Curtis Robert Ouellette, 41, passed away in Calgary, Alberta on May 20, 2012 surrounded by his family.  He passed away with grace and peace after an 8 month journey with cancer.  Curtis was a loving husband, a phenomenal father, incredible son, charismatic friend, and all round great guy.  A plumber by day, gamer by night, Curtis had a quirky sense of humor, and the way his smile brightened up the room will be greatly missed.  He is survived by his wife Tara; daughters Sophia and Isabel; sister Olivia Ouellette; his mother Susan Layman; in-laws Mike and Brenda Mackin.  He is also survived by the extended Layman, Humphrey, and Mackin Families.    A celebration of his life will be held at the Scandinavian Cultural Centre at 739 20th Ave N.W., at 2:00 on Monday May 28th.  In lieu of flowers a trust has been set up in memory of Curtis to help with the ongoing needs his wife and daughters. Details of this and a memorial website can be found at www.memorialwebsites.legacy.com/slamcannon

"I think I'll go for a walk"

It looks like I've abandoned my blog and I guess that I have but I thought I would do a little catch up today. I've finished my last cycle of chemotherapy which was agreed upon with my oncologist as my chemo was not producing positive results either slowing or stopping the cancer. The side effects were often sending me back to a hospital bed. I will be continuing to live out my life without any further treatments. I am being well taken care of at my inlaws home. My pain is well managed and on the whole I am quite comfortable.

My family and friends have been wonderfully supportive and are welcome to schedule a visit with my social secretary (Tara).

I want to thank everyone for enriching my life. I've been given a wonderful life and have few regrets. I don't know where things are going to go from here, but I do dream perhaps of traveling to Spain when the weather is good. Who knows what the future holds.

I won't be posting on this blog again, but I will be handing the reigns over to Tara. Please know that all of your support has been very important to me and that I love you all! Nobody knows what the future holds....

Curtis

March update

Well it's march and it has been a busy. Curt came home from the hospital on Feb 17th and has been working on keeping well hydrated and noirished the best that he can. There have been many ups and downs both physically and emotionally. It has been very important to spend all the quality time we can together as a family. We've had great visits from friends and family that have left us with big smiles and warm hearts.

Curtis had some media coverage a few weeks back. There is a shortage of certain medications in north America and Curtis was interviewed and was in the newspaper as well as on tv a few weeks ago talking about it.

Here is a link to the interview http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/03/05/morphine-shortage-painful-for-dying-calgary-man

He was very gracious and brave for putting himself out there. There are a lot of people who don't have a voice to bring this shortage to light.

Now to be fair, Curtis has since been able to use another form of the medication for his pain - and for now the drug is working well and his pain is well managed.

So we continue to take things day by day. We don't know what tomorrow will bring so we make sure to spend our time well. It is what we would wish for all of you as well as none of us know what tomorrow will bring.

Thanks for reading and please don't be shy with your comments.

Sobering News, Feb 7th

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and well wishes.


I'm trying to find a way to give a positive spin on what the surgeons discovered when they did Curts surgery tonight.   The surgeons were able to do the procedure we were hoping for.  The tube to relieve pressure on his stomach, and the ostomy to bypass the blockage.  The docs also found a lot of cancer that is very nearly blocking other parts of his small bowel and they felt that the amount of cancer that is in his abdomen likely means that the time we have with him is limited.  There is too much for the cancer to be operable at any time in the future. A person needs a certain amount of healthy bowel to absorb nutrients, and once it gets to a point where there isn't enough, the body can't sustain itself. The hope is we can keep him from getting to that point for as long as possible.

Once Curtis is healed up from surgery, they will continue with chemotherapy and that should help him with symptoms and keeping him comfortable.  The goal now is to get him stable and recovered from the surgery and then get him home and as comfortable as we can make him for as long as we can.

This is quite the blow....  We are trying to process what this means for our family and all of its extensions.  Thanks again for all of the support you have shown us.

