FISHING TIME CONTINUES!

Hi everyone...thanks so much for all of your calls, blog comments and emails - they are very appreciated as always. It's so nice to be back home again! We've had a pretty exciting time - especially since Tanner Jeffery Ireland arrived on the scene late Thursday night! He's a wonderful baby and has the fullest head of hair on his head that we've seen in a long time. Congratulations to our niece Nikki and her husband Jeff - great work guys!! And of course congratulations to proud Grandparents Steve and Peggy. Dallas was very honoured to find out that Tanner will call him Grandpa "D" - I think my handle will be Nona (I'm stealing your title Anne!). Life is good!

We've been doing a lot of gardening catch up and are changing a few things around in the yard. We were also out on the boat yesterday with some friends and threw the prawn traps out in the water. A bit of success there (enough for an appetizer for dinner!) but more practice is in order! Next week we're looking forward to a visit from our good friends, Anne and John McGilvary. And the highlight of our month will be when Jordan arrives home for the summer - he'll be making his way home via a stopover in the valley to visit grandparents and friends. Then we'll have our boy back home for the summer - YEAH! There is nothing better than having your whole family in the same city for awhile - a parent's dream and cause for celebration!

We are on pins and needles now because we have Dallas's dates for further testing in Vancouver. On May 7th Dallas has a CT scan so that the oncologist can compare it to his previous results. Of course we're hoping that the magic pills have done their job but the next few weeks of waiting will be nerve wracking. We will review the test results with oncologist on the morning of May 12th so that is D day for us. More later...

Love,

Patty and the Big Guy xxoo

YEAH!!!! HOMEWARD BOUND!

Dallas is doing so well that the doctor cut him loose for a month! We'll take those magic pills back to the island and just have a check up in Vancouver once a month. I'm sure Dallas will continue to report on his fishing exploits and I'll cover any other items of interest. Thanks for always listening and being our cheering section! Life is good...

Love,
Patty

Last Day in Vancouver?

Hi everyone I hope you had a nice easter. We are back in Vancouver (monday night) and have a few more tests in the clinic tomorrow starting at 7.30am (poor Patty)then a Dr visit at 9 AM. If he hasn't changed his mind we will be able to go back to Victoria and keep taking the magic pills for another month then have more tests taken to see if the new drug is working. The fishing wasn't good on Saturday but we did see the pod of Killer whales only 100 ft from my boat. I entered another halibut derby next weekend so stay tuned. Thanks again for all the support. Dallas

1st salmon since November

A little 15 lber caught while waiting for the prawn traps to soak. 57 prawns in the trap after only 4 hours in the water. I hope the Dr isn't reading the blog . Tomorrow is another day out there only Steve can pull the prawn traps up from 250 ft. take care Dallas

HAPPY EASTER!

Hi everyone - We just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Easter. We're back on the island again for a few days of enjoyment. Despite dire warnings from his Oncologist about staying within a half hour of the hospital, Dallas had me packing for home as soon as we left the Cancer Clinic! He figures that the best medicine is being on the boat and if he had an emergency we could give Harbour Air some business. I have to admit that I've caved - being back home really does us both a world of good and pastes a permanent smile on Dallas's face. So that's really all that matters, right?

We made the best of our week in Vancouver and had a great visit with Heather's Dad, John, and his partner Vicki. They treated us to a Brazilian Barbeque - a carnivore's dream! Before we left we also enjoyed another visit with my brother's family. We had lots of fun cheering on our niece Emily at both her running club and baseball games. She once again scored a first place ribbon for running (obviously doesn't get her athletic ability from her Aunt Patty!). We hope to be able to watch our nephew Connor play hockey sometime soon.

So the Big Guy just phoned me to tell me he landed a 15 pound salmon which means we'll have a great dinner tonight! He also laid out the prawn traps so hopefully they'll be full when he and Steve pull them up tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for staying in touch! More later...

Love,
Patty the Big Guy

Dallas on halibut...

You can never have enough halibut. After catching one you become very popular. WE gave away 2/3rds now need a few more for the big fish and chip night we will have once we get back home for good. I am still feeling good and asked the Dr. yesterday if I am feeling good because of the new drug but he thinks its to early for me to notice any results after only two weeks on the magic pills. Again thanks to everyone for your calls, emails and blog's.
Take care,
Dallas

PS I will teach Steve how to catch fish again this weekend

WEEK THREE!!

Hi there...so here we go again - week 3 looms ahead. So far, Dallas is feeling GREAT! We are really pleased that he's had no major side effects from the meds.

Our week began with a special visit with my brother Ron's family. Tina and Ron are the parents of our super star niece and nephew, Emily and Connor. It's always wonderful to catch up with our little munchkins! Connor and Emmy are the kids that you see featured in wrestling poses with our boys on the blog. We hope to be able to get in another visit with them soon.

We spent a great weekend with our good friends Steve and Peggy. They came over from Victoria to help us pass the time here. We explored Granville Island, dragged the guys out for some shopping and did more sight seeing. Vancouver traffic was a real gong show this weekend because of the Juno awards. There were free concerts going on at several different venues in town so no matter which way you turned there seemed to be a traffic jam! We still managed to get in a good visit with Steve and Peg - even though a lot of our time seemed to be spent in the car!

On Sunday evening our old friends (not in age!) Jim and Di were over for dinner. We have been lucky enough to be guests at Jim and Di's B & B for many of our visits to Vancouver.

Dallas starts another testing cycle tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is a shorter day so we'll only be at the Cancer Clinic for about 4 hours. During that time, Dallas will have several lab tests including 3 separate ECG's. Wednesday is another very long day - 12 hours at the clinic with a lot of that time spent in the chemo room. Fortunately, as the day progresses we'll be able to escape a couple of times for lunch and dinner. After Wednesday our schedule will be clear sailing - Dallas will once again go AWOL and we'll escape to Victoria for a couple of days. Dallas hopes to get in a day of halibut fishing again and I have a baby shower to attend (that is unless baby boy Ireland decides to make an early appearance - he's showing signs that he's ready to come out and meet the very large cheering section waiting for him! Go baby go!!).

Our good friend Ed Wiens is planning a quick visit this week too so I'm sure the time will just fly by. Thanks, as always for staying in touch! More later....

Love,

Patty and Dallas