Yesterday was a long day, physically and emotionally draining. I arrived in London around 11:30am, had lunch with Megan and Maria then gathered up my sister Lynn around 1pm to head back to Colborne. By the time we reached the west end of Toronto and the rush hour underway I received a phone call from Steve.

He had brought dad home from a consultation with a radiologist and oncologist. He has a mass in his right lung and nodules in his liver. The response to Steve stating dad wanted quality of life was to take him home and keep him comfortable. He has an appointment with his GP on Wednesday who will be managing his last days. I let Steve know that Lynn had come prepared to stay with dad for however long this takes. That is a huge relief for all of us.

Steve said he’d brought him home then sat down and talked to him about his final wishes. He wants what we did for mom and for Jane (a friend and priest I’d introduced him to over a lunch months before) to do the service. He also got arrangements underway for the supports which will be needed for him at home.

I’m usually pretty buttoned down when it comes to showing emotions to others. It took me a few moments before I could manage to get those buttons in place and pass that news on to Lynn after I hung that phone up. The diagnosis on July 12th had just shifted from something that could go on for some time to come to something that was coming a lot closer. This was a reality that couldn’t be rationalized.

By the time we got to the east end of Toronto, Steve had called again, he had arrangements confirmed for a walker that needed to be picked up in Peterborough. The original plan was that I’d bring Lynn to Colborne on Monday and then up to dad’s on Tuesday. I decided to change that plan and divert up the 115 highway into Peterborough and across to Lakefield. It was going to make for a long day but it got Lynn up to dad’s right away.

In many ways, dad couldn’t be in better hands than Lynn’s. While dad never really had favourites amongst his kids, he had a little extra softspot for Lynn and Lynn adored him. This isn’t going to be an easy task for my baby sister but it will be one she will do with love.