Sunday 22 July 2007

Bull-riders, Warriors, Old and New Friends

Whew, sure feels like summer! Mom and I took in the Rodeo Finals at the Stampede last Sunday - it was hot and exciting. I am not a "country girl", but it is amazing to watch the skill and guts of the men and women calf roping, bare-back ridin', saddle bronc'n, steer wrestlin, barrel racing and of course, bull-riding! With the top prize in each category of $100,000, it is by far some of the best competition you can watch. It was a great afternoon, and then we were happy to say goodbye to Stampede for another year.

I spoke with one of my doctors from Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Centre in New York this week, and he informed me that my case had been presented to their transplant team. He felt that my case should also be put forward to their leukemia team (it's a pretty large centre, so there's actually 2 separate teams). That happened this past Friday, so I should hear what their final consensus was perhaps this week. My doctors at Tom Baker will consider what the New York teams suggest is the best next step for my treatment, and then we'll all come to agreement. I'll keep you posted!

I caught up with a few more people this week, some old friends that I hadn't seen for a long while, which was great. It's amazing how some people you just never lose your connection with, even if time passes between visits. Just like many "destinations" on my life list, visiting with good friends has to be a top priority for me now.

A few new friends popped up this past week as well..I met with Jerry, a man who is planning to run one of the Leukemia Society's Team in Training marathons, raising funds for the Society at the same time. I'll be one of his "honoured heroes" that he runs for. Pretty cool stuff.

Also I met with a lovely lady Kelsey, from PwC, who is training to cycle with a team from Calgary to Austin, Texas in early October, to raise funds and awareness for cancer. Cancervive (www.cancervive.ca) also flies down "Warriors" for the weekend the cycling team arrives in Austin, to celebrate survivorship. Kelsey has asked me to be a warrior...since I'm already kind of a veteran, I thought I could be a warrior!

This week brings another "day one" chemo day again...unless anything is changed from what the NYC docs report. For now, I'm going to soak up the sun and see what else the week will bring. Hope you're soaking it up too.