Well why not?

 ...I broke down and decided to write a blogpost update now and not when the next long walk will be possible. Reasoning - to record some memories and...well...I have the odd minute free…and…the spirit moved ☺️ At this point in the 6 week recovery period...1.5 weeks post surgery...I do not know “when” the next long walk will be possible? Too early to tell.

Perhaps one or both the PEI Completion Walk (4 or 5 days) and the Via Francigena Lucca to Rome long walks are still possible Fall 2024. Medical clearance, personal circumstances allowing and my own physical/mental strength being where it needs to be are all firm requirements. Having said that I can always hope for 2024; if not turn to 2025.

Coles Notes - If you wish a quick update without the need for stories 😊

Surgery deemed a success...the offending body part has been yanked...”Out of there!”

Physical recovery - Making progress

Frankly the first few days were brutal...I am getting slowly better and better each day. Pain killers taken as prescribed...often…please and thanks 🙏. I was walking like a teetering 125 year old first few days in hospital...now maybe an increasingly spry 110 year old.

Some stats 🤓

Jan to Jun 16, 2024 - avg 30,352 steps per day or 22.8kms as per FitBit

Jun 17+ - avg 792 steps per day or .6kms. Not a joke FitBit did not record most of my early steps...you can well imagine what they looked like! 

Mental recovery - Good

I had a tough time between May 3rd diagnosis and up to a week prior to surgery…really wish I would have handled that better. Cancer…was a word that simply cut deep…however…

Feeling positive...sense of humour for what it’s worth and to the detriment of those I communicate with...has snuck back!

Also by way of a few examples my mental sharpness is as good as ever:

- Put on new shorts for the first time...lousy fitting...BUT they were on backwards. How am I supposed to know stuff like this? I know, I know tag at the back...drawstring at the front 🥲

- Put on my new Men’s briefs...useful to hold catheter and stuff snuggly in place. Ok they are diapers...however I chose Depend rather than Costco Kirkland...for some reason brand name recognition was important here. Well again I see a lot of padding on one side and virtually none on the other...again how is one supposed to know? I was confidently going to wear them backwards...however with kind assistance I understood why the briefs/diapers were constructed like this. Frankly I am very impressed with the design of these things...a lot of thought was given...however instructions would be nice.☺️

- Claire youngest daughter gave me some Reese chocolate cups...very thoughtful. Took the foil wrapper off and popped it in my mouth. Chewing peacefully away however felt a weird texture after a while...geez who put this brown paper wrapper on the cup? Ok this one should have been a no brainer.

---------------------------------End of Coles Notes--------------------------------------------------

Pre - operation…a succession of waiting rooms - WR

Found my way…all by myself 😊…from Patient Registration to pre-operation desk and…

- 6:15 am please sit in WR #1…we will call your name. Folks trickle in slowly…a few quiet hi’s…nods…everyone is a tad anxious...kind of situation where people are trying to not be noticed

- 6:30 am names start being called/yelled out from the desk outside…tough to hear properly...geez you told me to leave my new fangled hearing aids at home! Shouldn’t you have an intercom in here? I catch my mangled name…I really should just change from Arbez to Zebra as life would be so much simpler...off to WR #2

- 6:30 to 6:57 am 😉 (time is close enough it’s a story). I am asked a bunch of questions KEY one being “did you have a good breakfast this morning?” I smiled and said “nice trick question - no breakfast today”. Answering yes…one gets to...GO HOME NOW IDIOT NO SURGERY POSSIBLE!.

While in WR#2 I was asked to take the hospital gown into the restroom along with an illustrated 6 picture instruction sheet on how to put this contraption on. OIE stress meter...which has been cool so far...goes sky high.  I go with heavy heart ❤️ thinking I will 100% be out in a few minutes blurting out “help please?”…how can I possibly do this? Think Packa rain gear try on video…if you need a little reminder…

Packa first time trial 😳

Big initial victory as I manage to get sleeves in after a few tries and tie straps around neck 😊. BUT there is so much other material left and “what in the heck is this tie strap in the front?” 🤔 then in a stroke of genius…or perhaps a fluke…I find a strap in the loose stuff and pull it forward…tie it to the front and voila…front and derrière fully covered. I pop out of restroom with my best “no big deal look”

Then...IV hooked up with my companion pole and…

- 7:03 am I am guided to WR#3 where as part of the special dozen or so folks we sit and watch an endless 5 minute news loop. I am thinking “ do they pre-record this stuff and just play it ad nauseum OR are those two announcers really on repeat mode?” Geez that must be boring!

