Rebecca's Wedding

Pictured here are: Rebecca with her dad, Bruce, walking down the aisle; Rebecca and John following the ceremony; Bruce, Debbie, John, Rebecca, Eileen and Darrell.

Throughout this journey I held up one milestone as a must-attend event in my mind -- the wedding of our niece Rebecca. The fact that it fell immediately after my last chemo has been somewhat symbolic for me, so it was with a very light heart that we made the seven-hour round trip to Rob's parents' this weekend to attend the event.

The weather all week was unsettled, to say the least. We've experienced torrential rains, thunderstorms, and the sun was nowhere to be seen -- until Friday when when it made a brief appearance. Even Saturday morning showers threatened the outdoor event, but the rain held off and the sun made another brief appearance and the ceremony itself was sunny and hot.

The wedding ceremony took place in the gardens of the home where Rebecca grew up. The new owners have created the type of landscape you expect to see in a magazine -- complete with meandering paths, hidden seats, statuary and water features. The back of the yard has a flat open area where the chairs were placed and the bride and groom had a backdrop of lush trees behind them. The music was violin and a friend of the couple sang during the ceremony.

The reception was held at the local Heritage Society building and featured a buffet of cheesecakes. Only Rebecca's brother Paul was missing; he's overseas with the military, but he sent an email which Andrew read at the reception. Both Rebecca and John became quite emotional when thanking their respective families for making this a special day.

That evening Rob's sister Diane and her husband and son (Richard and Ryan) came out to the house to visit for awhile. It was really nice to have a chance to visit with family both at the wedding and afterwards. Often we don't get to see the nieces and nephews because they're all grown up and living their own lives, many of them in other parts of the country. It was really nice to spend time with Isaac and Leanne (Debbie's second-oldest son and his partner), who we haven't seen in several years.

We left mid-morning on Sunday. I had an appointment with the VON at home and was already starting to ache a little when we left Rob's parents. Based on my previous experience, I knew even with the Celebrex, Sunday and Monday were going to be uncomfortable -- which they were. I think the drive, the heat and not sleeping well all combined to make me quite achy yesterday.

The whole VON experience has been frustrating. When the nurse arrived Sunday she discovered the dosage info was missing from the paperwork (it was on the box with the vials) and because it was Sunday, there was no way to obtain it. Despite a flurry of phone calls back and forth with her office, the end result was I was not able to receive my first injection on Sunday as prescribed. The nurses have reams of paperwork to fill out at the patient's home, and they aren't issued cell phones so they have to use the client's phone to contact the next client. Not that using our phone was a problem, it just seems inefficient.

When the nurse left she assured me I would be flagged for the next morning and a nurse would come out as soon as the dosage was faxed to the office. I left a message with the Cancer Center explaining what had happened and my oncology nurse contacted me Monday morning to say she would get the information to them. The VON didn't arrive until 4:30. I finally received my needle, but it was more than 24 hours late.

I also broke a tooth on the weekend. This too poses a challenge; I have to see when I can get into the dentist, and he then has to confer with my oncologist to discuss treatment and minimizing the risk of infection etc. I'm not supposed to have any dental work done during my treatment.

Finally, I'll wrap up this post by saying I received a card/bookmark in the mail from Kathy E. Kathy's ears were probably burning over the weekend because I was asking Richard and Diane all about her. I hope we'll get a chance to meet on a visit later in the year.