Let's play ball!

Tonight we were at Busch Stadium for the Cardinals game, but we barely made it to the fourth inning! There were two separate rain/storm delays, totaling over 2.5 hours, and it all came at the end of a busy, busy weekend. It had been a good weekend though, full of friends and laughs.

When we were walking up the aisle to leave the game, it was between innings and an announcement came over the sound system. I'm not sure if it was a commercial for Siteman or some kind of public service announcement, but it basically started out as a multiple choice quiz that went something like this... "Which of the following statements are true?"

a. a healthy diet and a healthy weight will help to prevent colon cancer
b. 70% of colon cancer is curable
c. ............

And I just stopped listening. Sometimes, I just have to. I can't argue with the statistics, but it just makes me feel like I did something wrong, like this is all my fault. And at the end of my good weekend, I heard just enough to turn my smile upside-down.

Say it with kindness

Thought this was a good read...

http://cancerfactscentral.org/10-things-not-to-say-to-someone-with-cancer-and-what-to-say-instead/

Last night's surprise

 

Thank You

 

I love you all. Loved my surprise.

Was hard to believe my own eyes.

So blue?! So many kind faces.

Time for a few quick embraces.

 

Em, Tina, Heather, Karen, G,

Kel, She, Meg, Laura, Mia, me.

We played them tough. We didn’t lose.

We blinded them with Amy’s shoes.

 

Party room time. Plenty to eat.

Tramp brownies and pizza, no meat.

Group picture with a kangaroo,

But who is Karen talking to?

 

I love you all. Loved my surprise.

You’re there for my lows and my highs.

Awesome to be all together,

A night I’ll always remember.

 

                                          - DB

A flowery good day

Happy Cancerversary to me!

• Bloodwork and treatment at Siteman West County

Until you hear the words, you have cancer, you'll never understand how it will affect every aspect of your life... your family, your friends, your work, your play, your definition of a good day, your definition of a bad day... and what it'll mean to you when one year later you wake up to a day filled with treatment, work and soccer. It's a good day.

Canada: Day Seven

We got started early this morning and heading to the Old Montreal neighborhood. We toured the Notre Dame Basilica and walked along the lake/river of the old port area. After lunch at a cute place in the square, we headed towards the Olympic Stadium. Near the stadium is Montreal's Botanical Gardens so we decided to check that out. The guide says to take 2.5-3 hours walking around and on another day we really could have, it is a huge place and so beautiful. But today we had a game to get to.

Canada: Day Six

It was hard to wake up this morning! We slept through breakfast at the hotel and found a cute place down the block for brunch. Then we went to the Montreal Museum of Modern Art and it was really cool! It seemed like a place that Laura or David should be displaying some work. Since today is the last day of my week on Xeloda, I'm pretty tired, so we decided to watch the US soccer game in our room after dinner. We also watched the Saint Louis FC US Open Cup match on-line. The soccer-cation continues!

Canada: Day Four

These feet were made for walking and that's just what they'll do.

Today we climbed our way to the top of Parc Mont-Royal and we walked and walked and walked and... we turned in early and watched some other World Cup games from bed.

Canada: Day Three

Today is another take-it-easy travel day, a morning to sleep in late and an afternoon to watch the Colombia v. France game at the airport while we waited for our flight. And Colombia WON, which is crazy, but a fitting end to our slightly strange 48 hours in Winnipeg. Hector mentioned a couple of times that Winnipeg reminded him of Austin, TX, where the cool kids' slogan is Keep Austin Weird. I think people here are doing a good job of keeping Winnipeg weird. Just my opinion!

Now we're off to Montreal, still feeling okay and excited to visit another new city. Emily and Marietta have both helped us with ideas for our non-soccer-game days. Allez!

Canada: Day Two

What a great day! This morning we walked along the riverwalk in downtown Winnipeg. It was warm and sunny but a little breezy, so basically beautiful. At one point when we were crossing the street, there was honking and a friendly "heeeeey guuuuuys!" that turned out to be our friends Holly & Kristan, in town from Indianapolis for the games. (My friend Ames and his daughter Sarah also found us in the stadium later, gotta love seeing people in Canada(!) that live close to you, well, in Belleville, but that you haven't seen in probably 10 years.)

The stadium was great, the games were great, the people were great and the sun was HOT. Besides getting something in eye that made my eyes water for about four hours (messing up my face paint!) and then required a trip to the pharmacy after the game, it was perfection.

Canada: Day One

Today we're traveling from St. Louis to Winnipeg via Toronto. Toronto. Home of the hockey playing blue Maple Leafs. Hector told me that we're putting maple syrup on everything this trip. Pancakes. Maple syrup. Turkey sandwiches. Maple syrup. Tim Horton's donuts. Maple syrup. Soooo Toronto. If you look at a map, our trip isn't exactly a straight line to Winni from the Lou but it's the end point that is the most important part. Winnipeg. The home of tomorrow's US Women's National Team World Cup game against Sweden. Sweden. Home of blond ski bunnies and a decent soccer team coached by one Pia Sundhage. Pia. The former coach of the US Women's Team who, after watching their first game against Australia on Monday, decided to pick on my girl Carli Lloyd. Big mistake lady, Carli is coming for you. Carli. Strong midfielder who can score, can break up the other team's attack and who is basically a badass. In the parallel universe where I play for the National Team, I am Carli Lloyd.

Grammar? Who needs grammar. It's time to start parlez vous-ing some francais anyway.

Personal pharmacy

• Bloodwork, appointment with Dr. T and treatment at Siteman South County

It's been a few appointments since we've seen Dr. T and it was nice to see him today. He's so excited for us and our trip (and so am I). Dr. T loaded me up with antibiotics to take with me in case I catch something and with a letter to answer any questions about the personal pharmacy in my carry-on or about the portacath in my chest. Getting through security could be interesting!

They took an extra blood sample today for a liquid biopsie test. It's a relatively new test and Dr. T can't promise that he'll even know what to do with the results. BUT at this point, it's a free test as they build their database and it could be helpful. It could potentially show us if there are any tumor bits floating around in my blood, and if so, whether or not the pathology of the tumor bits matches the pathology of my original colon tumor. It takes a couple of weeks for the results, so... we will see!

We also scheduled my next CT for the end of July and I won't see Dr. T again until the week after that CT. (Assuming of course that nothing major changes with my health.) I'll still have bloodwork and Avastin infusions every other week but I won't have doctor appointments on those days.