I know that many of you shared my last email with a larger group, for that I am grateful.  Please extend our thanks and gratitude.  What I would like to encourage is that your prayers and good vibes go towards helping Curtis with the immediate healing from his surgery, and to bringing ease and lots of love to his heart.

Tara

Call for prayers, Feb 6

Hello Friends and Family,

Well it's been an exciting day...  It started off with Curtis having all the symptoms of stopped up plumbing that he experienced last week.  Instead of visiting our Oncologist this morning we redirected to the emergency room to see if we could get this problem resolved.  After X-rays and CT scans it has been decided that Curtis will have surgery tomorrow morning.  

This surgery will have two objectives: first to install a tube to allow some drainage from the stomach that will help with his nausea and second to  see if there is enough healthy cancer free bowel to bypass the blocked area and create an "alternate ending" to Curt's digestive system.  

There are a lot of if's about the second part of this plan....  But the reason for my email is coming to you tonight is that the surgeons do not know what they will find when they do the surgery.   Too much cancer involvement will mean they close him up and continue with the chemo and try to manage his symptoms with drugs and rest.  I want to ask you all to take a moment tonight to help support the thought and the energy of enough healthy pink, flexible, unimpeded bowel to complete this procedure for Curtis.  Those of you who know me and the work that I do will understand that my belief that we can collectively make a difference in what the surgeons find tommorrow has some precedent in my world. Whether you take a moment and send some good vibes, make a wish, light a candle, or if your faith practice involves saying a prayer I would ask for your support in helping to manifest this outcome for Curtis.  

Thank you so much for being a part of our healing team.  If you would like to send this request to other people in your community you have my permission.  I would encourage you to send any words of support his way by replying to this email.

Love

Tara & Curtis Ouellette

Results of the CT... and Gratitude!

So this is Tara writing tonight as Curtis is having some stomach pain that has kept him quite subdued the last few days.  Since his last update at Xmas Curtis has had another round of chemo - slightly stronger that the one before Xmas and so he is feeling the effects a little more this week.  The reason I am inspired to write this update because of some news we received on Wednesday.  Curtis had a CT scan on Monday and the results are in.  They scanned his chest and abdomen and found no new cancer - none in his lungs or chest(very good news!).  They took another look at his liver and have concluded that the spots they suspected were cancer in his initial diagnosis was not cancer after all (really good news!).  The cancer is still in his colon, but the areas of cancer have not grown or changed(also good news!).  The doctor suspected that this may have been the case due to the challenges Curt has had in our first rounds of chemo.  So what happens now is that Curt continues with chemo and we consult with the surgeon to see what and if surgery will be an option down the road.  We dont know when that appointment will be but we'll keep you posted!

Thanks so much to everyone who has been such an amazing support for us.  2012 so far has been filled with amazing reminders of how big and amazing our circle of support has become.  It really does feel like we are being taken care of in so many ways.  Please keep Curtis in your prayers, good positive thoughts, good vibes, great mojo, and send all those cancer fighting (and shrinking!) energies our way.  Love to you and THANK YOU for your support!!

Tara

PS.  Please don't be afraid to comment or email us with your thoughts and support.  It really does help to hear from our extended support team!  Thanks again!

Post Christmas

Well it seems that my posts are becoming somewhat more infrequent, however this is a good thing as my life as on the last two Chemo treatments has been much less eventful, medically speaking. My most recent treatment, even with the addition of another Chemo agent, has left me with the predictable and manageable side effects.

Christmas was very nice, I've been glad to spend time with my family, thank you to everybody for your gifts and support. I feel quite blessed by how everyone has supported us.

Plans are to continue with Chemo, and in mid January I will be going for a CT scan to see how things are progressing. Quite a lot will be riding on this test as this will be an evaluation that will affect the path my treatment will take, whether surgery or continuing Chemo.

Thank you everyone, Merry Christmas and looking forward to the new year.