Happy Thanksgiving From The Steele’s

We should be thankful all year but it seems like most of us focus more on it on Thanksgiving Weekend.  This weekend always reminds me of the many family times that we spent at the hunting camp.  When it is a nice fall day, I will say “it’s a hunting camp kind of day.”

It was the day that I always looked forward to and it never disappointed.  Mom would plan the menu and we would bring the extras to go with it.  We sometimes had Turkey or maybe hamburgs.  The food was always good and it didn’t really matter what we had.  

There were usually family add ons…like the McCutcheon’s or cousins came or the kids’ friends…the more the merrier.  There were quads and dirt bikes and I always enjoyed the walk through the beautiful trees while rustling through the fallen leaves.

This year, Carol will be with Mom and Dad and spending time with Tina.  I am sure there will be laughter, recalling memories and maybe some tears and I know there will be food.

This year, I am thankful for the memories.  I know that there are many more memories to make but today I hold unto the memories of so many Thanksgivings of the past.  Good memories!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours….we are STEELE Thankful!

Birthday Celebrations

The birthday girl made it to her party.  When they first started planning, some of us were sceptical that she would not be feeling up to it.

The queen was rocking her crown for the festivities and had lots of smiles through the day.

Jenn had sent us pictures of the decorations.

There was a nice turnout of friends and family to wish Tina a Happy 55th birthday.

Cake was served and there was lots for everybody and enough for the nurses at the hospital.  They have been so good to Tina.

Tina did really well keeping up with the celebrations but she started to fade at 3:45. 

She loved the visits from people.  She has lost a lot but she has her smile and laughter back. 

She was ready for her bed back at the hospital after the afternoon festivities.

Thank you to everyone that helped plan and to all those that came to say hi to Tina.  I know that you made her day by being there.

Tina, with help, put this note on Facebook, “Thank you for the many Birthday Wishes .. It was wonderful to see so many and I enjoyed each one and the time you took to share with me this special day.”

We are STEELE Standing and she’s probably sleeping!

The Queen is Back on her Thrown

Tina is still in the Napanee hospital awaiting her transfer to the Kingston hospital.  She had a bit of a panic attack through the night.  Mom went in the morning and then Jenn came later to let mom go home.

Jenn did a three way call with Carol and I to give us the update.  Once she is transferred to Kingston (maybe tomorrow), she will have the feeding tube inserted surgically, and then when she is able, she will be sent back to the Napanee hospital.

Jenn said that she was in good spirits and ate some chicken pot pie and a muffin through the day.  She will be getting ensure to supplement calories until she can get nourishment through the feeding tube.

The Queen seems to be back on her throne as she is starting to give orders about the birthday gathering on Saturday.  The hospital has okayed her leaving for a few hours to enjoy the celebrations.  If you are able to join in on this day, Tina will be thrilled to see you.

When: Saturday October 01 

Time: 1-4pm

Where: Roblin Wesleyan Church

(Her actual 55th birthday is the 29th)

Cake and snacks will be provided! 

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Carol is counting down the days when she can be with Tina and the family.  I hope the fall colours are brilliant this year for her time in Ontario.

We are on our second last day with Stephen and Kylie.  This visit has been just what I needed.

You can’t let the rain storms of life constantly beat you down.  Sometimes, you just need to put the raincoat on and enjoy life.  Sometimes it will start to rain harder and sometimes you just might see the rainbow or maybe just a beautiful place to be.

We are STEELE standing…one day at a time, one hour and sometimes by one minute.  As Casey posted on my Facebook page, “ Happy Birthday Penny! May you live all the days of your life! 😉”  I’m trying to get back to that…to truly make the most of every day.  We don’t know what tomorrow will bring.  We have found that out!!

Happy Birthday Carol!

 Today is a special day in our Sister Three World.  Our oldest sister, Carol is celebrating her birthday.

Carol is a wonderful sister.  She was amazing at the cottage looking after Tina's needs.  She is a beautiful person and I always enjoy the times that we can spend together.  

She enjoys it when people stop in to her beautiful part of Canada. I am sure that her Prince Charming will do something to spoil her today because she deserves it.

She's got a great family that loves her as she opens her arms to her own children, Mike's kids and Tyler.  The house is often food and there is lots of love and food to go around.

This year has been very hard and Carol adopted a new little friend to give her love when she needs that unconditional love.

Happy Birthday Sister One....Carol, we love you!

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News from Tina's world....

Janie, or Jane, as others call her stopped in and sent me this report:

"Hey FYI saw Tina quick today and I thought she looked great all things considered.  I even got to have a quick chat with Carol!  And your mom was there & Anthony....I didn't talk to Tina long as she was videoing with Carol."

Janie didn't come empty handed and I'm sure that they all enjoyed her visit and her goods!  She made sure that Dad was to get some for his belated birthday treat.

