John's post on Emma

John here again filing a report for Emma. Today was a much improved day. The nurse gave Emma gravol via IV before the cancer drug. That plus the regular use of anti nausea medication has made her tummy a little happier so no vomiting today (yippie).
She was warmer during treatment today as she took afew more cloths to layer on to help stay warm. They did her IV line in herleft forearm and left it in so they can reuse it tomorrow and possibly as long as through Friday. Fewer needle pricks makes for less tension for Emma, so this is a good thing. Nap time at home after treatment was more comfortable with the electric blanket we ordered from Sears. I cooked up some pasta for supper and Emma ate some, and after supper went for a shortwalk with the dogs. After the walk she started to tire again and laid down on the sofa for the rest of the night.

http://toccionline.kizash.com/films/1001/178/index.php

An report from John on the start of Emma's inerferon treatments

John here with a report on Emma. Emma had her first of many interferontreatments today. She was nervous about it and needed a little help settlingdown. The nurse got a line into her first try which can be a challenge withEmma's small veins. She got some intravenous fluids to start, then the drugand then 350 ml more fluids by intravenous. Her arm was sore while thefluids and drug went into her. About 30 minutes after the end of hertreatment on the trip home she started to feel sick. When we got home andshe was settled I called a neighbour to watch Emma while I ran to get twoprescriptions filled. She was nauseous and started to vomit. I called the oncall oncologist and he said she could have 2 more of the anti nauseamedication and then one more every four hours. About 30 minutes later shevomited again and I called the on call oncologist again. He said to give hergraval which should settle her stomach and make her drowsy. She settledafter that and my mom arrived to spend the week with us and help out.She has had little fluid or food since breakfast ( I'm not much better witha muffin, piece of pizza and a cheese sandwich for my daily sustenance).With the vomiting and nausea she is scared to eat or drink. 10 AM tomorrowis her next appointment so she will get fluids then and hopefully be betterable to manage the nausea and start eating again.John and Emma.

Mine buildings

Cabin at the lake
An old cabin at a mine site in B.C. on the road to Skayway

Getting up steam to go up the White Pass
Skayway

White Pass rail yard in Skayway

An old Barn

Hi, from Calgary, Alberta!!!

WE ARE HOME! Yes, after traveling for four weeks our total time traveled was 11,333.1 km and we chewed up 3308 litres of gas (some prices $1.25 per litre). We had no flat tires, no breakdowns and put a small mark on the backend of the trailer when it came into contact with a marker post at one campground. Last night we stayed at the Whispering Pines Campground in Golden and at 9:15 this morning we set off for home arriving at 12.15pm. We had a great time, saw lots of interesting and beautiful scenery, Raymond got zillions of comments on the canoe which we carried on the top of the truck. Four years ago, Raymond made the canoe in our basement and it is a cedar strip with spruce accent strips.

I noticed two things in Alaska – about 95% of the traffic signs have gun shot holes through them and there are oodles of places by the roadside selling handmade knives.

Raymond has parked the trailer in a very small spot in our back yard for the past four years and he has never had any trouble zipping it into its parking space. But either the parking spot in the backyard, or the trailer itself, must have had a mad on with Raymond as today it was a real fight to park it. I guess the trailer wasn’t tired of traveling yet and was simply making a statement that it wanted to keep on going. Oh well, it is finally in its place until we go camping again.

Hi, from McLeese Lake Resort, B.C.

This is Wednesday August 24, 2005 and we are enjoying our last few days of holidays. Yesterday we drove and drove and drove and after a fruitless search for a provincial campground, we did another first – we camped at a K.O.A. campground! This campground was at Burns Lake. They originally put us in a stall between two other trailers and Raymond couldn’t stand it. He had already set the trailer up, had the ribs cooking on the barbeque and I was boiling water on the stove to cook corn on the cob for supper, when he poked his head in the door of the trailer and said he was going to see if we couldn’t move to a site with some breathing room around it. He came back in a moment and sure enough, we were on the move to a much better spot.
Today we drove past Prince George, turned onto Highway 97 south and again searched for a provincial campground to stay overnight and of course we couldn’t find one. We decided to stay at a “resort” campground as Raymond had driven enough for the day. This campground turned out to be very nice and we had a chance to put the canoe in the water and paddle around the lake.

Hi Susan. I am sure glad some people in my family can figure out how to put a comment in our blog. Kevin, are you not following along with us? Are you not looking after our house for us? Where are you?

Hi, Emma and John. Thanks for your emails. Hope everything goes well with your treatment. We will be in touch when we get home.

Bear

Hi, from Meziadin Lake Provincial Park, B.C.

