Buddhist Shoulder

Have my first religion-related injury...... First, fell ON shoulder. (Technically, drinking-related injury.) Second, fell and stretched shoulder when suspended only by grip on a tree root while rest of body dangling down hill (trekking injury). Third, completely aggravated sore right shoulder by turning VERY large prayer wheels - always with right hand, and always clockwise. On the upside, suffering makes the blessings more potent. These blessings are sending messages of peace into the world. You're welcome.


Buddhist Shoulder - a bit like tennis elbow?

Everest and nuns

Incredible flight this AM. It was clear as we went along the Himalaya, so we had clear views of Everest. WOW.
I flew past Everest today.
I FLEW PAST MOUNT EVEREST TODAY.
HOLY COW, I FLEW BY MOUNT EVEREST TODAY!!!!!


Bhutan is nice, but feels very tame compared to Nepal :) We did visit a Buddhist nunnery this afternoon though, and were able to witness them praying. They play various instruments (cymbals, drum, long loud horns) and chant prayers. I was sitting beside a girl as she was turning the pages of her "prayer book", and one "hymn" they did was called 'A Light Shower of Blessing Flowers'. Cool, right?

BIG Update

I've been hopeless at writing on this blog for ages, so here's a biggie update!

I'm off to Asia on Tuesday at 2 AM. I'm going for 8 weeks!! One of my old high school galpals lives in Singapore, so I'm going to stay with her for a bit. Then she's connected me to her friend Terry who is currently living in Bangkok, so I've got a guide with a couch lined up in Bangkok! Then it's off to Nepal for 18 days of trekking. I've wanted to go trekking in the Himalaya for about 5 years, so I'm happy I'm finally doing that. I get back to Kathmandu in time for a 3 day festival of Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. Very cool. I love attending festivals as it is an amazing snapshot of local culture, and I am thrilled I will see this!


After Diwali in Kathmandu, I'll leave for 11 days in Bhutan, another mountain kingdom in the Himalaya. I have wanted to visit Bhutan for decades, literally, so this is HUGE for me. I had hoped to do some trekking there, as it is meant to be incredibly beautiful. But instead I'll be lucky enough to see a, you guessed it, FESTIVAL in eastern Bhutan. Bhutan is a very traditional country, unique and interesting, and not very open to the West, so I am so excited to see this place. Did you know that instead of tracking the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), they track the GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness)? How fantastic is that? Apparently the King noticed years ago that citizens of more economically successful countries were not necessarily happier, and he decided that happiness is more important than money. WOW. I cannot wait.

My friend Gary has just booked some of his trip, and will be joining me for part of the Nepal trek and for Bhutan. His friend worked with the Prince of Bhutan, so I am strongly angling for a meeting with the Prince!! hahaha, we shall see.

After Bhutan, I'll head back to Bangkok for another couple nights, and hopefully see Terry again.....if they have not yet moved away from Bangkok. (They have a great lifestyle where her husband works in internet something, so they just choose somewhere that sounds cool and live there for a few months.)

Then I've got a night planned in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I had the option of flying directly back to Singapore, but instead chose the "less good" connection to give me a night in a place I've never seen before. Fun, right?!

Then....back to Singapore. At that point, I'll have 2 1/2 weeks of holiday left, and I have made no plans so far. Maybe hang with Laura and her family? Hopefully we could do a trip to Cambodia to visit the orphanage she sponsors. Anyway, those plans will be made when the time is right.

And then I'll be back in Vancouver on Dec 8.


Update on my projects

I have 2 great projects in the works:
1. a book about the good things that come from the adversity of cancer
2. Getting Gold for Canada


The book project has been in the works for a while, but over the last couple months, I have done some wonderful and inspirational interviews. People have made gains and found things such as: more fulfilling meditation practise; the ability to love more deeply; financial freedom; improved personal relationships; changed careers; etc etc. It is great!

