Saturday, February 6th, 2010 -- Tropical Vancouver :)

G'Day, Bloggymates!

Yes, my token one word with an Aussie accent... in tribute to the Aussie team's boxing Kangaroo mascot flag! LOL! Oh, it's all too funny that the games haven't even started yet and already we have an International incident!!



As you can see from the picture, some of Team Aussie have arrived in Vancouver and they have hung their team mascot flag (a 2 storey flag) from the balconies of the condos they are staying in at the Athletes Village. But, some beaurocrat at the IOC has no sense of ha ha and has told them it must come down. Little did the IOC realize that the whole city, including the Mayor is on the side of the Aussies and their mascot flag ... to the point where, if the IOC officially orders them to take it down, then the Mayor of Vancouver and the Mayor of Surrey have both said they would be proud to fly the flag at their City Halls :) The IOC would be nuts to order the flag removed... their reason is, since it is a trademark flag, then it is too commercial. But the flag is not selling anything other than promoting team spirit ... which is what the Olympics are all about, no?? :)

For more on this -- http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1008941/aussie-olympic-mascot-may-not-fly and I'm sure if you were to Google it, you'd find News articles about it in papers from all over the world since the Aussies have the world on their side. Hehehe... I want to get one to add to my Team Canada flag on my car .

And now... can we talk about winter in Vancouver?? Yikes!! Here is a picture with some of the pilons(sp?) along the side of the road which will be one of the roads that are closed down during an event:



Yes, people... those are daffodils in full bloom!! At the beginning of Feb (picture was taken today). I was hoping to be able to put up a picture of the cherry blossoms that have started coming out this week... they normally aren't in full bloom until April! Now, we all know Vancouver is known for it's mild winters... but spring does not usually arrive in February! And wouldn't you know it, last year at this time we were the ones that were buried under more snow than we had seen in years. I remember being apartment-bound for over a week... and when I did finally get to go out, I was limited as to where I could go because of the snow. This year, not a problem... but the problem is definitely up on the local mountains!

Our local Cypress Mountain is where the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events are going to be held and they are having serious problems with a lack of snow! It is just too warm up there with temps hovering around the 11C (approx 52F) so they can't even "make snow". Instead, they have had to put together a fleet of helicopters and a fleet of trucks who are transporting snow from mountains further away and building up the courses. Every three minutes, 24/7, helicopters are coming in with tons of snow. The trucks are stockpiling it at the top of the mountain so it can be brought down as needed over the 18 days. Of course, they are really hoping the temps drop up on the mountain so they can start "making snow" with the snow making machines.

Oh, and I think I mentioned the other night about the Vectorial Elevation light show that is just down the street from me. I am so thrilled with it... I can watch the dancing lights for hours! Here is a picture that I captured off the web cam (www.katkam.ca), the same web cam on the bridge that I have mentioned to out of town friends that they can see the summer fireworks competition on:



I'm pretty sure I put up the link for this lightshow in a previous entry but what the heck, it's got to be one of my favourite things about the Olympics so far, so I'll put it again -- http://www.vectorialvancouver.net/concept.html If you go to that link, whether you live in Canada or not, you can participate in this light show artwork by designing a pattern for the lights... it's an interactive work of art that everyone can participate in!

So, today I was busy, busy, busy here at home, trying to get caught up in all the Suzy Domestic chores. I have a funny feeling that during the Olympics, even when I am at home, life is going to revolve around the games and what's going on in Vancouver. I do know I want to get down to some of the Venues close by... but we'll have to see if I can physically handle it. Walking for any length of time is not one of my strong points and with that many people roaming around, getting transportation out of the venues might be a problem. But, even if I am at home, like previous Olympics in other cities, I found myself glued to the television. Something tells me, this year's Winter Olympics will be that much more personal being that they are right here... with or without snow. So the last thing I want hanging over my head are all the household chores... laundry being a biggie! Yikes... I had 5 loads of laundry this week! I kept putting it off and putting it off and before you knew it, I had 5 loads. Well, I finally got them all finished today... so I am now laundry free... for a few days :D

Now, on Monday, it should be a real adventure! I am going to be taking a cab and hopefully get as close to BC Place (that's the stadium with the air-dome roof that you all have probably seen when you see a picture of downtown Vancouver). That is one of the venues so of course, it is in a security zone where the roads all around it are shut down. So I'm not sure how close a cab can get me to it... but that's where I'm going on Monday to watch one of the dress rehearsals for the Opening Ceremonies (which will actually take place for real on Fri, Feb 12). It should be interesting because all of us in the audience (around 50,000 invited audience) are asked to wear white... and that we will know why once we get there. Of course, one of the rules is "No Cameras", which is totally understandable. They don't want pictures of any of the acts in the Opening Ceremonies to be put on the internet before the actual official show on Feb 12th. So, even though this is a dress rehearsal and not the official opening... I think it should still be very exciting.

