Weekend Update...

I know…I’m a little late with the weekend update. I don’t really have any excuses, just haven’t taken the time to get my thoughts together so I can put pen to paper (so to speak). But alas, here I am!!

Before I get to that though, I thought I’d mention that I have not heard yet when my first appointment for radiation is…I’ll let you know when I know! I hope to hear from the Cancer Centre this week.

I had a super good weekend. My friend, Jodi, took me for a manicure on Friday morning. It was a belated birthday present (since I couldn’t have a manicure while I was on chemo). It was awesome and I love how very cool a French manicure looks! This is a picture of Jodi getting her nails done by the lovely Rose. We did take a picture of Rose and me as well…but my breasts were extremely uneven in the photo and I just couldn’t bring myself to post it!



We had a really nice evening in Toronto. It was a kick off event for 2011 for Matt’s work, and it was lovely to spend the evening with Matt’s co-workers. They are such a nice group of people and have been sending me lots of positive energy throughout my journey. We had dinner at Barberian’s Steakhouse…they had the largest shrimp EVER during cocktails…and yes I even had a cocktail!! My dinner was really good and I really enjoyed being out for the evening. We ended the night with a little nightcap (yummy Bailey’s on ice) and retired to our room at the Delta Chelsea. First night away since mid-July and it felt great to get out and do something normal!



The best part of my weekend was going to Vandorf to visit my Aunt Janet, Uncle Peter and cousins Jim and Ben. Vandorf is just north of Toronto (near Aurora) and we decided to go for a visit when we left the Delta Chelsea on Saturday morning. It was so great to see them!! My cousin Jim lives in BC, so I don’t get to see him very often. As it turns out, Jim was in town to get some testing done for cancer that’s been discovered on his vocal cords. Thankfully my Uncle Peter knows a lot about this type of cancer, since it was his area of study and expertise as a pathologist. It looks like Jim and I will be undergoing radiation at the same time and I gather GREAT strength knowing that we will be going through it together. This damn cancer picked the wrong family to mess with!



We made one more stop on our way home from Toronto. Since we were going right by York University, we sent a text to Lauren to see if she was home and stopped in to say hello. She was very busy painting (on a tight deadline), so we didn’t stay long…but it was so great to see her and see where she is living. Her room was actually relatively neat and I thought very well organized. It was awesome to see her artwork up on the wall and all around her!!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a nice dinner out on Saturday with our next door neighbours and that I also went to my first Kitchener Ranger game of the season on Sunday. I think I was a good luck charm for the Rangers, since they kicked the Soo’s butt and won 5-0.

On Monday we went to an appointment at the Cancer Centre to see a Genetic Counselor. It was such a great appointment and Matt and I both learned so much. The main purpose behind the appointment was to find out if I qualified to have the province pay for some genetic testing. The testing would tell us if I am a carrier of certain genes that have a pre-disposition to breast and ovarian cancer. It turns out I don’t fall under the strict parameters to qualify for the province to pay. We can request that my case be looked at again by a panel to see if subjectively they think I should qualify…or we can pay for the testing ourselves. We are noodling on what to do next. While I definitely believe information is power, the genetic counselor did a great job of pointing out the pros and cons of getting tested…and specifically the cons gave me pause to think a little longer. As you can imagine, if I do receive a positive result it will affect other family members who may also be carriers of this gene…and what if they don’t want to know that information? So, I’m reflecting on the whole thing and talking about it with Matt and together we will figure out the next step for me.

While it has felt great to get out there and feel like I have a social calendar again, it’s also been a reflective few days for me. It tuckered me out for a couple of days to have a busy weekend…and reminded me once again that it’s going to take a bit of endurance training to get back to where I was pre-treatment. My thoughts are with Jim and his family and I am bouncing some of the positive energy and love that has been coming my way to them…I figure there’s more than enough to share!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo