A Welcome Visitor

Teresa has been living at her own home since Saturday Feb23, enjoying the independent life for a week or two. Marian is visiting from Ottawa, and provides welcome support for tasks like meal preparation and grocery shopping. Back at Susan and John’s place, we’ve noticed a significant drop in the number of incoming phone calls this week. Coincidence? I think not!

Marian (left), Teresa, Susan

The final chemo treatment took place on Wednesday, an important milestone in Teresa’s battle against cancer. Towards the end of March the regimen switches to radiation. Teresa will receive four weeks of radiation treatment (Monday to Friday) at Credit Valley Hospital. Unlike chemotherapy, the only notable side effect from radiation is fatigue. There’s no hair loss, no cankers, or any other unpleasantness. That’s certainly a welcome change from the many and varied side effects of the last five months.

After radiation's done, Teresa is slated to receive Herceptin treatments every three weeks for one year. Herceptin is administered intravenously at the hospital, and promises no hair loss or nausea. This therapy is supposed to prevent the growth of new cancer cells. For more info about Herceptin, click here.

Relocation plans – well, that’s enough with the house maintenance. Teresa has taken an apartment at Holland Christian Homes here in Brampton, a lovely two-bedroom unit on the second floor of Hope Towers. She plans to move in the spring, exact date to be determined because of uncertainty about the radiation treatments. Life at HCH will be much simpler - no snow to shovel, no water heater to fix, no skunks to evict! Just one call to maintenance does it all.

HCH has six towers, and over 1,200 residents

Teresa already has three sisters living at HCH, and she is well known there from her years of volunteering. As any HCH resident will tell you, it’s a great place to live. For more info, click here.

Reminder - spring is around the corner!