Hahaha... then it should be really interesting once the show is over! EVERYONE will be leaving at the same time... and there is no vehicle traffic in the area. So everyone will be leaving the area on the skytrain, public transit or by cab. Just how long will it take to get everyone out of the area?? We have never had an event with that many people at the stadium and no cars. When there are events, people come down in their cars... park... and then leave by car. Soooo, I have no idea when/how I will be getting home :) Wish me luck!

I'm sure there were some other things I was going to mention, but alas, my brain has turned to mush. So I think I'll call it a night and crawl into bed, with a certain little diva schnauzer who went to bed about an hour ago after we came in from her trip out to the back lane :)

Ta ta for now!

Go TEAM CANADA Go!!

Cheryl

Thursday, Feb 4th, 2010 -- We need snow!!!

Hiya Bloggymates!

The air is just crackling with excitement in this here fair city of ours... but I'm thinking that it hasn't really sunk in just how huge this Winter Olympics event is! Seriously! I mean, yes, we've all watched them in past years, on the tv... and I know there are more friends than just me who say they normally don't ever watch sports on tv (have no interest in them) EXCEPT for the Olympics. For some reason, Olympic sports always seem to bring out the patriotism in everyone, no matter where you live or where the Olympics are being hosted.

So, ok, it's Vancouver's turn to host and shine. For sure, there will always be controversy around such a huge event... usually based around the amount of money that is spent to bring these games to fruitation. And wherever you have huge amounts of money being spent, you will have politics/government involved... which REALLY gets everyone going. Then, no matter how pure the "Olympic Spirit" may or may not be, there are all the big names in the Corporate World involved... with the corporates sinking in big $$$'s to have their logo and brand name splashed everywhere. This event is HUGE... and for us little folk who just happen to be living here and will admit to a closet addiction to watching Olympic sports... I don't think the hugeness of the event is really going to hit us until it's all over :)

So here, on my little blog... that is not meant to be an Olympic blog, but it just happens the Olympics are happening in this blogger's hometown, I will be reporting on the various goings ons that may or may not be making it to the headlines of the papers outside of Vancouver. For this, I'm going to have two sets of awards --- the Party Pooper Award which I'll give out to those companies/individuals who just aren't living up to the Olympic Spirit as hosts, which all of us who live here are hosts to the games... and then the Olympic Gold Rings Award that will go to any company/individual who I think has truly embraced the Olympic Spirit and done something to make the Olympics special for a visitor or resident.

Soooo... on Feb 4th, 2010 I am handing out the first 2 Awards. The Party Pooper Award goes to a company from Edmonton (Newwest Special Projects) who leased the cruise ship "Norwegian Star". This ship had planned to come here and dock in Vancouver to be used as a floating hotel. But, due to "not making enough bookings" they are now pulling out and leaving about 1000 people stranded with no accommodation. 1000 people who booked early and were so excited to be coming to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics... and now they are without accomodation. Nothing like pulling out a week before the event opens, eh? But, at the same time I am going to give out an Olympic Gold Rings Award to a New Jersey marketing company, JetSet Sports, a ticket supplier for the games... who came through for 13 terminally ill children from Canada, the US and Australia (and their 53 family members) who were booked on the Norwegian Star through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their dreams of coming to the Olympics in Vancouver, seeing some of their favourite events and meeting some of their heroes (athletes), was all arranged for them, until the accommodations were no longer. JetSet Sports has rooms for their corporate needs/staff and they are giving these rooms to the kids and their families. Now THAT'S when I can't fault Corporate "greed"... when they turn around and do something like this!! Meanwhile, the phones have been ringing off the hook at Make-A-Wish-Foundation with people from all over Vancouver offering their homes to these children and families. So, we have the greed of Corporate Newwest Special Projects putting all these people in a position of having no accommodation, and another corporate player coming to the rescue. Mind you, it is the Make-A-Wish kids who are the winners here... the rest of the 1000 customers are now scrambling for accommodation.

