In our last post, back in May, we talked about our plans to move from Calgary, Alberta to Ottawa, Ontario.
Well, after much research and deliberation, we’ve actually decided to go back to Calgary!
This might come as a surprise to many, but we feel like it’s the best decision at this time for our family.
Why
The grass isn’t always greener
After visiting Ottawa and it’s children’s hospital, as well as discussing the provincial programs with a social worker, we realized that there was much more to consider in our decision.
We were certainly expecting differences between the hospitals and services, but our preliminary research hadn’t identified as many pros and cons. We even decided to look into New-Brunswick and Nova Scotia in order to be exhaustive and feel like we’d done our due diligence. But, we just found more of the same.
There were some interesting programs and services in other provinces, such as the respite/nursing care provincial program in Ontario. But, we found a lack of the things that we’re focused on the most at the moment for Félip, such as his education. Many of the hospital staff and social workers were amazed at our description of Félip’s preschool program with GRIT!
The financial assistance programs also all seemed to have a gap for middle class families. It would leave our family with much less help than in Alberta.
Furthermore, after touring both hospitals in Ottawa and Halifax, we found ourselves missing some of the comforts that we’ve grown used to at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary.
Félip’s condition
Félip’s seizures are still evolving, and he’s far from stable. We get illusions of stability when things don’t change for a while. But that’s the thing, it never last more than a few months, if we’re lucky.
The status epilepticus episodes in July had us incredibly worried and we were longing for his team in Calgary. We found it quite challenging to work with a brand new team in a time of crisis.
Sure, we’re there to advocate for him and to relay all the information; but when we’re already exhausted and super stressed, seeing familiar faces that know Félip’s condition inside and out can often be a huge relief.
Long term plans
We can’t say that we’re not disappointed. Our intention was to move closer to family and now we’re going back in the opposite direction.
At the same time, we’re also quite excited to go back.
We’ve realized that Calgary’s become a home for us. We’ve grown together as a family there and it’s helped shape us into who we are.
We’re going back without any long term commitments. We like to keep ourselves flexible and fluid. For now, Félip has another two years of GRIT that he can take advantage of and hopefully achieve great things. Beyond that, we don’t know what our future holds.
We’ll likely travel back on trips to New-Brunswick in the future. We’ve had a great summer here and really enjoyed the cross country journey.
We’ve signed a lease for a townhouse starting in September and are excited to get settled in! We’re leaving at the end of the month. By August 27th at the latest, most likely before then.
We’ll be posting on social media during our journey back across the country so make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram if you’d like to follow along!
As always… Love. Laugh. Repeat.
