Qi Qi Qi

It's been quite a week since I found out that the trial was approved - here's the health highlights:

Thursday I received a call from the clinic to find out my May 23rd date had to be changed in order to get all of the baseline testing done and results back in time for admission. So mark a new date down (the last change I hope) - June 12th, with collection from Brandon on June 11th and admission to hospital June 2nd. This date change is a bit of a mind-test for me, as that means feeling exposed with no chemo for three more weeks. Thursday evening before bed I felt a bit shivery, and my temperature showed I had a mild fever, which continued through the night.

Friday morning I called the clinic and went in for various tests...it seems every so many Fridays I feel I need a nose swab (worse than getting an IV put in, in my mind)! Anyway, I went home and slept, hoping that I would feel well enough to attend my Qi Gong 2-day workshop on the weekend.

Since the fever had not come up again, I was able to make it to Qi Gong Saturday and the rest of the weekend is difficult to explain. As I'd mentioned a few weeks ago, I had several strong messages from different people to see Dr. Aung, and I know why now. He is easily one of the kindest, most peaceful, intelligent, intuitive, healing people I have ever met. I felt happier and stronger just being near him.

Qi Gong (pronounced Chee Gong, not Shi Gong as I had until I attended) is one method used in Chinese Medicine, which involves breathing and concentration exercises to build up, and move your Qi, or energy, to direct it to parts of your body and keep yourself in a state of total harmony and wellness. While it sounds really intangible (and perhaps a bit crazy), there is actually a very standard, tangible and somewhat technical framework to follow in doing it, and I was able to truly FEEL it working. I realize now that the June timing for transplant is perfect - it gives me more time to practice and get stronger!

Dr. Aung took a few minutes after the first day to see me personally, a generous action, and after looking at a few things, inserted some acupuncture needles "with love and kindness" into my legs, arms and neck, for various reasons. After about 3 minutes, I had a strange feeling and it took me a while to figure out what it was. I realized it was my baby toe, against the vinyl chairback that my feet were resting on. I could feel my baby toe. I haven't been able to feel my feet for the past 18 months, as one of the chemo drugs I've been on has a neuropathy effect and over time, the entire front half of my foot has become numb. So when I suddenly felt all of my toes, it was quite an overwhelming experience.

Sunday night Brandon, Dana, Davis and Jack came over for dinner, and I had enough energy to easily last the night, dancing with the boys, playing the Wii with Brandon...my Qi was strong!

Tuesday I relayed the events of the weekend to my physiotherapist, and discovered he trained with Dr. Aung for a while! So this Friday he's going to do some acupuncture, after he contacts Dr. Aung to consult...just another reinforcement of Dr. Aung's role in my journey. Crazy.

Tomorrow I will have a bone marrow aspiration at the hospital, where they draw out bone marrow from the bone above my butt - this test is one of the most important on the list, as it will indicate the state of the marrow, and I must be in remission to remain as a candidate in the trial. I'll report the results as usual! For now, my mind is on what I'm going to have to eat, as I'm off to meet a friend for lunch. Life!

Approved

I just received a call on my cell phone from Dr. Brown - he received a fax approving the trial, so we are headed to transplant May 23! No more details yet, but I wanted all of my supporters to know...thanks for all your prayers and energy and positive thinking. I'm excited and terrified all at the same time, but very grateful.

Angels and Game 7

The past two weeks have really flown by, which is wonderful given the "waiting phase" I am still in. While I am not totally back to pre-pneumonia health, I am quite close.

I am actually writing this blog while watching Game 7 of the Flames-Sharks series and the score is not good at 5-2 for San Jose. I have to do something else while I watch as I find it too stressful to just watch. We'll see where it ends up by the time I finish writing!

Before winter arrived again in Calgary last week, I was able to get out to a couple of parties - a gala fundraiser for Cancervive (www.cancervive.ca) which allowed me to wear a party dress with my new hair, bid on auction items and chat with some remarkable people. The next night, I stopped in at a 60th birthday party for Max Morin, a long-time friend of our family, and caught up with some really old, good friends that I hadn't seen for many years. It's funny how time doesn't put any distance between old friends. I love that.