I am people watching … "woman over there is pretty cool about this and quietly dozing”…”fellow over there is really anxious…having a tough time”. Half the folks have a companion…the other half do not. I do not and feel very much like a big boy…”I can do this!” No matter what our varied backgrounds in life we now share 3 things:

1) we are in WR#3 waiting and waiting

2) we all have matching sharp looking gowns and for once I can say “I adhered to the official dress code - something I managed to avoid in the last 10+ years at GWL 😂…just too bad as no one told me Business Casual was no longer a thing. My Senior leader...he was a nice fellow and had no doubt long concluded…there is no point with Guy 🤣!”

3) we all have an IV pole and I am part of a small elite going for surgery club...

- 7:37 am a short excitable fellow waltzes in WR#3 with arms full of envelopes and clipboard yelling out “attention…attention” He starts calling out our names and we individually stand up with said IV poles…leaving these behind would both be embarrassing and I guess would hurt as we are after all attached 😔 

We all file out of WR#3 with IV poles to the side led by the Pied Piper into the hallway and in parade like fashion march to…

-7:42 am WR#4…THE final waiting room which is very large just outside a glassed in room where all manner of medical personnel are mapping out strategies for upcoming surgeries. One can hear  laughter…likely they have stories about their weekends too! Immediately I feel better…”hey they are loose in there and ready to go…they know what to do”. At this point I am also feeling at ease and simply curious about how this is all going to shake out 🤔

- 8:02 am - let’s get this show on the road…surgery time and the nurses start coming out with charts in hand and call out their patient by name, birthday…11 such patients leave WR#4.

I am now ALONE AND FORGOTTEN…oh no after all this my file is lost...my surgeon is AWOL...robot arms are not working etc etc Finally after an interminable wait at 8:08 am Dr V, my surgeon, comes out…without a clipboard…looking loose…walks straight towards me smiling behind mask 😉…no name or birthdate asked…we are buds. “ follow me please Mr. Arbez” and of course I can’t escape now so that is what I do! 

So I try a funny…why not…as good a time as any 😂 “so you don’t rate a nurse?”. Phew he actually finds that a little funny…I can tell by the eyes…face mask in place

- 8:12am I enter THE surgery room…Holy Moly…geez half a dozen+ people in there just for me 🤗…lie down on what seems like a gel bed. Anesthesiologist is a male…hey I had a nice sharp woman anesthesiologist Dr T in pre-op session a week ago. She had asked “are you an active person?” “well I walk just over 30,000 steps most days or low 20kms…walked 4,000+kms in Europe…” at which point she laughed “ enough…enough I get the picture…answer is YES”At the time I was thinking “but I was just getting going with my story…😂”. Oh well she is not here 🥲 I am sure this fellow knows what he is doing.

I see spaghetti metal arms like a spider over table😥 oh my 😳. I am thinking “these must be the robot arms…how do they individually work?…hope the latest software update has been promoted…is some critical bug fix in next release?” Ok…full disclosure I made this last statement up…it’s 3:09am as I write this BUT it’s totally consistent with my normal thinking process after 10 years exposure to systems development!

Post surgery

Surgery room was booked for 4 hrs…I woke up about 6 hours after entering surgery…oxygen hookup…5 large white dressings across my stomach…which is now looking like an oversized beach ball…IV setup in both arms…small bag somehow attached to my stomach... AND the dreaded catheter. A real pretty sight…like I had been through a war...however was glad to be there…Claire youngest daughter... who has a wicked sense of humour... had forewarned me “Pa if you don’t wake up after op…well you will never know it…soooo…no worries” Wise words.

I later learned that laparoscopic surgery involves pumping gas into the abdomen allowing the surgeon to better see and manoeuvre the robotic arms to remove the prostate. Hmmm this leads to complications later at discharge time 😔 Thanks Steve W for cartoons!

Appendix long since removed 1977…now prostate…nope does not apply to me 😊

First a little digression (as if this entire blogpost isn’t one). Summers of 1974 - 1976 worked as an orderly at St B Hosp in Winnipeg…12 months in all…or a whole year if you prefer…paid my way through University.

Often reflected that this was the most important job in my life. Previous to that I delivered flyers…sold concessions walking around at Wpg Blue Bomber football games, All Star wrestling matches (saw Verne Gagne!) and the big one burger dressing at McDonald’s.

My first day in ´74 on 3ECU a newly opened long term care floor I knew nada about what an orderly did…nothing about people being sick…hospital routines...women. It was training time for other floors and there were 3 orderlies and likely 25 or so nurses aides…all young women.

Extremely shy and awkward…at 17 I should have been in heaven however I recall being much more worried about talking to these nurses aides than my orderly duties. I think 2 or 3 nurses aides talked for a few seconds with me...phew that was stressful! 

