Fuck cancer with strong mommy tiamat

Description

The quick up front pitch: My wife is in treatment for Leukemia, and I don't have the time or resources to work full time, manage the household, and be there for her. EI during a leave of absence will not cover bills and groceries.


About us:

Elle (Brianna to offline friends) and I have known eachother for well over twenty years, having met first via online chat rooms for nerds, and then again in World of Warcraft. She moved to Canada just to be with me, and since then we've had two children and a smattering of pets. Our son is 13, incredibly creative and about to start highschool, while our daughter is 11 and a blossoming artist. They both hold so much of each of us that it's uncanny.

During the start of the pandemic, Elle got the family and our online friend group into Dungeons and Dragons. Since then it's been a centerpiece of our shared joy together, often with multiple weekly games on the go at a time. We learned how to run games, taught others, and shared many stories around our virtual table. "Strong Mommy Tiamat" is a callback to a misremembered passphrase in our first campaign, just one of countless small moments that made us laugh and fall in love just a little more.

In late 2023 we were priced out of our apartment and finally made the leap to buy a house. It's more expensive up front, but we looked at the long run and kept our eyes on the horizon where those mortgage payments eventually, someday, begin to diminish. It's a twenty year project and we're just beginning.

After a long stretch of trying to find a new family doctor, we finally had a meet and greet and a requisition for introductory bloodwork. We had a smattering of small, interconnected things to get under control, and were just on the cusp of forming an attack plan when we got a call about the results.

Less than 24 hours later Elle was admitted to the cancer ward to begin treatment for Leukemia. This is an aggressive form of cancer that lives in the bone marrow and affects the blood. Chemotherapy is a long and arduous process that completely drains you. Emotional support from loved ones is crucial, and being present is the most important thing.

I work full time in technical support, a good paying union job. Good enough that I've been able to promise I could provide for her and she could focus on the home, our hobbies, and our growing family. The other side to that is that I've come to rely on her, and adjusting to life without her, even temporarily, is a lot.

While we're lucky enough to benefit from Universal Health Care in Canada, there is an incredible toll on the household and I'm left with few options.

- Do I continue working while our kids white knuckle looking after themselves with Elle away?
- Do I go on leave and let bills slide, subsisting on the reduced income of EI?

I'm hoping with this, I can get ahead by a little bit so that I can afford to take leave and be there for my family.