Too long since my last post...

It has been a long week! So much has happened, but I will try my best to recap everything!

Sunday was a great day! It was the day of the Big Climb in Seattle. The Big Climb is a fundraiser for leukemia and lymphoma. People raise money then climb up 69 flights of stairs in Seattle’s tallest building! The wonderful girls at the communications center for KCSO added me as an honorary member of their team! They even got me a team shirt. The amazing part of that was that not one of them had ever met me before they did so. I decided I wanted to go meet them and support them.

Their story was really touching. They had a supervisor who died of lymphoma six years ago. They do the big climb for her every year. Their team shirt is a baseball t-shirt in the Mariners colors because the supervisor loved baseball and the Mariners. The team name is on the back “Forget Me Not” with the number 13 and the team member’s name on the front. They raised something like $2500 at least half coming from a bake sale they held. The bake sale was set up like a posh bakery. It was really professional looking, and there was a lot of care and heart put into it! What an amazing group of women! I was honored by the inclusion and so happy to be able to come and support them!

Here is the whole group!

The atmosphere of the Big Climb was brilliant! There were so many people there. All the team shirts were inspirational and told such incredible stories. There were several teams with shirts with pictures of little children and logos like, “Climb for Kalob” or “Forever in our hearts”. You can see how some of the shirts were just gut wrenching. There were memorial shirts, survivor shirts, hopeful shirts, and everything in between! I have always felt lucky with how things have gone for me, but I never felt luckier than I did looking around me and seeing all the people who have been touched by these types of cancer. It was truly amazing!

After the girls got lined up, Alan and I headed home. I was feeling tired and a little weary; however, after a little rest I was feeling better and decided to go for a walk. That was just silly to do! I wore myself out and I really started to not feel well. That and it made my chemo brain a little worse! I did take a nap though and felt better, kind of; so we went to meet up with the other KCSO team that did the climb (they did it much later in the day) for dinner. My chemo brain was still in effect though as I didn’t even recognize some friends that were there when I first walked in. Nope, I just walked right on past them! It took me about 5 or 6 steps to even realize I just saw someone I knew. I felt really dumb! At any rate, it was nice seeing that team because I knew several people there. My girlfriend, Jessica, did the climb and finished all 69 floors in 14 minutes! Amazing!!!!

I did do too much on Sunday and I was really sick on Monday because of it! I didn’t even want to leave the couch and Tuesday wasn’t too much better. I drank lots of water and ate some of my mom chicken soup made with mineral broth. I was really worried because I had a trip planned for Wednesday! I was going to go on my trip no matter what and luckily I felt much better!

Wednesday, my friend, Amy, picked me up and we headed to Portland! We were going to see Wicked! It was so much fun to take an overnight trip and with her! Amy is one of those friends that is so easy to be around. She laughs so easy and things are always fun when she is there. We talked a lot on the way up, which was great as there was so much to catch up on. We got to the hotel, changed, and headed out for dinner; which was amazing. We got to the theater and were able to check out the orchestra pit. She had never seen a Broadway play before and I think she really loved it. They did a great job! We just wanted to stay and make them do it all over again, but we headed to the hotel for a drink (well, lemonade in my case) instead!

The next morning we went to Edgefield and ate breakfast. The food is always good there! We had a lot of fun just walking around and taking pictures. We have decided to try and get tickets to the Florence and the Machine concert there in July. It is sold out, so we shall see if we can find some within price range on ebay or something.

I also went and saw Little Miss, Lauren, in a little play she did with her acting class. It was super cute! I went to Stacey's afterwards and we got to catch up. It was great to see them. I don't get to see them as often as I wish I could.

My mom and I have also been spending some great time together. We went to my favorite Thai restaurant and had dinner. We have also been watching season one of Game of Thrones so she can watch season two with us starting Sunday. We have had some good talks. We went to see Hunger Games. It has been hard to think that she is leaving in a month. Neither one of us can really talk about that yet.

I bought two more books this week about nutrition. One was based on a recommendation from a friend called, Nourishing Traditions. The other is, The Lean. It will take me time to get through these books, but I am committed to changing my diet this summer. I plan on transitioning slowly so that by the end of summer I am eating whole grains, limited milk products, mostly raw or lightly steamed veggies, and all organic and natural foods. I am determined to do everything I can to prevent from getting cancer again. Some things I can’t control, but others I can. I am never helping cancer again!

I have a busy week coming up! Alan and I have a fun restaurant tour today; I have several planned visits with friends, doctor’s appointments, and much needed fieldtrips to take. I will keep you all posted.  I also finally get to start using my elliptical walker! My focus is now shifting to getting ready for my last chemo and for life after cancer! It is amazing that this journey is almost over. There is no longer light at the end of the tunnel because there is no tunnel. I would be standing in the sunshine, but I live in Washington and the sunshine is available right now, but I will settle for the diffused, gray light of the cloudy daytime! There is less shadow with this type of diffused light and I am ok without shade right now…