The Fight of Her Life

About the Book

This is the story of my wife's cancer and fight with it, but also how I felt as time past by. Seven short days after her 64th birthday; Mary began the "Fight of Her Life."

Our Surgeon believes that Mary hemorrhaged from the bowel on the 12th of March. Like everyone else she refused to go to the Hospital. When she did, she was immediately put on intravenous with an antibiotic drip and admitted. On Monday 36 * hours later the Surgeon attempted a gastro-scope, down the throat and a colonoscopy. But, as we expected, she was still too dirty for the scope done rectally. She was then released from the Hospital and sent home to wait for a barium enema on the 1st of April. This confirmed the need for the Colonoscopy.

Due to unforeseen complications it was the 6th of May before that scope took place. The surgeon found a lump the size of a golf-ball where the large colon and small colon meet. With all the complications of her body, including allergies, asthma, week lungs and two tiny holes in the left ventricle of her heart, it took a total of 10 weeks before diagnosis and two more weeks to get around to the surgery.

During the following year her lung was collapsed, she ended up with Subcutaneous Emphysema, went on a couple of morphine trips and almost died from too much Chemo.

This is just part of how our lives were changed.

About the Author

Ab was born and raised in southern Ontario around Elora Gorge. That's the Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo area for those who need larger towns. As a child during school Ab never read anything that did not immediately capture his interest mostly Cowboy stuff and Edgar Rice Burroughs. He never did well in school but managed to receive a passing grade.

By 1978 Ab's interest in music included over seven years of violin which he disliked and a guitar he taught himself to play while singing along. He also started calling and teaching Modern Western Square Dance and went off to the 1st Canadian National in Edmonton, Alberta. Where he met a girl from Prince George, B.C. In April 1979 her journeyed as far as British Columbia found a job at McDonalds went back to Ontario gave his two weeks notice and moved out to be married a year later to be.

Ab worked for the McDonalds Restaurant Franchises until the company made that impossible, 6 years later.

He went back to school and became a journeyman cook and at the same time found out dyslexia was part of the cause for all the low grades in school and trouble in school.

Since then he has joined the Old Time Fiddlers and Windy Reeds Harmonica players and plays guitar and fiddle. (Lots more fun than the violin) He has also joined the Writers Group in Quesnel now called "Quenel Wordspinners". Has written and published one cookbook with more on the way.

At the very first fiddle camp he attended in 2000 he wrote a waltz for his wife on their 20th Anniversary that the became the title song for his CD "The First Day Waltz." Ab published the CD himself and included on the CD some of his own songs, poems written by friends he was asked to set to music to, the painting for the front cover, some music he was involved in writing with others and his rendition of his favourite waltz. He also plays all the instruments himself.