Planning the Future

Now that the house is sold, Teresa is turning her attention to getting the new place in order. This week she ordered new carpet, which will be laid in late May, just after Theodore finishes the painting. It’s a very attractive berber!

Marian, Bethany, and Teresa – reading their (ahem) favourite blog

In addition, Teresa ordered a new air conditioning unit for the apartment. It gets warm in Hope Tower during the summer, and the original towers don’t have central A/C. The apartment did have an old clunker, but Teresa junked that in favour of a brand-new “Mr. Slim" unit from Mitsubishi. This should keep the place plenty comfortable.

Teresa’s new A/C (inside unit)

This was a Herceptin treatment week, and Susan provided her mom with a ride back from the Credit Valley Hospital. Apparently the volunteer cancer drivers become a bit scarce once the weather warms up, so Susan may be helping out with this a bit more over the coming months. Teresa got rid of her car, remember, so she requires a lift to these important medical appointments. Since Susan was the one who acquired her mom’s car, Teresa still gets to spend time with that dependable little red Echo.

A good deal for someone willing to fix it up a little

And of course there is always packing and giving stuff away to occupy any of Teresa’s free time. Fortunately she lives in a neighborhood where “sidewalk donations” are cheerfully accepted. For example, we leaned an old bike against the tree by the curb, and it disappeared overnight.

Please keep in mind that it’s a very stressful time for Teresa right now, and she really appreciates your supportive telephone calls and prayers.

Breaking Camp

This past Monday marked the end of Teresa’s radiation treatments, so that’s another milestone achieved. From here on in the only cancer treatment left is the intravenous Herceptin every three weeks, which keeps up until January. Teresa’s oncologist also ordered an echocardiogram every three months or so, just to make sure that cardio heath remains solid.

Granddaughter Bethany – a big help!

With the radiation behind her, Teresa’s weekly agenda now looks something like this: packing, packing, and more packing. Teresa’s daughter Marian and granddaughter Bethany came down this weekend from Ottawa especially to help out. It’s amazing how many things a person accumulates over the years, isn’t it? Besides just moving stuff, there’s also a downsizing element. Some of Teresa’s possessions won’t make the cut, and will have to find a new home.

Memorabilia’s all packed

Maintenance staff at Holland Christian Homes finished cleaning and painting the apartment, so it’s ready for occupancy. Teresa’s verdict on their work – “it’s beautiful!” She took possession of the key this week, so the deal is sealed.

Now Teresa has six weeks to gradually shuttle boxes over to the new apartment, which will minimize the load on moving day at the end of May. This also provides time to replace carpet, hang drapes, paint selected walls, and install a new air conditioner. Nice to have the luxury of time, which minimizes the stress of moving. Along with death and divorce, moving is one of the top three stressful events in life.

You know it’s real when there are no grandchild pix on the fridge

Teresa is getting used to life without a car. The restricted mobility is tough, since she could always just hop into her little Echo anytime and scoot around to visit friends, attend church, buy groceries, or whatever. Still, Teresa knows that giving up the car is the right thing to do at this point.

For the past few Sundays she’s been blessed with a ride to her Brampton West Alliance Church with some fellow church members. This means so much to Teresa, since she wants to keep participating in the life of her church. Many thanks!

The Age of Enlightenment

Teresa’s life is starting to resemble a Herman Hesse novel, in that she has actively renounced some of her most significant personal possessions. In one week, Teresa has made major moves to unload house, car, and computer. There’s nothing like shedding one’s material possessions to finally resolve the duality of unfettered spirituality and earth-bound nature, eh?

Remember this IBM ad campaign? - never did make much sense

The end result will almost surely be a more enjoyable life at Holland Christian Homes. If asked to find the common thread among house, car, and computer, most of us would quickly respond with “they all break down.” Exactly right! Teresa has very little need for a car in HCH, and when you’ve got all these excellent long-distance phone plans, who needs a computer to communicate? Just pick up the phone!

If you really want to sell something, put a baby in the ad

Radiation treatment ends on Monday April 14, so all that’s left after that is the Herceptin every three weeks. Then it’s time to swing into move preparation full-time. Teresa takes possession of her new apartment on April 15. With six weeks to go until the move date, she’s in good shape. Teresa also had chest x-ray and bloodwork done as part of the HCH tenancy requirements this week.

Time to lift some mom and baby pix from the Hartwick blog …

Sold!

The sale of Teresa’s house is complete. After a satisfactory home inspection, the deal closed early this week. So that’s a major milestone realized, and a significant reduction in the overall stress involved with moving. We’re all grateful to God for such a quick sale – the first offer came in a day after listing, and that prospect ended up buying the house! Many thanks for Robert Lassche for handling the sales details.

Teresa passed the mandatory health assessment at Holland Christian Homes, so the new apartment is hers as of April 15. The maintenance team at HCH has already started to prep the apartment for its new tenant. Typically that means removing all the wallpaper, filling in nail holes, repainting the walls, cleaning the floors/carpets, and whatever else needs doing. HCH has an excellent reputation, so we have no doubt that the place will be in pristine condition by mid-April.

We may rent a more practical moving truck

As to the actual moving-in date, that’s looking like the end of May. The current plan is to assemble a team of family members from Ottawa, St. Thomas, and Brampton and move all Teresa’s belongings in a rental truck. Thank goodness there are some strapping young lads on the crew to handle the heavy stuff! At least none of the major appliances are coming along, so that will keep things manageable.

It’s good that Teresa has a few weeks yet to pare down the list of items that will make the trek to HCH. Downsizing can be tough, as there are so many decisions to make (keep .. sell .. keep .. dump .. keep .. give away). Hmm – garage sale?


On the health front, Teresa completed her second week of radiation treatment this week, so there’s only one more week left. She also had an echocardiogram to check how her heart is taking the radiation – seems like no problems so far. After the radiation treaments wrap up, Teresa can turn her attention more completely to the business of getting ready to move. Please keep those prayers coming!