… as I said, the food is absolutely delicious and miraculously, my somewhat finicky stomach hasn’t bothered me a bit since we arrived in China! If we are what we eat, I guess we’re a little bit gross right now but I keep telling myself that we’re only here short term and that our bodies will clean themselves out when we get home.

Yes, I definitely have a love/hate relationship with Chinese food!

More than an adventure!

/ edebock / 5 Comments

In spite of the fact that we had to have complete medical check-ups before we could apply for our Chinese working visas, we had to repeat the process this week. The visas got us into the country but now that we’re here, we have to apply for resident’s permits. That requires another medical.

I wasn’t too concerned. After all, we’d just been declared healthy. This would just be another adventure and an opportunity to see an aspect of Chinese life that we might not otherwise see. Little did I know!

Early Wednesday morning we met Teresa (one of the school’s delightful Chinese employees) who had arranged for the school driver to take the three of us to the health centre. I didn’t have any classes that morning and another teacher would cover Richard’s. The health centre was a spacious and modern looking facility with the specific purpose of providing health checks and documents to foreigners as well as locals applying to go overseas. It ran very efficiently. We went from cubicle to cubicle giving urine at the first one, blood at the second one, having a chest x-ray done at the third, and so on. The only test that didn’t duplicate what had been done in Canada before our departure was an ultrasound and that’s when the excitement began!

The technician had hardly started moving the wand over my abdomen when she erupted in a flow of rapid questions and comments directed at Teresa who did her best to translate for me. Did I know that I had growths on my liver? Why hadn’t this been detected in Canada?

Needless to say, I was shocked! What in the world was going on and what would it mean? Of course, the worst case scenarios are the ones that immediately come to mind. Would we be on the next plane back to Canada? Did I have cancer?

Apparently there were two spots. One was immediately declared non-threatening but the other one was considered suspicious. Pictures were printed and we were told that I would have to go to the hospital for a CT scan. Only then would we know whether or not I could remain in the country. The final procedure before we left the facility was a blood pressure test. I can only imagine that mine was sky high at that moment but nothing was said!

The drive back to the school was a blur as I sat in the back seat and contemplated the future. Ridiculous thoughts bounced around in my mind. Surely I hadn’t come all the way to China only to leave again without even seeing the Great Wall!

Over the next day and a half, I ended up making not one but three trips to the main university hospital in downtown Dalian! Thank goodness, Teresa was with me every moment of the way. She is very young and had never dealt with anything like this before but she was both efficient and reassuring. After coming home for lunch on Wednesday, I again met her at the school and we set off for the hospital by bus. On the way out of the apartment, the magnetic cross on the fridge beside the door caught my eye. Given to us as a gift just before we left for Japan in 2008, it reads "Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10" That verse became my mantra over the next couple of days and gave me great peace.

At the hospital, we sat in an overcrowded and noisy waiting room for about an hour until my name was called. We saw a lady doctor who looked at the ultrasound photos and immediately concurred with the initial conclusion. One spot was nothing to worry about but the other one would require a closer look. She also explained that a regular CT scan wouldn’t show anything more than the ultrasound had. I would need to be injected with something before the scan was done.

Both Teresa and the doctor, who spoke no English, were worried about whether or not Teresa’s ability to translate all of this was adequate. Since they wanted to ensure that I understood what was being suggested, we were sent to see a younger doctor who spoke reasonably good English. We were able to get in to see him almost immediately and he repeated exactly what Teresa had already told me. He also told us that Richard would have to return to the hospital with us to give written permission for me to have the procedure done! We have since learned that this is common practice here. Regardless of gender or age, no one can have a medical procedure done without the signed permission of a family member. Teresa and our other Chinese colleagues were very surprised to learn that in Canada I would be able to sign my own consent!

Early Thursday morning, the driver took us back to the hospital. We met briefly with the same English speaking doctor, signed the consent forms, purchased the medication that I would be injected with and made arrangements to have the procedure done at 2:30 that afternoon! Again, Richard would have to be there with me. We discovered that one of the reasons that the hospital was so terribly crowded was that everyone, inpatient or outpatient, had to have at least one family member there to help take care of them. We even saw one elderly man, obviously too weak to walk, being carried down the corridor on the back of a younger man, presumably his son.

After returning to school to teach our morning classes we went back to the hospital for the scan, this time by taxi. When it was done, Teresa was given a form to bring back the following afternoon at which time she would be able to pick up the results. No privacy of information rules here to slow things down!

