What a difference a day makes!

Good evening :)

Well I just returned from seeing my little sister Angela and let me tell you....Wow, what a difference a day makes. I had my daughter here this weekend so I did not go to the hospital yesterday but received regular updates from my family. They told me that there had been improvements but of course, being me, I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

As soon as I walked in the room I got a little grin from Angela and right then I knew that we were going in the right direction. Ang is able to recognize people now, is able to squeeze your hand, wiggle her toes and blink all on command now. This tells me that the fighter in her is still alive and kicking and is not about to give in to this. I sat by the bedside and actually watched TV with her tonight. Throughout my time there I joked with her about various things and I could tell she appreciated my humour (even if it was lame). Every time Angela would cough, she'd raise her eyebrows as if to say "Gawd, I just want to get better and get out of this place.

Apparently sleep hasn't been high on Ang's priority list over the past few days so I told her to close her eyes and rest or I'd duct tape them closed and force her to sleep. ;) Believe it or not, she must have thought I was serious because when I began to stroke her forehead and hair, she closed her eyes for me. That moment between us was precious but even more precious was when I told her I was going to head home and let her rest, kissed her on the forehead and told her I loved her. Angela shocked the heck out of me by mouthing "I love you too" back to me. Needless to say I called mom and dad and told them the news on the way home and they were happy happy happy :)

Even though Ang and I have not been the closest of siblings in the past, I think tonight was a turning point in many ways.

Now that Angela has reached this point, I think that visitors are equally if not more important to her. I think she will be able to appreciate more, the number of people who have come out already, to cheer her on, to pray and hope for a full recovery. Its going to be a long road for Ang, but with the amount of family and friends that have been there to support her thus far, I KNOW she's going to come out on top of this a survivor.

Good night to all.

Ed

my lil sis (4)

What a wonderful day it was yesterday. Angela made some definite forward progress throughout the day. She was able to respond to commands such as "blink twice and squeeze my hand". You could also tell that she understood what was going on around her even though she was not verbally able to respond. My sister Karen joked about how she had 2 hot male nurses and Angela was able to raise her eyebrows and almost produce a grin.

Although the doctors tell us she still has a long road ahead of her (with all the family along side her every step of the way) it was so good to hear the happiness in my parent's and sister's voices. Its been an exhausting 8 day for all of us and Angela was able to give us that glimmer of hope to let us all know that it was all worth every second of every day.

Its been the family coming together and rallying, as well as all of our beautiful friends out there that have offered their support, kind thoughts, visits and prayers that have made this happen. You are all truly amazing people.

I will try to update later this evening after I visit Angela.

Sincerely,

Ed

My lil sis (3)

Yesterday, a tracheotomy was performed on Angela. This was done because the throat air tube can only stay in for 7-8 days before the possibility of infection, scarring etc sets in. During this time, they also did a lung biopsy and also got a "Lumbar Puncture" which, if you have ever had an epidural, you can appreciate the discomfort of it. This test is used for extracting fluid for testing. They are testing for meningitis as well as a number of other possibilities.

The CAT scan performed did not show any signs of bleeding in the brain but the EEG did show some signs of seizure activity.

Angela is still quite swollen everywhere, including the brain (encephalopathy)??.

Her lungs are not clear but a chest x-ray is performed daily to monitor progress.

I noticed a lot more coughing from Angela since the new trach was put into her throat but I'm sure this due to the newness of it.

I won't bother to list all of the different tubes coming and going from the poor girl's body but I'll just say that there are a lot!

An MRI was completed yesterday and hopefully we will know more today of the results. The Neurologist is coming in this morning for a consult with Angela.

This morning when I talked with Angela's Primary Nurse, he said that he was getting some "Command Responses" from her. (She could lightly squeeze his hand and wiggle her toes on command) and was otherwise a quiet night for her. Soooooooo, these are good signs. Its nice to see some forward progression for Ang, it gives us all a little more confidence that she'll recover.


