Hi All. It has been a while since my last post. Honestly, there is not much to say. And since no one has reached out to me, I have been putting off sending an update. Not even sure if anyone is still reading them.
Been wasting a lot of time online and reading my paper each morning. Don’t have any doctor or hospital visits so not much to update there. I do not see them until December. This is because I am all good right now. I am getting my stamina back slowly and can do things without sucking wind. This is really nice as it has allowed me to do a bit more like make dinners again, to the delight of my family. Speaking of which, the kids have been very busy on the weekends lately. Geneviève has been refereeing at a bunch of fencing tournaments. She has been gone 3 weekends in a row. Isabelle too has had a few weekends away with girl guides and spending time with her best friend who now lives in Toronto this year (her family is still in town). Cassy too has been away for girl guides. MA and I were alone with Shelly on the first weekend of November so we went to Absolute Comedy for a date night.
Speaking of Absolute Comedy, if you do not remember, I am doing another comedy night there this year, on Nov 21. I have been using my new found energy and free time organizing this event. Starting a bit late has caused some challenges in ticket sales and fundraising but, for the most part, it seems to be going ok. I still need to sell a bunch more tickets to sell out the place but I, at least, reached my fundraising goal of $10,000 and even surpassed it! Thanks to all of you who have helped out. There is still time to buy tickets and/or make a donation. You can visit my website for more details, www.laughter4cancer.com. All the money I raise goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC).
On that topic, the family (minus Geneviève) did the Light the Night Walk with the LLSC on Oct 26. If you were not aware, I donate all the money I raise through my foundation into this walk. We had a nice night and Mary Ann’s friend Barb and her husband Mike and son Liam joined us for the walk. I was pleasantly surprised that I was granted VIP status for our team at the event. Normally, this honour goes to teams who have raised over $10,000 but I had not yet officially reached that total before the event. Having this privilege allows us a special section at the event where we have our own table and are provided pizza and other treats. We also get a banner to decorate that we can have with us as we walk. I am making a bit of a name for myself within the LLSC as I have had conversations and phone calls from some of the senior managers within the Society encouraging me and thanking me for my efforts and for beating cancer. On this night, everyone was greeted by some of the Ottawa Senators. A few players made it to the event and took pictures with all the guests. I was personally able to meet both Dylan DeMelo and Brady Tkachuk. More importantly, Dylan mentioned that he will be attending my comedy night and will be bringing autographed hockey stick, jersey and tickets for an upcoming game. I will be auctioning them off at the event. If you want to bid on them, they will be available soon on our online auction site here, www.32auctions.com/Laughter4Cancer2019. Here is a picture of the family with the two Sens players, Brady on the left and Dylan on the right. Also, Spartacat joined in the picture as well.
I am still playing a lot of hockey. I am finally seeing some improvement in my game after taking a few months off. Still not where I used to be in terms of performance and speed but it is coming around slowly.
I have been battling a cold for more than four weeks now. It is a head cold which is taking a long time to go away. A lot of coughing and a runny nose but has not yet travelled into my chest yet. I have successfully shared it with most of the family so far but have one kid with a stronger immune system that has yet to catch it. It is nice to have an immune system again! Speaking of which, my blood count numbers are getting much better. Everything is way up but not all are in the normal range yet. My white blood count was 8.0 and my neutrophils were 7.1! Been a long time since I have seen these numbers so high. Hemoglobulins were 111 and platelets were 144 both keeping me out of transfusion ranges. I do not yet have this week’s numbers so not sure how much more they have improved. What is even better is that my infection is finally healed over so that I can now go into my hot tub. Man, I missed going into it all summer but am taking full advantage of it now in this cooler weather.
The family and I were in North Bay for Thanksgiving weekend. We arrived on the Friday and left late Sunday night. It had been a long time since we were in the Bay. Nearly forgot to stay on the hwy 417 out of Ottawa at the 416 split. I had gotten so used to driving to Toronto this year that I was on autopilot and had to remind myself I was going north this time. While at my Mom’s, we ate well and I was able to bring my pumpkin cheesecake for the family (really it was for Colleen but she shared it with us ?). I was also able to see some of my Dad’s family as my Aunt Rita came over for turkey dinner and Don and Gary stopped by in the evening for a social visit.
One other thing MA and I are doing is that we are training to become a therapy dog team. We have registered with the Ottawa Therapy Dogs association so that we can take Shelly to the hospital and see the patients, like we did when I was one. It is a very long and complicated process with not all dogs or handlers making the cut. The expectations and standards are very high for both members of the team so we are working on improving our skills so that we can pass the tests and become certified.
Upcoming plans are more of the same: coffee, paper and Facebook in the mornings; hockey a few times a week; and, make dinners when possible. The big event will be my comedy night on Nov 21 (please buy tickets or donate!) and then to a Sens hockey game on Nov 22. I “won” the tickets for this game because I was one of the higher fundraisers for the Light the Night Walk. The tickets are in a box and it is for the Senators Hockey Fights Cancer night at the rink. I don’t yet have a purple jersey for this event so if someone is looking to get me a gift… Just saying! That is all for now. I will try to squeeze another update before December and then get one in after I see my doctors, probably over the holidays.