Yesterday dawned bright and clear. I didn’t have a class until 4 o’clock in the afternoon but I planned to go a few minutes early to find out the test results. As I did my morning devotions, I came across Romans 15:13, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." As I read that, I was filled with peace. I knew that regardless of what the scan showed, I was in his hands and I would be okay.

Fortunately, the news was good! The spot is one of two things and neither one is threatening. Teresa didn’t know the medical terms in English and to tell you the truth, I don’t really care what they are. They probably wouldn’t mean much to me anyway. All I needed to hear was that I had nothing to worry about!

Teresa will take the results of the CT scan back to the health facility on Monday and fully expects that the necessary documents will be issued so that we can apply for our resident’s permits.

An adventure? Yes, but much more than I bargained for! One thing we’re totally amazed by though is the speed at which all this took place. The process from ultrasound to final diagnosis, which would have taken weeks or months in Canada, took about 55 hours!

Tangled knots of tension

/ edebock / 2 Comments

This has been an eventful week.

On Monday, I learned that my Dad had finally made the decision to seek permanent care for my Mom. She’s 90 years old and suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, she’s virtually blind, incontinent and confined to a wheelchair. Dad has been burning himself out trying to be her primary caregiver and most of the time she doesn’t even know who he is.

I was relieved! I would be able to leave the country knowing that Mom was being well cared for and that Dad could finally relax and possibly regain his flagging health and strength. Then came Wednesday and a phone call from my sister. Dad was suffering from chest pains and she was catching a plane that afternoon to fly out to Vancouver to be with them!

I was already feeling stressed over the delay in getting our visas. This news was almost more than I could handle! Questions and doubts flooded my mind. What was I thinking of? Was going to China at this point sheer insanity? We’d already signed our contracts! What choice did I have now?

I don’t handle stress well. Apparently, neither does my father! His chest pains were not an indication of an impending heart attack as we feared but, as far as we can tell, the result of stressing about the decision he’d made and all its implications. He had lain awake for long hours Tuesday night worrying about where Mom would end up, how he’d get her there, what he should pack for her, whether or not she’d adjust well to her new surroundings and so on and so on until the pain began.

We knew that initially, at least, Mom would go into the first appropriate long term care bed in their area. We prayed that it would be easily accessible by bus so that Dad, who no longer drives due to failing eyesight, could visit her regularly. God did even better than that! Tomorrow morning she’s moving into a care facility just down the street from the apartment building where my parents have lived for over 20 years! It’s literally about 500 metres away, close enough for Dad to walk over anytime he wants!

After more than 64 years of marriage, tonight will be the last night that my parents will spend together. It’s sad, but Alzheimer’s is sadder. In a sense, Mom has already been gone for quite a long time. I’m just glad that Dad will still be able to spend time with her each day and that my sister is there to help them with the transition.

Now, if only the results of our blood tests come back soon so that we can head to Calgary to apply for our visas. Then maybe the knots in my stomach will begin to untangle!

Our mountain is moving!

/ edebock / 10 Comments

If you read yesterday’s post, you know that we were thrown into a sudden panic when we learned that we can’t apply for our work visas until we can present physical examination records with the myriad of other forms and documents that are required. It often takes three weeks or more to get in to see our family doctor and we’re supposed to leave for China a month from tomorrow! What were we going to do?

The problem seemed insurmountable but nothing is impossible with God! (Luke 1:37) After temporarily freaking out, I calmed down and realized that if God wants us in China nothing will stop us from getting there.

We don’t climb our mountains alone. Within hours, people around the world, including a blogging friend I’ve never met, were praying for us and the mountain began to move.

Last night I learned that there’s a new doctor in the area. So new, in fact, that his clinic isn’t even ready for use yet and he’s only seeing walk ins at the hospital outpatients department. We spent two hours there this morning. Dr. O was efficient and personable; definitely a positive addition to our medical community. By lunch time, all of the required procedures had been done. We’d undergone everything from eye examinations to chest x-rays and ECGs and blood had been taken. My blood pressure was a little high but that came as no surprise after the stress of the past 24 hours!

The only hitch now is that the results of the required AIDS test usually take about two weeks to come back. As long as they don’t take any longer than that, we’ll still have enough time to make our trip to Calgary to get our visas but I’m praying that they come back sooner. After all, our God can move mountains!