I'm sure I've forgotten small details but I think this is the gist of it! Its been a very long 8 days for all of us and we appreciate all that everyone has done.

Very sincerely,

The McDade's

My lil sis (2)

Hi all:

The previous and next few posts will undoubtedly be about my little sister's progress so please bare with me as I feel that it is substantially more important than my current state of health. I have absolutely no problem with you shifting the powerful momentum that has kept me going over to my sister now....she needs all the help we can muster. wink wink

Well I just returned from the hospital after spending some time with Angela and here is where her health stands:

The CAT scan results came back showing no abnormalities.
Ang still has an elevated temperature of 38.6 degrees
Still requiring 50% oxygen at this point.

Neurologist visited her today and ordered an MRI and an EG. EG has been completed and MRI is scheduled for 10:45pm this evening. I believe the concern is that since Angela has been taken off the sedative drugs for almost 48 hrs now, the staff feel that she should be more responsive to stimulus such as a command etc. On a positive note, Angela seems to be able to at least hear what is going on around her at this point. Her eyes will open if you speak to her and she seems to be able to focus on you for 5-7 seconds before returning to the "gaze". It was very cute to actually see her yawn twice while my dad and I were there this evening. I'm not sure if a yawn is a reflexive reaction or...? Irregardless, it was the first time I was able to smile while in that room.

The MRI and EG results will be reviewed by the Neurologist hopefully tomorrow and with any luck, he'll be able to answer some on the unknowns regarding Ang's current state and quality of life moving forward.

Once again, myself and my family appreciate all your kind thoughts,acts of kindness and prayers through this most trying time.

Sincerely,

The McDade Family

My lil sis

Hello :)

For anyone who happens to read my blog, as a favour to me, I'd like you to please redirect your thoughts and prayers to my younger sister Angela. Angela has been in the Critical Care Trauma Centre at the new Victoria Hospital since Friday, after being transferred from St.Thomas. Angela we have found out had developed a severe pneumonia. This Pneumonia was/is bad enough that her lungs were not even visible on an x-ray. Angela's lungs were not functioning to get the oxygen to the bloodstream and therefore she required 100% mechanical assistance to breathe from Friday until today. They have eliminated the sedative drugs today in hoping that we will get some kind of stimulated response from her whether that be a physical response to a question or some type of controlled body movement. We will see what transpires over the next few days regarding that.

At the time of writing, Ang has developed a bit of a fever but as the nursing staff had said..."we've messed around with her quite a bit today so this is not totally uncommon"

This is going to be a long haul for Angela and the family I think. There is some heart muscle damage that we know of but it is secondary right now to getting her lungs functioning again. Angela is a working single mom of 3 great kids ranging from ages 7 to 17.

Firstly I would like to thank my family for being able to unite as a family unit during this crisis. Its times like this when we all need to form that circle and not let go. Angela needs to be our common focus and I am positive we will continue to make this happen until she pulls through this.

To our family friends....thank you for all you support thus far. I know it makes a world of difference to my parents and sisters.

To my sister's and my friends...again, I also thank you for the kind words and prayers for Angela. Once again, you've shown what true friends are all about.

Your acts of kindness have ranged from prepared food to just being there, popping in for a visit at the hospital and offering a warm hug.

Thank you all and please keep "Angie Pangie" in your thoughts and prayers.

Most Sincerely,

Ed

WE DID IT FINALLY!!!!!

Well my friends, we finally made it to the land where dreams and wishes do come true. Yes, we finally made the trip to DISNEY!!

What a trip it was. Without having any of you fall asleep on your keyboard, I will attempt to give you the Readers Digest version of our trip.

Our trip started out on October 21st at 6am with Back Ty Limo Service picking us up at my house. Both myself and Faith had never been in a limo so I thought it would be nice to start the trip off with a "first" even before the sun rose that day. For my Cami friends, you may remember the owner of Black Ty Limo, Jammie D. He was our driver that morning and my thanks go out to him for his excellent service and his thoughtfulness by providing us with a great discount for his service.