Well, enough for today. It's 4pm and I have to take the car and see how long it takes me to get across the Lions' Gate Bridge to the North Shore. I'm heading over to my friends' to pick up a ticket to the first Dress Rehearsal of the Opening Ceremonies on Monday (Feb 8). Today is the FIRST day that the "Olympic Lanes" go in effect.... a lane on the major roads that are to be used for official Olympic vehicles and public transit (buses). So the start of the crazy traffic begins oh... about half an hour ago :)

Then, while I'm on the North Shore, I'm going to be meeting a friend for dinner... so hopefully when I come back tonight, traffic will be back to normal! Wish me luck!! LOL!

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Tuesday, Feb 2nd, 2010 - It's Olympic Countdown Time!

Ooooh, blogmates! The time is almost here! Only 10 more days and the world descends upon Vancouver and our little colonial town will cease to be a little town in the rainforest of Western Canada :)

That's right gang... we've been hearing for 8 years how the Olympics are coming, how all these plans are in the works, how we are over budget, how the security budget went from something like $160 million to over $4 billion. Everything is Olympics this and Olympics that. If you want to hear heated arguments, chances are the word "Olympics" comes into play. There are so many who are excited about the Olympics and this once in a lifetime event happening in our home city, there are those who are sooooo against them because of all the money that has/is going into them and in this recession we need money to be put into education, healthcare, seniors, etc. You will get those arguing that the Olympics HAVE brought jobs to those who otherwise would not have work because of the recession, not to mention the boost to the economy... but then you get the rest of the province saying that they have to help pay for the debt, but they don't actually get to see any benefits from the Olympics up where they are.

The end result... the Olympics are going to happen... and they start in 10 days! There are things that have been put into place that the majority of us have not had to deal with (or have seen) in our life in this city. For instance, today, police and law enforcement have arrived from across Canada, as well, I believe from Washington State. There are more officers/agents/undercover/security types here in this city, starting today, than have been on the West Coast of Canada since World War II ... when we were defending our shores from the Japanese who we/the US were at war with.

As a city, we have a public transit system, of which more buses will be added to the city routes, especially the downtown routes and the routes out to UBC (University of British Columbia). BUT, VANOC has contracted a US firm to supply 1000 buses (over and above what we already have) and 400+ drivers. Of course, this started an argument on Facebook about why didn't VANOC give the contract to a Canadian bus/charter company? Well, the reason is quite obvious... we don't have a bus company anywhere in Canada that can quickly amass 1000 extra buses plus 400+ licensed bus drivers. It's not a matter of ignoring Canadian bids for contracts... there are some contracts that no Canadian companies/individuals have bid on because they can't complete or commit to the contract... so VANOC has had to go elsewhere and hire a company that can. These 1000 buses have been arriving from all over the States starting this past weekend. These buses will make up the "Olympic Bus Network" which will be a network of buses that will take those with tickets to events, to the venues. For instance, a lot of the skiing/snow events are up at Whistler... a 2 1/2 hour bus ride from downtown Vancouver.

Now, get this... security IS going to be tight at the venues, and rightly so. So the Olympic organizers are telling people if you have tickets for any event, be it the Opening/Closing ceremonies or any of the sporting events... plan your day accordingly. You will want to get to the venue at least 2 hours before the event because you are going to have to go through the same kind of security that you would go through that you do when you have a ticket for a plane flight. Pack light... if you have a big purse or bag, then this will be xrayed, and manually checked, plus you will also go through a metal detector. If you pack light and only come with say a cell phone and your wallet, then you get to go through the Express Security Line... you still will need to go through the metal detector, and you'll still need to empty your pockets, etc... but you won't have to go through the manual check of a purse/backpack if you don't bring one. Oh... and leave those water bottles at home. You will not be able to bring water or beverages in... you'll have to buy them once you are in the venue. And once you are through security and in the venue? Don't think of leaving and coming out because once you are in, if you come out, you won't be allowed back in.

Starting today, the road closures have started. Not all of them... they are phasing them in over the next week... but once they are all in place, I think that's when we can expect this city to come to a vehicle stand-still, at least here in the downtown core. The rest of the city is going to have huge amounts of traffic trying to find other ways of getting from Point A to Point B. Then again, maybe people will just stay away from the downtown area with their car because even if they can get down here, there's nowhere for them to park. Almost all the main and semi-main roads have become no stopping/no parking streets.

