Sunday, November 16, 2008

Sunday, November 16, 2008 - Time! I Need More Time!!

Hello Blogsters!!

Yes, it's me again... here on a mild, but gray, soon to be wet, Sunday morning. I was just mentioning to some family members... do you realize it's only about 5 WEEKS until Christmas??? HELLO??? I'm still thinking we are at the very tail end of Summer!!! I have got to get with the program! :)

Anywho... for those of you who are reading the blog and you were one of the volunteer Santa Elves for the annual Letters to Santa project... I haven't forgotten about you, and YES, we will be doing the letters again this year!! I have been soooo busy this last umpteen weeks, I haven't gotten the Elf recruitment letter out yet :) I plan on (famous last words) getting it out today sometime. So, for any of you who were on last year's team, you will be hearing from me in the next 24 hours. For any of you who have been on the team in other years but were not available last year... and you'd like to come back... just let me know (hiyacher@shaw.ca). For the rest of you... if you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about... Santa Elves are volunteers who help Santa with all his mail. If this appeals to you, then feel free to get in touch with me. It is a commitment where you also have to enjoy writing and have a creative imagination (IE: you need to let the child in you come out and express him/herself).

Hehehe... just to get you all in the festive Holiday mood, my friend, Christina from Chicago sent me the Cheryl Holiday Disco Elf clip... I'm sure you all can appreciate the extreme flexibility I am showing in all my arthritic joints to bring this dance to you...


Click Here
to see Elf Cheryl doing Christmas disco!!

Ok, next project... ack! Along with not realizing that Christmas is only 5 weeks away, December 1st is even closer! So???? So, this means that the December holiday issue of the Metro Theatre Community Theatre eNewsletter is due to be sent out Dec 1st! Uh... have I even STARTED the layout, let alone collecting the content??? Eeeek! Again... any of you that are reading this and might have news/audition info/show info, etc. about any of the groups in the Lower Mainland... send that info my way!! And SOON :)

Hmmm... health update. There isn't too much to report at this time. Nothing has really changed. My oncologist, Sharlene, has now talked to the radiologist (Dr. Brad Halkier) from Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. He has seen my PET and CAT scans but before he can determine if he can actually go in and burn the tumour(s), he wants me to come in and have some sort of special CAT scan that can be done in his Radiology dept. at Royal Columbian. So his office is going to arrange for this CAT scan... and that's where I am waiting right now. I'm waiting to be told when this CAT scan is going to be.

Once he has seen that CAT scan, then we will have a consultation appt. and he will be able to tell me what he can do. I misunderstood and thought that if I was a candidate for the RFA (Radiofrequency Ablation), that in one session he would go in and zap all the small spots, whether they are tumours or scar tissue, leaving the one larger tumour to be removed surgically by Dr. Yee. Apparently I'm wrong. They can not go in and do 6 pokes with the needle in one session... too much chance of an air pocket getting into the lung or a collapsed lung. So, assuming I am a candidate and he feels he can get to the tumour... he would go in after the largest one first. He would zap away at it (with the needle and a heat probe at the end of the needle). He would only do the one in the first session. Then, we would heal from that before he would go after the second little one (under 6mm) and zap that one in a second session. At that point, we would then wait to see if the other spots grow or if they do nothing, in which case they could just be scar tissue or benign lumps.

SOOOOO... this would be fantastic if he can get at both the larger one first and then the little one second. If he can and it's a success, then it would mean I can avoid chemo AND avoid SURGERY!! YIPPEEE!!! If I have to have the surgery to remove the larger one, this would be a fairly major, intensive surgery. Dr. Yee would have to remove a whole lobe on my right lung... whereas if Dr. Halkier can burn it, it would be a day thing where I go in, have the procedure and walk out (well, someone would have to drive me since they will have given me some kind of drug for the procedure) :) But what a difference, eh?

So I think that wraps up my news for today. It is now noon and I have to get myself showered, dressed and made to look somewhat civilized since I'm off to the TUTS AGM this afternoon. Once I come home, I will get down to business, yes I will!! Elf recruitment!! Newsletter layout!! Ahhhhh... life is good!!!

Huggggggs,

Cheryl