Category Archives: moving to canada

Health care in Canada – yay!

Posted in Bumpboobs, Canada, moving to canada, Uncategorized by

Today is the 28th of November. As of today, my husband Zsolt is now fully integrated into the Canadian system (short of being a citizen). He has his license, he has his residence cards, and finally he has his health care too.

Three months after arriving to Canada, Zsolt is now eligible for health care. Why he’s not eligible from the date of arrival is a real mystery to me. Because it’s not like he arrived in Canada unscreened – he gave blood, he had his eyes checked, he had an x-ray, he had a physical . . . basically, they declared him healthy before allowing him to touch down in Canada. And then we still had to wait three months before he became eligible for OHIP.

If it sounds like I’m complaining, that’s because I am. Considering we played by the rules, it annoys me that he had this waiting period.

However, bright side is that he’s now all settled in. Yay for that!  We’re still in my parent’s basement ( it’s lovely down here with the fire) and things are slowly settling. It’s my hope that sooner than later we both see Canada as ‘home sweet home’, but I realize that takes time. It took time in England, it will take time here too – even though I am Canadian. Making a place your home takes an investment of time, interests and relationships.  That had all been done in England, so transferring everything  back here is honestly a challenge.

But what’s life without challenges? Boring, I reckon. Boo for boring. Yay for healthcare!

Get a haircut and a real job

Posted in After treatment, moving to canada by

It’s the fifteenth of July, and I’m starting to think about work. This summer is dedicated to vacation, and there’s really no point in applying anywhere till Zsolt finds a job himself and we suss out the local area (because neither of us want to make 1 hour commutes everyday). But the reality of reality* is slowly lurking at the back of my mind.

This weekend Zsolt, his brother-in-law, sister  (Berci and Anita) and I are going to a small Hungarian town named Mezőcsát. (Looked up on Wikipedia, Mezőcsát is quoted as being: “a small town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 35 kilometers from county capital Miskolc.”) Though I’m sure it’s much more than that. Firstly, it’s Berci’s home town. Home grown country boy. And secondly, it’s small town living complete with pigs, chicken coops, hard alcohol and thermal caves. The weekend should be quite an adventure. And I imagine, not fit for vegetarians. (The meat  produced from this family is incredible: sausages, kobasz, bacon, rind, ham everything. They use all the pig.)

So we’ll be going there this weekend. And then, ticking in the back of my head, will be Zsolt’s upcoming graduation (here comes the stupid floppy hat for my Dr Zsolt!) plus that inevitable question: do you have jobs yet?

Ay. No.

I’ve told Zsolt our standard answer is as follows: ‘we’re still on vacation’ (though secretly looking online and thinking, just as soon as we finish grad, to begin drafting Zsolt a resume . . . the man has been a professional student up until this point in his life. PhDs are very impressive, but along with that piece of paper, another scrap of paper (i.e. the resume) is required.)

And yet – even though ‘work’ is starting to nibble on my toes as I float across lake Balaton – I’m not entirely worried. Things work out. One way or another, things will work out. They always do. Zsolt thinks I’m ridiculous for assuming everything will be peaches and cream, but I can’t suppress my optimistic tendency. Besides, when haven’t things worked out? Okay, I personally have worked a number of crappy jobs in the past (experience building), but I’ve also worked some wonderful jobs as well. And frankly, one slice of experience raised me up for another, and so things have worked out. Just like I’m certain they will in Ottawa.

In honour of these ‘future flashes’ I’ve started trying to improve my French. All the lovely placements in Ottawa require bilingual speakers (hey, I can do French, but to call myself fluently bilingual would be a generous, very excessively way out and probably too much, falsehood.) However, bit by bit things are refreshing and I’m optimistic (again) it will improve more as time ticks forward.

Anyhow, we’re at that limbo stage of our careers – where things will happen, and yet, haven’t happened. In the meanwhile I really ought to avoid Monster.ca, because it’s depressing. Instead I’ll try to focus on this weekend’s adventure in the Hungarian country side. And let this summer be as it was intended: a vacation.

*PS – This opens onto a fairly interesting subject. What will happen if my possible future employers Google my name and ‘oh!’ find breast cancer everything. Am I worried about discrimination? You bet your sweet ass I’m worried about discrimination. And yet, at the start of my blog – it felt absolutely impossible to hide the truth of my reality. Secrets were not healthy or supportive. So I made a choice between anonymity and saying my name aloud. To this day I don’t regret the decision, but do worry how it might impact my future. Will employers reject me? Will possible donors/adoptive agencies/birth mothers reject me? I don’t know. All I know is at this moment I’m cancer free.  And anyone who discriminates because of my history is not someone with whom I need to work. That’s for sure. I’m bursting with good stuff to offer – cancer is part of my story, but it’s not the longest chapter.  (Okay, I’ll get off my high horse now. It’s a touchy subject. ) Things will, I suppose, work out.

The procrastination continues

Posted in Bumpboobs, Canada, Fertility, Finding Home, Life, moving to canada by

Ok – packing has STILL not started, and it’s Monday. Movers are due Thursday, so yeah, time’s getting pinched. It’s just hard to get focused. Between a great party last Saturday, selling the car and furniture, planning a road trip across Europe, dressing for that photoshoot, and visiting the theatre in London. . . those boxes arn’t likely to fill anytime soon.

Even writing this post is munching on time. But what the heck, I’ll skip the picture scribbling today.

Right. Last Thursday I was given the crappy news. Fine. Since then I’ve been struck by waves of sadness – but otherwise I’m just moving forward. Things are so busy I don’t even have time to google ‘egg donation’ and that’s probably for the best at this moment.

Zsolt said that while an AMH measures the level of hormones produced by eggs (thus measuring the amount of eggs –ish) it doesn’t measure the quality. So that could be either good or bad, though honestly at the moment I cannot be asked to investigate further. And my acupuncturist said she knew a lady who had similar AMH results, and then several years after the test was pregnant.

Anyhow – this is clearly a situation of “he said this” and “she said that” and “I once heard about a women who”.  . . a lot of speculation and encouragement to hope.

But honestly, at this moment (and I’m sure this will change) I’m just tired. I feel tired. Not chemo-tired, just emotionally exhausted and ready for a break.

Cue the summer. I keep telling people about lake Balaton and the spas of Hungary. I keep dreaming of floating through hot water and tanning in the sun. And then there’s this new world over in Canada that I’m trying to imagine – but it’s all water colours – I’ve got a sense, but no shape of what will unfold. This is one of those ‘trust the gut’ situations where everything hopefully works out.

Anyhow. Just checking in to say hello. At this very moment the Zsoltster is going through our filing cabinet trying to empty contents for shipping/binning. Considering he stops at every-single-item for a lovely trip down memory lane, I think it’s going to take a while.

Time to stop typing and help un-file that cabinet.

Later Gator.