Back to Punta Cana.

We just came back from another exciting 2-weeks vacation back in Punta Cana. You loved every minute of it, even cried when we left! The only thing that comforted you was that your 'sisters' (dolls) at home miss you!

Senior Kindergarten

Boy! This is harder than JK! School just started a week ago and you cried 3 times, already! It's breaking my heart!!! I know why, I know you are very worried every time you have to spend the day with a different teacher. Before the school began, you were so worried about being in Mrs. A's class, but we kept telling you, you will love her as much as you love Mrs. B. And you already started liking her, you help her in class, you are fine now. Today, however, it's your first Gym day and of course, now you were so worried about that, that you cried and didn't want to go to school! Oh, I hope this will get better. It must be so hard on you! :(

Happy birthday, Princess!

5 years old!

 This is what you asked for, for your birthday :) A new ring and a Disney Cruise.

Disney Cruise.

Disney goes all the way! It's all about the children, just like it should be! What an awesome week we had! We visited Cayman Island, Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico, Castaway Cay in the Bahamas and you loved every single one of them! But your favorite was Castaway Cay. Maybe because we got to spend the day in the Ocean. 

Punta Cana vacation

We just spent 2 weeks in Punta Cana, Dominican republic. Your biggest wish was to swim with the dolphins, so that's what we did: swam with Dolphins, swam with Nurse Sharks and touched the Sting Rays.

Tea-party!

Tea Party was awesome! You had friends to play with, and it was a nice 'end-of-treatment' celebration. My idea was to make a tea-cup cake, but you wanted a frog cake, so I made both! 

The dress you picked was the dress Diana brought for you. While she was here, Diana bought 2 charms for the necklace: a pearl and a penguin with a diamond. Your picks, of course. Daddy and Mommy bought you a ring, as per your request and Madrina and Padrino bought a charm, two baby feet, 'for all the steps you took'. Belle was here for a bit, Sharon was here, Laura, Tim, Lauren and Rachel and their Grandma Helen. The one missing all this is Granny. But form up in Heaven, I'm sure she saw your Tea-Party and how beautiful you are, I'm sure she saw you starting school and she's as proud of you as we are. 

Junior Kindergarten

We started school! September 6 was the day you proved your independence! We went to school, Daddy and I came in to help you find your locker, you gave us a hug and kiss and off you went without giving us a second look! Made is so much easier for us to see how excited you are, and happy and willing to go have some fun with "your kids". That's what you call them: "My kids!" :)  I knew you wanted to go to school, you've said it all summer long, but I was still nervous, I thought maybe when we get there and we leave, you'll change your mind, but no way! There's 18 kids in your class. Such a difference from what you're used to. But I guess is a very nice experience for you, having all these kids around you. 

You said you want to learn about dinosaurs, Earth, and human body, because you want to be a Doctor when you grow up. We are very proud of you, you can write not only your name, but almost all the letters (except N, M and Z). It's been now 2 weeks, you are still excited and happy to go to school. And, of course, as it was expected, you got a cold! Even with all the precautions we took, even with all the hand washing, table disinfecting, you still got a virus. Which, being the generous girl that you are, felt like you had to share it with Mommy :)

We love you and we are very, very proud of you! Your teacher told me you are an 'extraordinary child' :) and that we should be very proud of you, which we absolutely are!

Victoria the Victorious!

Ahhhhhhh! Treatment is DONE! :) But not without a last adventure!

