Last night I slept for 6 hours straight. Something that I have not done in a very long time. It was a sign of things to come through out the day. I worked through the day without much issue and picked up Xavier and Olivier at different times. At lunch time Xavier cooked sausages on the BBQ by himself and I made some beef tartare. I did not realize that we did not have any baguette crisps so I had to make some. I ate half the sausage and Xavier had 1.5 sausages. We smacked on the tartare through the afternoon. We eventually ended up leaving for Toronto at 4:30 and I drove the whole way. I had bought Xavier a steak for dinner and he cooked it himself and sent over a photo. He cooked it perfectly to rare like he loves it and ate it. It is very reassuring that he can take care of himself and cook his own meals and clean up after himself. When he eventually moves out I will not be too worried a out him or Olivier. Olivier loves McDonald’s while Xavier does not, so this time we stopped and I had my usual McDouble some fries and a drink. It has been a while since I have been able to eat a whole burger, some fries and a drink. Today I was able to accomplish that and drive to Vaughan without much fatigue. Mel thought that perhaps we would be able to take the trailer somewhere further if I am able to drive for this length of time. We stopped at Vaughan Mills mall and we went in and shopped for a bit. I did not think that I needed my wheelchair as it was going to be quick and the store we were going to was right by the entrance. We ended up going to several stores and then I started to feel fatigue in my legs and quickly left to find some seating. With a bit of rest we went to another store and then back to the hotel before a quick stop to Walmart. I think that I have been improving considerably since Spain and the markers have been decreasing. Mel thinks that if all of this is working maybe we should go back to Spain and blast my stomach again to see if things get better. We will need to wait and see the CT scans and it is difficult to ascertain what actually impacted the reduction but things are trending quite positively especially considering that my weight has been quite stable with slight weight increases while you can visibly see weight gain on my face and body. Tuesday before treatment is my peak day and today is Friday and so far things have been fantastic. Muscle atrophy prevents lengthy walking so I still need to rely on my wheelchair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We had the people come today to tear up the basement. When the guy came on Wednesday he did not think that we would be prepared for Friday and he even called to confirm whether we wanted to switch the day till Monday. Mel said no it would be done. When he arrived this morning he was kind of in shock and quite impressed that Mel was able to do it all. He asked how she managed to do it and she mentioned that she had help from her family. We could have had even more help if we had asked, but 4 of them were able to completely pack up the basement and when Xavier returned carry everything upstairs or into the garage. It was quite the impressive feat considering how much stuff we had. He praised Mel for her work and ability to do it. The crew that we had over was young and it amuses me the difference in perception between young people and seasoned people. The younger people did not think that the damage was that bad or they incorrectly assessed things that were actually not true with utmost confidence. One of the workers said that we had roaches in the wall and we should take care of it. Mel’s cousin use to do pest control for a living and he did not believe it. Mel sent him a photo and he correctly diagnosed it before seeing the photo and once he saw the photo he said that it was just an earwig. The workers also did not stress too much about swelling in one area of the shower and did not think it was a big deal. The project manager disagreed though and told them to remove more parts. All of the wood at the bottom was swelled and in the future if there was an issue it would have been on them for not identifying it and correcting it when they had a chance. So we will end up with new carpet throughout and a new bathroom. There was significant water coming up through the tiles when we had first found the issue so I think that he is right while the younger crew was not. The attitude of the crew was quite interesting where they would argue amongst each other about work or what needs to be done. They knew that we were in the house so I thought it was an interesting approach. I would not tolerate my employees saying and doing a lot of the things that this group did. I would also expect more cohesion amongst my team. When we demoed our upstairs we had done it ourselves with some help from friends. Everyone knew what to do and worked like a unit. This team would do nothing unless they were explicitly told by someone. As a team that had worked together it was odd. When I was at Vale I could rotate anyone in or have any sort of group or pair and they would work jointly and be able to resolve everything. It was interesting to watch and to hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tomorrow is Renaissance Fair and we are not sure what time we will be done at, but once done we will make plans. There are some stores that I would like to go to and buy things. We may go either tomorrow or Sunday morning time permitting. They are groceries so ideally if we went on Sunday morning it would work, but I will need to wait and see. I want to go to the Lebanese grocery store to get some things, pick up some Portuguese tarts, some baguettes and some Asian groceries that we are out of. We will see what happens tomorrow and this whole weekend. Right now I feel more like I did prior to my decline around this time last year. So far I am beating the odds and would like to continue doing that. I think I have the pattern and rhythm down. I just had to remember the 3 key rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Be awesome <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Do not suck<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Championship effort<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As long as I follow those rules this is all easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
QHM<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last night I slept for 6 hours straight. Something that I have not done in a very long time. It was a sign of things to come through out the day. I worked through the day without much issue and picked up Xavier and Olivier at different times. At lunch time Xavier cooked sausages on…<\/p>\n