*****
First off, before I start this post, I want to say thank you. Thank you to friends, family, colleagues, and “strangers”, who have reached out to me, through emails, cards, text messages, BBMs, phone calls, tweets, and DM’s. It has truly humbled me how kind people can be in your time of need. The number of offers of support, helping out with the kids, neighbours shoveling my sidewalk and driveway, people just willing to be an open ear should I want to talk, and so much more, has been immense and overwhelming. I know that with your support, I will get through this. So again, I say
Thank you.
*****
I love my job. I know it’s easy to say, and many people just say it to say it, but I really do. Working in the construction industry, in Project Management, is an interesting field. Unless you’re building big box stores over and over, every project is different, and provides it’s own unique challenges. The project that I just finished was the Krembil Discovery Tower, a new research facility at the Toronto Western Hospital, which is part of the University Health Network (UHN). I started working on the project in the Spring of 2009, so I’ve spent almost 6 years on this project. And while it was a big project (it’s final value was upwards of $170M), this is a long time for a building of its kind. It was a complicated project, but EllisDon, and the rest of our joint venture team, were brought on early in the design process to assist in the design development. We were on the project a good 18 months before we really started with full-on construction.
It was complicated for a number of reasons, but I’ll save you the boring details. The bottom line is, no matter how difficult the process was, it was a remarkable achievement to finish this building. The amount of fantastic research going on in this building, cures to diseases that will be discovered in this building, and the enrichment of life that so many people will get because of this building, makes me really proud to have been part of the team that built, created, and finished this building.
You can see some of the amazing research that goes on here.
So it was kind of sad, that after almost 6 years, January 30th was my last day on the project. But I had to take one last picture of the finished product. Not too shabby.
So Monday February 2nd was the start of “My New Reality”, and the start of my radiation treatments. The team of Radiation Technicians on my Unit (it’s essentially the same team working on me daily), have been very helpful, comforting, and fun. The radiation itself doesn’t last very long; it’s only about 10 minutes, with each “blast” of radiation lasting only a few seconds. Most of the time is spent ensuring I am in the correct position, so the radiation is targeted directly where it needs to be. Plus, they play Bob Marley and jazz while I’m having my treatments. The only thing missing are the cocktails…. might try to sneak those in one day.
I have radiation daily, and I also had my first chemotherapy treatment on Wednesday, which was an overnight stay. In a somewhat coincidental occurrence, the view of my room on the 18th floor at Princess Margaret Hospital was a familiar one….
I thought it was pretty funny.
So after a week of radiation, and one dose of chemo, it’s been a good week. Other than some nausea from the chemo, I haven’t had any major side effects. Six more weeks of treatments to go before my “rest” period. Which seems like a long time, but I’m 1/7th of the way through and I have a ton of reason to be optimistic and hopeful. For the first time, since about mid-October, I can breathe, albeit only slightly, through my right nostril. Which may not seem like something important, but it does mean that after only one week of treatments, the tumor is getting smaller. And is going to get obliterated.
One week done of #kickingcancersass.
Avanti…..
Enrico
P.S. I’ll do a separate post on this soon, but because I think it deserves mention, please consider purchasing a ticket for the PHM Cancer Center Home Lottery. This is the largest source of private cancer research fundraising in Canada, and since 1996, they have raise over $291 that have been given to the PMHCC for research and treatment purposes. You can buy your tickets on line here. Prizes include million dollar homes, cottages, condos, luxury vehicles such as a Tesla, Maserati, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, dream vacations, a New York shopping spree, HDTV’s, Apple laptops and iPads, and so much more. Most importantly, the money goes towards helping people with cancer. Thank you.
