Pencil Me In

The day after my last post, Tasha received a very solid pathology report that indicated her margins were clear - excellent news. She started chemo 2 days later, and her side effects to date seem manageable. In fact, we even started planning a trip to NYC together for early April - me excited to show her my favourite city and her excited to see what I've been blabbering about for years.

Unfortunately and fortunately, I had to cancel the hotel booking yesterday. Although the transplant application has not been approved yet (it's still in finalizing status before sending), the transplant team in Calgary agreed that based on the timing and possibility of approval, they would put me on the schedule for transplant - "pencil in" is the phrase used. Pencil or pen, it is nice to have a date...May 1. That would actually be "day 0", so I'd likely be admitted a couple of weeks before that, as the pre-transplant chemotherapy protocol for the trial is around 10 days. That's about all I know right now! Now I continue to wait for approval to turn May 1 into a reality. Tasha and I will go to NYC after the transplant, when neither of us have to do chemo and extra martinis are possible!

I had actually started planning several trips for April and early May, so Dr. Brown phoned just at the right time. With the attitude of getting on with life, I also booked and did a head shot session for my acting resume this week as well. I just finished it yesterday and will get the head shots next week. Most of you know my passion is not accounting but acting (don't worry I won't give up my day job yet)...I was part of a theatre company in NYC when I worked there, and studied acting in Calgary before that. Now with my head shots done I can start to audition for work! I likely won't get anything before mid-April but afterward I'll be ready...

I did manage to book a couple of short trips between now and the anticipated hospital stay - one next week with Mom to Scottsdale for a few days of sun and shopping. At the end of March, Colleen, Mom and I will return to Vegas - we had gone 8 years ago with Grandma Gunn for her 75th birthday and had so much fun. Without Grandma with us, we might actually get some rest and win some slot machines, as she seemed to outlast and out win all of us!

With such great news at the start of the week and yesterday, I can say it was a pretty sweet week. I hit my Life List well - I was able to visit, eat (including sushi) and catch up with many friends, newer and old, spend time with my family and my nephews, get my acting head shots done, and book a couple of trips. I also spent an incredible day at a local spa, compliments of Dave and his family, which forced me to relax, sit back and think about this crazy life. I decided I better enjoy the ride, regardless of where it takes me.

Waiting to Live

Finally the deepfreeze has lifted and there is a hope of Spring in the air! My car looks like a jungle safari tour vehicle covered in mud and salt but it's nice that it's wet and not frozen solid like the past few weeks.

Last week was by far one of my busiest in a while - every night I had some event, and while some were indirectly linked to leukemia, they were mostly NOT medical appointments. Monday night I attended a workshop with a casting director at the acting company I used to study with, Tuesday I spoke to a group of people planning to run a marathon and raise funds for blood cancer research, Wednesday I saw the Kite Runner (incredible), Thursday I attended the Cancervive sponsorship appreciation night (Calgary to Austin cycling event) and Friday saw 27 Dresses with mom. During those days, I packed in bloodwork, physio, Day One chemo, getting my computer fixed, lunches and coffees with coworkers and friends, and attending Tasha's appointment with her oncologist (no pathology results yet for her, we're hoping by tomorrow!). The week was kind of a reminder of what I like to be - busy, running from one experience to the other, relying on my blackberry to tell me where to be and when.

Of course, I always like to push my limits and on the weekend spent most of my time sleeping and fighting off some nausea, perhaps as a result of my busy week, but who knows. I had a brief break from that on Sunday, when mom and I met Tasha, Ryan and Talyn at the Health Show to find out about the next wonder juice and what healing treatments could cure us all! Speaking of treatments, there is no further update on the status of the transplant application - it is virtually complete, awaiting signatures and assembly to be on its way to Ottawa for Health Canada's review. Patience is a virtue isn't it!??? I did find out that currently transplants are being booked into April, so even if we get approval in the coming month, the timing will not likely be earlier than May, which is quite a bit later than I had expected.

After absorbing this for a few days, I've decided to take advantage of the delay. I can only get stronger physically before the treatment in that time. The reality is that this may be the best I feel, even after a transplant, so I better just start living and doing everything I want to rather than putting off everything waiting to get my life back. So, I have been tossing plans around quickly in my head like crazy, and I am certain my blackberry will continue to be full of interesting things in the coming months...stay tuned!

What's in your calendar? Put something good in there...stop waiting!