News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has generally been fine, but we did get a snow shower on Thursday. It melted on Friday. We've been getting out for walks, and I've topped out at 2.2km now—progress! I think that my leg is a bit better. I was to the walk-in clinic on Monday. The doctor here was about as encouraging as the specialist in Regina, i.e. not! I have an appointment with my own doctor next week; I hope she will have some better ideas of how to improve the situation. The markets have remained troubled all month so far; investors can't handle uncertainty, and the new American administration just bubbles uncertainty. With the failure of their healthcare bill on Friday, I can only hope that folks have settled down before Monday. Anyway, I had a good week as my bus company had a good earnings report and made some nice gains. The busy sports calendar has been playing out. Pittsburgh has secured a playoff berth, and Edmonton remains near the top of their division in the NHL. In Women's World Curling, Rachel Homan has secured a spot in the Gold Medal game where they'll play Russia tomorrow evening in China—sometime overnight here! Good thing we have PVR! March Madness continues in basketball with the Final Four being determined this weekend. My Jayhawks made it to the Elite Eight, but put up a rough effort tonight and fell to Oregon. Rock Chalk is retired until next year!

Erica has completed 3 weeks of CDT. She has an appointment for a fitting of compression hose next Thursday. So, she has to keep wrapping her legs until the compression hose arrives. She did it by herself once last week and, including a rest period from one leg to the next, it took 2 hours to remove, wind and wrap again—Ufda! Eric returned home on Tuesday. His Dad is still in hospital. On the return trip, Eric's shoulder seized up and he's been struggling with the pain ever since. Haaken has posted some videos. He won't tell us where. But it's out there—somewhere. Liam has been practising with his worship team! The Baileys are looking forward to having him home to show off his drumming skills. 

Erin and Kristian have had a full week. Erin has been called for jury duty, but she's fighting that. There are strong emotions with the passing of Shawn's mother early Tuesday morning. Kristian had a good review of developments with his eyes at his doctor appointment. He will continue with medication until his next appointment in another four months. Kristian had league bowling again this morning, but that's the end of regular league play, so he's into the playoffs now for the next two Saturdays. 

Trav & Joanna remain fairly busy. This weekend they have the photographic assignment for the Montreal Canadien Oldtimers visit to Thunder Bay. Down in the office the printer keeps chugging stuff out. They had an issue with the new dishwasher, but Trav was able to Youtube his way out of that! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior and my hometown! We took our farewells in Regina over the weekend, and on Monday. Then, we drove to Winnipeg on Tuesday where we luxuriated under the care of Tom & Mariette. Supper, pleasant visitation, a good sleep and oatmeal for breakfast set us up for a good drive on to Thunder Bay on Wednesday! We fought the wind on Tuesday, but conditions were ideal on Wednesday and we're glad to be home again. The weather has clearly been great here and the snow was gone. The fairways were pretty clear, but covered in water. It'll be a while. Then, we got a slushy dump last night just to remind us that we still live in Canada. I caught up with my barber on Thursday. I tried to get in to the walk-in clinic to check on the progress of my leg, however, it was too busy, and I decided not to wait. I tried again this morning, but once again, it was busy and I was impatient! They could not find any notice of my records being transferred from Regina, so I will go again on Monday and make sure I get in. My leg has seemed to improve with the trip, and, at least in the morning, looks better than it has since all this DVT business started. However, my attempt to get in a good walk failed on Thursday, and I could only manage a few hundred metres. Otherwise, we've been taking it easy, and catching up on our accumulation of mail. That mostly falls to Wendy—we both enjoy that fact! The markets were difficult once again, and I was penalized with a red week. This put me behind quota for this month, so I'll need more success the rest of the way. Sports have continued to occupy a lot of attention here. The week opened as the Brier ended; Jacobs fell to McEwen in the battle for the bronze, while Gushue beat Koe for gold. It was a great week of curling, and St Johns did itself proud in hosting it. This week the curling world is divided between the Grand Slam event for the men, and now the World Championship has begun for the women. Rachel Homan started off with a win over China. Then, there are the playoff races heating up in the NHL, and also that little thing called March Madness in basketball. Kansas won their first game easily, but face a tough Michigan State team tomorrow—Rock Chalk boys! 

