Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.11.2018, Page 5

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Friday, November 9, 2018
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Grant Stefanson, President/Vice President
Julianna Bjornson, President/Vice President
Bill Perlmutter, Treasurer
Elva Jonasson, Secretary
Brian Tomasson, Director
Dr. Allan Johnson, Director
Dr. Lyle Hillman, Director
Dr. Ron Goodman, Director
Ernest Stefanson, Director
Margaret Kernested, Director
Skuli Sigfusson, Director
Vi Hilton Bjarnason, Director
Evelyn Thorvaldson, Director – In Memory
Garry Oddleifson, Director – In Memory
J. S. Laxdal, Director – In Memory
The Honourable Kris Stefanson, Director – In Memory
Walter Sopher, Director – In Memory
Bill Valgardson, Editor
Caelum Vatsndal, Editor
David Fuller, Editor
Gunnor Isfeld, Editor
Steinthor Gudbjartson, Editor
Joan Eyolfson Cadham, Editor – In Memory
Lillian Vilborg MacPherson, Editor – In Memory
Ragnar Bergman, Director – In Memory
Arni Thorsteinson, Senior Subscription Sponsor
Buffet Dinner
Entertainment & Dancing
Prizes & Draws
Entertainment by Icelandic DJ Kent Gudmundson
To be honest, this has been the
most difficult part to write about
so far. Not because it bothers
me so much, but because I really don’t
remember most of it. It’s like the Charlie
Brown cartoon when the teacher talks
and you hear sounds but no one knows
what she’s saying. It was a huge trauma
to suffer and I think my body went on
auto-pilot just to cope.
About a month after we discovered
the lump, I finally had enough courage to
make a doctor’s appointment. I was then
referred to a mammogram clinic two
and a half months later. The morning
of, I got myself mentally prepared to
have my breast squished together with
a “linen press” – something nobody
would ever enjoy. You’d think after
all these years, there would be other
ways! I waited in the change room
until they reviewed the findings. Time
stood still. I tried to remain positive,
but somehow I had a nagging feeling
that I wasn’t going to like what I was
about to hear. “More tests,” she said,
and my heart sank. A re-x-ray was done
and an appointment was set up at the
Breast Health Centre for April. Gary
and I had a “couples trip” booked to
Mexico at the end of March. I didn’t
know whether or not to cancel. Most of
the advice to me was to “go and have
fun and forget about everything for a
while.” So we went.
After returning, my daughter and I
attended the ultrasound appointment.
I remember looking for the lump
and could barely find it. I told the
technician at the centre. She assured
me that this was a “good sign.” Had
it really shrunk or was it my wishful
thinking? As the ultrasound went over
the area, they decided to proceed with
the biopsy. Anxiety rolled in like a bad
storm. Test results would come two
weeks later. I continued on with my
day in the city with my frozen, swollen
breast and confused mind.
I was having horrendous menstrual
cycles. As I sat in the GYN office with
my mom to discuss those, the phone
call came in. My head was pounding
as the words “it’s cancerous” came
abruptly, over the phone. I would
show no emotion and kept on with my
appointment.
When I met with the breast doctor,
the nurse briefed me on the situation.
As I listened to her speak I had no idea
what she was saying. She talked a mile
a minute. After speaking to the surgeon,
we decided to do a lumpectomy and
radiation. Fine. I could handle that with
no problem. I would go for surgery at
the beginning of May and return to
work one and a half weeks later. I would
not let this disease stop me. I wanted to
keep my life as normal as possible for
the sake of my family, friends and my
business.
But just as I thought I was on my
way to recovery and booking radiation,
the team discovered that a lymph node
had also been affected. Oh no. Again. I
had already accepted my plan of action
and now it would have to be changed.
I met with the oncologist. A whole
new trauma entered my world upon
hearing the word chemotherapy. That
was unacceptable to me. It was Charlie
Brown times two. She recorded the
conversation but I would never listen
to it.
I was given the option for a four- or
six-week treatment. I could choose. I
struggled for weeks and asked opinions
about other forms of alternative
medicines. There were so many options
– many new ones. I was so confused.
With fear as my motivator, it was my
choice to make.
I read over the pros and cons of
the treatments offered to me by the
oncologist. They were very similar,
the six-treatment plan having only a
two percent better success rate over the
four-treatment plan.
But one thing really stuck out for
me – the effects it would have on my
heart. The four treatments would be
less damaging to the heart. And as my
heart was already broken into pieces, I
decided it could not handle any more
damage. So the decision was made. I
would attend chemo for four treatments
in hopes of saving my heart. For me,
that trumped everything.
Editor’s note: Melanie is a breast
cancer survivor and has the BRCA2
gene mutation. Medical information
included here is not meant to replace
the advice of physicians.
MY HEARTMEL’S MOMENTS
Melanie Johannesson
Riverton, MB
TV2 News – Former President of Iceland Ólafur
Ragnar Grímsson said it was difficult to find a
convincing argument on why Icelanders ought to
join the European Union. Ólafur Ragnar made this
observation during an in-depth interview related to
the 10th anniversary of the international financial
crisis and the banking collapse in Iceland. Ólafur
Ragnar was President of Iceland from 1996 to 2016.
Prior to that, he was a member of Alþingi and a
cabinet minister for many years.
When asked during the interview whether
Iceland should remain outside the EU, the former
president said: “That has always been my view. And
it was one of the reasons that I decided publicly and
internationally to express that view, despite the then
government’s agreeing to membership in the EU.
During my first years as president, many influential
foreigners visited me. They said then, at the turn of
the century, that Iceland would have to join the EU
before Norway did. That is, for us to avoid Norway’s
moulding of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy
before we joined. Not if, but when. Of course, now
everyone knows that Norway was not on its way
into the EU, and it will certainly be decades until
then, if ever.”
“It was one the main components of Tony Blair’s
economic policy, during his first term, that in his
second term he would lead the way for Britons to
join the Monetary Union,” the former president
continued. “Now, everyone in Britain would laugh at
such a proposal. What is more, Britain is on the way
out of the EU. These projections and this discussion
I witnessed during my first years as president are, of
course, examples that these prophecies on the EU
being the safe future and being a straight path, and
that everyone ought to join it if they planned to have
a satisfactory future, have all proven to be wrong. On
the contrary, we here in the North Atlantic – where
Icelanders and Norwegians have remained outside,
Greenlanders and Faroese – all these countries are
doing relatively well, compared to the countries on
the European continent. They are grappling with
enormous problems that the EU grapples with there.
Thus, I find it very difficult to see how anyone can
argue convincingly today why, based on Icelandic
interests, we ought to join the EU.
Reprinted with permission from Icelandic News
Briefs, published by KOM PR.
Former president says Iceland best served outside EU