The Bauckham sisters with their mother I was delighted when my cousin Blanche drove from Petawawa (approximately 250 miles from Toronto) to visit me in the hospital. Blanche is my only relative in Canada except for my two daughters and two grandchildren. She and I are second cousins. Our fathers were first cousins and good…
The ‘bus’ in the subject line is not a typo. It’s an acknowledgement that chemo can leave you feeling more like you’ve been hit by a bus and you’re lying on the road rather than lying in a bed, even a hospital bed. My second round of chemo on November 1st caught me by surprise,…
One thing that kept me positive during hospital stays was a connection with people — from the doctors and nurses to housekeepers and security guards, to other patients, they all brought something special into my life. The big smile on the face of the security guard who grew up in a tiny village in Russia…
In the beginning In the 1970s, life was full of love and peace and Volkswagen vans covered in psychedelic art. Fraser and I sold our belongings, bought a van and joined the movement with our eighteen-month-old daughter Tanya. We left Toronto in September heading west with no real plan other than if the money lasted…
Other than the well-controlled asthma that I’ve had since I was a child and seasonal allergies, I haven’t been sick for 30 years. I hadn’t seen a doctor since before COVID when my family doctor closed his practice. This spring I set some health-related goals – go to the dentist, get my eyes checked and…
The second day I was in Michael Garron, my kids visited in the afternoon. That night about midnight, I got a call from my 14-year-old grandson, Caelan. “Jana, I’m at the hospital, where are you?” “Caelan, it’s midnight, they won’t let you in.” “Oh, I’m in,” he replied, “I just can’t remember the floor number.”…
Maddie was getting worried. For the 100th time, she went over in her mind what Susan had asked her to do. Take the keys, lock the main doors and then meet me at the staff entrance at the back of the library. That is exactly what Susan had asked and exactly what Maddie had done.…
It started just like any other day. She got up at five, scrubbed her face and brushed her teeth, ate her usual bowl of rolled oats with sliced bananas and 1 percent milk. She dressed in her navy blue uniform, pulled her mousy brown hair back into a tight bun, put on the same coat…
The house at 322 Dixon Road looked much like all the others in the neighbourhood: semi-detached, two-story, brick — painted white, dark grey door, enclosed front porch, with a bedraggled end-of-March-looking front yard covered in dead leaves, depleted-looking soil and straggly shrubs with the odd snowdrop peeking above ground as if to say, “Don’t give…
Edith was washing dishes when she heard Aggie Thomas calling from the front steps. “Oh for goodness sake,” said Edith, “can’t she just leave me alone? She`s here to share gossip, mark my words.” “Jack,” she said to her husband who was lying on the couch demanding his second cup of tea, “you’ll have to…