Today is August 22, 2005 and we are camping at a beautiful spot on Meziadin Lake (pronounced Mezy-AD-in). Earlier today we drove from Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park where we had camped for the night – a beautiful spot. We had about a 320 km drive to the turnoff to Meziadin Lake Provincial Park but road construction was in full swing and it was hell to say the least. At one point they were dumping gravel on the road and the trailer bottomed out – couldn’t even see the bottom of the tires on the truck. Raymond backed all the way down the hill and took a run at it and with great effort we made the top.

This afternoon we went on a hunt for bears as Raymond’s wish is to see a bear – any bear. We left the trailer at Meziadin Lake Provincial Park and proceeded on the road to Stewart. We were very impressed with the Bear Glacier and some other tourists told us that they had seen bears at Salmon Glacier so we proceeded to drive to Stewart, then Hyder, Alaska and then drove up a steep, narrow winding road – and of course, it was raining so it was slippery and very muddy, to see the Salmon Glacier. The higher we climbed, the thicker the low lying clouds were and visibility was very limited. We saw some of the Salmon Glacier but not the upper area. From what we could see, the glacier was huge. And of course, no bears were to be seen anywhere! We finally turned around and drove the steep, narrow, winding, muddy road back to Stewart. Raymond was devastated that our search for bears was unrewarded. Then about one km from our campsite at Meziadin Lake we saw a black bear run across the road and into the bush. At last, a bear! We didn’t get a picture of it – but we did see it. And then a short distance down the road another black bear ran across the road in front of us – wow, two black bears and to think we had driven 210 kms up to Salmon Glacier to see bears and all we had to do was sit on the road 1 km from our campsite and wait for the bears to come to us.
We are now near Prince George.BC

Gorge at Telegraph Creek

We are actually near Stewart, B.C.

Hi, from Teslin Lake, Yukon!

Last night we camped at Carcross and this morning we drove to Skagway, Alaska. . The drive was very picturesque and we crossed from the Yukon into British Columbia, then crossed the American border at White Pass all in the matter of an hour. There was only one cruise ship in Skagway today and the town is very reminiscent of Banff – dedicated to releasing the tourists of their money! We didn’t stay long or spend any money!

We didn’t post any pictures on our last blog update as we didn’t have a strong enough internet hookup and we will try to include them in this posting.

Thanks Marguerite for your comment – nice to see that you are following along with us.

Hi, Lynda – the weather way up here has been cloudy at times, drizzly at times and sunny at times – but those pesky little black flies seem to be all over Alaska and the Yukon and they don’t seem to care what the weather is like. Zack has been bitten three times by the wasps because he kept snapping at them. Now he is quite happy to come in the trailer at night so they won’t bother him.

Hi, again, from Lake Laberge, Yukon!

On Tuesday we left the trailer at Moose Creek campground and drove to Keno where there are silver mines and a lot of antique articles. We drove to the top of Keno mountain and could see for miles. On our travels we saw a fox but we could not see any marmots which the lady at the Museum said were in abundance on Keno mountain. On the top of Keno mountain there was an old dilapidated shack. On Wednesday we drove to Lake Laberge campground. Cathy mistakenly killed a bumble bee - she thought she was aiming at one of the billions of wasps that constantly fly in your face. Seeing as Cathy killed it, and seeing as how we were at Lake Laberge, we called it Sam McGee and cremated it in our campfire (referring again to Robert Service).

Dredge 

The gold dredge tailings 

about 

Robert's cabin

Hi, from Dawson City, Yukon!

Yesterday, we drove to Eagle, Alaska and discovered where some of the fires were burning. It was smoky for most of the trip which included corkscrew turns and very rough road. When we got close to Eagle the sun broke through and it was beautiful and clear out. We basked in the sunshine for awhile, then drove the crooked road back to our trailer. We stayed overnight in a gravel pit amidst the smoke. This morning we crossed the border into the Yukon and the smoke seemed to be centralized in Alaska. The further we drove the clearer it got and we had a great ride over the ‘Top of the World Highway’. We just toured Dawson City and took photos of the cabin that Robert W. Service lived in. It is hot here – about 28 degrees and we are in the trailer with the air conditioner on.

What was this in our campground???



Yes a Big







Dog

On the road

Hi, from Chicken, Alaska!