2. the project about Getting Gold Medals for Canada has me working with competitive and elite paralympic athletes who do nordic skiing. This started because I watched my friend Jamie guide a visually impaired skier in Whistler last spring. I watched at the categories of nordic skiing, and was fascinated watching those competitions. As usual, I met some engineers in a bar and got chatting about what I was excited about, so the idea came up that the athletes should have better equipment. And that I should find corporate sponsors to do this, AND that if these companies has engineers working there, they could have a perk of working with elite paranordic athetes. I saw it as a perfect match!
Then I sat down with Jamie and Tony, who run the local nordic ski club in Vancouver, which happens to have many of the Canadian National Paralympic Nordic team. I pitched them my idea, and they were super keen! But then it came out that most of the paranordic athletes had not accessed the research and academic resources available in the Lower Mainland. WOW, I just assumed that was something that would have already been done! So the first phase of my project is to link athletes with researchers and students in Vancouver.
I have now met a few athletes and made some incredible contacts at UBC and BCIT. I am really, really excited! I've met a gal who is doing her Ph.D. in Human Kinetics, so she has many grad students and undergrads to approach. And I got connected to the Head of the Prosthetics Dept at BCIT who was shocked to hear that our best standing athletes do not have a sport-specific prosthetic. (Fyi, standing athletes have issues with lower limbs, such as amputations.) He's going to talk with his lab, and I may also look to form a partnership with folks at UBC too. And I met another woman who is a resident in at UBC Med School in Physical Medicine (this is physiotherapy medicine, and sports med, and rehab med, and prosthetics. It's a broad field). She told me she has spoken to some of her contacts, and they are excited as it's tough to find research subjects. WHAT?!? So here I am, finding a gap in athletes' development and connecting it to a gap in related research! How great is this? I'm thrilled!

I spoke last night with Sean, who is in a wheelchair and brand new to nordic skiing, although keen to compete. He doesn't have equipment yet, or really know how to ski. But I told him he's great, as he's a raw talent. He used to play hockey at an elite level, so has the "right stuff" to be competitive. One of the other sit skiers has spent years on trial-and-error to get his sled set up, although he is now on my list to be analyzed for biomechanics, to see if he is in the most efficient position. (Seriously. This guy is the top ranked sit skier in Canada, but has NOT had analysis done to see if he is skiing as efficiently as possible.) Anyway, I'm thinking that perhaps Sean could be put into our program at an earlier stage, and maybe shorten the learning curve to become an efficient skier? He is excited about my idea!

I see HUGE potential for this project, and I am excited.
Have I mentioned I'm excited?!?!?!?    :-D


What else? Healthwise, I'm great. I have a recurrence, just a little one. Anyway, we've known about it for 2 years now, I guess. I had to meet with all sorts of specialists last year. Eventually, a treatment plan was recommended, so that I would have another blast of radioactive iodine. They did say I could take thyrogen to do this, so it wouldn't be nearly so horrible, but.... I have currently declined treatment. It's a little speck of a tumour, and we're just watching it. If it grows a bunch, or I get mets, or whatever, THEN I'll have some I131. But in the meantime, I'm healthy and happy.

Fitness wise, I've set a goal for myself of running a half marathon each month for a year! I have one coming up on Sunday, and that will be one a month for 6 months, so I'm halfway there. :) I'm surprised how tired I am, actually. But it's going fine.


So......that's my update. It's a long one, as I've been soooooo busy, my poor blog has been sadly neglected. Terrible.

No Joke

Mackenzie peed on me. On my leg. On my foot. I. Am. Not. Kidding.

We were walking this morning, and I was chatting with Jill. Macdog was on his leash. No biggie. Suddenly there was a slightly warm, wet sensation. ACK! Seems he'd lifted his leg, I wasn't watching, and walked right into the stream. He didn't give a crap. Didn't even notice. Looked a bit puzzled by my yelling and shaking the offended leg.

On an unrelated note, I am going backpacking tomorrow, and will be off grid for 7 days.

Plan B

I have hurt my foot again :( It's been bugging me all spring, but then I thought it was all better, and hurt it running hills yesterday. I'm taking this week to do mostly yoga and not much running. I'll go for massage (oowwwwww!!) tomorrow. And hopefully run Thurs night and next Sunday. Fingers crossed. I am planning to run Amber's FIRST HALF MARATHON with her in Mayo, Yukon on June 19, so hope all is well for that.