To backtrack for a second...we ended up extending our trip on the front end by two days because Westjet's flights were booked solid on the day we intended to leave. No fault of Westjet, it was my last minute planning. So that being said, we now had 2 days to relax and enjoy the resort at Disney before we hit the parks. I ended up renting a 4 wheeled scooter for the 5 days that we spent at the resort and Disney. It certainly came in handy and saved on some exhaustion I'm sure!

For Faith, I think the highlight of our time at the Magic Kingdom was getting to see all the characters and getting her "Princess Make-over". The make-over was amazing. Faith got to choose everything she wanted to wear from her shoes all the way up to her hair and crown. The Fairy Godmother that did her makeover totally fit the part. She was a very attractive woman in her late fifties I'd think, with long grey/white hair. All throughout the makeover, she'd be whispering Faith's ear, telling her stories etc. The look on my daughter's face was absolutely priceless. I was so happy that I was able to capture it on video and camera. That hour of watching her getting her makeover will forever be in my heat. The kid made her Dad melt;)

After 3 days of Disney, we embarked on a 4 day cruise on the Disney Wonder ship. Our accommodations were fabulous and I was lucky enough to get us a stateroom with a huge balcony facing the rear of the ship. There were so many activities on the ship that I'd have to say that we enjoyed it more than Disney itself!! Every night, Faith's bed would be turned down by our attendant (Ferdy) who would make an animal out of a white towel (Towel Origami?) and have it waiting on her bed. Faith was excited every evening to see what surprise he had left for her.

During the cruise we stopped at 2 ports of call: Nassau Bahamas and Castaway Cay, which is a private island owned by Disney.

Everything about the trip was fabulous, especially the cruise. I will never be able to thank everyone enough, who contributed in one way or another to make this dream become reality. I will forever be in your debt and I will never forget the kindness you have all shown during this trying period in my life. You've helped form some of the best memories possible for both myself and Faith. For that I thank you.

I do have to admit that the trip did wear me out somewhat so I'm just slowly now trying to get back on my feet figuratively speaking, and get things back to normal. In other words, be patient with me when it comes to phone calls, e-mails etc. (I know....I sound like a broken record)


I truly would like to acknowledge the following kind-hearted people who helped to make this happen (If I have missed anyone, please accept my apologies in advance) The names are in no particular order:

My Cami Automotive Inc family (both hourly and salary)
Dawn, Lynn and Bernie Ruddick
Michele and Con Manicom
Norma Joyes and Gary Jasper
My loving parents
Marilyn and Robert Thompson
Brent Barton
Lynn Johnston and Joe Blanche
Lori Cadotte
My Military Family
Brad and Jenn Norman
Westjet Airlines
Black Ty Limousine
Tanners Studio

You have all made a little girl's dream come true and allowed her Dad to pocket some very precious memories.

Thank you all.

Very sincerely,

Love,

Ed and Faith McDade

Lots to tell!!

Hello my friends:

Geez, I have so much to tell since my last blog, oh where to begin!!

I guess the first big event was me travelling to Calgary to visit my old military friends. This all started with a little push from Cathy V. who was travelling out west to visit her son. She persuaded me to get out there now and she would be my travel companion to make sure it all went smoothly. A few days after we discussed this, Cathy then informed me that herself and her boyfriend Jim wanted to take care of the ticket for me. This pretty much blew me away. Not only was I going to be able to get to Calgary safely, I was also going gratis on behalf of these two fine people. Thank you Cathy and Jim for everything, its appreciated more than you know.