I'm still prepared to leave my car home for the full 18 days if need be... but I'm hoping I will be able to get around to get to the grocery store, or up to my doctor's office (I have a blood test scheduled for Feb 8th)... but worst case scenerio, I'll be able to take a bus up the street :)

Let the games begin!! I just can't imagine where/when all the people are going to arrive... but we have been warned for 8 years now that they are all coming. So, who am I to think otherwise??

Ok.... time to call it a night!! Stay tuned :)

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Sunday, Jan 24, 2010 - Gasp... I'm back!

Hahaha... yes, I know, it's a shocker!! Two entries in a row... with only what, 24 hours between the two? This is my new resolution, remember? To try and get here more often :)

Well, I got home a couple of hours ago after going out to North Delta to visit Dad today. I realized that if I didn't get out there this weekend, then I wouldn't be able to get out to see him until after the Olympics AND the Paralympics, which takes us into March. With all the various road closures, getting out of the city is going to be difficult, but more so, getting out of the downtown core (or getting back into it). So why put oneself through the stress? The car will just stay at home in the carport, except for the little jaunts around the neighbourhood such as getting to the TUTS office, grocery shopping, running errands, etc.

Hahaha, Erin (my sister) was out at Dad's today too. She won't have the same trouble getting to Dad's since she lives in Richmond (suburb of Vancouver)... although I wouldn't be surprised if the local highways have some serious traffic problems since all highways lead into/out of Vancouver :)

Erin, Dad and I had a hoot playing Wii Bowling and Wii Golf. Hahaha... I may be sore in the morning after a couple of hours of Wii ;) And oh the humiliation of being beaten at both games by Dad, who will be 86 yrs. old in March ;) Bridget, meanwhile, was fine snoozing on one of the armchairs until Buster finished his dinner and came downstairs. She yelled at him a couple of times but when he barked because he wanted to play, his deep labrador bark scared her... so, into the bedroom she went and we closed the door. She was happy being in a closed room where Buster could not reach her :)

Well, I had to laugh (although, in hindsight, I'm not sure it's all that funny) but my sister was telling me about her experience with the City's organization of the LiveDowntown and LiveYaletown sites. The LiveDowntown site will be all about the sports. That's where they will have the huge screens with the sports being televised "Live"... there will be a huge outdoor screen that anyone can go and watch... and here will be a huge indoor screen, which will be a licensed venue so you must be 19yrs of age or older because it will be one big pub (I think this will be a really popular venue and I'd like to check this one out). Both the LiveDowntown and LiveYaletown (where there will be live bands, performers, dance, and all versions of performing arts) will be open from morning until 11pm... and all city employees were given the option of working with these City venues instead of their own jobs. They need 600 employees to staff both areas.

This is where I had to laugh. All 600 had to go for their "fittings" because everyone will be wearing an Olympic uniform. But once all the fittings had been done... someone, somewhere lost the database with all the information about the fittings. So when the uniforms were given out, it was the luck of the draw what you got. Erin requested a Ladies Medium.... and got a Men's XLarge . No one got the right size unless purely by fluke. So now there's this huge exchange where people are trying to trade their uniforms with someone who had it in their size.

Then came the scheduling. They were all asked to put, in order of preference, where they would like to work, and what time slots (shifts). Well, it didn't matter what you selected, you got the total opposite. So staff are all saying they don't want to do the Olympic shifts and will just go to work at their regular jobs... so the organizers are scrambling to get this all sorted out (with only two weeks to to??)

Oh... and the biggie! I have not seen this written ANYWHERE but at these two "Live" venues, people are not allowed to bring umbrellas into the venues. Hello?? This is Vancouver... umbrellas are like an additional limb to us. And considering this will be February... hello... rain in February is totally expected. So there's nowhere to check your umbrellas, but you are not allowed to bring one in... uh, just what do they think people are going to do, throw them out? It is going to be interesting how they enforce this one :)

Might I add here, that this is not the organizers of the whole Olympics, but just the organization of the venues run by the City ;)

Here is the link to the City's website for the Olympics:

http://livecityvancouver.ca/en/home.aspx

So, let the games begin... or actually, maybe not... the organization games have already begun . I just hope it all gets cleared up and everything is in place for when the games open and the world is watching.

