Happy New Year!!! And Go Canada Go!!!

I know...it's been almost a week since my last posting and my loyal followers are wondering "What the heck??!!". Don't despair! I'm back! And feeling really good. I have had a really good week and am feeling quite strong and fairly well rested. The drains are still in (damn drains)...and my fingers are still crossed that they will come out soon. They are still in because the fluid levels the drains take from my surgery site have to be below a certain level (25 ccs) before they can come out. I am getting very close and am pretty sure they'll be out in the next couple of days. The surgeon did warn me they could be in for two weeks...and of course I should just expect that I'm going to need all that time...

I am getting some great sleep and my cold seems to be almost gone!! Lots of reason to celebrate!!

For those of you following the World Jrs...I'm very very excited to report that I'm off to Buffalo tomorrow to the HSBC to see the Semi-Finals with Matt! I can't wait to see the Canada vs USA game...and I'm so totally excited that I'm going. We have known we would have tickets for this tournament for probably ten months and have been so excited and looking forward to it, and then along came this damn cancer and tried to put a wrench in my plans. Well...we're not going to have any of that! Drains or no...I'm heading to Buffalo to watch some World Jr Hockey!! Wahoo!! Go Canada Go!!

I thought I'd share a couple of photos with you from the past week. I got some great visits with family and I finally got to see some of my nieces and nephews (I haven't seen them since August). It was awesome to see their smiling faces!!

My Dad came on December 21st and I forgot to take a picture. It was an awesome visit and zoomed by way too fast. My Dad has been struggling with a cold all through Christmas...hope you're feeling better Dad!!

Matt and Alex went to Buffalo last week to watch some of the World Jr hockey games, and while they were gone, my Mom and Ian came to hang out with me. It turned out Matt & Alex stayed over night in Buffalo (to avoid the major long line ups at the border), so it was great to have my Mom here to stay with me!!

Yesterday my sister Sandra and her family came for a visit and stayed for dinner. It was so great to see them. I haven't seen Bruce, Brooklyn or Luke since the summer!

Brooklyn, me and Luke (look closely...I have some hair growth!!)

Gathering around the Christmas tree....

Today my brother David and his family stopped in Kitchener to have some lunch with us on their way home from visiting Nancy's family in the Chatham/Windsor area. We had a little Swiss Chalet and a great visit. The best part of the visit was seeing a video my brother shot at the Langdon family Christmas on Dec 18th. I didn't get to go, so they videotaped all these greetings wishing me a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, lots of love and good luck with my surgery...oh and some joke telling by the kidlets!! It's awesome!!

Sharleen, me and Billy

A brilliant looking group!!

I am so happy that my family came to see me this year....since my travelling has been minimal! It's great to get all that loving!!

I've also had some great visits with friends over the past week (and some more visits with friends coming up in the near future). It feels really great to be more social than I was through chemo and to feel strong again!! I think that's some more normalcy I see on the horizon!!

xoxoxoxoxo