As you'll recall I hurt my back BADLY last summer, just prior to the marathon. Well, it just feels weak and twitchy all the time now.

I had been dreaming of doing a full marathon each year from 40-50, but I've had to accept I just cannot do it this year. It's silly to increase my training that much when I'm already a bit injured all the time. I am pretty bummed about this.

I wish there were 20 mile races!!! It is so hard to go from 13.1 miles to 26.2 miles. I would like to do 3/4 of a marathon. Hmmmm, perhaps I need to start an event like this?

So instead, I'll run a bit and bike a bit and do lots of REHAB and core strengthening. I can always find a triathlon to do in the fall??? Maybe. Not too bad for Plan B.

Ca Update, Spring 2010

It has been ages since I posted a cancer update:
Last fall, it was determined that I had a tiny little tumour in my neck - 3 mm by 3 mm by 3mm. I spoke to every specialist who could possibly help me, and they finally recommended that I have radioactive iodine to blast that little bugger outta there. This did not appeal to me for several reasons, but the main ones are that the tumour is tiny and slow-growing AND the more times I have radioactive iodine, the higher my risk increases to get marrow cancers. As in, I have increased risk of getting leukemia or lymphoma by doing this. Ummm, no thanks! So, I have declined treatment for now. We have decided to watch and wait. So my results are now in from blood tests and an ultrasound: the tumour was measured at 4 mm**, and my blood tests are perfect. This is not a change of any significance, so my doctor is happy to keep on watching and doing nothing. YAY!

** pretty tiny tumour. And last time, was it 3.3 mm or closer to 4 mm? And now, is it 3.8 mm? Is the view slightly different? Did the tech click on the exact same spot for measuring purposes? Aaaahhhh, no way to tell, but it didn't grow to 15 mm, and I don't have 10 new tumours. So no big deal.

Good or Bad?

Here's how last Monday went. Good day or bad day? You decide.

Thumbs Up: I woke in Susan's gorgeous guest room, wandered upstairs and we quickly decided I just possibly might make the 9 AM ferry.
Thumbs Up:  I was nearly the last car on the boat! Wow, no one parked behind me!!  (This is a near miracle, as I have had many negative ferry experiences, where I was the third car that did NOT make the boat, or I had to wait cuz my boat was on fire, or.....)
Thumbs Up:  decided I better cash in on my good fortune and buy a lotto ticket. Quick pick, as I was trusting in whatever came down the pipe  :)
Thumbs Up:  my tall friend, Greg, had some free time so we went for a coffee and a fun chat. Excellent!
Thumbs Up:  dropped by my doctor's office, and got him to write me papers for lab tests without having to see him! He's kind of a jerk, so this was awesome!
Thumbs Down:  a dog nearly bit me. Twice. Yikes!!
Thumbs Down:  left a bit later than planned.  
But thumbs up:   most of the traffic was gone
Thumbs Down:  heavily, heavily snowing on the Coquihalla. Got stopped 200 feet from the snow shed. Stayed there for over a hour and half!!!!
Thumbs WAY Down:  a redneck got bored, and mooned his friends. Now I have fat ass burned into my retina.
Thumbs Up:  I had cell coverage, so could share this with friends. (It's always better if you can share the pain, right?)
Thumbs Down:  once traffic got moving, I saw an RCMP cruiser on a tow truck. Hmmmm, not sure, but am guessing city boy got stuck?? Thought about writing a citizen's moving violation ticket for $300, but thought he might be short on ha-ha at that point.
Thumbs Up:  the rest of the drive was slow but fine.
Thumbs Down:   the drive took 50% longer than it usually would!!

Hmmm, so whaddaya think? When I check my lotto ticket, I'll let you know the final story.