I just finished watching the US Nationals Figure Skating. The US Olympic team has now been picked based on this competition. It was so weird hearing the commentators, on the one hand, talking about the Nationals and the competitors and on the other hand, mentioning the Olympics in Vancouver every couple of words. That these kids, the National Champions, will be going to Vancouver to represent the USA. Vancouver this and Vancouver that... hey, this is my home city they are talking about! :D

Anywho... I know for those of you who live locally, you all have heard nonstop Olympic plans, bios, road closure info, etc. for weeks now. And if you are anywhere near the downtown core, you can actually start to feel the electric buzz that Vancouver is about to host a huge party... one that lasts 18 days :) For those of you who live out of town, or down in the US... I'm not sure if you have started hearing Olympic talk yet. I know NBC is going to be the Olympic channel for the US... and CTV is the Canadian Olympic network.

I hope everyone who reads this blog will be watching some of the Olympics and will check in here with their thoughts and comments :) I just realized that a blog is meant for discussion... hence that's what the comments feature is all about :) So please do feel free to use it and add your .25 worth :)

Huggggggs,

Cheryl

January 23, 2010 - The return of the lost blogger :)

Helloooooo Blogmates!!

Yes, yes, and more yesses :) I know I have been remiss in not being here on the blog but until earlier this week when someone reminded me that my last blog entry was in the middle of November, I really had no idea that much time had lapsed! Seriously!! I know I seem to start every blog entry with apologizing for so much time between entries, but that is usually a couple of days or even a couple of weeks... but months?? So out comes the apology again (hey, I can't help it, I'm Canadian!! LOL!!)

So... although I'm over 3 weeks late, I think I'm going to make a New Year's resolution now (I have not made any for 2010) and that is, I want to do more free-form writing and what better place than in a blog? It's not that I even set any rules or guidelines that I have to follow... it's just free-form, whatever I feel like writing about. Ha! Let's see if I can manage this :)

I really do want to keep the blog up, for sure, during the Olympics here in Vancouver. From the buzz and watching the city being prepared... this really is going to be a huge event, even if the Winter Olympics are considered a smaller Olympics than the summer Olympics. I didn't know that... a few people have now mentioned it. I'm thinking it also might be from what part of the world you live in. Being that we are considered "north", when it comes to winter and sports, we automatically think "snow sports" or, Canada's obsession, "hockey". Of course, "figure skating" has become one of the most popular sports to watch, not to mention the "freestyle skiing" and "snowboarding". Hahaha... snowboarding is definitely big up here in Vancouver/Whistler. Remember the first person to win a gold medal when snowboarding became an Olympic sport? Ross Rebagliati, our hometown boy, from Whistler brought home the gold in 1998, but then there was the controversy of whether he had smoked marijuana because there were traces found in his circulatory system. The accusation was eventually dropped because marijuana is not considered a "performance enhancing drug", which of course is taboo in any sports competition. Heck, marijuana is barely considered an illegal drug up here, although it still is, but for the most part, the police turn a blind eye to it. There is more serious crime to be going after than personal use.

Anywho, I digress... that was a nice bit of history to have a local boy bring home the first gold medal in a sport which is very popular on the mountains, and now it is just a given that snowboarding is an official Olympic sport. Now we have to get Women's Ski Jumping to be a sport. Sheesh, I can't believe that in this day and age, we have a Men's event (and there are competitors from multiple countries), yet we don't have a Female event in the same sport, even though there are more than enough Olympic qualified female competitors who WANT to compete at the Olympics.

Well, it should be interesting... the city is gearing up for this event and, as much as I have many concerns, I am hoping the Olympics are very successful and that Vancouver welcomes the athletes with welcome arms... and any/all the world's media/tourists. My concerns have nothing to do with the athletes/visitors or games... but with our provincial and federal government. Of course, I would have those same concerns with or without the Olympics... and I'm just hoping there is no government interference during the games that will be an embarrassment to Canada, and especially, to Vancouver.

Hahaha... will I be going to any of the games? Alas... no. I have to admit, the tickets are impossible to get one's hands on and if I could, I'm not sure that I would want to spend that much money to go to an event where I would probably be watching the big screen most of the time ;) There are other options of how I will be watching the games this Olympics, that I have not had before. Of course, there's Option #1 which is to watch, from the comfort of my own home, on the tv. That is probably how I will see most of them. Then, there's the fun "watch with a crowd" at one of the sites where they will have mega screens, almost like the IMAX set up...where people can go and watch what's going on.

