Run for the Cure - Thanks Elvira! - Message of hope

Calgary had an amazingly successful annual CIBC Run for the Cure for Breast Cancer on Oct 3. My beautiful Peruvian/Canadian friend Elvira Z ran for me and I am very grateful to her. This year they have raised $1.7 million to date. Elvira ran with a team from her employer, the Calgary Herald. We are so fortunate in Calgary to have so many sponsors and community supporters of the cause. Why can't we find a cure for this awful disease? It is coming, but not fast enough for some of us.
I attended an all-day workshop on BC last Sunday. Great progress is being made, especially in the pathology. We have a new auto- miscroscope in our path lab at Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, the only one of its kind in Canada - the HistoRX. It gives precise measures for identifying tumors, and screening for optimal therapy.
As pathologist Tony Magliocco described it - "amazing technology." His last slide showed his two young daughters - he aims to help find the cause of this awful disease to prevent them ever having to worry about it. Great people working in this field. It improves our prognosis no end.
The HER2 cell discovery was made in 1987 and it took 15 years to create the antibody. I am now reaping the benefit of that research as my cancer is HER2 positive, being treated for a year with immunotherapy, an artificial protein. A message of hope for me indeed.

Oct 18 - Feliz Navidad this year

I have booked tickets to Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific Mexican coast for Christmas and New Year. I won't have to decorate a thing this year, the boxes can stay in the basement. Our dear friend, Tikal's Auntie Nancy, is giving us the use of her new condo there any time we want to go down. So we have taken up her offer and will leave Dec 18 after my treatment on 17th and return Jan 2. The Mexicans kow how to fiesta and Christmas is special so we will look forward to a new cultural experience this year. My friend Theresa will be there at the same time with Sheldon, so we will look forward to a rendezvous with them.

Oct 13 Giving Thanks in the Okanagan

Had Thanksgiving week in the Okanagan valley in BC, camping one last time in the VW Westfalia. It will be sold in the spring as we bought a new Mercedez Diesel engine RV, which we'll drive to the Okanagan to pick up in November. End of an era and hopefully the beginning of a new one. Arizona/Alaska/Newfoundland - here we come! Maybe we will even get a trip to the west (wet?) coast in spring too.
Spending another week in wine country with Uschi and Dieter (and dog Freddy) was great. Lots of wineries and nice restaurants, including chateau Cosandier on wheels. I slept in the cosy pull-out sofa in their trailer while Ted enjoyed one last stay in his beloved VW van. Mostly nice weather than headed home and holed up in a 3 star hotel in the mountains en route after the weather headed south. It was warmer in Calgary!
I then got back in harness with planning meetings for 2 days in Edmonton on one of my boards - The Alberta Council for Disability Services. A fruitful meeting and good to be able to participate again.
We celebrated the Moon Festival at our Chinese Friendship dinner the day before we left for BC. It was our AGM and I was again elected president as nobody else wants to take it on. Moon Cakes brought in from Hong Kong were great.
My 3-month session with oncologist Dr. Lisa Pickering yesterday was all good results. She is also helping find remedies for my still sore mouth, a vestige of chemo treatment. I have healed well from surgery and radiation but need therapy again as the arm lost some of its range of motion with the heavy radiation schedule.
Ted is off to UK for 2 weeks on Tuesday to visit mainly with his mum and family. My date book is filling up fast but I'm trying to pace myself as I am still quite tired when I try to fill whole days with too many plans. I am certainly not back to normal yet. But I do have some fuzzy wuzzy hair and am braving it without wig or hats now.

Sep 24 - Joining the 21st century..

I've done it! I've bought a cell phone. I have not given anyone (except Ted!) the number. I know how to use it. It's a miracle.
I've also bought an iPod. I was so impressed with Liz's little device, the sound quality from such a tiny implement, it's magic. Liz came without her charger and had to buy one here. So since I inherited a charger, I figured I might as well buy a Nano to go with it. Good timing as the new iPods came out this week (fancy new mothers with 120G of memory) so Apple were selling off the 4G Nanos on line for $140 (instead of $220). Of course mine is hot pink...
I have loaded gazillions of hours of music and it is still only half full. I will enjoy it at my Herceptin treatment at Tom Baker tomorrow.
I figured out how to put my family photos from my Palm Pilot on to my iPod. Now if I could just get my Palm to sync to my laptop - ah techology....I can get it to syn to my desktop but do you think the laptop will oblige? Not.
I now need a power bar to keep my cell phone, Palm Pilot and iPod juiced up. I figured if I put them all on one surge protector I can take it traveling easily without forgetting which cable goes where. Ah technology.

