New Year Surprises

2008 has already proved to be an interesting year. I rang it in with style, at the chic Hotel Arts in downtown Calgary. I had bought a New Year's night in a deluxe suite at the auction during the Celebrity Waiters Luncheon, and Tasha and her son Talyn helped me celebrate in it! We ordered room service, drank wine, watched movies (everything from Shrek to Sex in the City) and danced around our room, making it until around 11:50 pm before enjoying a restful night and complimentary breakfast in the morning. All in all, one of my most favourite New Year's!

On New Year's day, mom, dad and I shared dinner with Dana and the twins (Brandon missed out as he was in Mexico working on his land development project) to mark 2008. Grandpa and Grandma again enjoyed some JD time, and arrowroot cookies were ever-present. Davis and Jack continue growing up into little boys with their own unique personalities and it's hard to imagine what life was like before they arrived!

While the first couple of days of 2008 were great, the roller coaster downward began a couple of days later, when my best friend Tasha called me with some horrible news - pathology results showed that the lump she had found several weeks earlier was not surgical scar tissue as was expected, but cancer. With her husband Ryan already doing chemotherapy, it was beyond devastating news. The doctors are running a number of tests through this week to determine if the cancer has spread from the original site, before determining treatment plans, but at the very least it will mean more surgery and radiation. Tasha has started her blog again at tashaengel@blogspot.com if you'd like to follow her progress.

Between Ryan, Tasha and I, this cancer is truly starting to tick me off with it's illogical and unpredictable recklessness. After a few days of being angry at the ridiculousness of the situation, I have concluded once again that there is no reason for any of this, and as difficult as it is to do, spending energy on they "why"is a waste. Tasha has also amazingly moved past her shock and anger and is in full fight mode. Now, with both of us having experienced relapse, we marvel at and are appreciative of the ability to move past such a significant devastation into a positive-attitude zone. It's a mystery to me almost as much as the cancer itself.

A lot can sure happen in a week on the roller coaster of life. After blood-work tomorrow, I head to chemo day 1 again on Wednesday, with hopes that progress has been made on my clinical trial paperwork, so that I can move forward to the next treatment steps. I've been able to shake the flu I was fighting, so I'm also going to try to get back to the training I was doing before Christmas, as well as attend a few meetings for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Of course, I'll also hang out with Tasha as she gets the rest of her tests out of the way. While I'm not technically "working", it will still will be a busy week...who knows what it will hold!

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Happy Holidays

I can hardly believe Christmas was almost 2 weeks ago...I realized it was time to post!

Our Christmas was really simple and sweet - we prepared turkey dinner on Christmas Eve and shared it with Brandon, Dana, Davis and Jack.

The boys were true entertainment as usual and were very intrigued with the tree and lights, as well as their usual focuses - the portable phones, Daisy and the light switches - all of which they can reach now with no problem.

On Christmas morning, we travelled 5 minutes to Brandon and Dana's house for our traditional Christmas Morning Wifesaver brunch and the boys opened gifts from everyone including a playhouse from Santa. They were quite excited about the house, immediately opening the door, sticking their heads out the windows, and later figuring out they could crawl onto the picnic table on the outside and almost get on the roof...the power of 2 boys!

A couple of days later, mom, dad and I spent a wonderful night and delicious meal with a few aunts and uncles of mine, at Marty and Karen's house, with Mary-Ellen and Bob. Mary-Ellen is an amazing women and her birthday falls on December 27th; she rarely has ever celebrated her birthday because of Christmas, her favourite holiday. She'd never complain. This year, however, we surprised her and she caught up on some focused birthday-girl time!

Marty and Karen went all out with dozens of balloons, decorations, party favours, loot bags, gifts (including an amazing miniature painting by Marty) and I made a rice-krispie cake - combined with our excitement to celebrate such a wonderful woman, it was a great party! Happy Birthday Mary Ellen!

During all of this, I weathered a bit of a flu, with nausea and increased fatigue. Still, I was happy to be able to celebrate the special days in a far greater capacity than last year.

I hope all of you had wonderful holidays filled with simple but sweet celebrations. I again wish you health and joy for 2008. Cheers!