Day 486 - Barbados & My Baby!

We’re here! We made it! It was nothing short of a mission, but we did it! I was quite nervous that my bags wouldn’t arrive. They did! It took what seemed like an eternity to come off the conveyor belt, but they did! My next fiasco was customs.

I had seeds & plenty of them. Barbados is very strict. Thankfully, Jaco contacted the Port Agent, who contacted the Department of Agriculture who graciously gave me permission to take my seeds onto the ship. The format, however, had me nervous. Basically I was told to say that Mr. So & So said I could. That was it. Thankfully they knew who Mr. So & So was & let me carry on!

Once outside, we found a cab & M&D2 had the ride of their lives. I think they both aged 10 years. They hadn’t traveled on the other side of the road before & we were on some pretty narrow roads. I wasn’t fussed, but they were! I think the driver & I had our entertainment for the day!

The sun was setting as we arrived at the terminal. We waited for someone to come & help us with our luggage & slowly made our way to the next checkpoint. We declared our pieces of luggage & left the terminal building. We snapped the first of many photos on the pier as they viewed their ‘home away from home’ for the next 2 weeks. They were giddy with anticipation & excitement.

We took our carry-on bags into the next building where we collected our cruise cards & had our souvenir Embarkation photo. Soon, we were onboard. I went to find Jaco & find out what was happening with M&D2’s cabin.

And there he was. Oh-so-handsome. Even more than I’d remembered! It was so wonderful to see him! To hear his voice! To touch his face! And of course, kisses! I’ve missed him so much!

He was busy with a patient, so he gave me my key & the key to their cabin. I showed them around the ship, quickly, and by the time we returned to the cabin, Jaco was finished. He informed us that there was a passenger cabin available for M&D2. We went up & found it & they decided to stay there. It was an inside cabin, but this way they would have the true passenger experience. They were delighted to have privacy & their own space.

With all the luggage in our rooms, we said goodnight & agreed to meet tomorrow for our first day out!

Happy to be exactly where I am…

xxxxMaria

Trying to enjoy the plane ride!

We're here! And it's hot! Yippee!

Welcome to your new home for the next 2 weeks!

A fellow friend in hairstyle!

Back where I belong (& no, I'm not referring to Princess' former slogan!)

Day 278 - Something to blog about...

So yesterday I was pretty much out of words, which is rare for me. I can talk about pretty much anything... (Guess I should dig out my Table Topics to play by myself!) But last night, I was empty. Little did I know that I would have such crazy dreams... I could give Tim Burton (not Tim Horton) a run for his money when in comes to creativity. If I could only control this creativity, I'm sure I could find a way to use it to my advantage. Before I tell you about the dream, don't get excited, it's nothing big, just crazy, I will reassure you that I am NOT on any drugs at the moment. I've always had lucid dreams for whatever reason. Additionally, they tend to jump from scene to scene, so it may be a little confusing to follow.


Okay, so the first part I can recollect was the 'High School Reunion' scene. I was back in Maple Creek & all the kids from school were there. We were chilling out in the pool & socializing - catching up on 13 (!!!!) years of life. Pretty much every girl I went to school with was expecting twins! Yup, Bree, Jolene, Tammy... Way too many twins!!! Jump to the next scene - still at the reunion - we're going into the gym for some ceremony or something. I'm wearing my afro wig & there's Clay - a little tipsy (some things don't change!) & he says, 'WOW! Great afro! Can I try it on?' and before I can stop him (or anyone else for that matter), he rips the wig off my head, exposing my very bald noggin. There was a simultaneous 'GASP!' moment as he realized what he'd done & felt foolish. 


Skip to the next scene - I'm on the ship traveling with Jaco & he has 'hired' me to help him in the office for a few hours a night to give the Nurses a bit of a break. I help from 6-8 each night. Only tonight I was late & the Nurse I was to be relieving was a bit upset! I ran down with my dinner plate in hand & settled in to doing, well, nothing really! I just chatted with whoever was there. Can't remember names or faces. 


Skip to the next scene - I'm visiting with a bunch of ladies - Granny, Mom, Mom2, & Dad's girlfriend. We don't really get along (in real life) & in my dream, I went off on her! I started yelling & screaming all the reasons why we don't get along & in the end, we hugged & everything was fine. Then Granny was getting a back massage from one of the other gals. 


Skip to the next scene - I'm at home in Maple Creek & these 'bad guys' have put up a three story house in the horse pasture (close to the house). They have a fire in their lower level, unbeknownst to them, & it's dry & windy. I'm worried the fire will spread & start our house on fire. I want to put it out, but myself & ???? (one other friend) only have 2 ice cream buckets! We sneak over to the fence corner, but they have snipers out on each corner of the balcony. We can't yell, because they'll hear just a noise & shoot us. We can't approach the house either, they'll shoot us! Oh the drama! 


