Happy Halloween

Maggie and Nick's Evil Cat Pumpkin wishes you a Happy Halloween!

Mom Starts her Trip

Well the trip is officially starting today.  Mom making the first steps of her journey today, the drive from Peace River to Edmonton.  For those of us who have lived in Peace River, we are all familiar with the 5+ hour drive, however for those of you who have never been north you can imagine a long drive filled forests, prairie farms, lots of transport trucks and hopefully no deer or moose.


View Larger Map

Mom will be driving the first part of this trip, from Peace River to Valleyview, by herself.  This is about an hour and a half driver.  The full drive to Edmonton will be too much for her to do on her own so Rory will meet her in Valleyview to do the rest of the drive.

Greyhound Bus has limited service to Peace River.  In order for Rory to meet her in Peace River he would need to leave Edmonton at midnight and arrive at 6:30 am, and then drive to Edmonton.  Because Rory isn't a robot and needs to sleep before driving (whimp), he is instead taking the bus to Valleyview so that he can leave Edmonton at 6:30 am and then arrive in Valleyview at 11, and then back to Edmonton with mom.

Mom has a hotel by the airport tonight so she'll be close by for her 8 am flight.

I'll be spending the day at home with Nick and finishing my packing for the trip.  Thankfully Emily the cat is being a great help...

Emily takes a nap in Maggie's suitcase.  Do you think she wants to come to Bulgaria?

We're Also On Facebook!

For anyone who is interested, the blog also has a Facebook group that you can join.  This will help notify you when I make updates to the blog.  Just search for the Facebook group "MS Trip to Bulgaria."

Only three days until we leave.  Lots of packing to do!

News Coverage of CCSVI

Saw this in my morning reading of CBC news. It sounds like an interesting way to start encouraging the Canadian Government to look into CCSVI treatments more.

CBC News - Health - MS patients claim vein therapy on taxes

One Week Left...

It's a good thing that mom and I both have good long distance phone plans.  There are lots of last minute details to arrange this week.  As this is the first time either of us have travelled overseas we are both a bit nervous.  People have been great at giving us advice about all the things we need to bring with us that we probably wouldn't have thought about - like toilet paper, face cloths, and extra medication. 

We found out this weekend that depending how full the airplanes are we might be able to take mom's travel scooter on the plane with our carry-on luggage.  This has been really exciting for me as I dread pushing a wheelchair, plus carry our carry-on luggage, plus try to figure out where to go when we get to the airports in Frankfurt and Sofia.  Keep your fingers crossed that this will work out.

I've been reading my travel book this week and am really looking forward to getting to see some of the sites in Bulgaria, once mom is out of the hospital.  It sounds like there are some amazing churches, museums and architecture.  The trick will be of course discovering which of these places will be wheelchair accessible.  I think this will rule out most of the street markets.  We're hoping to also be able to take a bit of a tour out into the countryside.  It sounds like a beautiful country!

Let us know if you have any travel advice to share - either about Bulgaria or just travelling internationally.  We still have a week left to add things to the suitcases.

Trip Itinerary

Maggie and Teresa leave for Bulgaria on November 1st, 2010.  While they are away Maggie will be updating this blog regularly.  For those of you following, here is our itinerary:

November 1 - Fly to Sofia, Bulgaria
November 2 - Check into Hospital.  Try to get over jet lag (6 hours for Maggie, 9 hours for Teresa!)
November 3 - Testing for Teresa
November 4 - Procedure for Teresa
November 5 - Leave Hospital

We will then be staying in Bulgaria for a few days "just in case" so that we are close to the hospital.

November 6, 7, 8 - Time in Bulgaria, hopefully see a few sights
November 9 - Last Day in Bulgaria
November 10 - Leave Sofia at 3 am to get back to Halifax for supper time!

Maggie's Wedding

Where to start?  Well seeing as how I just got our wedding photos this weekend I thought I'd start there.  This summer, August 2010, I got married to Nick MacIsaac.  The wedding was in Cornwall, PEI, Nick's hometown.  It was a perfect day, made most special by all our friends and family who were there to share the day with us.  I thought I'd post a few pictures from that special day so that people can start to get to know myself, Maggie, and my mom, Teresa.

Teresa and Maggie, August 2010, PEI

My brother Rory walking the Mother of the Bride up the aisle, August 2010

 

 

Teresa's Kids - Rory, Duncan, Maggie and son-in-law Nick

The Family - Duncan, Maggie, Nick, Teresa and Rory, August 2010, PEI

We're really happy with all our wedding photos.  In case any one is interested they were done by Craig Norris Photography.