Hospital Report

We had our grandchildren stay with us overnight yesterday, had breakfast together, and saw them off to school this morning. This afternoon, we picked them up from school, and they, my wife, and I visited Derek in the hospital. He is in very good shape, taking some painkillers, but otherwise fine. An intravenous tube keeps his electrolytes balanced, and he won't be having any food for a couple of days at least. So he'll be losing some weight, but he was back to slightly above his normal weight before, so it should be relatively little. The operation itself took about half an hour.

Because we were looking after the kids, our daughter-in-law stayed with Derek since he went to the hospital to have the operation this morning. All of us (except Derek, of course) went to dinner at Earl's after our visit - Derek was getting tired, and we didn't want to make it hard on him. My wife and I got back about 45 minutes ago - the kids went home with mom, after going back to his hospital room to say "goodnight".

All of us hope to have him back home within a week.

They grow up, too

We have two nieces (my wife's sister's daughters), whom we've known since they were born. When they were babies, we baby-sat them many times, with all the attendant "activities" which looking after babies entails. The older one now has a daughter of her own. The younger one just graduated from Simon Fraser University. We congratulate her for this wonderful achievement.

She studied hard over several years, including on-line courses, which I think requires extra motivation. Myself, I've always done better with my studies in class. The exposure to other students' perception of course content always was a help in my own understanding of it. So, for her to do at least part of her studies "on her own" really elicits my admiration.

Our niece's graduation is a "high point" in our family history. We're all very proud of her.

Reconnected

Derek just phoned to tell us that he came through the "reconnect" operation just fine - he's already sitting up, and feeling quite well. The operation was done through the existing hole where his ileostomy bag used to be - no new incision was necessary. No doubt, Derek is happy about that. We all hope that his recovery is uneventful, and that he'll be back on regular food soon. It'll be a great improvement in Derek's quality of life - he's been vocal about what hindrance the ileostomy bag has been and how it restricted many of his activities. On the other hand, of course, it was a necessity. There was always the hope that he'd be able to get rid of it - that has now happened. If all goes well, it'll be one less hurdle in Derek's fight with cancer.