Becoming The 2%
4 Sep 2026
Hello! I come to you with a delayed update about my blog website. I've been very busy the last two days so unfortunately it's still under construction. But, the website will be called "Shay's Musings". I'm going to try and get it published over the weekend. I will continue updating on here until then. This page will remain active until September 30th! Now a health update. Yesterday morning I had an Endobronchial Ultrasound also known as an EBUS (healthcare loves a good acronym!). I wasn't concerned about it because it was very similar to the bronchoscopy I had done in June. However, it was a little more invasive and longer than the bronchoscopy. And apparently during the procedure some air got into my chest cavity (mediastinum). Which then caused me to have mediastinum emphysema (sounds fun right?). Which is very rare and only has a 2% chance of happening. Now I'm a lucky person but, I wasn't hoping to win the health issues lottery yesterday. How did I find out I was the 2% you say? Because last night after experiencing intense back pain all afternoon and feeling like there were pockets of air in my neck I went to the Emergency 🙃. We got there at 9:20pm and the place was packed (as expected) so we lined up at reception where we got stuck behind a man who was telling the receptionist his life story while the back of his was bleeding!? He was awfully calm for someone who had clearly just experienced a head injury! Anyway we checked in and I was sent for a xray right away! The triage nurse was very nice and very efficient! Then I had an ECG and then we waited. But if you've ever waited in an emergency room then you know it's far from boring. First there was the guy cleaning the floors with and industrial floor sweeper who came so close to us he almost took off our knee caps! Then they began calling celebrities. It turns out the celebrities really are just like us and have to wait in Emergency like everyone else. Robert Pattinson was there followed by Jennifer Affleck, and finally sitting right beside us was Bob Barker! I cant believe they were all there at the same time 😉. My turn came and we were walked to the ICU by the very nice receptionist who checked us in. I didn't know we were in the ICU (because all parts of the hospital look the same to me) until Mom said "we're in the ICU" and gave me a concerned look. Oddly the triage nurse came in to hook me up to the heart monitor (I guess they rotate throughout emergency during their shifts). Then the very nice and far to calm Dr. Wilson arrived to deliver the news that I had a small tear in my mediastinum which is why I have air in my neck and shoulders. He said "is this normal?" And we said "No!" And then he said "no it's not normal. Actually its very rare". Which we already knew thanks to the power of medically accurate websites like the Cleveland clinic where we read that it only happens to 2% of people. So, he sent my xray to the thoraccic team and ordered a CT scan (I have been scanned so much in the past 5 months don't be surprised if I turn into a mutant). Two nurses then attempted to find my ever elusive veins to hook up an IV and do some bloodwork. When we heard over the intercom "thoraccic paging Dr. Wilson on line one". It was just like the hospital dramas I don't watch! Not long after the announcement Dr. Wilson reappeared and said it was safe for me to go home. Apparently this mediastinum emphysema is a common risk of having an EBUS and the team performing it were supposed to tell me that it could happen 🙄. He said there was no danger because the air had gotten in from outside and wasn't leaking from my lung (yay?). He told me my body would absorb/dissipate it on it's own in a few days. We were discharged at 12:30pm and home by 1:15pm. If you're curious what mediastinum emphysema feels like I'll tell you. When I push on my neck near my jaw it feels like there are rice crispies in my neck. The moral of the story is don't ignore strange pains always get checked!
Posted 1 day ago
Bonus Post!
2 Sep 2026
Today I come to you with a bonus post. I researched new platforms to start my permanent blog. I looked at a lot of options but, I've decided to give Wix a try. Wix is of course one of the popular "build your own website" platforms so I think it will give me a lot of flexibility. It will also make it free for all of you to continue reading my posts! Quite a few of the blogging platforms required readers to make an account or pay to read the content. Other ones were littered with ads which I detest! And thus I landed on Wix. Now I haven't started my page just yet I'll be undertaking that task tomorrow. But, didn't you say today was your last post? I hear you say. Yes, I did say that but, because I didn't get my blog up and running yet. Tomorrow will be another bonus post (or a bonus bonus post I supose). So tune in tomorrow for info about where you can find my new blog! Oh and an update on our fundraising goal. Last night we received another donation (thanks Linda!) bringing our total to $1,579! Yay! That means that over the 3 years I've been doing this challenge we have raised an incredible $4,092 for kids battling cancer! Thanks again to everyone who donated! And now I'll leave you with a picture I found of myself as a teenager wearing a shark head 😂 The shark theme continues! (p.s. trying on silly hats is how you make your shopping experience more interesting. Mom and I are always fooling around 😉).