Carol and Tina were able to have a short video chat on Monday.  Carol said that it was so good to see her and hear her voice.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join in due to an appointment.

Last week, Jenn brought a hospital bed for Tina.

Tina is now set up in the back sunroom and Janie said that it seemed comfy out there.  She can now supervise all those that hang out clothes in the backyard.  

We talked to Emma and Jenn a couple of minutes ago and they are on their way to Tina's.  Casey and a PSW were there to help Tina with a shower.  It has now become a two person care for Tina.

Judy continues to do her Tuesdays and it is so appreciated.

I just talked to mom and dad today and they said that Donna B. was just there dropping off some Royal Coachman dinners and a homemade raspberry pie. She was on her way to visit Tina and drop something off there.  

I may have missed some of the people that have helped, visited or brought food as Tina doesn't feel like chatting as much these days.  Please feel free to send me a message if you visit, help, bring food in order to help us continue to document Tina's journey.

We want to say that we STEELE appreciate all of you.  This disease is moving fast and sometimes we find it hard to breathe when we hear the progression.   When I told Carol yesterday that I was having a hard time catching a breath, she said, "But we must.  We will get through this together."

So together we stand.  Thank you for STEELE standing with us.  We may be leaning a little harder on you these days.

Yard Sales and Napanee Connections

On Saturday, Howard H hosted a garage sale and all the proceeds went to Tina to help them.  Emma, Abby and Anthony did their part by running a lemonade stand.

They are pretty cute salespeople!

I was told that the day brought in just over $1000!  Tina was able to make it to the garage sale.  Hilda said that it was so nice to have a visit with them for a bit.

Thanks Howard and Hilda and all those that helped!

They were also able to get a ramp from the Gananoque church so that Tina can be wheeled into the bedroom instead of having to do the one step up.

Nursing has been changed to a daily visit instead of just twice a week.

Tina's beautiful blanket with the heart warming story behind
it a previous post.

There is still a struggle with the PSW and Respite times but this should be (hopefully) resolved within the next two weeks.  Saint Elizabeth has now got their Director involved to try and resolve the no shows or coming later than expected.

Tina continues to struggle with a lot of anxiety and panic attacks and so her medication has been increased.  Her anxiety is due to the workers not showing up and the progression of the disease.

With nursing coming daily, her care requirements will be reported more frequently and hopefully more care will be added.  A request was put in that the PSW time be changed from 1 1/2 hours a day to 2-4 hours and that Respite be increased to 4 days a week.

Today when I talked to Tina for a quick minute she said that she had gone to Dairy Queen for ice cream.  It's so good that she can still get out for these little treats.

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In Carol's world, Dustin (her second oldest boy) came for a week or so to visit on the island.  Carol got to have both of her boys around for a bit and it was good for the soul.

Ron and I drove north to a friend's birthday party.  It turned out to be a Napanee reunion.  There were lots of connections.  

The birthday was for Kevin, an OLD friend. 

Remember the Alberta boys in a previous post?

Kevin had recently been in Napanee to visit his mom, Thelma. Kevin's sister, Nancy has blessed Tina with meals and tarts.  I now have her recipe to try. Kevin had also stopped to see Tina a couple of times. Leanne, Kevin's wife, was friends with Tina when they were in their teens and apparently had a few experiences together that we laughed about.  I couldn't get a good picture of Leanne because she was busy hosting and looking after her little grandchildren.

Gary S. was also there.  He was quick to say that we were his Sunday School teachers way back when...

Ashley was there and the connection was two fold.  I don't think I had met her before but she is married to Kevin's nephew, Tyler.  Tyler's mom, Donna B just started following this blog.  Ashley's parents were youth pastors' in Belleville when we lived in Frankford, Ont.  

And then, in came friends of Kevin and Leanne's, Gord and Kendra.  We had never met them before but found out that Gord is a brother-in-law to Carolyn, another blog follower. They just moved from Napanee to retire in Alberta.

This may be all a little confusing to people that aren't connected to Napanee but I thought it was fun to share for the many that follow the blog that live or are from Napanee.

When we left Kevin and Leanne's, we went to stay overnight at Dustin and Katie's.  Dustin is our nephew and happens to be Kevin's 2nd cousin from the other side of the family.  Mind blown?  Let's just say "It's a small world."

We were thankful for some friend/family time in the west.  There were many questions about how Tina was doing.  Tina's journey continues to grow as people follow her story through these posts.

We have not been having our morning Sister Three chats and they are missed.  Mom and Dad told me that they continue to be amazed at how many people have poured out time, money, food and gifts to Tina.  

So we continue to STEELE Stand...sometimes we are lonely, sometimes we don't feel like talking but we are STEELE here.  We STEELE appreciate your thoughts, comments and especially your prayers.

Oh ...and one more thing, Howard (the garage sale host) was originally from Napanee!!!

