Back In Toronto

 It's been over 2 months since I've written a blog post. The truth is, I'm tired; physically, emotionally and mentally tired. When Kenzi was first diagnosed almost 4 years ago, I found that blogging felt therapeutic and now it feels like a chore. I do quick Facebook updates, but that's all I have the energy for lately. Feel free to follow along on the Prayers for Kenzi group or just add me as a friend if you haven't already. We live our lives day to day, never being able to plan ahead. We found out a few weeks ago that Kenzi was being sent to Toronto for treatment and since then it's been googling flights (affordable ones preferably for 6 people), emails, phone calls and zooms with all of our 3 new specialists, trying to find a social worker and patient navigator (who knew that was even a thing?!), looking for accommodations, confirming dates (or even tentative dates) to book stuff, trying to find funding to help us out financially (Toronto isn't cheap) and dealing with the emotions of all 4 of our kids on top of it (forget our own emotions). I think if God is still trying to teach me patience, He's made His point. 

My sister was able to come visit with her kids for a few days on the Family Day weekend, which was a great distraction, but it was also a wonderful insight for her to see what our lives look like on a regular day. It's stressful and it's a lot. But now, we are here and we are finally sorted. Wes and Kenzi flew to Toronto on Thursday, Feb. 20th, while I stayed behind with the other three kids. After about a 12 hour day of delays in Kelowna and sitting on the tarmac in Toronto they made it to their hotel. Thanks to the generosity of Hope Air, they were able to get their flights paid for, a few nights accommodations at a nearby hotel and some Uber Eats gift cards. We found a condo to stay in, which they moved to on the Monday, but it was a very long week for the two of them. I flew out the following Thursday with the other 3 kids. To be honest, that week was so chaotic, I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, we just kind of survived it. By the end of each day, I was just hoping the kids were tired enough to fall asleep quickly, so I didn't have to battle with tears, questions and them missing dad and Kenzi (which almost never happened). 

We are now settled in Toronto. Thanks to the generosity and support of our church, we were able to rent a condo for the first few weeks we are here. We were on a wait list for Ronald McDonald House, which is a wonderful organisation, but we decided to find a place with a little more space. (Sleeping with 6 people in one room gets a little tight after a while.) We are near the waterfront and we are so thankful that Kenzi isn't admitted to the hospital, like she was three years ago. We are able to go out and explore a little more to try and make the most of our time here, even if it's for crappy reasons. That being said, we know that this is the best children's hospital in Canada and we are thankful for the treatment Kenzi is getting here. 

The day after Wes and Kenzi arrived, she had scans at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to start mapping out her radiation therapy. The following week (last week), they met her new oncologist and she had a round of chemotherapy Wednesday-Friday. It is one new chemo drug and one that she had during her original treatment. Thankfully she's handled it well so far. She had a little nausea and we expect her blood counts to drop quite a bit this week, so we have to be careful and avoid big crowds. She received a shot today that will help her counts recover quicker. This is a new shot for her and it costs over $1600, so thankfully we were able to get that covered. She has blood work this week and she will be starting radiation on Friday. She gets 5 doses and should be done radiation the 19th or 21st. They like to have at least 2 weeks to recover before they do surgery, so we should be able to go home for a little while. We expect that they will be doing surgery April 3rd or 10th, so we will have to be back by then. We are hoping to stay at RMH that time, which is convenient and close to the hospital while Kenzi has to be inpatient. After her surgery, they will re-assess and see if she needs more radiation or not, depending on if they get clean margins in surgery. Again, we will be waiting to see if we stay in Toronto for more radiation, head to the states somewhere for proton radiation or go back to Vancouver for more chemotherapy. 

For the time being, we will do our best to try and make happy memories with our kids. They miss out on so much, so we want to try and do fun things if we are able. We are so grateful for the love and support we are receiving. Some amazing people (a friend of a friend), even dropped off a care package when Wes and Kenzi arrived here. We are so blessed to have wonderful care here and so many people praying for us. Please continue to pray that the radiation, chemo and surgery are effective at getting rid of this cancer once and for all and that we can make some wonderful memories with our kids while we are here. Thanks again to each and every one of you. ❤