best wishes

September 1, 2004

Good luck Shara with the biopsy. Do plan to rest and take it easy for a

day at least afterward.

, I hope everything goes well for you. I will think about you on

the 13th and try and send you positive energy. That is the day that I

will be addressing my thousand questions with my neph, since I learned

of my diagnosis. Your words are very encouraging and I admire your

strength...thank you.

Pierre, good luck with the move. I am so glad you have people to help

you. You said you were in Ottawa correct? It is a very pretty town and

I visit there a few times a year for work. Where approximately will you

be moving? What I do like about Ottawa is the canal and the skating in

the winter time and the winter festival is quite something else.

Vancouver is beautiful, but in a completely different way. I actually

live out in the Valley in Abbotsford and commute to downtown everyday

for work and all my docs are over at St s hospital...so that is

convenient. But that way I do get to experience the rural country life

(although Abby is growing very fast), the city life, the beaches, the

mountains...can't ask for much more. Except perhaps better

health...lol!

Congratulations Bonnie. I am still raising little ones, so I know I

will be more appreciate of grand-motherhood when its time. My mother

assures me it is the best!

Rita, today is the day you rid yourself of the fleas...Yeah! I hate

those pesky little things, hope you are itch-free soon.

Thank you to everyone for all your communications and words or wisdom,

hope and encouragement. It has been very helpful to read and learn from

your experiences. I have been quite anxious waiting to talk to my neph

and some days are worse than others, because I don't know at what stage

I am in, how my test results are, what I should or could be doing to

help improve the situation etc. I am not very good at waiting. It has

caused some emotional stress too. I work a lot, have 3 kids and well

trying to keep it all together. My Bp has been pretty stable, until last

night it was very high. I haven't been feeling a 100% lately, very

tired, dizzy...nothing really obvious, just " off " . I just want to get a

baseline and input from the docs on what to do next. I am counting

sleeps until I see her. Your notes have all been very helpful in

putting my mind more at ease and also providing me with lots of

questions for my neph. Keep em coming.

S - Vancouver, BC

September 1, 2004

Hi .

I will actually be only about 4 blocks from the Rideau Canal, just off Bank

Street, 5 or 6 blocks down from Parliament Hill. Right now, I live in the west

end of the city, near Britannia Beach.

By the way, I know Abbotsford very well. When I was in training at CFB

Chilliwack, we had what they called an " escape and evasion " exercise. They

dropped us off the back of a truck somewhere outside of Langley, and, dressed in

black overalls and armed with one day's supply of rations, we had to make it

back to base in small groups of four without being caught. My group ended up

spending most of the night stalking through Abbotsford, hoping we could evade

detection by hugging the base of the mountain. Unfortunately, we were picked up

at daybreak and I had to spend the rest of the exercise blindfolded as a

" prisoner of war " .

Another time, one Christmas Eve, when I was living in , BC, I flew

across to Vancouver for an evening flight home to Ottawa. Once there in

Vancouver, the airport became hopelessly fogged in, and I spent the night in the

terminal hoping to get on the first flight whenever it happened. By next

morning, Vancouver was still heavily fogged-in and closed, but the fog had

lifted in Abbottsford, and Air Canada bused passengers to the little airport

there instead... and I made it home in time for Christmas dinner.

Mission, Abbotsford, Agassiz, Chilliwack, Cultus Lake... all those places, I

know them well. It's out of this world beautiful around there.

Pierre