However over the 3 years I did, saw and learned many things that have stayed with me. 

Did - well just google Orderly duties...there are a lot of potential duties...😳 most memorable one was wrapping a body...lifting the deceased on a stretcher with another orderly...wheeling it to the basement morgue and having to actually enter the cooler and “parking” the stretcher in an available space. 😱 I had heard that a deceased person’s body can actually move somehow. If that had happened or if someone had closed the morgue door on me...I would not be here today...instant death!

Saw - how so many patients coped with illness and pain…resilience, patience, withdrawal, humour was especially impressive for me. Young and mostly old they struggled onwards on long term care wards (’76 was a terminally ill ward) where there was no coming back to a regular life.

Learned - empathy and kindness goes a long way...simply listening to patient stories is very important. Medical staff are incredible...have the highest respect for them to this day. Hospitals are tough places to get a good night’s sleep...I was a culprit here as one orderly duty was to go to check on patients every 2 hours during the night and get them to shift to the other side to avoid bedsores. Also I can still make a bed folding the ends in ☺️...ok may not be best at it but still pretty impressive!

Sooo...I had an inkling of what to expect during my hospital stay. 

I have no recollection of being transferred to the hospital ward…how did I get there? Somehow I ended up in a private room...no tv...was told it was an isolation room! Why was I there? Did they really decide I needed to be isolated? Am I in that bad a shape? A few recollections of the 2+ days I spent there.

The first night was simply awful...sometime during the night I remembered that a good friend had recently completed initial research into the End of Life Doula profession. Perfect...no consideration about qualifications...I should contact her and I would be her first client. Then it hit me “Guy maybe you are overreacting just a wee bit...give it at least a few more hours".

By morning when a doctor came to see me I was ready “If there is any way I can stay another night that would my preference”. He stated “That’s what we are thinking as well...you need more time and your blood work was a little low”. Perfect...I am just going to keep lying here pathetically. Later in the afternoon Dr V my surgeon popped in for a few minutes “We've concluded that an error took place in the Lab this morning...this afternoon’s blood work is fine...you would have needed 2 to 3 pints of blood to see this quick improvement”. Phew...I did not tell him that I had watched a Dracula Great Courses Dracula episode the previous day…you never know!

Thankfully I received a number of visits from various family members...wow what a difference that makes...even a 10 minute drop in helps lift spirits.

Hospital routine is never ending...pills, vital signs every few hours, blood draws, meal planning, get up and walk etc etc. Sleep was at a premium.

Hospital staff were fantastic...2 special ones

Matthew - Overnight nurse. Direct...no nonsense...caring. I appreciated his approach greatly

Jean - PCW or Personal Care Worker...salt of the earth. This position is an amazing one and so was Jean. Kind but assertive “You need to get out of bed now and walk”...I felt like telling her that generally walking wasn’t my bag but didn’t. "Head up...don’t look down...you are doing great”. “Your gown is a mess...let’s get you a new one...also clean you up a bit”. “How are you feeling?” etc etc. Jean was fantastic! No feeling sorry for oneself with Jean...just get the job done type of person which in my books is fantastic.

Then there were the special wishes from grandchildren 🥰

Rishi (2) - Kept repeating is a short video “Get well soon!” ...with prompting from maman Jeanne (middle daughter and daughter in law Pri)... he said “Papi”

Elodie (6) - Lise’s (oldest daughter and son in law Steven) daughter created this card...note we are holding hands...Elodie is saying “bonne chance” I am saying “merci”. Elodie really likes my purple shirt! I would also say Elodie has a good eye for body proportions ☺️

Rose (9) - wrote me this wonderful thoughtful message...I was sure either Lise and Steven had helped her however was assured that no...it was all Rose’s thinking...she was telling me that even if I was worried I needed to be brave and she was proud of me 🥰 

Finally on Wednesday late afternoon a little over 48 hours after surgery I was discharged and went home. There was a last minute snag and discussion over the issue of “not passing gas” as I was still extremely uncomfortable with the gas pumped into me. Life throws surprises...this was a major one...as I have perhaps correctly...perhaps not...achieved the distinction of a world class “gas passer”. Doctor in the end discharged me “he can f*rt at home”...thankfully a little later....tooting started...even those around me were happy 😌

Last Monday was a milestone day as all 19 metal staples (not stitches) were removed…incredibly they use a staple gun! A bit uncomfortable but not painful. I had earlier asked...another of my supposed funnies “do you use a staple remover like I have at home?” No they don’t 😊

Today the d*rned dreaded awful catheter made its exit...what a relief that was! Catheter removal was something I was really anxious about...ok a balloon was used…how do they remove the balloon...how did they get it in there in the first place? Phew I learned someone has thought this through...there is a little valve which let's air in and out of balloon…and the insertion/removal process uses this wisely 😮‍💨 

All progressing well…gradual common sense resumption of lighter activities…full resumption of heavier activities full 6 weeks. 😊 Bone scan confirms no cancer spread.