Eric's dad is in the hospital. The doctors have concluded that he had a heart attack. Complicating matters is he also has some sort of infection, and there is fluid in his chest. Along with his other conditions, that makes it difficult for the doctors to treat any one thing. If they fight the infection, it is bad for his heart. If they treat his heart too aggressively, something else will go wrong. So they are slowly trying to treat everything a little bit. Eric and his brother Neil flew out to Victoria early Thursday morning to be with the family and visit with his dad. Erica has a potential surgery date in July in Germany for her Lipedema. This would be the first surgery of, likely, four. The CDT is helping; her legs are smaller and the fluid is being released. There is nothing they can do for the diseased fat cells that remain, and with menopause coming (another hormonal change), there is a chance that she will go through another bout of fat cell duplication and growth. She recommends changing the name of this disease from Lipedema to Fat Cancer or at least Fat Tumours, because really, that's what it is. Anyway, the purpose of the surgery is to remove as many of the diseased fat cells as possible through lymphatic-sparing liposuction. They can't get them all, and it doesn't stop the ones that remain from replicating, but with less to work with, the surgery may be successful in slowing down the progression significantly. They've been treating Lipedema in Germany for decades. We don't seem to even know about it in Canada. Erica has been digging and following up on leads from people on message boards and Facebook groups but has not found a surgeon in Canada who does Lipedema surgery. There are doctors in the US who do, but they are much more expensive. She is very seriously considering taking this next step. She needs to consult further with her doctor first—who had at least heard of Lipedema before, and thought there was a surgical option. Haaken had another meeting with his support group looking for work. We continue to hope that he will find something suitable. He is also working on his animation and has submitted some projects. No one has been allowed to see them—very secretive. Liam continues to do well in school. He still struggles with his celiac issues. We are advised that this could continue for some months. One contact advised that her daughter took about a year to really recover and start to feel 'normal' again. He needs to find an alternative to iron pills, as he can't seem to keep them down! Oh, and Erica turned 43 today! Good thing we're not aging that quickly!

Thank you again to Erin and Kristian for hosting us for so long. It was a great time staying there. Kristian celebrated our departure with a new quad-copter drone. We look forward to seeing how he has learned to fly it. Kristian had two days off school this week, but was not feeling well, so Erin stayed home with him on Friday. He had bowling league this morning, but he slept in! That won't advance his average, but it will probably help him overcome his illness.

Travis and Joanna were busy early in the week getting some jobs completed and out the door. Then, they brought Minnie over to visit us as they drove down to Minneapolis to collect Gemma and Andrew after their Florida vacation. They all got back tonight. We're grateful for their safe travel.

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We have moved another hour west this weekend, and decided to mesh with Alberta for the summer. We intend to head toward home next week, but now it's an hour further away! The weather has been colder this week, and there was a terrible blizzard that blew across the prairies as well. Wendy is feeling better finally; that's a good thing. She celebrated her birthday this week, as did her Dad. Bern and Alicia hosted a joint celebration for them on Wednesday evening. We drove over to Moose Jaw on Friday to visit Grace; then, we picked up Liam from Caronport for the weekend. Baileys came down on Saturday, and we celebrated Erica's birthday with them here this evening. It's been quite a socially active week! There has been no improvement in my leg, so I look forward to what further therapies my doctors in Thunder Bay may advise. In the meantime, I continue with my blood thinner, elevation and exercise. The markets continued to react in fear, and not even the strong jobs' data on Friday, both sides of the border, could get things moving forward. I suffered losses as a result. The regular season in basketball has ended, so March Madness will now begin! The Jayhawks lost their final game, and will probably lose their #1 ranking as a result. Oilers and Penguins continue through their the playoff push; Calgary is on a run, and has pulled ahead of Edmonton. This week has featured the Brier, and I've been spending a fair amount of time watching the curling! Mike McEwen of MB led all week long, and entered the playoffs against Gold Medal winners, Brad Gushue of NL, Brad Jacobs of NO, and world champion Kevin Koe of AB. It was spectacular curling, but McEwen fell, first to Gushue, then to Koe, and finds himself playing Jacobs for the bronze medal. Koe will play Gushue for the gold, and I find myself in a win-win situation. Naturally, I will be cheering for Koe, but I will also be happy to see hometown boy, Gushue, emerge victorious. 

