Friday, August 22, 2008 - Another Weekend???

Hiya Bloggy!

Well, the creators of Blogspot have made some new features and changed the look of the behind the scenes of Bloggy... and so far, I think I like it. Interestingly enough, when I come over here it tells me when I last updated Bloggy! Yikes!! Where has the time gone??? Last update was Aug 10th??? HELLO?? That was 12 days ago!! I swear it was only a couple of days ago that I last babbled here in bloggy-land!

Hehe... what I was going to do is come over here and put a little one-paragraph post to say that I hadn't forgotten Bloggy and that I would try to get back in tomorrow and put in a proper post. Ha!! Since when can I just do a small, one-paragraph post?? Has anyone ever known me to do just a one paragraph babble in email? Or in real life?? Nooooo... I'm a babbler, so I may as well babble here and then go to bed. After all, it appears to be a night of insomnia, so I may as well get something accomplished in case I end up actually sleeping in this morning ;)

So, how many of you are watching the Olympics?? You can post in the Comments section below this post! Anyone who knows me knows I have no patience for Sports, in particular, Professional Sports. I just think the professional athletes are paid way too much and once they become professional, they've lost that competitive edge. But what really makes me mad, and I can't talk for all countries, but will speak of Canada, we as a country do NOT support our athletes who are training to try and be the next Olympian... yet we expect them to all bring back medals. This just does not compute for me... how can we expect them to be the best in their sport when a lot of them have to leave Canada (on their own dime) to go train in other countries because we won't spend the bucks to be proud of them and train them at home?? There is all this debate as to whether the government should spend the money on amateur sports (my thoughts are YES they should), but ok, if the government were to only pay for part of the cost, where are all these professional athletes with multi-million dollar contracts. Why aren't they supporting and financing the next generation of athletes coming up? Oh, I could go on and on on this topic, but I think you get my drift. If we aren't going to support them, then we have to suck it up and realize that Canada will never be a country with a lot of medals... and bravo to those that do win without our support!

But, back to Cheryl's life, since this is what Bloggy is all about... remember, it's all about ME! :)

Today was an interesting day... kind of a back to reality sort of day. I had to be at VGH Hospital at 11am for the Chest CAT scan. I must admit, I did cause a little drama for the staff at the Hospital. Even though 11am is not considered "early", it is still morning... and my legs/feet don't work that well in the morning. Well, I got there on time and all and when I came out of the changing room, that's when the excitement began. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my left foot was still numb with the neuropathy and my left leg just kind of buckled. I could feel myself starting to topple over, so I reached out for the wall to try and break the fall, but no such luck. It all happened so quickly and I fell, bashing my head against the wall, twice on the way down. It was the sound of the bashing on the wall that alerted the staff... within a second I had 6 doctors and nurses surrounding me

I have to admit, I was a bit stunned and found myself on my back and have no idea how I got down there so quickly. Of course, they were concerned about the head, but I was quickly back to myself, told them that I was alright and that "I just did it to get attention and it seems to have worked". :)

Right now, I couldn't tell you what is more tender... my head or my legs. Neither liked falling and I just know I'm going to pay for this today or Saturday!

But, I did get the CAT scan done and I'll be meeting up with the oncologist on Tuesday, I believe the appt. is in the morning (oh geez, here we go again with a morning appt.). I also had blood work taken today and that is for the Tumour Marker test.. the one that measures the levels of CEA in my blood. This is just a tool but it's the one now that makes me nervous. It was back in Feb when the CEA was elevated so this is why Sharlene ordered a PET scan for me... and it was that PET scan that found the adrenal gland and spot on the lung light up. Well, the adrenal gland has been taken out, so logically speaking, the CEA level should now be down. I will be seeing Sharlene a week today, and she will have the results from that test and I sure hope it shows the levels are down.

Soooo, once again, I need all your positive thoughts to be focusing on the Tumour Marker test... that the CEA levels are low to 0.

There is so much to talk about, but once again, this entry is getting long!! For instance, we closed the TUTS season and two shows last weekend. It was with relief and sadness... relief because I was starting to get tired so a good break and rest was needed, but sad because I have soooo much fun and support with this group. Of course, I'm not really, really sad because I get to still volunteer down at the office during the Fall/Winter/Spring with James and Jill. James is the General Manager and Jill is the Operations Manager and I am, well, Administration... so the three of us hang out in the office, closing off everything to do with this season and starting up the new season. Here is a picture of my two buddies, James and Jill:

I took this last Saturday on closing night, but for the life of me, I don't remember where we were or when it was taken!

Hmmm... perhaps it was at the closing night party? Because there is this picture that I took that I think is just fantastic!! All the directors, choreographers, music directors, etc. were standing up behind this mike because they were presenting the annual awards. Well, these went on for awhile and poor Gillian, the Director of Jesus Christ Superstar, was obviously suffering from standing on her feet in heels. So I don't think anyone else noticed, but I saw her slip out of her shoes to relieve her poor feet. I had to use the zoom, and then I added a few special effects... but I think this picture came out fabulous...



Hehe... for those of you who are on Facebook, I have my little bear, Pattycakes, who is starting her own adventures. Another friend of mine, Kevin Michael Cripps, has a little bear, Igor, who has been on many an adventure. Igor has gone to New York and London this summer and has the pictures to prove it. Pattycakes is not so world-travelled so she is quite intrigued with Igor. I can see something brewing here if these two ever meet up, which I know they will. Anywho, as soon as I have some free time, I will be setting up an album on Facebook for Pattycakes and her photo adventures. I won't put them all here, but here are a couple of Pattycake photos...

Bridget and Pattycakes on security duty down at the theatre.

Very sweet! Pattycakes putting Bridget to bed. The two of them really do get along quite well together.

Oh dear! Pattycakes at a bar and getting quite annoyed that no one has come to take her drink order yet!!

So, as you can see, Pattycakes does get around and I am putting together her own album of photos which will be posted on Facebook :)

Ok, I'm sure there are other things to report... like I now have my fantastic, fabulous, wonderful, perfect iPhone!!! It's everything the hype has said it would be and I find myself using if for a lot more than I ever thought I would use it. I just love it!! Hahaha.. if I weren't so tired now, I would take a picture of it and upload it to this entry, but this will have to wait until another entry! I am going to head to bed because my eyes are finally getting sleepy!!

Sooooo, until the next time, adios!!! And keep sending those positive, healing thoughts... we are going back into healing mode and preparation mode for the next battle.. the lung surgery!!

Ciao!

Cheryl