Liliana Komorowska, the Film's Director, along with Directory of Photography, Tomi Grgicevic. Soundman Zoe Mapp (Soundwoman? Soundperson?) is in the back.
Looking a little tired, here - I'm not a morning person! (I must've forgot to tell my agent...."Don't book film shoots before noon!!!)
Tomi & Liliana
This is me receiving some info from Anita of Hope and Cope, the amazing group at the Jewish General Hospital that supports cancer patients and their families. Anita is a Hope and Cope volunteer - she's also just given me the gift of a beautiful blanket to keep me cozy while I'm getting chemo.
Hmm.....feels just like Timmy, except it doesn't shed. Or poop. Behave yourself, Timmy - you could be replaced. (Just kidding, honey!)
Tomi and Beata Nawrocki, Liliana's Personal Assistant. Her camera takes both video and stills.
Dr. Victor Cohen, my Medical Oncologist. A sweetie. A bit camera shy (um...but he didn't even know the crew was coming so we kinda caught him off guard. Sorry, Dr. Cohen!)
Meeting my Primary Health Care nurse, Kathy Saba, for the first time. What an absolute sweetheart she is!! And she laughed at every single one of my jokes! I LOVE her!! You see? It doesn't take much to get on my good side.
Meeting my Primary Health Care nurse, Kathy Saba, for the first time. What an absolute sweetheart she is!! And she laughed at every single one of my jokes! I LOVE her!! You see? It doesn't take much to get on my good side.
You know the saying, "It takes a whole village to raise a child"? My new motto is: "it takes a whole village to nuke a cancer". And the Jewish General Hospital has, bar none, the most amazing team I have ever seen in my entire life.
We've had quite the history of sickness in my family: countless hours in ERs and in every ward imaginable with my mother who was ill on and off for most of her life (two cases of TB before I was born; then lung, kidney & two breast cancers in the 60s and 70s, and then chronic COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) that eventually killed her.
My dad had a pacemaker installed when he was 80, and was diagnosed with terminal cancer at 88.
Including the last two surgeries in September and October, I've had eight surgeries in all. Won't bore you with all the other ones!
Including the last two surgeries in September and October, I've had eight surgeries in all. Won't bore you with all the other ones!
So between my mother, my father, and me, we've done a lot of hospital time in four Montreal-area hospitals, and I just want to go on record as saying that I LOVE THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL! They absolutely rock.
Well, dear readers, my anti-inflammatory steroids kept me up until 4 am, so I'm pretty wired, and I'm off to our final Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer support group tonight. My life as a star is far from over, as Liliana and crew will be inconspicuously taking over the meeting room with their cameras, boom mic, bags, wires and clipboards, but it's such fun, no-one will care!
We'll all squeeze around the conference table and eat chocolate cookies provided by Neri, and we'll laugh, we'll joke about our booblessness, and we'll no doubt shed a few tears as we wish each other well on this long and winding road we call cancer.
We'll all squeeze around the conference table and eat chocolate cookies provided by Neri, and we'll laugh, we'll joke about our booblessness, and we'll no doubt shed a few tears as we wish each other well on this long and winding road we call cancer.No doubt you've got a long and winding road, too, whether it's illness, or family troubles, or personal stuff that invariably hangs around to try and rob us of our Joy in the Journey, but take heart, dear one.....
When life gets just so overwhelming that you want to quit and find another script that's a little less demanding, remember that there is a Father in Heaven who loves you SO MUCH that He is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for a relationship with you.
When life gets just so overwhelming that you want to quit and find another script that's a little less demanding, remember that there is a Father in Heaven who loves you SO MUCH that He is willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for a relationship with you.
That's what's kept me thus far....as that song "Amazing Grace" says, "tis grace that brought us safe thus far, and grace will lead us home."
IMHO (that's computer shorthand for "In My Humble Opinion"), you and I were created for a relationship with God, and as St. Augustine said,
"Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord."
Don't settle for restlessness! Reach out, risk walking on the water, stretch out your perhaps feeble hand of faith, and like Doubting Thomas, say to Him: "I believe, Lord - help my unbelief!"
He honors prayers like that, and He'll honor yours. Here's a prayer and a song for you.
"Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee, O Lord."
Don't settle for restlessness! Reach out, risk walking on the water, stretch out your perhaps feeble hand of faith, and like Doubting Thomas, say to Him: "I believe, Lord - help my unbelief!"
He honors prayers like that, and He'll honor yours. Here's a prayer and a song for you.
Joy In the Journey Michael Card
There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey
And all those who seek it shall find it
A pardon for all who believe
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind
To all who've been born in the Spirit
And who share incarnation with Him
Who belong to eternity stranded in time
And weary of struggling with sin
Forget not the hope that's before you
And never stop counting the cost
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost
There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey
And freedom for those who obey...
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey
And all those who seek it shall find it
A pardon for all who believe
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind
To all who've been born in the Spirit
And who share incarnation with Him
Who belong to eternity stranded in time
And weary of struggling with sin
Forget not the hope that's before you
And never stop counting the cost
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost
There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey
And freedom for those who obey...
God bless you, my friend, and faint not . . .
The end is not yet!!
The end is not yet!!
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