I only wish walking was not such a painful challenge for me!! There are going to be so many things to see and do... and the majority of them (or at least a whole lot of them) will be free. There will be lots happening right downtown in Vancouver, which technically, is within walking distance from my apartment building. But alas... there's no way I would be able to walk downtown, let alone, then be able to walk around once I got there. Of course, one can take public transport (hahaha, forget even thinking about taking one's car anywhere around Vancouver, but especially near any of the Olympic venues)... but the word is out that there are going to be long, LONG, lineups for a bus. And since I would just need to catch a bus to go about 12 blocks, I'm thinking once I'm tired and ready to come home... I am not going to be able to stand for 1 1/2 hours waiting for a bus ;) So, we shall see how that all is going to work out.

For those of you reading, who are in the Vancouver/Lower Mainland area ... here's a great site with a list of where a lot of the free activities are going to be located:

http://snipr.com/u65to [www.vancouveraccess2010.com]

And this is one of my favourites that I'm really, REALLY looking forward to checking out. This one is much more doable for me... in that it is only about 6 blocks from my front door... so I may not even have to get down to it, I can cross the street and see it from the beach:

http://www.alzado.net/vancouver/index_en.html

I am definitely going to have to make sure I have my camera with me at all times because no matter where I am, there is bound to be a photo opp just around the corner .

I still haven't quite decided what my schedule is going to be like. At the moment, I'm thinking I should be able to get to/from the TUTS office since it is in the Park and I can get to it by driving through the park instead of running into road closures and gridlock. On the other hand, if it is awkward, or there will be days where I don't want to miss certain events... then I may stay home and work from home.

Hahaha... so look at that!! My first blog entry since November, 2009, and it's all about the Olympics which haven't opened yet! There is so much non-Olympic things that I've been up to since November, that I haven't even mentioned... I can see where these Olympics are literally going to take over our lives while they are here . I think it's pretty funny that we are making this huge event to celebrate these athletes who are at the top of their game, and here I am literally having to make decisions as to whether I am going to leave the apartment on any given day, depending on how bad the pain is with the damaged nerves. I guess I'm going to have to admit I am not in the same condition as these incredible athletes ;)

Ok... that's enough for today. I'm hoping that I haven't lost all my readers... if I have, then that's my own fault for having left it soooo long between entries :) But if you are still around, please do drop a line... just click on the little pencil or envelope (I forget which one shows up ... I think you need to click on the pencil to leave a comment, or click on the envelope to read the comments if there are any).

And I promise to be back... hahaha... there are still 2 weeks until the Olympics so maybe I can catch up on the other stuff before I really get into my Olympic reporting?? :D

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 -- Scan/Test Results

Hi all... as I mentioned on Facebook, I would come and put a blog entry up to explain my CAT scan and blood test results here in more detail. Of course, I did say I would do it when I got home from the auditions for Fighting Chance Productions "The Wedding Singer", but that turned into us stopping at Maxine's, then getting home shortly after 11pm and taking Bridget out between downpours. So, here I am, just after midnight and am going to attempt to explain here.

The Scan/Blood tests were a good news/sobering news kind of result. My oncologist eased my fears by starting with "Not to worry... the results are good news, but I will explain what that really means". A double edged sword!!

For starters... the good news is there are no "new" growths on my lungs. When cancer has metastacized (IE: has spread from the original organ to another, or other organs) it means that it is now "systemic" and once it lands and takes root in an organ, then the expectation is that it will multiply in growths. So, the fact it had spread to my adrenal gland, it couldn't multiply there because we took that gland completely out. But then it also had spread to my lungs, and there were "multiple" growths (12 to be exact) sprinkled throughout both lungs. The largest growth/tumour, we had ablated back last Feb., which left 11 smallish "nodules" or growths/tumours. The expectation is that once colon cancer spreads to the lungs, then it will grow rapidly. One treats this with chemo... in the hopes that the chemo will slow down the speed of the growth, as well as the number of growths.

But I am an enigma ;) The speed of growth in my lungs is "excruciatingly slow"... to the point, my oncologist and her team have never seen such slow growth in a colon cancer spread.

Since last March, there has been no new growth/nodules at all. And with the nodules that are there, two of them have grown about 2mm (about .07 inch) since July. That, apparently is incredibly slow... and she says that there is no need for us to even attempt treatment since the treatment would be chemo and the whole purpose of the chemo would be to try and slow down the growth. But there is no way chemo is going to slow it down to any slower than it currently is because it is so slow now.