Our Trip Home

Carol and I just missed a visit from two cousins.  Michelle (from Atlanta) and Kim stopped to have a visit with Tina not long after we had left for Ottawa.

Our trip back to our homes was a full day and a little more. We (Carol, Sarah, Sarah and I) drove about two hours to the airport.  We got there with lots of time to wait.  We would have liked to take this time to eat but most things were closed or either super expensive at the airport.  

We boarded the plane and flew the four hours to the Calgary airport.  The flight was good with just a few turbulences.

Mike was there to pick Carol up at the airport.  They started their drive home around 10:00 p.m.  Mike drove through the night, with just a short stop, and then Carol took over at 5:00 a.m.  They made it for the 8:45 a.m. ferry to the island. They had another hour and a half drive and they were home.

Augie was happy Mom was back home. Carol has her granddaughter, Alexis and her boyfriend visiting for awhile. 

Our trip from the airport wasn’t as long but we got home about the same time as Carol.  We stayed overnight at an airport hotel and then had to drag Sarah out of bed in the morning.  We stopped at a Costco on the way and loaded up with groceries.  Our actual drive was two and a half hours.  We made it home early afternoon.  The weather is super hot here!

Ron is back to work tonight.  The first time in almost a month.  We were so thankful for our Sister Three Cottage Time.  We need to get back into the routine on our video chats.

We are STEELE Standing…

Final Night

This was our first rainy day; but even then, we had enough sunny periods to enjoy the day at the cottage.  Kim, the homeworker, came in the morning and gave Tina a good bath, got her dressed, did her exercises and her hair.  She was really good at taking her time and paying attention to Tina’s needs.

The nurse came later to check on Tina and see how she has been doing,  Her ventilator worked much better last night.  We didn’t have any bad episodes.

Kevin and Pam stopped in for a visit.  Pam. brought some nachos and a loaded dip with deviled eggs.

Ron came back and brought Sarah.  The girls spent some time in the lake.

They slowly got Tina to the car without incident.  It was a successful Sister Three Cottage time.

Just as everyone was leaving we were able to do a quick video chat with Cousin, Janice.  She had been very interested in this time together since she has a brother-in-law with ALS. and has lots of memories on White Lake with Aunt Reta and Uncle Gerald.

And our final night at the cottage is with a bit of a different mix of people.  Ron, Sarah, Carol and I are at the cottage.  Carol and I are feeling pretty tired. It’s a beautiful evening after a rainy day.

We are glad that we are STEELE a standing after a week at the cottage.  Tina was able to walk out of the cottage with lots of help.  We think she enjoyed her time and she STEELE likes being treated like a Princess.

Good night Princess.  I hope you sleep well in your home.

Judy, Judy, Judy

We had a slower start to the day.  We didn’t even notice that Ron was sitting out front until I was making coffee and mom noticed him enjoying the view of the lake.  He was there to take Sarah to a family connection. 

Carol seemed to have gotten the moisture right for Tina last night.  

Judy came with a pile of food for lunch.

It was really nice for Judy to come and have a visit with all of us and bring a real feast including lots of sweets.

Emma continued to be the health care worker and did Tina’s exercises with her.  There was no PSW available to come today.

Dad came out and we got a rare picture of the 5 of us. Tina was pretty tired through the day and slept quite a bit.

The weather was a little cooler, but sunny.  We managed to get in the water a few times through the day.

Finally, in the evening, we got Tina out on the deck.  

We had to get her in a spot where she wasn’t facing the wind or the sun.  She had glasses to protect her from any breeze and a blanket to keep her warm.  She was quite bundled up and really protected from the environment.

We have found that mom has learned how to relax at the cottage.  

So another day is winding up at the cottage.  We are still accident free and we want to keep it that way.  Tina is still looking for her tiara but is able to rule her subjects with her Royal sceptre.

Good night from the cottage!

We are STEELE at the cottage.  We are STEELE having our Sister Three plus mom plus Emma time.

Three Sisters

After a couple days of travelling, Carol, Sarah and I made it!  After a quick and delicious bite at mom and dad’s, we went to see Tina.  It was so good to see her and Emma and Sarah enjoyed each other’s company.

We arrived to a hot summer temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (feels like 39). That’s 102 F.  We picked up an air conditioned Charger and headed to Napanee to see the fam!

While we were visiting, old time friends, Kevin and Pam, came to visit.  It was so nice to see them too!

We visited for a while and they started talking about the tarts that Nancy H. sent for the cottage that probably won’t make it there.  So, I just had to have one even on a full stomach and it was sooo good!

Tina had also told us, that Roxane (cousin), had sent some a really nice flowers too.  They are beautiful.

Our day will be another full one and I will fill you in lots.

Thanks for STEELE being there for us with flowers, visits, offering and giving things to help at the cottage.