A Great Trip To Vancouver.

Just Arrived At Roger’s Arena. L-R Tim, Oliver, Ben and Me

On Tuesday Jan.02 Ben drove Tim, Oliver and myself to Vancouver to watch our beloved Vancouver Canucks play the Anaheim Ducks at ice hockey. There was another reason for the trip too, and that was to allow Tim to attend a morning clinic at St. Paul’s hospital next morning.

We arrived at the hotel in time for us to have a little break and then we were off to Roger’s Arena for door opening and to watch the teams warm-up.

Oliver was pumped to be there.

Oliver was excited to be there…we all were and were hoping to see the depleted Canucks team put on a good show vs the Ducks. Sadly it was not to be as the home team was blanked 5-0 by the visitors. However, it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for the trip. After the game we had a meal then hit the sack for a reasonably early start next day.

We drove to St. Paul’s next morning and following X-rays, ECGs, and two hours of meetings with medical people, Tim was allowed to leave. His overall check up went well and everyone there was pleased with his progress. He sure is doing a good job of caring for his health.

We managed to catch the 1pm ferry and the ride home was uneventful thanks to our very competent driver Ben. It had been a great time together. I loved it and I think the others did too.

Thank you Lord for a great medical team at St. Paul’s, Your loving care for my son and my whole family.

‘Bye for now and God bless.

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What A Difference A Year Makes.

Well

 

Cardiac Intensive Care At St. Paul’s Hospital-Dec. 2014

Well folks, one year ago today Tim received his second transplanted heart. A year has gone by, the days have flown past and all our lives are so changed from what they were a year ago.

Our family is so thankful for the gift of life. We thank our gracious and loving God, a courageous donor family, an amazing medical team of surgeons, nurses and doctors. We are also in awe of the on-going love and support  (of all kinds) of family and friends, locally and the world over.

As we look forward to celebrating the birth of the babe of Bethlehem, our prayer is that peace would replace war, love would replace hate, and that we would all be able to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Summer 2015 With Andi, Charlotte and Oliver.

Merry Christmas, God bless and ‘bye for now.

Time In Vancouver

The Kooza big top from the Georgia St. viaduct.

On Tuesday past we left for Vancouver with Tim, his family and Jo, Andi’s Mum. The object of the trip was to allow Tim to attend medical appointments at St. Paul’s hospital on Wednesday morning and Thursday morning. All appointments were kept on time and the general results were good.

Early in November, Charlotte had her birthday. As her birthday gift she had been promised a visit to see Kooza, the Cirque du Soleil performance showing in Vancouver. Andi and Tim thought it made good sense to book the show for the same time as Tim’s appointments in Vancouver. The grandparents, Jo, Cynthia and I, got an invitation to go too, so we accepted without hesitation. The show was brilliant, a mixture of circus and Las Vegas and we all thoroughly enjoyed it, even the nail biting, breath holding bits!

Two minute penalties for holding

Following Tim’s appointments on Thursday, and before returning home via the ferry, we also managed to squeeze in a one hour tour of Rogers Arena. For those of you reading this overseas, the arena is the home of our Vancouver Canucks professional ice-hockey team. The tour took us from level 5, the top of the arena, all the way back down to level 1, the entry level. We saw private suites, the broadcast gondola, the restaurants, the administrations’ boxes, media rooms so on so forth. We even got right down to ice-level and were able to sit in the penalty box! The only places we were unable to see which might have been fun, were the Canucks’ and visitors’ changing rooms, as they were in use for practice, by the Canucks and visiting Dallas Stars. If you haven’t been on such a tour, I would recommend it to you.

The days passed quickly, all went well with Tim and the family had a great time together.

‘Bye for now and God bless.

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Home…For Good!

Cuddles With Dad

Yesterday I had the pleasure of bringing Tim home from Vancouver…for good. Ten weeks and two days after his surgery for a second heart transplant, Tim was able to say goodbye to the IC nurses,  heart ward (5A) nurses, surgical staff, the transplant clinic staff, the physio department and Healthy Heart staff.

We cleaned the apartment on Harwood St., returned the keys to the Heart Home Society (and once again thank you Judy, Peter and Susie Quinn and Ron Bayne ) and caught the ferry.

It was so good to see Tim going into his house, with And and the kids beside him. As I went home to our place after dropping him off, I thanked God for all that has happened over the past weeks, for the amazing people at St. Paul’s and for the donor family, all of whom made this gift of life for Tim happen.

Love to all of you for your support for Tim and our whole family. ‘Bye for now and God bless.