What’s Been Happening in Cindy’s World?

We’re going to play catch-up in this post and understand what’s been happening in Cindy’s world. I promise not all will be this lengthy. I feel it’s appropriate to bring you up-to-speed on how we got here.

Wow, it’s hard to know where to begin. First, let me back track a few years.

The Boat Life

As many of you know, Derek and I embarked on a life changing adventure 3 1/2 years go. It all began during our many years of vacationing in our beautiful island paradise, St. Maarten. We schemed and dreamed for several years on a way to  spend more time in this place we love, escaping some of our Canadian winter and perhaps reducing our time in corporate life. Then decided to go all in.  We quit our jobs, sold virtually everything in Canada, bought our 46 foot catamaran, ARAVILLA, and started our charter business.

Let me tell you, it’s been a heck of a ride! Good times, challenging times, and more recently a hurdle we certainly weren’t anticipating.

Our first year, as expected, was an extremely steep learning curve. Experiencing operating a 46 foot catamaran, securing customers and delivering a stellar product were only a few of the challenges we faced. But you know what? We did it! Our first season had some business coming in which was a huge bonus.

The strength of our network of friends and colleagues were instrumental in that first season, and continue to be each and every day. Hands down couldn’t have done it without the mentors, helpers, family and true blue friends who have stood by us at home and in St. Maarten. We are very lucky people.

Season two was trending in the right direction with the business growing, and a few opportunities outside of our own charter offering that brought in some income we weren’t counting on. So all was good.

The Hurricane

Enter season three, and boom. Hurricane Irma made a direct hit on St. Maarten on September 6, 2017. We watched from Canada as this devastating event approached the island and eventually hit the island square on. The strongest hurricane recorded ever in the Caribbean. It’s difficult to describe the heart-wrenching experience of watching our beautiful little island paradise being decimated by this horrible storm. Early days were initially spent trying to get in touch with friends on the island to determine their safety and well being. This is not a time we care to repeat ever. Thankfully our friends and colleagues all survived this disaster, but many lost businesses, homes, boats and it broke our hearts.

Stage two, what about our home and business, ARAVILLA? This again is not a time we wish to ever repeat. As the weeks unfolded, friends were able to assure us that the boat was still standing in the boatyard where we left her. Damaged, but not destroyed as we feared. Long story short, we were able to return to the island 3 months after the hurricane hit, and had ARAVILLA in the water within a couple of weeks. Notwithstanding some fairly major cosmetic damage that took months to repair.

This was secondary to the trauma and after-effects that so many of our friends suffered as a result of the hurricane. The sadness we experienced returning to our beloved island to find so much destroyed or completely gone was more than we could ever have imagined. And I’m talking about entire beaches and tourist communities completely wiped out. Indescribable. But here’s the good news. The resilience and spirit of this island and its people floored us. Despite the devastation, the community pulled together to get back on its feet.

Post Hurricane

The cruise ship port and Philipsburg were operating by December. Simpson Bay, where our boat is moored and where we call home, made huge strides to get right back into the swing of things for high season as well. Unfortunately the French side of the island has been much slower to recover, but things are moving now. Much to our surprise, our post hurricane season was our best financially to date. Hard to explain how this happened, but basically we had a very slow start, and a very strong finish. What we found is that many people who love this island made a concerted effort to get there for their vacations in order to support hurricane recovery. Amazing.

And this season, although we’re not there, we see that the tourism industry is thriving. Cruise ships back to full capacity, mega yachts returned for the season, hotels re-opening one by one. So encouraging!

The Life Change

That brings us to what was shaping up to be a great season four. We were home for hurricane season in early August 2018 as is our usual practice, with already confirmed charters booked for the upcoming season. What we learned in a big way is that sometimes the universe has another plan in mind. In early October, I was diagnosed with Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma, or PCNSL with ocular involvement, or more commonly know as Ocular Lymphoma. A very rare presentation of this disease, in my inner eyes only. I had been bothered by vision issues for several months, and after seeing an Ophthalmologist in St. Maarten, followed by further investigation upon returning to Canada, was faced with this devastating news.

That certainly puts things into perspective in a big hurry. Talk about a major lane change. The roller coaster of those first few weeks after diagnosis is a bit of a blur for Derek and I. The very good news is that I was admitted to Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton within days, and began treatments very quickly. After what we were told was a very difficult disease to treat, we learned from the amazing team at Juravinski that newer protocols have a very high success rate, and they’re confident we can beat this. I won’t even try to describe what we went through in the days between diagnosis and eventually learning of the positive outcomes we could anticipate.

