A long day of driving.  Try coming into Vancouver around 5 PM on a holiday weekend!  BRUTAL!  Both Maureen and Kelli said that we would encounter a nightmare around Chilliwack and sure enough we did.  Crawled along and noticed that many cars were exiting.  Bill picked out a guy pulling a trailer because "it looked like he knew where he was going....no hesitation," and we followed him onto the off ramp and then along the secondary route for quite a few kilometers before we finally lost him.  I expressed my profound amazement that we were following someone we didn't know in a city of three million, assuming he was probably heading the same place we were.  Bill's answer.......He did surveillance for five years and knows how to profile a target!  Duh.. After some meandering around on this secondary route we managed to find our way back to the main route and fortunately the pace had picked up a little.  In all though, the trip took close to ten hours and we are both bushed tonight.  We went out for Sushi to one of Kelli's former haunts.  Unbelievably we could not finish the sushi we ordered (Both Geoff and Bill have the problem that they always over order!!) and the bill came to $23.00.  It is amazing that eating out in Vancouver is so much cheaper than eating out in Calgary!  We are staying at the Sandman suites tonight which is only a short drive to the hospital where I have to go for my appointments tomorrow.  If we have to stay in Vancouver tomorrow night we will stay with Maureen and Duane.  They came to Vancouver on Sunday for the Fleetwood Mac concert.  Maureen was telling me tonight that at the end of the concert Stevie Nix was thanking the audience and going on and on about how beautiful this city was and how lucky the audience was to live here.....in Toronto!  I guess there was an audible gasp from the crowd!!! Talk about a major faux pas!!!

The Silent Auction is coming together nicely thanks to the generosity and hard work of so many people.  We are so happy that so many people have purchased tickets and are planning to join us next Saturday!  I can hardly wait!  Below is a photo of some of the itmes that have been donated for the auction.  The list is impressive!!!  I also just checked the Honey Badgers progress on the fundraising front.....Congratulations team!  We have now hit $80,000!  Only $20,000 to go to make our $100,000 goal!  I think it's doable!

I just sat down and read through the consent document that I have to sign tomorrow to be part of the study!  It is a little sobering but honestly I have signed others that are similar over the past year and a half.  Of course there could be side effects and I need to be aware of them, however, I choose to read them and then hope that these possibilities won't  be the case for me.  So far I have dodged most of the side effect bullets from the various drugs and treatments I have had and hope for more of the same.  The good news is, is that participation in the study is my choice and I can withdraw at any time should these side effects become too severe or the treatment does not appear to be helping.  I choose to go into this study with the hope the treatment will be effective and knowing that my participation may help others.