Skip to the next scene - my Mom, Unka Jer, my brother & I are riding horses. We're galloping through a hilly pasture when Mom does a hard stop on Shufly. He slides nice. Mom says, 'Hey! Did you see that!? Pretty nice!' Jeff says, 'Oh yeah? Watch this!' He kicks his horse into a gallop & just as they reach top speed, he rides through a snow bank that is melting. His horse sinks straight into it & falls over. The horse breaks his leg & when he gets up, his entire back end is paralyzed. The bones from one leg came right out, so it's just the hide. The other leg is snapped in half. Jeff says, 'Oh well, guess that's the end of him.' I freak out & say, 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN? You just took his life! You ruined him! He will never experience life! He's done!' I was very upset. About this time I also realized that Jeff's horse looked more like an elk than a horse.


This is all I can remember for the time being. Perhaps this is why I'm so tired all the time! It's not chemo, it's just crazy dreams!!!


As for the actual day, I really didn't do too much. I visited Nathan & Shauna at EVIC, chatted with a few girlfriends, missed my husband (both on the phone & in my heart), and cleaned the house. I've decided I don't like clotheslines. I love the way bedding smells when it's been on the line, but as for drying clothes... I know, it's green. BUT! I hang up one load & it takes all day to dry. We don't have a big enough line, nor enough clothespins. Half of my clothes fall on the ground every time a breeze comes along, so they end up dirty & still wet by the end of the day! Argh! NO MORE CLOTHESLINES!!!!


I prepared the house for the Jameses arrival tomorrow. I'm so excited to see them!!! It's been a year & I can't wait to hear how they've been! And they just got married, so I'm happy for their hearts as well!!! 


I cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, mopped, dusted, tidied, reorganized & gosh darn it... I'm beat! Thank goodness I didn't have to cook! I think I'll need Culinary Bootcamp before Jaco & I go too much further!!! 


Lastly... I'm super excited for Step Up 3D to come out in a week (yes, I'm 31 & I STILL love the cheesy teen dance flicks) & even MORE excited for EAT, PRAY, LOVE to come out!!! If you haven't read the book, DO IT!!!!!! I can't wait to see Julia Roberts! I haven't had a repeat theatre experience since Titanic... I could be due! :o)


Have a great night & see you tomorra!
Maria & Valentina
xxxxxx

Do you think she's trying to tell me she wants to go camping?

Mom asked me to help with dishes, but I was busy, so she asked Oceana instead.

Mom & her 'other kids'

Oceana hitches a ride to the house.

Day 201 - A Day In The City

Well, today was quite the day. I spent a good portion of the day panicking about all these little things that kept popping into my head… ‘What about this?’ ‘What about that?’ ‘You forgot about this.’ I was pretty much driving myself crazy.

I had a MUGA scan at 1030. A MUGA scan is a scan done to your heart to see how well your heart is functioning. Basically they inject you with a radioactive substance & then scan 2 sides of your heart with a gamma camera. They make a lovely little video of your heart & see what’s beating. It was certainly the lesser of any scanning evils I have had done so far.

As I will be having Doxorubicin as one of my chemo drugs (AKA Red Devil), I needed to have a scan of my heart. Doxorubicin is particularly known for weakening the heart muscle. I’m going to have to muster up a lot of love & keep this ticker strong! :o) I was a little concerned that the MUGA scan might interfere with the fertility program, but after many calls, I was finally told that the Doctor looked it up online & I should be fine. Um, so he googled my potential health risk? He didn’t know before hand? Comforting, real comforting!

The folks at the Nuclear Medicine department were friendly & easy going. I’d been there before for PET scans, but I was in a different section today. I visited with 2 of the technicians about orthotics, camera gear, children, falling in love on a cruise ship & few other things. They had me out of there with 6 minutes to spare until my appointment at the fertility clinic.

I had no idea there were so many infertile people in Calgary. It must be an epidemic! It was crazy busy in there! Both with staff & patients! I waited for about an hour until I finally met with the Doctor. Talk about the wind coming out of your sails. I am one day late to start IVF treatment, which means I will have to wait 5 more weeks before I can start chemo. ONE DAY. ONE DAY=5 weeks of postponed treatment. I’ve had time to deal with it, but I was pretty upset at the time. If only the bloody Doctors had responded to my emails & questions from the ship, I wouldn’t be sitting at this table hearing this crummy news. Ahh. Or if I had a few more hours notice about the previous day’s appointment! But! The good news is, they can help me & it can be done relatively quickly. Most people wait 1 year ++ for treatment. They are pulling a lot of strings to fit me in & I am very grateful for that. I have no idea what my Oncologist will say when I tell him it’s going to be another 3 weeks, but I suppose we’ll just have to work with it.

I’ll ask now for any prayers you might have to offer – that the IVF treatments go smoothly & swiftly without complications & that my body can keep the cancer under control for 5 more weeks without jeopardizing my health any further. Thank you!

I am coming back to the Fertility Clinic on Friday morning to discuss the plan. Fingers crossed!

I left the clinic & headed to Planet Organic for a few goodies. Then I stopped at Jugo Juice for a smoothie & then it was home time. The little doggies were very happy to see me! We spent a bit of time outside & then headed in to get comfy for the night.

I was quite tired by 2100, but I was still up at 2300 when Mom finally made it home from her long day in the city. We watched the dogs play for a bit & then hit the hay.

Here’s to a nice relaxing day tomorrow with nothing on the agenda…

Puppy dog tails & kisses,

Maria & Valentina

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sisters sharing the bed!