Sep 19 - Rescuing my body back

I am back in intensive therapy with Karen at the Lymphodema Clinic in Calgary. It is a great service to people recovering from invasive treatment. Radiation has aggravated the lymphodema (swollen right arm/armpit/side) which I had before my surgery. Fortunately my surgeon, Dr. Robert Lui, immediately referred me to the Holy Cross clinic, which is not provincially funded, but receives funding through the Alberta Cancer Board. After an evaluation from Byron, I was supplied (my cost, no refunds from health care) with day pressure sleeves (20-30 lbs) and a night pressure sleeve which also has to be pressure bandaged. It's a bit of a hassle but it gets the swelling down.
A friend's sister in Toronto, experienced similar problems, has been told "lymphodema is a myth - it will go away." Some of these doctors need to be swung high.
Karen Van Heyst is an amazing, knowledgeable therapist who has seen everything in her time. Apart from being a gifted therapist, she is a mine of useful info, and unceasing in her desire to bring my arm back to normal, which she is doing gradually. The initial 10 visits are paid for by Alberta Cancer Board, then I'm either up for the $90 per visit personally or we have to convince the system that I still need some care. I will try for the latter until my arm is normal, or nearly normal, again.
After removal of 12 lymph nodes under my arm, my lymph system is sluggish and can't move through the incision across the right side of my body any more. Therefore it has to be trained to go elsewhere, just like with blocked veins and arteries for the blood system. Karen is also massaging and moving the arm/shoulder to get rid of the scar tissue. she also massages my whole body to train the rest of the lymph system to pick up the slack. I'm learning lots here!
In Europe, many people go for regular lymph drainage/massage as a routine health guard. What a concept!

Sep 7 - 40 years and still married...

The first week of September saw us in the Okanagan, valley, staying at the Naramata Heritage Inn. A quaint little place in a sleepy town in wine country. Great time of year for some tasting (for Ted and Liz) and sniffing (Sheila.) We had great lunches at Quail's Gate and Lake Breeze wineries and a sumptuous affair at Burrowing Owl to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Liz was the gooseberry (English) or lightbulb (Chinese) 3rd person along. We really enjoyed her visit, Ted loved having a drinking companion again, and she learned a lot about Canadian wines, something they don't know about in the UK, other than ice wine. A beautiful time of year in the middle of harvest, gorgeous terroir and loaded vines, luscious fruit crop too. Stopped off for a night in Vernon for dinner with Sandy, Les and SuperDave. A rushed trip but worth it.

Sep 4 - If music be the food of love...

Liz and I spent a lovely week in Banff at the international string quartet competition. Met up with people we had met 3 years previously, heard some beautiful and some challenging music. Who knew I could listen to 10 Hayden and 10 Bartok quartets in two days? Answer - I couldn't. I did hang in for all except one!

The great Aussie team, Tin Alley Quartet, were worthy and fun winners. And my favourite Czech group came in second.
We were fed and watered well by the Banff School of Fine Arts, although eating is still a challenge for me, with vestiges of the sore mouth from chemo which is not going away in a hurry, and fingernails all falling off. The burn from radiation is now almost gone, like a sunburn and worst under the arms where the sun don't shine. Keeping away from sun is also important now.
Afternoon tea at the Banff Springs Rundle Room with our pals Heather from California and Kay from Minnesota was a real treat until I came to pay, when I was informed my credit cardhad been refused 3 times. Yerks! Turns out my bank had cancelled it for unspecified blanket "security" reasons. So my big sis had to pay for her own (and our) tea. My bank got an earful when I got back to town. Result two new cards and a lesser limit.