Posted 4 days ago
When Life Gives You Sharks
1 Sep 2026
Today marks the end of the challenge for 2026! I have a few thanks I'd like to give out so here goes! First I'd like to thank my Grandpa for doing all the cycling on my behalf. He didn't miss a single day of riding and racked up a total of 286.3km! Way to go grandpa you are awesome!! Second, I'd like to thank my friends, family, and colleagues for all your love and support during the challenge. It has meant a lot to grandpa and I. Thanks to you we were able to raise $1,528.00 for kids battling cancer. You have made more of a difference for those kids than you know 😊. Lastly I'd like to thank SickKids for hosting the challenge again this year! I really enjoyed checking out other rider's pages from across the country and learning about their reasons for taking on the challenge. I also loved learning about our little GCC ambassadors and receiving encouraging messages from them throughout the challenge. Those kids are definitely going to kick cancer's butt! Ok that's all the thank yous now onto today's news (my personal daily news of course not the world news that's depressing). Of course we have to start with grandpa's final ride report! If you were up early this morning than you know doubt saw the incredibly thick fog that was hanging around. It was crazy I could barely see down the street! But grandpa threw caution (and the fog advisory) to the wind and went out for his ride anyway. He's unstoppable really. Nothing will keep him from his daily ride! It was a bit cold out but also very humid. Luckily he did route 3 today which is his shortest route at 7.5km so he didn't have to contend with the fog for too long. I walked over to the post office to acquire the mail. On my way back I stopped to answer the phone about one of my many appointments. Unfortunately, I stopped beside a hedge which as soon as I answered the phone someone on the other side decided to start chainsawing the hedge! Needless to say it made my phone call a bit difficult. I could hear the lady but I'm not really sure she could hear me 😅. Side note about the lady that called me. I swear when she started talking I thought she was an Ai voice trained to sound like a human. She was talking in one cadence the whole time and sounded like she was a pre-recorded message. I didn't confirm that she was a real human until I asked her which Ottawa hospital campus I had to go to. I asked if I could go to the General and then she got kind of irritated at me for calling it the General (even though that's what it's called!) and told me it was the Ottawa hospital on Smyth road. Which is of course the General I'm not really sure what the confusion was there 🧐. Anyway turns out she wasn't artificial intelligence and we are still safe from an irobot situation....for now 🫣. After hanging up I continued on and happened upon this very cute sticker of a corgi wearing a shark outfit. It's a bit water damaged but otherwise fine and even has the backing on it still! I would say when life gives you lemons make lemonade but life has decided to shower me with my favourite sea creature instead, sharks! So, I'll say when life gives you sharks pretend it's shark week and attack the lemonade stand. Well, that's all folks! Thank you for reading my posts I hope you enjoyed them and had some laughs I know I did. (p.s. I'm thinking of continuing my daily blogs on another platform. So, I've decided to do a bonus post tomorrow where I will let you know where you can find my blog! Thanks to my work mom for the tip and encouragement! ❤️)
Posted 5 days ago
7.5 km ride - Route 3 - Foggy and Wet Morning - Monday, August 31, 2026
Logged this ride 5 days ago
Emotional Damage
31 Aug 2026
Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge! It will be bittersweet for sure. On the upside Grandpa has cycled over 270km so far and together with the support of friends family and colleagues we have raised over $1,500! On the down side it will be my last post tomorrow. I've been really enjoying writing these posts and I know you have all been enjoying reading them. So I will miss connecting with everyone through these posts. But let's not get down about that just yet! Tomorrow is tomorrow and today is today! It's important to live in the now and enjoy everyday! Because everyday you learn something new and experience so many things. That reminds me of a saying I once heard. It goes something like this, "You are a different person today than you were yesterday". We grow and change everyday and that's a beautiful part of life. Now before I start to sound like a self help book let me change gears slightly. I've been going for a lot tests since June and I have realized something. First, isn't it amazing how we've developed all these methods to check what's going on inside our bodies? I find it fascinating how far modern medicine has come! I mean the Victorians use to electricute people if they had headaches. (We won't delve to far into Victorian medical practices. In fact we won't delve to much into the Victorians at all. This isn't a history lesson 😅 but, they were very interesting people). Anyway it's great we can safely xray ourselves now to get a better picture of what's going on inside our bodies (thanks Marie Curie!) But that said it's also kind of strange how we get these tests done. I mean over the last 3 months I've been poked with needles, inserted into CT & MRI machines (the MRI was like being at a very loud EDM concert!), had a tiny camera in my lung, and laid in a dimly lit room while a lady ultrasounded my chest. All strange experiences