Mount Robson                      photo: Nate DeBock

Lord, move this mountain!

/ edebock / 9 Comments

Yesterday the paperwork that we’d been waiting for arrived; the invitation letter and working permit that would allow us to go to China to teach. Today we filled out our visa application forms and the supplementary forms required for a Z (working) visa. I gathered together the mountain of paperwork that we’d need then decided that I should phone the Visa Application Service Center in Calgary to make sure that we had everything we needed before we made the four hour trip to Calgary on Monday. Thank goodness I did!

When you phone the service center, you get a recording telling you that all the information you need is on their website. I knew that but I’m anal. I wanted to talk to a real person just to be sure. After pressing one for English then listening to a lengthy menu, I finally pressed 0 and was connected to Peter. That’s when I learned that the website is actually out of date!

According to the website, which I first checked several weeks ago, people who are going to China to work for less than 6 months do not need to present a physical examination record with their visa application. Wrong! Peter told me that that requirement changed a couple of months ago and yes, we would need to present completed medical forms!

Yikes! We live in rural Alberta where there’s a doctor shortage. It can take weeks just to get an appointment! We’re supposed to have a complete check-up, a chest x-ray, an ECG and even an AIDS test, for goodness sake!

Panic immediately set in. I’m sure my blood pressure went through the roof! How in the world are we supposed to climb this mountain in the limited amount of time we have to get our visas?

That’s when Matthew 17:20 came to mind. “I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

For a moment, my eye was only on the mountain; the problem. When we focus on the problem, everything else including God seems small but when we focus on God, the problem seems small. Right now, I’m trying very hard to focus on God and not to worry. As our friend Ilef likes to say, I’m waiting to see how God’s going to get us out of this mess. I believe that if God wants us in China, we’ll be on the plane with visas in hand!

Lord, move this mountain, I pray! 

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It’s a weird and wonderful life!

/ edebock / 1 Comment

It occurred to me today that I live a weird life; or perhaps I’m just a weird person!

I’m a 60 year old woman preparing to go to China to teach English. In between weight lifting sets this afternoon, I’ve been working on editing a master’s thesis for someone in Japan and taking apart a dress for my son! Yup, definitely weird!

I started weight lifting 18 years ago before it became a popular activity for women. According to Wikipedia, nearly 20% of American women now lift weights on a regular basis but I doubt that many of them are in their sixties and most of them probably weren’t total non athletes like I was in my younger days.

I like what Adam Campbell, fitness director of Women’s Health and author of The Women’s Health Big Book of Exercises says:

But do I look like I lift weights? Absolutely. I’m lean and fit, and my muscles are well-defined, even if they’re not busting out of my shirt. 

You see, lifting weights isn’t just about building 20-inch biceps. In fact, for most women, it’s not about that at all, since resistance training may be the single most effective way to lose fat and look great in a swimsuit. What’s more, the benefits of lifting extend into nearly every aspect of your health and well-being. So much so that after nearly 12 years of reporting in the field of health and fitness, I’ve come to one rock-solid conclusion: You’d have to be crazy not to lift weights—even if bigger biceps are the last thing you want. 

The truth is, lifting weights gives every woman an edge. Over belly fat. Over stress. Over heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Lifting even makes you smarter and happier. 

To read more, including his 20 reasons why you shouldn’t live another day without lifting, click here.

If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you know that I also love writing and keeping my mind active. That’s why when my friend, Smoky, asked if I would be willing to edit his thesis on factors that affect Japanese junior high school students’ motivation to learn English, I jumped at the opportunity.

Smoky's family

Besides, is it any wonder that he doesn’t have as much time as he’d like to polish his own writing? Those darling children are three of our “Japanese grandchildren” and I’d way rather he spent his time loving them!

dressNow, what about the dress? As I mentioned in an earlier post, on February 9th Nate will be skiing the 31 km Canadian Birkebeiner in an African schoolgirl dress to raise funds so that little girls in Sierra Leone can go to school. He’s already raised enough to provide a full year of schooling for one girl and is hoping that money will continue to come in.

The dress is snug on his 6 foot 3 inch frame. He needs more room for a warm layer underneath and to ensure that his arms can move freely when he skis. I’ve opened the seams down both sides and am adding panels of stretchy sportswear fabric to provide the space and mobility that he needs.

Yes, my life might be weird but it’s also rich and full and I wouldn’t have it any other way!