u/ThatDamnCBDGuyAgain

Hello Friends,

I've become a matcha fiend in the past year and have been on the hunt for premium quality matcha powder. Does anyone know of a good spot to get matcha powder in Kitchener?

Bonus points if you can guide me to a spot to also get a killer iced matcha (unsweetened preferred)

Cheers!!

Hello All,

I used to have another reddit account I was active with but shut it down once things got more difficult with my father.

Anyway, my father was diagnosed with GBM at the end of August in 2025 after having left peripheral vision loss in both eyes. Initially, it was treated as a stroke but once the MRI was done, we were told it was a sizable tumor in the back right side of his brain. He had surgery on September 17th, it went well with 98% resection. We found out the tumor was MGMT methylated which gave us hope.

Shortly after the surgery though, we noticed some behavioral changes and he sadly fell into a steroid induced psychosis. That was absolute hell. He was put in the mental hospital for a month. I couldn't see him for 2 weeks out of that month due to a COVID outbreak. When he got out, it took him a couple more weeks to recover from the memories of what he had done in that psychotic state.

Chemo & radiation started in November or December if I recall correctly. It was intense. Due to the negative reaction to Dexamethasone, he had to tough out the post-radiation swelling. He suffered a major seizure in March which brought him to the hospital.

During this hospital visit, they ran an MRI and found he had a tumor in his Corpus Collosum and the original tumor site in the back right side of his brain was showing growth yet again. Our oncology team made the difficult call to change treatments to Avastin & Lomustine. I was terrified of these treatments after being told the side effects that could occur. My dad was a trooper though and agreed to proceed. After his first Avastin/Lomustine treatment, I noticed an extremely positive result. He was back to my normal dad. He had more energy, he was more sociable, he felt good. Palliative care however, was called in.

We continued the Avastin & Lomustine through till our next scheduled MRI in May. That MRI blew us out of the water as it showed the tumor in the Corpus Collosum and the original tumor site was no more! His swelling was non-existent too! We were so damn happy with this news! ... But, it was not all happy. Two small tumor sites had popped up in his frontal lobes.

Our oncology team decided to continue the Lomustine & Avastin to try to tackle these new sites. Come June, my father started to lose mobility in his right leg. Our oncology team made the decision to blast the tumors with 5 rounds of radiation. Following these 5 rounds, my dad sadly didn't improve. His mobility made a major turn for the worse come July. He was using a walker now and struggled even then.

Mid July, he had an MRI that showed the tumors in the frontal lobes had grown considerably. New satellite sites were popping around these frontal lobes as well. My father and I were panicking. Our team said they would be calling a meeting with a larger group of oncologists/specialists. A week later, we heard back: Won't be continuing Lomustine. Only Avastin treatments. No clinical trials available. Focus on quality of life now.

My father didn't make it far after this. He declined quite rapidly. He didn't make his Avastin treatments due to not being able to go down our apartment stairs. That destroyed me. Knowing that we were at the end. Knowing that he was losing his hope. August 3rd, he couldn't get out of bed. He slept the entire day essentially. I called a close friend to come visit because I didn't want to be alone. She stayed the night after talking to my dad because she felt he wasn't doing well. He fell out of bed 3 times that night. We called the paramedics all 3 times to do lift assists as he had no strength left at all.

He went into Hospice August 8th. He was happy to be there - getting 24/7 support. He fell into a deep sleep shortly after arriving. I went home. Returned August 9th and remained there till August 11th when he passed. August 10th, he had a surge of energy where he was his normal self. He met with all his friends & family. The last hoo-rah. It was beautiful...

A week has gone by and I'm fucking numb. SO numb. I feel too happy. I'm not happy though. It's like my mind won't let me feel the pain. The pain does come now and again though. I wake up sometimes at night to hear him calling for me or snoring. I ran to his room only to find his room empty. I miss him so fucking much. He was essentially my only parent as my mum abandoned me at 9 years old. He was my best friend. My rock. My greatest teacher. The center of my universe. I don't know why I can't feel the pain fully. I want to feel the pain. I need to release.

Fuck GBM. My dad had just turned 61 years old. I'm 31. I don't want to have a life without him. He wanted grandkids so badly and we often spoke of what my wife & children would be like. We dreamed a beautiful dream together for my future and now it's changed because he won't be in it.