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!

Easter Celebrations

The Easter celebrations went well last weekend – an enjoyable time of feasting and getting together with family. On Saturday we travelled to North York to celebrate Nellie DeJong’s birthday (Teresa’s younger sister). Such a great time! After a lovely lunch featuring food from Mandarin, there was no need to consider supper later on.

Easter Sunday – a break in the action

Easter Sunday was the dinner at John and Susan’s place. With Teresa’s help, Susan created a marvellous ham and scalloped potato feast, followed by chocolate mousse and an entertaining DVD. Miss Potter is the story of children’s author Beatrix Potter; a beautiful and engaging film. Spoiler alert – there are horses and carriages, plus no stuff blows up, so it may be unsuitable for younger male audiences.

Miss Potter and her publisher examine a proof

The festivities continued on Monday at Teresa’s place, when son Robert came by with his wife Leslie, daughter Charlene, and toddler son Nicholas. This was a full turkey dinner, another very successful joint effort. For those of you who may not know, Teresa makes an absolutely fabulous Dutch apple cake. A warm slice of that topped with vanilla ice cream, and you’re experiencing dessert-y perfection.

Not exactly as illustrated, but pretty close - mmm!

This was the first full week of radiation treatments, and they came off without a hitch. Well, the transportation to the hospital was a bit of a hitch, but Susan helped to cover on Thursday. These are stressful times – radiation plus selling the house and moving is a potent combination. While the layout of the new apartment is quite attractive, the actual décor isn’t. Once Holland Christian Homes brings the place back up to regular move-in condition, Teresa’s son Theodore plans to visit from Vancouver Island and update the colour scheme. That should take place on the Victoria Day weekend in May.

The logistics of packing and moving are still under discussion. The major appliances stay with the house, but whatever goes into HCH needs to be packed and moved. Hire a moving company? Put a crew of family members together? We’re just not sure yet which way to handle it. In the meantime, Teresa really needs your prayers for strength to get through these difficult days. The enemy loves to kick us when we’re down, so let’s support her enthusiastically!

Selling the House

Discussion has become reality – this week the “For Sale” sign went up on Teresa’s front lawn. As of Friday, at least one offer has already come in. Not too surprising, really, since the house is clean, bright, and attractively laid out.

Teresa’s place – 28 Acadian Heights

Of course with the sign comes a significant amount of anxiety. “For Sale” means a major interruption of familiarity, security, and even happiness. After all, this was the last home that Teresa shared with her beloved husband. Moving away from here means leaving behind many cherished memories. Geert put in this shelf, trimmed that bush, built the backyard shed, and stored his tools under that stairwell. Everywhere Teresa looks she sees her late husband’s fingerprints. It’s not easy to think of leaving all those touchpoints behind.

And yet that’s life on earth. We arrive with nothing, we leave with nothing, and all the stuff we accumulate in between is temporary. The only thing of any real permanence and lasting value is our relationship with God and our loved ones. By that definition, Teresa is most definitely blessed. She has often experienced and greatly appreciated the support of her family, her friends, and her God. Once the house sells, she’ll need an extra measure of strength and support for the big move into Holland Christian Homes.

Radation machine

On the medical front, Teresa’s radiation treatment started this week Thursday. The treatments are short, not longer than half an hour. They continue for three weeks, once a day from Monday to Friday. Radiation treatments directly assault the targeted area of the affected breast.

Teresa also attended the Look Good Feel Better seminar at Credit Valley Hospital with Hennie Bultjes this past Tuesday. She reports that it was much like a regular makeup seminar, except that they paid special attention to methods of enhancing the eyes to reduce signs of fatigue.

This weekend offers a welcome dose of familiarity, enjoyment, and good food. Teresa plans to attend her sister Nelly’s birthday lunch in North York on Saturday, and then two Easter dinners: at John and Susan’s place on Sunday (ham), and at her own place on Monday (turkey). Attendees for Monday’s dinner are son Robert with his wife Leslie and their son Nicholas, plus John and Susan.

Forget all this stress for a while – let’s eat!