1) A Bolt from the Blue! - 18th October

Life can change in an instant.

Our Nerja friends all know how quickly things changed for Leigh-Ann. Apart from a pain in her stomach life was almost perfect for her. I guess nothing is totally perfect but it was pretty close.

After weeks and months of trying to figure out was wrong with her, last Friday we got the results of her scan and was told the news nobody wants to hear. "Leigh-Ann, I am sorry but this is not good news". Leigh-Ann has cancer. She has a tumour the size of a tennis ball in her pancreas and a much smaller one on the liver (1cm).

That was last Friday afternoon, October 4th.

We had already spoken about the possibility that she might have cancer and what we would do if she had. That decision was easy - go back home to Canada. That's where all her family live and where she understands the system, the language and any medical procedure is covered by the medical system.

We started to plan our trip immediately.

The next morning we were up at 4:00 am organising the house and booking flights and a hotel to leave that evening, Saturday.

After a short siesta we arranged dog sitters with friends, cleaned the apartment for our guests, packed and shut up the house. At 5:30 our friend Helen took us to Málaga Airport to catch the 9:00 pm flight to Luton, England. My daughter, Felicity was there to drive us from Luton to Heathrow. How grateful we were for Helen and Felicity!

Next day we were up at 7:30 and at the departure gate at Heathrow at 9:30 ready for a 9 1/2 hour flight to Vancouver.

Having lost a further 8 hours (9 in total) we were welcomed by Leigh-Ann's sister, Earla, at midday (Canadian time).

Sisters - Earla and Leigh-Ann (very jet lagged)

Everything happened so quickly.

Monday was Thanksgiving so it was not possible to get an appointment with a doctor. Finally time to relax and enjoy being back home and with my family. One day of respite after a very hectic three days.