For those who missed it on television back in Canada, you can see me while I am actually having the surgery in this amazing clip from CBC news. Well, I think it is amazing!
I was fairly ebullient then –“piece of cake” I think I blurted out at one point — but less so waking up in the hospital the next morning after a night where I tried out my brother’s clorazepam as a sleep aid. Some video was shot of that with my little flip camera and I posted it on YouTube so that Don Monet and Becky Rynor could play it for the guests assembled for the grand opening of the magnificent new Cube Gallery in Ottawa.
As short and dozy as this clip is, reports are that Becky accompanied it with an eloquent speech and then they commenced a pass-the-hat fundraiser. I’m so touched by that I can hardly find the words; what a wonderful and unexpected gesture!
I am also incredibly moved by the amazing generosity that has been shown through online donations and even envelopes dropped off at our house in Ottawa. I am blessed to have such friends, I really am, and I will be contacting each of you when I return to Canada to tell you just how much your thoughtfulness has meant to me.
Two more more media stories while I remember. If you’d like to hear the interview I did post-op on the Friday morning for CBC Ottawa morning, click here and navigate down to the segment that looks like this:
That should work for another day or so anyway, from the time of this posting.
Jennifer Campbell in the Ottawa Citizen also wrote this follow-up piece, where I manage to get a little snippy about the difference in medical approaches to vascular blockages, comparing Poland to Canada.
Today marks the end of our time in Katowice, a city we’ll always remember with a great deal of affection for its warm welcome, its friendly and efficient medical facilities, the amazing Euromedic Poland team, and the chance it gave us for a new beginning. It will have a special place in our hearts forever.
We’re leaving Katowice on the train today, and tomorrow we fly home from Krakow airport.
Arterial Excursions 
Dear Evan – I lost my much adored brother to MS today or as they say “complications”, but we know the true villain. It was unexpected and I had hoped to carry him on my back to follow in your footsteps but that was not to be. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with all of us and God how I hope that we have found the path through the desert.
Hi Lori,
So sorry to hear about your loss. Your brother was blessed to have a sister like you advocating for him. And please, honour his memory by getting yourself an MRI CCSVI scan soon. This thing runs in families, whether by genetics or environmentally. False Creek, BC and Radiology Montreal are now giving the tests – False Creek was trained by Simka himself.
“What a piece of cake!” You’re hardcore Evan!
I was getting squeamish watching it.
I’ve also done a little piece – http://unfoldingmagazine.wordpress.com. Hope it helps. Good luck.