Yesterday was a pretty swell day for eating. I managed to eat pretty consistently throughout the day and I think I have things dialed in now. Liquids are not giving me as much trouble as they have in the past. I can manage to drink things fairly easily and I do not feel crazy full afterwards. I think it is a safe method to stretch out my stomach a bit. I need to make sure that I do not drink more than a shot glass at a time still though. Today I thought that every thing was going smoothly. Alas, it seems that I actually do not have absolutely everything figured out. I did a lot this morning in a short amount of time and was busy constantly from 7am until 3pm. Previously I had said that when I am done eating I need to make sure I get burped like a baby or stand up after eating. Well today since I was running around for most of the morning I had 10 minutes to eat prior to a meeting. During this time I debriefed with a colleague prior and ate quickly. I ended up vomiting after about 10 or 15 minutes as the meeting was starting. I did not eat too much but it just did not sit well. Most likely because I was trying to eat fast prior to meeting. That was quite the foolish mistake.
Mel told the boys to make sure that I did not shovel but I had to a couple of times this morning per the standard that exists for our driveway. I think that cost me a bit as I was rushing things. The weather was atrocious today and I went to pick up Xavier from school to take him to practice. I was on a call the whole time and he was not showing up. For some reason he did not think I was going to get him. He will not make it on time if he needs to take the bus home so I do not know what he was thinking. My parents snow blower broke down so they asked me to get it fixed for them. I brought it to the shop this morning as it is down the street and they called to tell me it was repaired this afternoon. We picked it up after Xavier’s hockey. His goalie equipment was pushed to the front of the van and we put the snowblower behind it. As I did not want it in the vehicle we decided to drive it over to my parents. Xavier took it out himself for my parents and since he was paying attention when we picked up the snowblower he remembered what they told me and reminded me to tell my parents. As he is Asian he uses the cheap gas in the snowblower which is not great. We always use premium and it runs awesomely. I shared this with him and he just nodded. I suspect he will not change. What he did decide to do however is buy a backup electric one from Walmart for $200. He will keep it just on case. They have a brand new KitchenAid mixer downstairs because last year we night them a new one. The one they have now is not completely broken yet so they are waiting. About 10 or 15 years ago we bought them a Weber charcoal BBQ because that is what they wanted. It is still in the box downstairs in storage because they found a cheap one at Superstore and it is not broken yet. Perhaps they are saving it and will hand it down to the kids when they get married.
As we were driving home I sent a message to Olivier to shovel and he did it without complaint. I think Mel is paying him, but not at the same rate that Xavier was paid. He normally does a decent enough job but today it was not as good as he normally does. When Xavier and i got home 90 minutes later with takeout food we went inside to eat and the two boys went back out to shovel. I told them that they will need to shovel again later this evening. They have done a fantastic job of taking care of the driveway.
Tomorrow we are expecting delivery of our new furniture for our coffee area. We will need to move some furniture around tomorrow. I am not sure exactly where we will put all of our current furniture but we can figure that out later. Xavier is strong enough to move things with Mel now. I am pretty sure that right now I am the weakest in the household. Olivier is stronger than I am. I appreciate how he is starting to become more accountable and doing things on his own. When he manages to block up the toilet he will get the plunger and fix it himself. He will only get me when he seems to be struggling a bit. As he knows that Mel is not around he is far more responsible at night and gets ready for bed and does the whole routine by himself. When Mel is home there is constant yelling for Mel. With me he is mature and reliable. I suspect Mel told him not to stress me out with things. It is sad that this is the memory of me that Olivier will remember as for the majority of his life I have been sick with cancer while Xavier has memories of me when he was younger and I would rough house with him.
Today I met a new colleague and she told me about how she knew someone with cancer. She asked me if I believed in God and I told her I am not sure. While chatting she told me that her friend that she knew has battled cancer 8 times and that he saw it as a blessing. I am not sure if I would call it a blessing but I understand the sentiment. She told me that it made him focus on the positive and it changes the way you look at life. That is something that I do believe. This experience makes you evaluate what is important to you. I know that Mel gets mad at me sometimes for the things that I prioritize like helping out others instead of resting or working more than I should. I find it difficult to sit and do nothing if I know I can help. That is probably why a lot of my friends have told their kids that I help to not bother me. I do not mind helping them though. I would offer help to my son but he rarely does homework at home and is very independent. He will try and figure it out himself and it is rare that he asks for help. On the rare occasion that he does need help he will chat with Mel. She needs practice with her French so he asks her to help her out. She only grew up in a French household and stopped taking courses in French at University. Unlike me who is a seasoned pro in languages. Even today while I did not feel great during my meeting my colleagues reached out and asked me if I was ok. They are aware of how foolish I am and would most likely boot me from a meeting if they did not think I was doing well. I need to make sure that I do not do stupid things and everything will be awesome.
QHM