Derek

As those of you who are on our update thread already know, Derek embraced his caregiver role above and beyond anything you can imagine. I can’t fathom going through this without him at my side. He is my rock.

He drives the 100km each way to appointments in Hamilton a minimum of twice per week, sits through hours of waiting at these appointments, manages scheduling of check-ups, in-patient chemotherapy sessions, spends time at Juravinski every day when I’m admitted for treatment, does pharmaceutical co-ordination and pick-up, administers necessary injections and changes my aphaeresis line dressing at home, does copious amounts of reading online in regards to the illness and treatments, keeps an extremely detailed spreadsheet and hardcopy file outlining every drug, treatment, blood and other test results, doctor’s feedback, injections and appointments. He’ll speak with doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, admissions and other administrative personnel.

There isn’t a soul within Oncology Day Services or Juravinski in-patient services who Derek hasn’t gone out of his way to engage with, right from the housekeeping staff, to the head of Juravinski. I’m not kidding. He drafted and sent a letter to the head guy, with a detailed message conveying our thanks and our positive experience, specifically mentioning certain key people, as well as the various groups who have supported us throughout this journey. This letter was circulated far and wide throughout the system. We know this because as recently as a few days ago, a nurse approached us and thanked us for our sincere feedback.

All staff at Juravinski have a very difficult role to play, and probably don’t receive positive feedback as often as they should. We feel so blessed to have this incredible level of knowledge, caring and support, and have established friendships here that will be with us for life.

Prognosis & Treatment

Long story short again, I have been through four rounds of chemotherapy since end of October. This is to be followed by a stem cell transplant on February 27th. On February 20th, I will be admitted for 5-days of high dose chemotherapy, prior to the stem cell infusion. The sledgehammer as my oncologist, Dr. Tom Kouroukis, described it. Yikes. The doctors are confident my recovery will be strong due to my age and otherwise good health.

Still a bit of a journey to ride out, but we’re getting there! The constant support, positive vibes and encouragement of our many friends here at home and in St. Maarten is something we can’t even begin to describe. We’ve realized we are the luckiest people on earth to have such a strong support system to provide us with the strength and positivity to get through this. Without our family and friends, we could not do this. I wish I had a better way of articulating the sincere appreciation we have in this regard. There are no words.

Post Diagnosis

After my diagnosis, Derek worked diligently to off-load all charters booked for this season. Our reputation is important to us, and he was able to seek out alternatives and provide a fairly seamless transition for our valued guests. No one even needed to change a flight booking which is saying something. A huge thanks to our colleagues in St. Maarten and Adventure Sport Sailing for helping make this happen. Of course our beloved ARAVILLA has stayed in dry dock longer than intended, but again is in good hands thanks to our friends and colleagues on the island.

Derek manages any activity with regards to upgrades, maintenance etc. on the boat from here in Canada, which requires constant interaction with our support system of people and services on the island. He has held together our business and our home down there, all while managing our lives here in Canada, not the least of which is the constant dedication attending to my care and needs! Oh, and did I mention he’s doing some consulting on the side in the tech business. One busy guy.

What’s Next?

Fast forward to this fall, when all going well, we plan to be back on the island preparing for the upcoming season. We now have a true appreciation for the lifestyle change we made 3 plus years ago. I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to follow your passion and dreams, and don’t wait one more minute to make changes in your life that will make you happy and fulfill your desires. Nothing comes without risk, but you only have one life to live. So live it to the fullest you can possibly imagine!

That pretty much does it for the update. Whew! And now onto today’s activities. Our amazing friends, specifically Jill and Renata, have organized the upcoming Cindy’s Badass Blood Drive for March 23rd. These two amazing people are part of a huge group of friends and family who have rallied around and held us up during this rollercoaster ride over the last months.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I do not know how we could survive this journey without these people around us. You know who you are. The constant flow of love, positivity, encouragement and support from far and near is overwhelming. The ongoing contact to see how we’re doing and what we need, texts, visits, cards, gifts and food show the generosity and unbelievable amount of caring and concern coming our way from all of you. We can’t thank you enough, but do thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Updates

Stay tuned for more updates on next steps in my treatment and recovery. I am happy to share more information or answer questions along the way. Please don’t hesitate to comment or ask anything, and I will gladly answer as best I can.

Until next time!

Cindy