Recently I lead a trip to Europe. It was a school trip comprised of students from my school, parents and staff. It was an excellent tour package: Ireland, Scotland, and England - we even got to spend one of our nights in Wales just to allow us to say we had done the entire UK. This is the fourth such trip that I have lead - I have developed a tradition of picking Kim up a piece of jewelry on each trip. The practice is one that I have grown fond of as it is a way that I can bring back a piece of art that Kim really enjoys which reminds me of the trip each time Kim wears the piece.
The last trip, like all of the others, was fantastic. All of the planning that had to be done to get the trip off of the ground was rewarded with spectacular vistas, great photo opportunities and good food. How then in the midst of such an enjoyable experience could MS possibly rear its ugly head you might rightly ask? Well it was the evening of our fifth day of touring and we were staying in Dublin. After the students were bedded down I retired to my room to write the day's activities in my travel journal. I also, at this point in the day, make a point of going through my camera to delete any photos that did not turn out so as to free up the memory card for the following day.
It was during this activity that I had a painful epiphany. I was looking at some digital photos that I had taken of various groups at tables during supper - we had even had the waiter take a picture of our table for posterity; it was while I was going though these photos that I realized that Kim was missing. It is not like I was not aware that Kim was not with me - I was cognizant of that, it is just that at this particular moment I keenly felt her absence; as I reflected upon the larger implications that my realization had that I was overcome with a true sense of loss.
When you get married to someone you have that romantic notion that you will see the world together, have children, grow old together, etc. Well at this moment when sitting there with my camera I realized with painful clarity that Kim and I were not sharing these Kodak moments with each other. This was a powerful realization and while it did not "ruin" the rest of my trip to the UK it certainly was in my mind each time that I picked up the camera to shoot anything else for the duration of the trip.
On a positive note Kim has always been super supportive of my travelling the globe. It is very big hearted of her to support me in my travel endeavors without ever so much as a grimace - even though I know that it saddens her greatly to be left behind. Did I ever mention that I was married to a wonderful woman!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Living in Support of Someone Living with MS Entry 1
Let me start by saying, "I hate MS!" I do not mean that I possess a passing dislike for the disease, and all of the damage and pain that it causes, but rather a deep seated, visceral hatred of the disease. I say this for a number of reasons some of which I intend to explore or share with those of you masochistic enough to follow my blogging on the topic.
It all started with a routine visit to the doctor, by my wife, at the end of our first year out west. We had just relocated from Wolfville, Nova Scotia to Keg River, Alberta, in the summer of 2000, where I was beginning my career as a secondary school humanities teacher at Dr. Mary Jackson School. Kim, the love of my life and the one living with this insidious disease on a daily basis, went to see her doctor in Manning. During the course of our first year in Alberta we had settled on a family doctor at the Manning Hospital. In the midst of that very busy, financially strained, first year in the North Kim repeatedly found herself in our doctor's office; a two hour round trip from our new home located on the school grounds in Keg River.
Kim was experiencing a re-occurrence of headaches that had plagued her prior to the birth of our second child, Kathleen. During her visit to our doctor, Dr. Lohlun [sp], a new arrival in Manning, Kim recounted her experience with her headaches. Unlike other doctors that Kim had visited, because he was young and new to the area, or because he was extremely insightful I will never know, he proceeded to give real attention to what she was saying. He asked about other issues she might have been having. Kim explained to him that she had experienced, in addition to crippling headaches, occasional blurred vision, poor coordination - thinking she had a hold on an item only to have it hit the floor seconds later - something that had always been attributed by her, family members and others to a naturally occurring clumsiness; that was often the object of self-effacing humor on Kim's part.
After hearing her out, Dr, Lohlun asked her if she would be willing to undergo some other, more extensive testing. Kim agreed and in April or May of 2001 I drove Kim to Grande Prairie Hospital for her CAT Scan; in September of the same year Kim drove herself to Grande Prairie again for her first MRI. It was a few weeks afterwards that Lohlun contacted Kim for a follow up visit. It was at this time that he confirmed his earlier suspicions and that was that she did indeed fit the medical profile of someone suffering from Multiple Sclerosis; however, this he indicated needed to be confirmed by a neurologist.
This resulted in more visits to specialists for further testing and interpreting. This occupied much of our time and resources for the coming year at the end of which Dr. Norbert Witt was able to definitively state that Kim did indeed have MS. At the time I do not think that either of us fully understood or appreciated the implications that were associated with this pronouncement of sentence. One that ten years later continues to impact our daily lives, the lives of our children and those around us.
The writings on this blog will chronicle and examine the disease from what can only be deemed as a very personal perspective. Errors in events, times, dates, and the like are mine alone; as too are the feelings expressed herein.
Welcome
It all started with a routine visit to the doctor, by my wife, at the end of our first year out west. We had just relocated from Wolfville, Nova Scotia to Keg River, Alberta, in the summer of 2000, where I was beginning my career as a secondary school humanities teacher at Dr. Mary Jackson School. Kim, the love of my life and the one living with this insidious disease on a daily basis, went to see her doctor in Manning. During the course of our first year in Alberta we had settled on a family doctor at the Manning Hospital. In the midst of that very busy, financially strained, first year in the North Kim repeatedly found herself in our doctor's office; a two hour round trip from our new home located on the school grounds in Keg River.
Kim was experiencing a re-occurrence of headaches that had plagued her prior to the birth of our second child, Kathleen. During her visit to our doctor, Dr. Lohlun [sp], a new arrival in Manning, Kim recounted her experience with her headaches. Unlike other doctors that Kim had visited, because he was young and new to the area, or because he was extremely insightful I will never know, he proceeded to give real attention to what she was saying. He asked about other issues she might have been having. Kim explained to him that she had experienced, in addition to crippling headaches, occasional blurred vision, poor coordination - thinking she had a hold on an item only to have it hit the floor seconds later - something that had always been attributed by her, family members and others to a naturally occurring clumsiness; that was often the object of self-effacing humor on Kim's part.
After hearing her out, Dr, Lohlun asked her if she would be willing to undergo some other, more extensive testing. Kim agreed and in April or May of 2001 I drove Kim to Grande Prairie Hospital for her CAT Scan; in September of the same year Kim drove herself to Grande Prairie again for her first MRI. It was a few weeks afterwards that Lohlun contacted Kim for a follow up visit. It was at this time that he confirmed his earlier suspicions and that was that she did indeed fit the medical profile of someone suffering from Multiple Sclerosis; however, this he indicated needed to be confirmed by a neurologist.
This resulted in more visits to specialists for further testing and interpreting. This occupied much of our time and resources for the coming year at the end of which Dr. Norbert Witt was able to definitively state that Kim did indeed have MS. At the time I do not think that either of us fully understood or appreciated the implications that were associated with this pronouncement of sentence. One that ten years later continues to impact our daily lives, the lives of our children and those around us.
The writings on this blog will chronicle and examine the disease from what can only be deemed as a very personal perspective. Errors in events, times, dates, and the like are mine alone; as too are the feelings expressed herein.
Welcome
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