______________________________End of Hospital Reflections____________________

Back Home

Rose (9) asked me a few days after surgery “What are the most popular months for babies to be born in.  After the fun 🤔 with the Occult Great Learning series 1 “Fauns, Fairies and Djinn” listening to the PHD fellow drone on and on without any live interviews with any of these creatures...I was ready for a change. I had already seen the fantastic American’s Greatest Walking Trails series so this was a PERFECT opportunity ☺️. 

I had recently created a few graphs for Rachael Camino Pelegrina - Kiwi - Family (Kiwi refers to New Zealand 🤣) mother of 8 children who I am very pleased to say completed her Camino Frances walk from Pamplona to Santiago de Compostela...direct distance of 700+ kms. Rachael’s walk had many physical and emotional challenges...she overcame them all...getting to Santiago de Compostela ahead of schedule...an inspirational journey while maintaining a very interesting blog. Congrats and well done Rachael!

Sooo...I started to do some Google sleuthing...something I enjoy and found “Live Births by Month” from Stats Can Live Births 2018 - 2022 Now I was a happy camper as I had something meaningful to do...something I could create and share with the world 😉. Try as I might though I couldn’t get my graph to display properly...slept on it...came back a number of times and then it hit me “Guy you are making this way too complicated... too much data shown...and folks “may” not even look at the graph 🤓”. Note I had been taking some pretty good pain meds for a week+ so my ability to judge what interests others may have been a little off...as opposed to my pre-pain med days 🤔🤣.

Some of you will note the colour scheme in the graphs below from pink to blue. Ok while this may be very outdated pink - girls, blue - boys. I think women deserve top billing in many, many, many life aspects so naturally they are first here. Have a peek...I honestly think these graphs will be of some interest...

Canadian births by month - 5 year period 2018 - 2022

Canadians like to have babies in the summer months...is it because they will be able to start school aged 6 OR is there another reason? 🤔

Canadian births on a per day basis by month - 5 year period 2018 - 2022 

Now this is an important view given a month like February has only 28 days so not surprisingly it has the lowest birth total in the above graph. YES for the Actuaries out there I adjusted February 2020 to have 29 days recognizing the leap year.

Now this is a really interesting slope of daily adjusted births by month peaking in July and then down sloping to December. The conclusion is that December babies are by far in the minority based on this approach...hmmm...they might even be viewed as the oddballs in the crowd...hmmm...that explains a lot given I am a December baby 🤣.

This graph may well be a ground breaking one...perhaps I should look into copywriting it or something.

Canadian Births by Conception Month - 5 year period 2018 - 2022

I was intrigued...I had suspicions given the long Canadian winters...leading to more indoor time what the answer might be. Given the average 9 month conception period (I know this is not a perfect assumption...geez...it’s a story!) I determined the conception month for each birth month...after all I was at some point a 70% Actuary...but then went splat 🤣

The winter conception hypothesis above is clearly proven out ☺️

Canadian Births on a per Day Basis by Conception Month - 5 year period 2018 - 2022

So there it is February & November are the busiest months on the baby conception front. Winter months clearly generate friskier opportunities than spring or summer months. Something to impress your friends with or at your next Cocktail party 😳.

Now for you folks in warmer climes like Brazil or New Zealand in the Southern hemisphere where seasons are reversed from Canada I strongly suspect the graphs would be flipped. Perhaps in a temperate climate with little seasonal fluctuation the distribution of births might be even? Anyone with data to share...I will gladly provide custom graphs to you. 🤓. I am not joking here...send me data please!

Finally and most importantly a heartfelt thanks to Dawn my best friend and partner over these past 45 years.

Dawn has been absolutely amazing through this time period …dropping everything to help me. It’s a real eye opener to see just how much help one needs post surgery.

Dawn never flinched no matter what was needed…always a quick learner…patient...caring...asking questions to clarify…chauffeur…meal planning...all household tasks...simply everything. As an Actuary she already has FSA and FCIA designations…now she can add TRPN…temporary registered practical nurse…specializing in catheter care, skin dressing changes and many more.

New tv watching setup created by Dawn...a good friend asked me if I had been transferred to a Nursing home!

Dawn I can’t thank you enough! Merci…je t’aime beaucoup ma chère 🥰