Earlier that morning, I visited some angels by the river. No, I am not on prednisone again. The daughter of a friend and coworker of mine had created a beautiful pastel drawing of an angel that was featured as a table-top of a cafe called Angels, located in a lovely riverside park. I had seen the work in progress and was really happy to meet their family at the cafe, have a visit and check out the finished product. I've kind of seen her two daughters grow up over the past 10 years, with the artist now 17 and graduating. They are both wonderful girls and their family have been great supporters of me over the years, so it was a pleasure to spend some time with them.

The following week, feeling stronger yet post-pneumonia I was able to continue the "good energy" roll - having a delicious dinner with my former Leukemia & Lymphoma Society board members, catching up with a variety of friends, and spending time with "the boys" (twins Davis and Jack as well as Tasha's Talyn). Those little boys are so adorable and fill their Auntie Tricia with nothing but love and happiness. I've been learning as much as I can from them. I also continue to learn from Tasha, as she manages to juggle her chemo, a toddler, and sell her house while being a huge support and friend to me, all while looking like a fashion trendsetter!

Last Wednesday, I visited Dr. Brown and we had our usual chat about the application status. He had heard from Ottawa, as they had some very minor questions/clarifications, which he thought was somewhat positive. He also had 3 possible options lined up for the drug "wrinkle" I had referred to a couple posts ago, and felt that 1 of those should work if we get approval. His estimate of when Ottawa would render their final decision later this week (I estimate early next week, based on my experience and auditor skepticism). I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!

So, it's Game 7 for me and the Flames! I hope we both win.

The Flames just scored...now 5-3 - you never know what can happen....

Luck

Vegas did not disappoint. When our initial hotel arrangements evaporated, we ended up staying at the Wynn, a fairly new and definitely luxurious hotel. We certainly spent more time in the room than expected with the space and the view of the golf course behind us (I mean, it had a TV in the bathroom!) After Mom finished walking the room to estimate square footage, we snacked on wine, crisps and cheese compliments of Colleen, and then eventually headed outside the room!

We managed to leave the hotel the next day to get to some amazing outlet shopping just 10 minutes away, and secured some very nice deals. Eating delicious Japanese fusion by a waterfall that night (still in our hotel), we were happy our original hotel plans had disappeared! The following two days were spent mostly soaking up the sun during the day and watching crazy artistic acrobatics at Cirque de Soleil's "O" at night. Our minimal penny slot machine play even earned us each free meals, so that balanced our shopping finds!

The three of us never have any difficulty having fun together, but our beautiful surroundings sure supported a short vacation beyond my expectations!

Mom and I ran out of luck when our late flight home was delayed by 3 hours, so we arrived at 4 am Monday...yuck. I had to get blood work done later that morning and mom had to work, so it took until Tuesday to return to normal!

My blood counts were all good, and on Wednesday I saw Dr. Brown, and stopped the chemotherapy I have been on for the past year and a half. It's a strange feeling...Dr. Brown described the plan as "giving my body a break to rest before I step out in front of a train"! Okay, I'll take the break! He updated me on the transplant application - while the "wrinkle" that I mentioned last post had not been completely ironed out, Health Canada had reported that my file had gone to formal review. This simply means it was back in the review stage, and while the timeline may have been extended slightly, it at least shows they are willing to consider it despite the need to iron out certain issues. So the wait continues but there is a light at the end of this loooonnnng tunnel.

I'd had a cold and cough for a few days and so I laid pretty low last week. Last Thursday night I woke up feeling shivery and took my temperature to find out I had a fever. When it hadn't gone away by the morning, I phoned the clinic and went in to the hospital for tests. The preliminary tests showed a type of pneumonia, so I started on medication and took Tylenol to try to manage the fever and symptoms. While the fever remained through Friday night, accompanied by bone pain and headache, by Saturday it had calmed down and after a lot of rest and a few more doses of the anti-biotic, I feel a LOT better today. So the plan this week is to fully recover and get back to getting strong before the train hits.

A lotta good luck and a little bad luck. Just another turn in the roller coaster, right?