It's been a pretty ordinary week in the Bailey household. One notable aspect is that Erica has begun her Complete Decompression Therapy. Each day she gets a manual lymphatic drainage massage, then her legs are wrapped in compression bandages. She feels like the marshmallow man, but it seems that her calves are losing fluid. She expects that as she loses fluid from her thighs it will take pressure off her knees as well. Today, they drove to Regina for the birthday celebrations! A good time! 

Kristian had a great week in school which culminated in a school/family movie night on Friday. Erin took that in with him—they enjoyed Moana for about the 17th time! Today was bowling league, and Kristian failed to raise his average for the first time since we've been attending. We have continued to enjoy our time staying with them, and are very thankful to them for hosting us so wonderfully. 

Trav's team has lost out in the city playdowns, so they were unable to repeat their championship run. Still, it was a fine season, and Trav enjoyed coaching them. Trav and Joanna are busy with work—that is going well. They're taking Gemma and Andrew to Minneapolis so they can fly to Florida for Spring Break. We are looking forward to getting home to them next week. 

And that's about enough for now. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather is nice, and we're enjoying that. It is forecast to be around freezing for the next week. Wendy returned from her Moose Jaw weekend with a nasty cold and has been suffering with it all week. She has recovered most of her voice now, and was even able to get out for some shopping! On Friday we drove down to Weyburn to visit with Kerry and LaVonne, and buy a complete set of tires for the Sorento. It was a good time. It's been a discouraging week with my leg, as it doesn't appear to be gaining circulation. I have increased my walks to 2.0km, and my leg feels better through the workout, but it is still infused with fluids by the end of the day. The stretched skin on the calf is very itchy, and after scratching, my thinned blood flows more than I'm used it—sigh! I had a couple of webinars this week, and a good week on the markets. US markets made a big jump on Wednesday after the Trumpster seemed almost sane in his big speech Tuesday evening, but then investors realized he had provided no details on policy, and the US markets went flat. There was good economic data both sides of the border, and with the prospects of a FED rate hike in the US, the banks made good gains, and I have a few of them! The Scotties ended on Sunday with Rachel Homan claiming the national championship in an extra end. The Brier started today. I'll be cheering for Kevin Koe. Other strong favourites are expected to be Brad Jacobs (NO), Brad Gushue (NL) and Mike McEwen (MB). Kansas was elevated to the #1 ranking in basketball; they won another couple of games this week. I'm not entirely sold on their quality, but they go into March Madness on a high all the same. NHL hockey is nearing the playoffs. Several teams added talent for the playoff run. Pens and Oilers remain in second place in their divisions. 

Liam has returned to school, more energized and well fed. His recovering appetite is evident when he turns down junk food for gluten-free spaghetti! Haaken continues with some projects. He completed one animation this week and expects to have it posted soon. Erica was up on LaRonge this week for work, supposedly for the week, but managed to complete her assignment and get home Wednesday evening—that was a treat! She has found a consulting surgeon in the Netherlands on Lipedema. He has cautioned her to continue her current eating and exercise program. He advised her to continue with Complete Decompression Therapy (CDT) which is starting next week. She is waiting for a proposed treatment plan including cost estimates to discuss with her doctor. Then, if she decides to go with that, she can begin the battle with Sask Health to cover the expense! She already has one request for $2K for the initial round of CDT, but she's been advised not to hold her breath. She has yet to hear of anyone in Canada who has succeeded in getting funding to fight Lipedema. Perhaps when she wins the lottery she can set up a foundation to help people with the disease. She sometimes wonders and wishes doctors had figured this out back when she first became afflicted in high school, sigh! Eric is enjoying his Apple Watch, an early birthday gift. A friend was selling their used one, so Eric was the fortunate recipient. I has a Mickey Mouse setting complete with Mickey Mouse voice alarms. Erica thinks he should use that as the signal to end a counselling session!

Erin and Kristian have continued with their usual program of work and school except that Erin came down with something and even lost a day of work to that early in the week. Kristian had his usual bowling practice and bowling league. He bowled a 184 today in the league! His average will be jumping from his current 78. Erin picked up some new furnishings including an entertainment centre—some assembly required! So, Kristian and I built that today and it looks good in the family room. 

Some assembly required!

Trav and Joanna continue to fight the snow in Thunder Bay. We're hoping it's all cleared away before we head that way in another week. Trav's team is in the second round of the playoffs—the semi-finals. They are continuing to play comeback hockey—I don't recommend that! Gemma and Andrew continue with school, and by all reports are thriving. 

And that's about it for this week.