Chemo week - PSYCHE!

Today was SUPPOSED to be a chemo day, but a few weeks ago I looked like a teacher with Hank.  I held up a calendar and said, "Here are my chemo days and here is my family vacation.  Can I do chemo here?  Here?"  Help played along very well with, "...that is too soon with your platelets.  No that is too soon to your trip.  Where are you going?  Oh yeah...  Do you want to go or do you want me to cancel it?  (Of course, I want to go!)  Well, you need a break any way to get your platelets up, so you can be off until July 9th."  WHA?  Thinking the better of saying that.  "Okay!"  So, for the next little while, I will cook my own meals, clean my own house, and go back to Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa.  It is a bit of a whirlwind, but it will be great to see the in laws (haven't seen them since diagnosis) and friends.  Can't wait to go to Second Cup and Perogie Night in TO.  Want to see if Mason or Nolan will step out with me on the clear glass floor of the CN Tower and we are taking my Mother in Law, Lil, to Medevil Times.  Cute story - ...so when you book with Medevil Times you are asked to show up 90 mins ahead of time for general seating.  WHAT?!?!  So, I called and said laughing, "Is there any way around that?  My mother in law is 87 and I am a cancer patient.  We may not have 90 mins!"  So, with a couple fees and discounts to offset, we have reserved seating.  Can't wait to see the fireworks in Ottawa, eat bread and cheese in Quebec, and just be normal, if not for just a little while.  Love, Ang  P.S.  I will be putting out a new meal calendar so, if you want to get on the email, just contact Sarah at  sarah_09@comcast.net.  Thank you!  A Bientot!

Update and Best Burger EVER

Well, lots of time has gone by and I am doing well.  Update - the Relay for Life was so fun and my team, The Royal Runners, were amazing.  I was honored and happy to be with them.  We made $3500.  WOW.  Thank you - I am amazed by you.  Quick note - a breast cancer survivor came up to me on the survivor lap and said, "I love your shirt."  My reply was, "Yeah, well, rectal cancer doesn't have many options, so I went with this."  She and I laughed like HARD.  It was cute.  Then there was T-ball and tossball, my birthday which despite the hotel Grant and I were going to stay at had a main water break and is closed until August 1st and my favorite restaurant got kicked out of their lease, was awesome.  I found that I really just need ribs, ice cream cake, and flowers.  My head hit the pillow saying, "Best birthday ever."  Chemo day was good, chemo week sucked, and then back to t-ball and toss ball, dinner with friends in the neighborhood, and then yesterday.....so, yesterday Nolan crawled in bed with me and said, "I love you Mommy."  I said to Grant, "I will do chemo forever as long as I can hear that.  Part 2 - I got to see my college buddies who I asked to help Grant in the yard.  They, like the troupers they are, came and did amazing work!  We talked and laughed.  I sat and petting the cat and they weeded, spread bark, the yard looks amazing.  BTW - The cat isn't my cat, but won't go home (for the past two years) and lives in our shed.  I do feed her and pet her ever morning and night but really there has got to be a better gig for this cat than a shed.  She is a great mouser, rater, moler, so she totally earns her keep.  ANYHOO, I said to her on Friday night, "Look Daddy needs you to catch the thing that come out of that hole."  The next morning, a mole was on the porch.  I gave her tuna.  She is never going home now.  Part 3 - Jane, my famous Sister-in-Law, and the gang (Tyrus, her husband, Grant, our nephew, and Grant's girlfriend, Claire) came for  a short visit.  I miss Jane.  We talked for hours and the boys went to the store for burger fixings.  They played hockey, soccer, and wrestled with the boys for hours.  The burger tasted great and I even had a beer.  When they left, Mason, Nolan (still in his pjs) and I rode after them on our bikes out of the neighborhood.  It had been a beautiful day.  My boys, my Grant, my friends, my family.  Jane emailed me this morning and thanked us for the visit and said that Claire said, "It is like they have their own little paradise there." referring to the yard and my knives.  She likes good knives like a good woman should.  We do have a paradise here.  Grant and I have made it that way though I can hardly take credit for the yard.  He has planted all my favorites where I can see them when I am sick.  I so rarely leave the house that he believes it is essential that I have this.  (For example, other than T-ball - I haven't left home/neighborhood since Saturday before last.)  John, our neighbor, even has trained his clematis to go on my side of the fence, because Grant and I are having trouble growing one.  I am so lucky.  The boys don't ever really like leaving either.  When asked they usually want a home day, wearing pjs, playing outside with their buddies, and eating in their fort.  So, this morning I was thinking about lunch....all I wanted was a burger.....and I had just enough leftover in the frig to do it.  So, with my indoor grill pan, I cooked the patty and onion (good tip from Claire), toasted the bun like my Mom does, seasoned the patty like Craig (Sarah's husband) does, put on my avocado, lettuce, tomato, and open the last pilsner in the frig.  I went outside and, while Nolan was watching Curious George, ate my AMAZING burger with the juices going down my hands in my paradise yard in my pjs.  Pretty good day so far......love, Ang

Pre Relay for Life

Today, I go tot the Relay for Life at about 5:30 and meet up with the team I am representing, the Royal Runners.  I just now checked their page, done a couple calcs, and I realized that we raised over $2500 in three days......pause.....pause again......wonder how in the world I have these people.....feel humbled, gracious, blessed, and, of course, just a little, "Now, there is a can of whoop ass!"  Okay, maybe a lot of whoop ass.  I can't help it.  Soon, I will put on my "What's Up Your Butt?" t-shirt, all of my bracelets, and my pin from the Relay with Bob.  I have done my hair twice because of the humidity today.  My hair is a real draw at these events and I don't want to disappoint, but if this keeps up I am going to look like something between Michael Bolton and Carrot Top. Ceremony starts at 6 and I will be done with my duties at 7:30ish.  Probably go out to Teriyaki with a friend of mine that is meeting me there - by the way, Cheryl are you meeting me there????  At 5:25, I will most likely, be in my car cursing the humidity, then saying a prayer, then exhaling to get myself ready and then, I will open the door, and I will be EVERYTHING I need to be.  Thank you for your never ending support, prayers, friendship, and love.  Ang