I've celebrated a few holidays these past few weeks - a wonderful dinner with some of my Irish relatives, Marlene and Art, and Easter with Dana, Brandon, Jack, Davis, Mom and Dad (or Papa as the boys now call him). We had a lot of fun and I managed to keep Grandma Antonini's rice krispie cake tradition going with a bunny cake (and some not so lovely eggs) which the boys truly loved. It is still amazing to me how fast they are growing up and how funny they are.
On the health front, I continue to feel good and am gaining strength. The menu and activity plans mom and I have been following are really giving me more core strength that will be key for the next few months. The application for the clinical trial was couriered to Ottawa on March 12, so I am finally in the last stages of waiting. With Ottawa having 30 days to review the application, April 11th looked like the date to expect an answer. As the roller coaster continues however, that changed this week when I found out there was a small "wrinkle" with the application that had been identified early on- the good news is that the teams in New York and Calgary figured out how to iron out the wrinkle and I signed some paperwork yesterday to assist with that. The bad news is that the time it took to iron it out may push the April 11th date forward slightly. Fortunately, since my last post the clinic already changed my "pencilled in" date of May 1st to May 23rd, because the pre-transplant timeline looked a little tight even if there were no wrinkles. Soooo.....I continue to hope for no more wrinkles, and wait with fingers (and toes) crossed.
As so many of you now follow Tasha's blog as well, you probably already know that she experienced a scary "wrinkle" of her own last week, when she had a strange reaction at a restaurant that made her heart rate elevate and her blood pressure drop and took her to emergency at the hospital. It seems she likely has developed a severe food allergy, triggered possibly by being immune-suppressed while on this recent chemotherapy. While it was an awful experience, Tasha looks at positively as usual - "if I only have to deal with a food allergy, then great!". She continues to be a wonderful mentor and support for me.
Speaking of positive energy, I've received several messages that I should be doing some Qi Gong, a phrase I didn't know about until 10 days ago (I actually had to go on wikipedia.com!) Since then, 3 separate dinners/lunches with 3 unrelated people have made me aware of it, as well as the same doctor who teaches it. When the third person mentioned it, I kind of laughed and thought "Okay, I get it" and signed up for the end of April. It will be (hopefully) be perfect timing to learn new techniques that can help me before heading into the hospital again.
I continue to learn so much from this ride of life we are on. Lately I seem to be absorbing everything even more fully than ever - whether it's at a concert, a hockey game, a dinner, a lunch, watching the starry look on Talyn's face when I do "Tricia tickles", enjoying a personal dance with Davis, counting down Jack's "fireplace jump" trick, or just driving the Deerfoot, I have been smiling a lot lately at virtually nothing. I am surrounded so much by so many positive energy sources, both nearby and in the distance, and I am so incredibly thankful for that.
And while real life continues to be tremendous, treatment or no treatment, I am looking forward to escaping to the surreal world of Las Vegas! And while I'd love to say I'll report when I return, mom reminded me tonight "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"! Have a great weekend!
