If you look at Sunnybrook hospital on Google Maps , you'll notice that it's right next to Sunnybrook Park. And if you zoom out on the map, you'll see that Sunnybrook Park is connected to a larger set of parks. Many of the green spaces in the area intersect with Bayview Ave, the major street on the west side of the hospital. I have a lot of memories tied to places along Bayview Ave and the green spaces around them. You can use this map list to follow along with the examples that I describe below. My mom worked as a nurse at the St. John's Rehab campus of Sunnybrook hospital. My mom got me my first job there working for the hospital kitchen when I was 14. I loved walking along the tree-lined driveway to the front doors of the hospital. As a child, my family would visit Edwards Gardens, which is just north of Sunnybrook Park. We wandered, played, and fed the wildlife back when I didn't know it was a bad idea. In fact, it's now illegal to feed wildlife anywhere in...

Sixteen radiation treatments are done, 4 more to go. Today's treatment and the remaining 4 treatments are boost treatments , which are recommended for patients with certain risk factors for cancer recurrence. Instead of treating the whole breast area (and my armpit due to lymph node spread), boost doses are focused on the location where the tumour was removed. I was told that radiation side effects start to show up after about 2 weeks of treatment, and that held true. The skin in the treated areas has reddened and/or darkened and is tender. Since the skin isn't broken, care includes treating the area with a saline soak and moisturizing with an unscented moisturizer such as Lubriderm. Fatigue isn't as severe as it was during chemo, but most afternoons I do rest or take a nap so that I have more energy for the remainder of the day. Side effects of radiation peak about 7-10 days after treatment is complete, so I'm continuing to take things a day at a time. Walks are in the...