Saturday, August 13, 2005, the time had finally come to embark on our historic trip to the Arctic Circle. We had mentioned the smoke in the air when we had arrived at Fairbanks. Well, we didn’t think it would be too bad, so we started our trek around 8 am. The air was quite smoky and as we traveled further, the smoke got thicker and thicker, and soon we had zero visibility. We both had our heads out of the windows trying to ensure that the vehicle stayed on the road and we were traveling less than five kms per hr, and hoped that no one coming from the opposite direction, would run into us. We soon came to the conclusion that this mission must be aborted and we turned around and drove back to a gravel pit where we had left the trailer. We were both very disappointed but it must have been fate that we didn’t go all the way to the Arctic Circle as we were rewarded on our drive from Fairbanks to Tok, with five moose sightings.

No charge Camping

There are a lot of misquitoes in Alaska and we have proof pasted on the front of our trailer.

Mt McKinley

Hi, from Fairbanks, Alaska!

When we visited Homer, we drove down the Spit and it was very tourist oriented – lots of shops selling stuff. We bought fresh halibut and scallops and both tasted really good.

Stephen and Caroline, you had enquired about how long the days are here. When we stayed in Homer the sun set at 10 pm and rose around 5:00 am. Just a bit of trivia – the shortest day of possible sunshine in Fairbanks is Dec 21 – 3hrs, 42 minutes. The longest day of possible sunshine is June 21 – 21 hours, 49 minutes.

Yesterday we had two firsts:
1. We left the trailer parked along the road in a pull over and drove into Seward – a total distance of 120 miles – I thought Raymond would be panicking about the trailer, but he did okay for his “first time”.
2. We parked overnight at a gravel pit – people are allowed to park anywhere in Alaska and nobody seems to mind.

We arrived in Fairbanks in the late afternoon and as fires are burning somewhere in the west, the air is thick with smoke. We were very lucky this morning as the view of Mt. McKinley was clear and quite amazing – see attached pictures.

Susan, sounds like you are having a busy summer – in a couple of weeks the kids go back to school and you are back at work – yikes!

Lynda, glad you are traveling on our vacation with us by visiting our blog.

Sunset 

Mushrooms 

AM 

Hi, from Homer, Alaska!

Monday was the first day we had shorts on since we left Joan’s place over a week ago. Last night and tonight we are parked at a rustic campsite overlooking the Cook Inlet and we have a fantastic view. On Sunday we stayed at Confederation Park in Anchorage and Cathy was so impressed with the mushrooms growing there that she took over 20 pictures – see attached for one of them. While having our pre-breakfast coffee, before we left Confederation Park, a black bear proceeded to amble through the campground and no one seemed concerned, so maybe this was his usual route to wherever he was going. Attached is a picture of our trailer parked in the campground looking over Cook Inlet and in the background is a mountain (part of the Chigmit mountains) sticking out of the haze that looked really impressive

Oil Terminal 

Valdez fishing dock 

Horsetail Falls 

Worthington Glacier


Hi, from Tonsina!

We are staying another night at Tonsina River Lodge and Campground and today we left the trailer at the campground and traveled to Valdez. We saw a lot of waterfalls and have attached pictures. We also saw a VERY LARGE BULL MOOSE. It charged out of the bush onto the highway in front of us and before we could get a picture, it went into the bush again. Raymond got out and tried to get a picture, but it came charging out of the bush and onto the highway again, and Raymond ran for the vehicle. The Worthington Glacier was awesome as you can see from the picture. The sockeye salmon run was on and we saw thousands of salmon trying to make it upstream. Thousands had also died in their efforts and it was quite a stinky mess! We had purchased salmon at the waterfront and thought we may not be able to eat it after seeing the mess of dead fish, but we were hungry, so we put it in the oven and it was really good.

Buffalos on the way to Whitehorse 

Miles Canyon 

Miles Canyon

Hi, from Alaska!
We crossed the border this morning and American Customs wanted to see our passports (identification) and the information that the dogs had their shots. They also asked if we had any firearms or carrying over $10,000.00 in cash and all Raymond said was “No” to the firearms and “I wish” to the cash!

When we were in Whitehorse we visited the salmon ladder at the dam on the Yukon River. The first salmon had crossed on July 29, 2005 but we did not see any while we were there. We will visit again on our way home. We also took some photos of Miles Canyon – see the attached pictures.

We stopped at Tok to see if we could get Internet access and as Raymond was searching on his laptop, a State Trooper pulled up alongside of us to see if we needed help. Raymond just waved at him and it was great to see that if we needed help, it was there.

Emma, thanks for your email. Jasmine is a true champion and Piper is next in line. What is the next show you will be going to?

Susan, thanks for putting a comment on our Blog. We are so glad that you made it home safely.

ATTENTION: We have received a lot of hits on our blog and no one but Susan has put on any comments. People, we expect to hear from you!