So then there was the blood test which measures the CEA level in my blood. CEA is just a measurement of metabolic activity... it doesn't pinpoint where there might be cancer, but if there is active cancer in the body, then the CEA (in some patients) will rise, which indicates there is active cancer somewhere in the body. Any reading under a 4.0 is considered normal, inactive activity. In July, my CEA reading was 1.6... a decent reading quite below the "normal" active reading. Now, in November, my CEA reading is 2.2 ... a slight rise of .6. This is not concerning my oncologist because it is still well below the norm of 4.0 ... but it is going to be worth monitoring.

Sooooo... I am absorbing this information. It usually takes me a day or two to absorb, compartmentalize, and arrange it so I can go back into denial :) When I was labeled as being "stable" back in July, I absorbed this info, compartmentalized it and managed in my mind to relate "stable" with "benign" or "no longer active", which of course isn't quite true. So now, here I am where I'm still considered somewhat "stable" with a small amount of growth on a couple of nodules... which of course has surprised me because I had talked myself into being inactive/benign ;)

So what's the plan?? Well, it's actually good... Sharlene is going to schedule my next scan for 6 months from now! SIX MONTHS!! That's incredibly good news because it is very rare for a Stage IV cancer patient to be decreasing their scans rather than increasing them.... but she's going to schedule a CEA blood test 3 months from now to see whether the reading goes up or falls back down to the 1.6 range. IF the CEA goes up, then she will bump the CAT scan back up to the four month (which I was expecting two more at 4 month intervals). If the CEA remains the same or less, then we'll keep the CAT scan at 6 months.

So as you can see, there isn't any need to panic, or be too worried since the growth is so slow, but it is still something that we have to monitor. She says that at some point they will get large enough that we will want to treat them, whether we ablate them if there's only one or two larger ones, or if they all start growing, then we treat them with chemo. The purpose of the chemo would be to shrink them and slow down the growth... but she would just as soon leave chemo to a last resource and not put me through it unless she feels there would be some benefit. I agree.

Meanwhile, she is going on a six month sebatical (besides being a clinical oncologist, she also is a researcher). But she said that, although she won't be at the oncology office and seeing her patients, she will keep in touch with me. When I have the blood work done in 3 months, I'm to send her an email... she will then look up the results and we'll either talk on the phone or in email. As for the CAT Scan... if we keep it at 6 months, then she will be back for the results from that one... but if the CEA test indicates I should have an earlier CAT scan, then she will re-arrange it and have one of her colleagues see me to go over the results of the CAT scan. In other words, just because she will be on a 6 month sebatical, I won't be losing my oncologist :)

Sooooo, onwards I go. It certainly is an enigma that my cancer is not acting like it's suppose to... on the other hand, thank goodness it's not :)

Hugggggggs,

Cheryl

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

Long time no read, blogmates!! I'm not even going to look at the last date I did a blog entry because I know it's a long, long time ago . And every time I say I'm going to be better and put up more consistent, regular entries... something always happens and then weeks go by with no new entry. I'm beginning to think I would be lousy at keeping a diary!! LOL!

So, rather than come up with the various events that I've been involved in, I think I'll just ramble here. I think that's part of my problem is that I keep telling myself, "Oh, you should blog about this event" or "that particular production" or what I'm currently involved in... well, the list goes on and on and before you know it, I have way too many things to mention in one blog entry, so I don't blog anything . Hahaha... so I'm going to try a new concept... I'm just going to babble about whatever on the day I blog. Some entries will have very little to talk about and other entries may be talking about something that will be happening in the future. Who knows.. I'd say this will be a potpourri of things!

Well, obviously, there will be lots to talk about as we get closer to the Olympics. I'm of two minds about the Olympics. On the one hand, like everyone else, I have grown up watching the Olympics on tv because they were always happening in some city far away from Vancouver. The coverage of the sports themselves was always great, but I also loved the coverage of the host city... the different climates, environment, and cultures. Well, now they are going to be happening here in Vancouver... a city I know very well since I was born and raised here... and still live here! My "out of town" friends have heard for years about this city... some of you have visited here in the past and others have said they'd love to come here to visit. I have to admit, without a word of exaggeration, Vancouver is one very beautiful city that is sitting in a very beautiful province. BUT, (there's always a but), I can't say I'm as enthusiastic with the political scene here in BC... I just can't agree with decisions our politicians make on behalf of the people living in this gorgeous province. Yes, I know... with the recession and global financial crisis hitting everywhere, BC is not immune. And since we have committed to the Olympics, of course we have to go through and put on the best show we possibly can... along with security and everything that comes along with an event this size. BUT, can anyone really justify the billions of dollars that is being spent on a 2-week event, while the same hands that are pumping money into this event, are devastating sectors in BC by cutting funding that is going to destroy jobs and dreams for a lot longer than 2 weeks?

