Jimmy,
It sounds like you’re doing all the right things, so keep on. I agree with you that keeping suitably busy is a good way not to spend your time worrying about stuff.
Being so far away from home and family is remarkably tough but I don’t see why you can’t get through it just fine. We’ve certainly got a decent contingent of AVM @Canadians and I think a good proportion of those in Toronto, so we could possibly find one or two folk to spring a visit if you ever need another AVMer to talk to face-to-face.
I believe my AVM is fixed. I had an embolisation (only – no craniotomy) in April 2017 so am carrying round more than the average amount of glue in my head 
. It all seems to work.
The other thing that bothered me when I was pre-op was that I might have a bleed at work or on the bus and have people around me who didn’t know me and didn’t deal with a stroke promptly. I found I relaxed about that a bit by having a medical wristband made up. I had a rubber one made up, like you used to see many people sporting a rubber wristband for all kinds of reasons. It was perfectly durable and gave details of my name, hospital i.d., condition and the simple instruction to dial “emergency”. It helped me not worry about being found on the floor and nobody knowing what to do. It was £12 well spent.
Best wishes
Richard