While I was in Calgary, I stayed with an ex-military friend of mine, Brad Norman, who now works for the Calgary Police Services. From the day I got there, Brad and his wonderful wife Jen, made me feel very much at home and put up with my "analness" regarding certain things. lol Brad and Jen also have two fine children, Jacob and Cassidy who were fantastic throughout the whole time I was there. These two kids are the ones you wish you could clone. Well done Brad and Jen;)

During my stay, I was able to spend a day with Brad and some of his fellow coppers on duty. We busted someone, did a funeral procession, accompanied by the Police Service's Motorcycle section and spent time in a class championed by Brad dealing with drug impairment. Of course I stayed awake and was fully alert for he whole class right Brad!! Of course after that, there was the mandatory coffee break at the nearby Tim Horton's. I decided to pay for coffee for the folks that put their life on the line every day for us with a $100 bill. The cashier decided to give me back $170 for my change!! God love Alberta!! I thought ....just my luck, I could make a quick hundred bucks and here I am with 7 or 8 city cops!! lol Needless to say, I informed the "smart as a whip" cashier that he just MIGHT want that $100 bill for his closing balance. Truthfully, I couldn't have kept it anyways, cops or no cops...I don't have it in me.

During the middle of the week, Cathy (who had rented a car in her son's city) drove to Calgary, picked me up and we spent the day driving through Banff and Lake Louise, ending up in a place called "Copper, British Columbia" I think. The sights were absolutely amazing. When I was in the Army, I never bothered to take the time to truly enjoy the mountains and overall scenery that we have been blessed with in our country. I'm sure I was too busy drinking and tearing it up in downtown Calgary with the rest of my Army buds. I think I had a broken nose to prove that! I'll post a few pictures on here of the trip but will post ALL of the pictures on my Facebook page as soon as possible.

For those of you who remember Rick Demaray from J-side at Cami...Rick and his lovely wife are now living in Cochrane Alberta and Rick is working for LaFarge. Rick was able to graciously get me 4 tickets for the final pre-season hockey game between Calgary and Edmonton (The battle of Alberta) at the Saddledome. The game was fantastic and I thought it would be a nice gesture to take Brad, his son Jake and one of Jake's friends. Jake was over the moon about it, which made it all worthwhile to me.

Thursday evening, I met up with quite a few of my ex-military friends at a local drinking hole where I pulled out some 18 year old pictures and we all laughed and talked about the "good ole days". I can't thank Brad enough for arranging all of this during my stay there. It was amazing seeing the guys after being apart for 18 years. I still grin ear to ear when I think of the good times we had in Calgary and over in Cyprus.

Brad and I also toured around Calgary one day, visited the Military Museum and Brad showed me how much the city had grown since I was there. (1990 pop=350000+ 2008=1.3 million!!)

When we returned on Sunday evening, I was surprised to see that the outside of my home had been decorated with Fall flowers and such by Lori and my sister Shirley. After getting in the house, yet more surprises.....the inside had been outfitted with Fall flowers etc too and my "project=junk room" had been cleaned up for me) I don't know what I'd do without such fantastic people in my life. Thanks ladies ;)

Ok, now for the DISNEY UPDATE!!!!

One of the reasons I have 160+ unread e-mails is because I (along with Lori) have been feverishly trying to organize Disney. We are almost complete and here and the plans so far: We are leaving on October 21st (2 days early due to flight availability) and will hopefully stay on the resort for those 2 days before we begin our "Disney Experience". That way we can relax and enjoy the resort before the fun begins. Spending 3 days at Disney and then 4 days on-board the Disney Cruise ship stopping in the Bahamas and the privately owned Disney island (Castaway Cay). We will be returning on October 30th with tons of pictures to share with you all!!! Believe it or not, even I am excited now!! :)

This past Wednesday, I went for lunch with most of my Material Handling Supervisors. It was great to see them and we had some good laughs. Thank you Peggy for providing this "team-building exercise" and to Joanne for organizing it.

Ok, now that my fingers are ALL the same size as my stubbie, I'd better close off. I'm sure I've forgotten more details of my trip etc and if I have forgotten to thank anyone for making so many of these things a reality, please accept my apologies.

I will discuss the details of my latest MRI in my next blog. I want this to be a happy blog full of good news!! :)

Love and thanks to all

Ed