Firstly, on Tuesday, June 5th, 2012, after Granny's funeral service, where you fell in absolute love with your cousin Shelby :), we went to the restaurant with the rest of the family. About 3 pm when we got home, I took your leggings off and your legs were covered in small red bumps! I gave the leggings to Daddy and told him you got allergic to them, so he threw them in the garbage. About 7pm while having dinner, I saw a few more of those bumps on your arms, so Daddy and I thought it was chicken pox! I called Dr. on call, it was Dr. P. and she said to just go to clinic in the morning, but if they multiply or if you get a fever to call her again. At about 10:30, with the light from my cell phone, I checked you and there were a lot more on your arms and now on the face, too. So I called Dr. P. again and she said to bring you to ER. We got to ER before midnight and they were waiting for us. Dr. P. had called them. Stephen, one of the ER nurses came to meet me at the door, I checked you in while you were waiting in the car with Daddy. I came to get you, Stephen put a mask on you and got us straight into a room. After a long wait, a medical student came to see you, poor girl, had no idea what she was doing, so she called a resident. Between the 2 'medical prodigys' they determined that you indeed had chicken pox. They sent us home with a prescription for antivirals. But, miracle of miracles of chicken pox! By morning more then half of the rash was gone! Daddy couldn't fill in the prescription, because the "Dr." wrote the wrong concentration... what a surprise! And by the time we went to clinic on Thursday, they were all gone! So, of course they misdiagnosed you. But Daddy deciphered the mystery; at the restaurant, I had a Caesar salad (bad Mommy!) and when I cut your fish, I used my fork with probably some residues of salad dressing with anchovies paste on it, which caused an allergic reaction! Oh, well, allergy... chicken pox... to a medical student and an ER Resident is all the same!

A few weeks ago, as you were neutropenic, I woke up at about 1am and you were burning! Of course, because of neutropaenia, we had to go to ER. You had a lot of low fevers during this 2 years, but this time it was quite high and neuts were 0.4, so that meant that we had to be checked in the ward. We stayed in the ward for two days, we still don't know what caused the fever, and after a period of 36 hours fever-free, the Dr. allowed us to come home.

On July 11th, we had scheduled an MRI, LP and Bone Morrow Biopsy, all in the same sedation. So, we went to the clinic as soon as you woke up and got you accessed and got some D5 to avoid an hypoglycaemic episode. Everything was fine, appointment was at 12, but you got in at 1pm! Daddy and I were waiting outside to be called in and Cheryl (nurse) came outside, on her way home to tell us that everything was fine. I asked her to please let us go in, we had to make sure we were there when you woke up and she took Daddy and I in the recovery room. I guess sometimes a bit of pushing is ok... You were out of MRI for about half an hour and still didn't wake up. So, we did a glucose level check, which was a bit on the low side, but still safe, it was 4.3. Cheryl left and I checked your vital signs and started to panic; your Blood pressure was 70/33 and heart rate was 60! I told the nurse to call the anesthetist immediately, and she was standing there telling me that she's not panicking yet... I told her to stop talking to me and start calling the Dr. She found another Dr in the recovery room at the OR (not even the same one who sedated you and left!) and this Dr. (Dr. Bruce) told her that we should bring you to OR, so she can observe you. In the mean time I was trying really hard to wake you up! By God! I have never been so scared in my whole life! My child, the reason of my life, my love wasn't waking up! I was so scared you were going to go into shock and here is this nurse, telling me she's not panicking!!! I managed to wake you up for a second, I asked if you could say "Hi" to me. You tried, but no words were coming out! I kept trying so hard to keep you awake, but your eyes kept closing! By the time we got to OR, the nurse gave you a bolus, at Dr.'s orders and we managed to half wake you, your blood pressure was coming up nicely, the heart rate increased, the glucose level was up at 5.7! The nurse asked Daddy to wait outside and then is when you started talking. You called Daddy, loud and clear! I let Daddy walk out and then I asked Dr. Bruce to please allow Daddy back into the room, because you need both your parents by your side. She asked me to allow the nurses 5 minutes and then they will call Daddy back inside. Dr. Bruce said that now it was safe to let you sleep if you want to, but I was so afraid, so I kept waking you up. Dr. offered a pop-sickle when you are awake enough, but I asked her if you could have some home-made chicken soup, since this is what you always have after a sedation. She said that if you want it, you can have anything! So I asked you if you want to wake up and eat. You woke up right away, ate a thermos full of soup, we got moved to the Same Day Surgery, because we could not be discharged from OR. In SDS, they didn't know how to de-access so we got wheeled to the ward, where Michael de-accessed you on the hallway so we can come home. What a day! What a 2 years!!! But now it's all over, we can start learning how to live our lives normally. 

