Old but Not Helpless, Life After Cancer & A Flood

We are often stronger than we think

July 21, 2023, heavy rain and thunderstorms went on for hours, moving across parts of Nova Scotia — 250 mm/10 inches in just four to five hours.

By evening, my husband and I watched the river rise across the road from our home. We believed we would be okay, that the water would not reach us.

But what we didn’t know was the storm drains flowed into the river and since the banks of the river had overflowed there was no place for the water in the drains to go except to back up into everyone’s basements.

It was devastating to see the seven inches of water cover my art studio, our downstairs bathroom, and storage room. Within minutes, the underlay and floorboards lifted. My husband and I quickly moved what we could to higher ground.

Both of us had never experienced a flood before. We’d been in this home for 13 years. As we gathered with neighbours outside, we learned from those that had lived here twice as long that there had never been flooding in this area before.

The next morning, a state of emergency was declared

Flash flooding had destroyed roadways, and cut off access to some communities. The worst news was that two 6-year-old children were washed away in their family’s vehicle as their parents tried to escape the floodwaters. Much later, the bodies of a teen and a man who were missing were later found dead.

On the lighter side, a video circulated on Facebook of a beaver swimming up the main street in a nearby town.

We counted our blessings. We have flood insurance. Some of our neighbours did not.

My husband and all those affected by the disaster soon learned we were pretty much on our own. The system was overwhelmed. It took days to get through to insurance. We quickly learned many restoration companies were still dealing with repairs from the damage Hurricane Fiona had caused the previous fall and from the unprecedented fires parts of Nova Scotia experienced this spring.

The only help we got from the restoration company was to deliver fans and dehumidifiers to help dry out the basement. It would be months before someone would be able to cut out the damaged two feet of drywall and insulation.

We were advised to do what we could ourselves

Despite my husband having been diagnosed with prostate cancer the previous month and waiting for treatment, he set out doing the work of removing the damaged drywall and insulation.

Together, he and I did the clean-up.

After this was done, there was nothing to do but wait. And we both knew it would be a long wait.

Three months later, in October, and one week after my husband finished his 20 rounds of radiation treatments for prostate cancer, we decided to take a payout from our insurance and do the work ourselves instead of waiting a year or more for the restoration company to do it for us.

It was not a task we wanted to take on, but one we felt we needed to. We had previous experience with renovation and home repair work from our younger days when we couldn’t afford to hire others to do the work for us.

Once we made the decision to do it ourselves, it was empowering

No more waiting for others to do it for us. It gave us back control.

The insurance sent us a check within a week and my husband went out and started buying drywall and insulation. The building supply company added a dollar charge per sheet of drywall for it to be carried into our basement.

The first part of the repairs was to replace the insulation. My husband took out the toilet and sink to make room to work and for later laying the flooring.

The next job was to replace the drywall. Our daughter and son-in-law made the hour-and-a-half drive to help us with that work.

While the men worked on installing the drywall, my daughter and I started painting the bathroom walls with the much brighter green my husband and decided on.

After the drywall was installed, I did the taping and muddling.

After it dried, my husband did the sanding.

My husband and I shared doing the painting job. For my art studio, I decided on an off-white colour to replace the more yellowed tone walls I’d previously had.

That fine white powder from sanding the drywall compound covered everything in fine dust. I had the job of washing down walls and dusting other items.

My husband spent three days installing our shower. He would later do the floor tiles also.

After seeing the hardwood flooring floating in the water, I didn’t want to put that kind of flooring back in. We also needed to choose a type of flooring that my husband could easily install by himself. We settled on laminate peel-and-stick floor tiles since they are durable and more water-resistant than wood flooring.

The finished flooring in the bathroom with the toilet and sink back in.

The colours in our downstairs bathroom were inspired by the folk art mirror from a local artist.

Installing the studio floor went much quicker than doing the bathroom floor. He also put our marble rolling pin to good use since we no longer do as much baking as we once did.

I wanted my studio to be less cluttered than it had been

I started to plan where the shelves would go.

The photo above was how my art studio looked before the flood. I cannot stand to see how cluttered and claustrophobic it was. Not having the shelves all in a row as they were when we bought our home has made such a difference and had me questioning why I’d never thought of moving them before.

It took the flood to make me see what I hadn’t seen before

My new studio is so much better than before.

For an added touch, I painted the sides of the shelves red. The sides also have the advantage of another place to hang artwork.

My Warrior and Queen six-foot archetype mixed media women are back where they belong.

This time I decided to create a cosy reading corner for myself. A place where I can also sit and sketch.

The flood was devastating. My husband and I had spent weeks sorting through the water-damaged items. I lost art-making materials and many pieces of my artwork. I grieved that loss and let it go.

We always kept in mind what was most important

My husband’s cancer diagnosis put what matters most into perspective. As did the death of those killed in the flood and the death of a close friend during this time. Her remains still awaiting DNA confirmation. These deaths were a constant reminder that people are more important than things.

My husband and I are in our 60s. He is 69, and I will turn 65 this month. We have experienced and survived many challenging times in our lives, and the knowledge from all we’ve gone through helped us to deal with his cancer and the damage from the flood to our home.

Both cancer and a natural disaster have been a process of letting go and rebuilding. And realizing we are often stronger than we think and more capable of doing what we need to do.

Barbara Carter — Artist and writer with a focus on healing from childhood trauma, alcohol addiction, and living her best authentic life.