It's sold

Brian with the "For Sale" sign.........

Whew............... we've accepted an offer on the house, and while it is conditional on financing and home inspection.... if all goes smoothly it will be finalized by the end of the week.

Getting the house ready (and keeping it "show" ready) was no small feat, especially as I continued to have treatments throughout.... we couldn't have done it without my mom, Gord's sister and my niece... also Gord took time off work, and the kids pitched in at a moment's notice.

Round 2 Day 10

This photo of desert flowers was taken just outside of my mom and dad's home in Scottsdale.

This week I had another treatment (Gemzar alone) on Tuesday. It's Thursday today, and I'm already feeling fine, so the "Gemzar alone" weeks are pretty easy to tolerate.....

Tonight is Brian's "Senior 1" (Grade 9) farewell.......... which is actualy a dinner and "dance" for parents and students. And I certainly feel up to it, so that is great news..... Next week is Craig's Grade 12 graduation, and my health team have rejigged my chemo schedule so that I have next week "off".........

So... apart from having kinda low blood counts it is clear sailing for the next week or so.......I am washing my hands like Lady MacBeth and hopefully all will be well....

P.S. I made some setting changes so that maybe will be easier to "comment" if you so choose! Thanks to my friends who pointed out their challenges commenting, apparently we have missed some brilliant replies!

"Unless you call out, who will open the door?" - Congolese Proverb

Kudos to the work crew!

Well, our home now looks better than it ever did while we've been living in it!

Gord and the boys have been working for weeks. Gord's sister Laurelle, and her daughter Lacey also came from Saskatchewan and worked like slaves, helping us fix things up and clean things up... My mom has also arrived and thank goodness.......finishing touches were all week - carpet cleaning, etc..

Anyway, the house is ready for the market, it begins it's listing tomorrow, and hopefully will sell quickly...

Here it is......

http://www.webview360.com/territory/listingPage.jsp?oid=106979&territoryCode=602

Heather's 60k walk

Some of my friends have asked about my niece, Heather, who is going to be walking in the "Weekend to End Breast Cancer" in Vancouver... August 18-20/06. The picture you see of Heather and me was taken when she came to visit me in Winnipeg just after I had my port re-inserted and just before I started chemo again.

http://www.endcancer.ca/site/TR?px=1463332&pg=personal&fr_id=1110

Heather recently had a birthday party for her 12th birthday and she had her friends bring donations for the "Walk" instead of presents for her. What a girl!!! I am a lucky aunt to have such wonderful nieces and nephews.

(The rest of my team is doing pretty well too... you will find them in Joanne's Team)

This is to Heather and all my walker friends: "Start by doing what is necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly, you are doing the impossible" St. Francis of Assisi



Round #3 Cisplatin + Gemzar, Day #3........ it's almost over, and tomorrow is another day!

"The sunrise never failed us yet" - Celia Thaxter

Round 2, Day 2 (Cisplatin = Gemzar)

The picture above is from 2 yrs ago, the Vancouver "Weekend to End Breast Cancer" 60 km walk, and is (from the left) my dad, my sister, my brother and Michelle (daughter).... This past weekend was the first "walk" in Winnipeg. Michelle volunteered as "crew" for the event, and she struggles a bit with the emotional part of it, but I am very proud of her. I happened to drive past part of the walk route this year and it is very overwhelming and emotional in a way I can't explain. Seeing the walkers as they made their way to camp, tired but smiling.......It is very remarkable that so many people would go to so much effort, both in walking and in donating and even the organizing...... all to benefit people like me..... My sister, my 12 yr old niece, my brother and his wife (My SIL) will be doing the walk again this year in Vancouver (you can look them up as "Joanne's Team", and several friends whose lives have been profoundly touched by breast cancer are also walking in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto.

Back to me.... (my blog after all, therefore all about ME !!!)

It's going OK...... all the meds they give for nausea, etc... seem to be working and I'm holding my own......... not running any races, but I'm not desparte either.... On Round 1, I was pretty down and out for sure for 5-6 days, so I expect it to be the same....

My Grandma Maloney used to say "What cannot be cured must be endured" (I think most of my aunts and uncles still say it) and that is pretty much what these big chemo weeks are like.... the good thing that with every passing hour, I'm closer to getting through the worst of it.

Hey, thanks to my blog responders, I feel very famous, but please don't anyone feel obligated!

Cheers, and I sincerely hope that you are all feeling better than me at the moment, and if you are not, I wish for you a stack of good drugs (certainly necessary for me at the moment).....

Joanne

Feeling very good

No, I'm not travelling to Minneapolis right now, but I do feel pretty good... the "week off" turned into 2 weeks off chemo and I'm really feeling very recovered.

The photo (right) was taken about a month ago when the boys and Gord and I went on a quick trip to Minneapolis, Mall of America, etc... we had a great time....

This week is the "big" treatment - Cisplatin and Gemzar, I am not looking forward to it, but the task is just to get through it.... Tuesday is treatment day, and mom arrives Monday - her presense is always an absolute godsend.... she keeps us all sane!

My "week off" is a bonus week

Well, since my treatment last week was cancelled, I actually had a "week off" last week, so this week, my "week off" is bonus, and I actually feel pretty good.

Lucky for me, since we've had so much going on!

We drove to Regina last weekend where we: saw the new house we purchased on Friday (with the help of our scouts, mom and dad)... registered Brian for school for fall.... and Gord went in to meet his new bosses for his new job, which starts Sept. 1.

We will list our house sometime after my next "big" treatment (Cisplatin + Gemzar) which is one week from today and our luck holds, it will sell quickly, the market is apparently "hot".

Cheers to everyone!