Two days after all that craziness, Diana came to Canada for 2 weeks, so she's here for the last treatment. She got here on Friday, July 13 and we had 2 FUN weeks. We went to Wonderland, where you wanted to go with Diana on all the rides. Diana went with Daddy on two big rides, as well, but it was all about you, as usual :). After that, we went to Marineland and another day to Toronto Zoo. Then, to celebrate the end of treatment, on July 26, 2012, we went to Niagara Falls and we saw Happy Feet and Sponge Bob on 4D. A couple nights before that, you told me that you wished we could go into the TV to see the Dinosaurs. When I said that is impossible, you said that then you wish they could come out of the TV and that's when I thought about the 3D theaters. Unfortunately, they didn't have any more dinosaurs 3D movies, but you enjoyed the Happy Feet and Sponge Bob. 

To be continued... with pictures! :)

Letter to my Mother-in-law.

That's been a lot happening lately, but about that another day. Now I just want to post a 'letter to Granny". Just if in time I will forget to tell you how important your Granny was to me, here's a little something to always remember; this is the Eulogy I wrote for Granny's funeral service:

You all know what Jean meant to each and everyone of you. So, I will not talk about who Jean was to the world. I will only say a few words about what she meant to me, the role she had in my life for the past 9 years. I could talk about how wonderful she was for days, but you would probably all get hungry, tired and grumpy, so I will try and keep it short.  I lost my own Mother 11 years ago and I, of course, was heartbroken. I wandered in the big, mean world feeling like an orphan for a while, and then I met Jean. She became my second Mother.

She was always there for me if I needed an opinion, an advice or, simply to complain about Graham. There have been times when he’d upset me and I called Mum to tell on him. Now this should tell anyone what an amazing woman she really was; she would listen and advise, but she never judged, she never told me off, even though I was bad-mouthing the son she adored. She was not only my second Mother, but over the years she became my confessor and firstly, my best friend.

I am sure that in all this years I must have said some things that upset her, but she never told me about them. She has never ever said a bad nor mean word to me. She had never felt like a Mother-in-law to me, but only like a Mother. She taught me that it’s not blood ties that make a family, but the love.

She was one of the kindest people I have ever met. Warm, wonderful and with a great sense of humour. One of the very few people who got my jokes. Just ask Graham, he never gets them! The first time I met her, she looked at me and said: “Oh, you are shorter than me!”

I was so scared to meet Graham’s parents! And after half an hour I was not only scared, but embarrassed, too! I couldn’t understand a word they were saying and they couldn’t understand a word I was saying! So Graham was acting as a “their English” to “my English" translator. But over the years I got used to Mum’s accent and she got used to my accent and we talked every day.

She was my best advisor, my go-to person for comfort, the person who would always listen to me when I was upset, sad or simply frustrated, about all things going not-quite easy with Victoria’s treatment. I’m going to miss her wonderful Scottish accent, her loving way, her comforting, I’m going to miss her!
She was also, a wonderful Granny to Victoria. They loved each other dearly and I know Victoria is going to miss her a lot. She was the only Grand-parent Victoria ever knew. I feel sad to know that my child will grow up not knowing the love of a Grandparent. I was one of the lucky people in the world to have 4 marvellous grandparents until late in life, so I know the importance they have in children’s life. Granny used to say “I love you, Darling!” to Victoria in her beautiful Scottish accent and that always put a smile on Victoria’s face. I also know that Granny will tell Grandpa all about Victoria and Chelsea and Alex and together they will watch over the girls.

        Ever since Dad died, there hasn’t been a day go by without Mum missing him. And she left us in time to join Dad up in heaven for their 50^th wedding anniversary. I am sure Dad has been waiting for his beautiful bride to join him.

        I am sad she is not here with us anymore, but I am happy and honoured to have had the privilege to meet her!

We will miss you, Granny and we will always carry you and your love in our hearts.

With love and respect, Nadia.

Happy Birthday, Princess!

Happy Birthday, Love of my life! I can't believe you're 4!!! 4 years ago, our life became complete, we got our Princess, you are perfect, better than I ever dared to dream! And you are still 'our baby'.