but at least everyone was very professional and kind. The second thing I've realized is that asking someone how they're doing can be very triggering. I myself have not been able to handle that particular question since the end of July. And when I was at the hospital the other day (my new favourite hang out) I over heard a nurse asking a man "how he was feeling" to which he replied "I feel crummy" and the nurse didn't really know how to respond. The phrase "how are you doing" or "how are you" is so ingrained in our culture as a greeting. But the problem is the expected response to it is "I'm good and you?" To which the other person is then just expected to say "I'm good thanks". Whether either person is actually "good" or not! I've seen it time and again where someone actually answers that question with their real wellness state and people don't know what to do because they didn't say "I'm good and you?". Why are we asking each other how we're doing if we don't actually want to know? And why are we so unprepared for the real answer? So, next time you are about to ask someone how they are stop and consider if a. they want to be asked that and b. are you prepared for the real answer and not just "I'm good and you?". Often we are all going through a lot and sometimes having to answer "how we are" is the tip of the iceberg. On that note thank you for coming to my TED talk. If you have experienced emotional damage from it please note that I am not liable for it. And if you didn't get that joke head over to YouTube and search "Steven He emotional damage". Then have a good laugh! Now climb into your shark sleeping bag and forget about your troubles. (P.S. try a new greeting like "it's nice to see you!" Or "Hello" or "hey you!" or maybe just comment on the weather that's what we humans usually do when faced with an awkward situation. We lean on the weather patterns 😅).
Posted 6 days ago
9.3 km ride - Route 2 - Almost There! - Sunday, August 30, 2026
Logged this ride 7 days ago
Many the Miles
29 Aug 2026
Today Grandpa hit 270km! Amazing! He had a nice ride this morning and encountered my Dad again. With only two days left in August and the challenge it's looking like grandpa will finish with around 285km! I can't believe how much he cycles every month! No wonder he's so healthy at 79. I have been going for daily walks to build up my stamina. As previously stated walks are great for your body and mind and I really enjoy my walks! Last night I walked over to the library to return a big bag of books. I'm finally getting the opportunity to read through all my books I have checked out. So far in August I've read 20 books! (Mostly manga and graphic novels if you're curious but, also a few non-fiction too). Speaking of the library my former colleague Mary who is also a GCC rider told me an amazing fact about corn the other day. She said that the silk on an ear of corn is the reproductive part of the plant that makes the kernels grow! And if you trace a thread of silk it will be attached to a kernel at the end! Isn't that amazing!? I had no idea that was how the kernels grew. I thought that silk acted as a flower of sorts to make the corn look pretty 😅. Turns out it's the reason the corn grows in the first place! Apparently it takes 12 days for the kernels to first form. Oh! she also said that if you notice there are blank spots on your cob of corn that's where the silk didn't connect so no kernel grew. The world of plants is truly fascinating! They really will be here long after we're gone. Just like that show that use to be on tv when I was a kid "Life After People". Where the plants reclaimed the earth and were growing over skyscrapers! We are really obsessed with our own doom aren't we 😅. Well...on a lighter note here is a picture of some local Canadian grown corn that mom took!
Posted 7 days ago
10.8 km ride - Route 1 - 270km Done! - Saturday, August 29, 2026
Logged this ride 7 days ago
Books, Books, Everywhere!
28 Aug 2026
Add some more kilometers on the pile! Grandpa was out for route 3 today and it was very cool out! I guess it's time to break out the jackets again. It feels like we just had them on six months ago. Ah well the joy of living in a country with four distinct seasons! Speaking of the cool weather this morning I was at the Queensway Carleton for an appointment and I walked by a small lending library. I was surprised by the selection. They had everything covered from fiction to non-fiction, comedy to drama. Two of the book titles even started with the word mercy. Now I may be biased as a book lover and library worker but I think it's great they have books to borrow at the hospital. Seeing something I'm use to seeing everyday really made me feel good. I miss those stacks of books all neatly filed (well mostly "neatly filed" until someone looks through them all and just piles them hilly nilly all over the shelf...and the floor). Anyway they also have a library at the General so I'll have to check it out too! I also finally found a new wallet and in the most unexpected place, the hospital gift shop! It's very cute with colorful frogs dancing on it. It's also small and compact which I like in a wallet. I've never been a purse person. I find them to be bottomless pits that you put all the things you need in and then can't find any of the things! Besides they're heavy and awkward to carry. I'll stick with wallets. (p.s. I feel like I've offended the purse carriers so, I'll just say, to each they're own.)
Posted 8 days ago
7.5 km ride - Route 3 - Over and Above - Friday, August 28, 2026
Logged this ride 8 days ago