After some kerfuffle yesterday, I finally did a callback from the Tom Baker telling me I had a 10 AM appointment.  Relief.....sounds kind of silly but I have been anxious to get on with this.  It makes me feel like I am doing something, not just sitting around letting this thing get a bigger grip on me.
Had a terrific nurse today.  She is engaged to a paramedic friend of Geoff's so don't know if we just got special treatment because he was there with me but she was exceptional and by far the best nurse I have had in any of my experiences there.  She went over all the drugs etc. with us and again I listened with half an ear.  The side effects can be quite horrendous but I know now that yes, those things may happen to my but they also may not.  Everyone handles this stuff differently so I choose to just wait and see how it goes.  The entire process today took 4 hours!  The time actually went quite quickly though because Geoff and I had a really good chance to chat about lots of things!  I really enjoyed having him there.  I see so many people there alone and am always so grateful to my family for being there for me, coming to my appointments and just being a strong support system for me.  They are so different in their approach to this and I love them for that.  The nurse handed me my chemo pills I have to take on a daily basis between IV treatments which I have once every three weeks.  I took one look at the one bag of pills and said "There is no way I am going to be able to swallow those."  They looked like bloody horse pills!  I asked her to call the pharmacy and see if I could cut them.  The answer was yes, however, I was advised I must have a separate pill cutter than I use for other pills and I must wear rubber gloves and clean up thoroughly when finished as they are extremely toxic.  Yikes!  And I'm going to swallow them!  Scary thought!  Still, am hoping I can tolerate all of this as well as I did in round 1.  Funny in round one they told me they were giving me the strongest chemo there was.  Now today, they tell me this one is even stronger!  Almost makes you wonder if they tell every patient the same thing!

Finally finished up there and we headed to the Lazy Loaf for lunch then home.  Poor Geoff has to work nights tonight and I feel bad for keeping him up all day as I think he probably usually has a nap before doing the night shift.

Got home and Maureen came over and we headed over to Nose Hill for a loop.  Just missed the rain!  I think it started to rain about 10 minutes after we got home.  Have had a steady stream of phone calls and a visit from my neighbour Connie today, so lots of distractions and my poor voice is cratering.  It has been working all day!

Kelli home from work.  Her Internal Medicine elective is quite the challenge for her but she goes, (although reluctantly) every day and is going to finish it off.  I am proud of her for doing this because I know she desperately wanted to bail.  Meanwhile here I am encouraging all of them to live their lives as normally as possible.  Bill off to Fairmont with the boys for a few days of golf!  I know he was waffling about going and I put my foot down and said "You are going?"  I need to see you guys carrying on normally.  That makes me believe you believe I am going to be here for a long time.  It's when they hover over me that I start to become concerned they are not walking the talk they give me every day about having a fighting chance.  I do truly believe I do but I need also to have confidence that they think that too!  Very important we all have our oars in the water and are going the same direction.  As my sweet cousin said to me this morning "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.".

Great quote Trish!   I have discovered I am not the only one who loves quotes.  Many of you have sent me your favourites and have confessed you too collect them and use them as inspiration to yourselves!

Update on my HONEY BADGERS!  They have raised almost $80,000.  Every rider has raised their basic $2500 and many have surpassed it by a substantial margin!  Geoff himself has raised over $11,000.  The ride is this weekend!  I am crossing my fingers for sunshine, no wind and on a personal level that I will be feeling well enough to be along the route cheering them on!  GO HONEY BADGERS!