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September 23rd, 2006

  1. More Bloodletting for Cancer Research

    September 23, 2006 by Gail

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    Nokia 6682

    It was a bit jarring to be back in the hurly-burly of Toronto after a very peaceful time in rural upstate New York, but I had an appointment at the Princess Margaret Hospital’s cancer research facilities. I mentioned a month ago that I qualified to participate in a study to assess the effects of stress and depression on cancer patients.

    August 21: Offering Myself Up For Cancer Research

    The study looks at hormone levels and they take blood samples, so there are quite a few screening questions and requirements, such as no recent dental work, colds/flu, injuries, alcohol intake, dietary supplements, allergic reactions, strenuous physical exercise, etc. I had to fast for at least 12 hours before the interview — no food or drink, except water.

    There are five groups for this study and I qualified for the control group — “healthy, psychiatrically unaffected” — but it became clear to the research doctor once the blood samples were taken and I began the interview portion that I would be best grouped as a caregiver subject. We discussed this a month ago, but as I am technically not a caregiver I was put into a control group.

    What became painfully obvious during the interview was that although I have never taken anti-depression medication, I really didn’t belong in the “psychiatrically unaffected” control group, either. I may no longer be a caregiver, but even more than nine months later, I’m as psychiatrically affected as ever.

    (more…)

    Category Haunted by Cancer | Tags: | No Comments

  2. 1,400 Miles or 2,253 Kilometers Later

    September 23, 2006 by Gail

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    After returning to Toronto for one day after three weeks in Vancouver, I got in my car and drove from Toronto to Scranton, Scranton to Ambler, Ambler to Philadelphia, Philly to Scranton, Scranton to Rhinebeck, then Rhinebeck to Toronto in about six days. On Wednesday alone I drove about a third of that — 2+ hours between Scranton and Rhinebeck, then 7+ hours from Rhinebeck to Toronto. I spoke to Gigi’s Papa when I was east of Syracuse and he didn’t think I would be home before 2am, but I was in our underground parking by 01:10.

    He also thinks I’m crazy for never using cruise control.

    I’ve made three of these ON/NY/PA road trips since the end of May, and this drive home was the easiest. Oddly, though, the trip south last week really dragged. It seemed to take forever to get out of Toronto, and it continued that way until I turned south off Interstate 90 (part of the New York State Thruway) to head south along the very familiar I-81. For some reason, as soon as I see that sign for Binghamton (the last major town before the Pennsylvania border) it feels like I’m on the home stretch to Scranton, but in reality I’m not much further than halfway!

    After my interrogation at the U.S. border on our way to Buffalo a month ago (just thinking about it still spikes my blood pressure), I smartened up and dug out the papers filed away that I had in a binder when I moved to Toronto. I put the binder back together again that contains supporting documents, eg. estate papers, marriage and death certificates, car importation, etc., so that NEXT time a USCIS officer gets “confused” with the details of my story and decides it’s easier to make accusations I’m going to simmer down and hand over that binder. In fact, I really should just make it easier for them and draft a one-page outline of events, with a table of contents.

    Sarcasm never works at the border, so I’m keeping it all here, you see.

    As I was driving to the border, I decided to skip the Lewiston crossing altogether and headed directly for the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. Which was a good move, I discovered, when I waited less than five minutes to reach a booth and was waved on through after three questions, the last one which was: “Are you the registered owner of this car?” I thought I was going to get the usual “Why do you have PennDOT stickers with Ontario license plates?” — but I didn’t, so I think I’m going to keep using Rainbow Bridge as my regular point of entry now. Maybe the officers have more sense there, or the spray from the falls works like Evian spritzer to make them more relaxed.

    Category Expat Life, USA | Tags: | 1 Comment