Now, having said that, I certainly don't want to rain on the parade and excitement that the Olympics brings to a city. Hahahaha... there is the excitement on the one hand, that same excitement that we all have grown up watching from afar on TV when it happens in other cities... and then there's the reality, how does one get tickets when there are no tickets to be had? Hmmm... I'm suspicious of that. The tickets are very expensive, so us average folk can't afford the majority of them, yet, even when they go on sale, there are very few to be had. WHO is buying all these tickets??? When the events actually happen, we better see full audiences because that would really make me mad if there actually are tickets to be had and no one was able to get them.

Hahaha... mind you, I will be perfectly content to be watching the events from the comfort of home and tv. I like the fact that on tv one has a commentator(s) who can tell me what's going on and where one athlete stands compared to the others. As for the outdoor events, like the skiing, snowboarding, etc.... no thanks! I would FREEZE up on the mountains!!! Not only that, I don't think it would be a good idea to wear flip flops up to watch one of the skiing events... standing in the snow in flip flops :D Shoes/boots won't work with my feet, since the skin is waaaaaaay to sensitive because of the nerve damage. Sometimes even just wearing a pair of socks in the apartment is a challenge and I can't wear them for long, that's how sensitive the feet are ;)

But, I am hoping to get downtown at some of the Olympic partying and free events that will be happening all over the core area of downtown. I just have to figure out how I will get down there... or better yet, get back home. I won't be able to drive since the area will be shut down to traffic, so there's always public transit. Mind you, everyone will be using public transit, so we shall just have to see how mobile I can be :)

Well, on Thursday, I had my quarterly CAT scan and blood work. This time, I drank copious amounts of water Wednesday night and Thurs morning, before the scan. I'm not sure if that was what worked but the technician had no problem finding a vein this time for the IV for the contrast dye. YAYAYA! Then I had to go to the lab across the hall and give blood for my CEA and Creatinine tests and the "student" technician had no problem getting a different vein... and here we are, two days later and not a bruise to be found!! The last time I went, they all had a heck of a time, and I ended up having a very black and blue arm for weeks!!

So, although I am planning on just having a relaxing weekend at home, I have to admit it's a bit nerve-wracking while I wait until Monday afternoon when I go to see Dr. Sharlene Gill, my oncologist, to get the results from the scan and blood work. I know it's going to be even more nerve-wracking while I wait in the waiting room and then wait for Dr. Gill to come in and let me know how they went. Of course, the whole reason for doing these is to see how the nodules on my lungs are doing... whether they are remaining stable, or if they are starting to grow... or if new growths have shown up. The blood work is just to back up whatever they find. So, if the scan shows no new growth and no growth in the existing nodules AND the blood work confirms this finding by no elevation in my CEA level, then this is grounds for them saying I'm still stable.

Hahaha... so once again, I'm asking everyone to give me a few seconds/minutes of your thoughts and just send some happy, positive, healing thoughts out to the universe that say, "Cheryl is fine! Cheryl is healthy! Cheryl's health is totally stable!" It's worked for almost 3 years now... let's take it for a few decades :) :)

Ok, that's about it for now. Bridget is doing fine... she is just a bundle of love and terrier :D On Nov 11th, she turned 12 years old. On the one hand, yes, she certainly does enjoy her sleep and she sleeps through the night snuggled up to me... and then sleeps all day long. But, when she goes out for her walkies, she is a bundle of energy and loves to go for long walks with Toby. Likewise, if she decides she wants something, she will get up and come tell me off until she gets what she wants (usually in the form of a treat or raw veggie). If we are at home, it's not unusual for her to wake up at some point in the afternoon and come out to the living room and sit on the back of her Squirrel Watch chair to monitor the neighbourhood :)

Soooooo... I will be happy once Monday afternoon is over and I have the results that say I'm stable!! Then, I will come home, feed the little four-legged diva, and then head downtown to help with Fighting Chance Productions' auditions for "The Wedding Singer" :)

Ciao for now!!

Cheryl