Skiing with the Norwegians

How cool is this? Last year, when Jen and I went to Jamaica, we met Ingwild, a super-cool chick from Norway. We have stayed in touch, and Ingwild came to Canada with her lovely workpal, Andreas, for some excellent skiing.
We all rocked out to Revelstoke for what they said was "The best snow they have ever skied. Ever!!" And it wasn't even a powder day.... I don't know quite how they woulda coped if we'd had one of our truly amazing 8 inches of champagne powder days.....aaaahhhhhhhh....

Ingwild's pack set the stage for 2 full days of skiing and laughing. What goes through a designer's mind, when putting French poodles with monster trucks, on a girl's pack??? Love that!

Jen, me, Andreas, Ingwild....about to scream some trees!

Juice, the Wild Thing and Coolio eating see food the Ripper Chair

highjinks in the gondie

one of my ALL TIME fave things is to shred hard with fabu ski chicks!!! Love these girls!

Juice and the Wild Thing

ride 'em, cowgirl!! Show those snow ghosts no mercy!

and who would ever forget Wally, handsome canine ski support?

Lisa Stromsmoe, resident PK superstar, joined us for Day 2, so that meant that we had 2 full-blooded Norwegians, and 2 half-Norwegian Canadians. and me. I LOVED hearing the true Norse folks teaching Lisa and Jen how to pronounce their names properly! HAHA!

Also very funny:  Canadian ski folk are ALWAYS talking about Ullr, the Norse God of Snow. We burn offerings to him, we dance for him, we pray to him for huge dumps of pow!!! Our 2 Norwegian skiers had never heard of him. Hmmmm. Ok. So he's a Canadian Rural Ski Legend?

Driving South?

I've been having all sort of adventures of late....I've been at my parents' house in Whitehorse, Yukon for Christmas. I've been thinking of leaving for days and days, but the weather down south has been cold, so hadn't tried. Finally, on Saturday, I started driving back south. I made it 400 km, and then something funky happened to my car! It kinda lost power (intermittently though), then a puff of smoke went out the back, and the 'check engine' light came on. I stopped and had a look, but could see nothing, except a bit of smoke coming out of the tailpipe? I drove a bit more, then pulled over to talk to a big rig tow truck driver who was working on the side of the road. You see, up north there is super-patchy cell phone coverage and it was #$*%ing cold, so I had to drive my car somewhere, or else just choose to freeze.

Along the road, I had passed a little old Jetta a couple times, and he passed me again while I was stopped looking at my car. So while I was chatting with the tow truck driver, he came back. How lovely! Turned out he felt guilty after going a couple km's so thought he better come back and check on me. He checked under the hood, then followed me to the nearest community. There, he pulled out his multi-meter, and determined I had no obvious problem, except that my check engine light was still on. He was actually a mechanic, heading south for apprentice training! Siiigghhhh, my Knight in Dirty Carhartts....

I called my Subaru guy and he decided that I probably had just gotten some bad gas, and my car should be fine.

But as it was over 500 km to the next community heading south, but only 450 km back to mom's house (and the nearest Subie dealer), and it was -45 C, I decided to turn around. I mean, to head through 500 km of wilderness in frigid temps with anything other than optimum car conditions, you really deserve anything bad that might happen.... What is the Road god called? The road version of Ullr? He would be totally annoyed and smote you with any sort of misfortune.

I stopped at the Subie dealer her in Whitehorse this morning, and they confirmed that it seems to have been a one-time episode, likely bad gas, or seperated water from fuel, or possibly -45 C gremlins? Anyway, the computer said all was well, and my car runs like a top.

My plan is to try again tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

_____________________

btw, usually when I'm driving, I stop for a quick piddle in the ditch then get rolling asap, but there was too much traffic on Saturday! Ugggh, so I was forced to use a biffy. It was incredible, so I had to take a pic to show!

Christmas 2009

Here are a few pics from Christmas this year.

my brother, Alan, and my dad

Dad with our old family friend, Tony

Mom and my brother, Al

me n Al

Mom and I spent a lot of time skiing with the dogs

me n Kenz at the Christmas tree on the trail

Mom and I went for a dawn ski one day....at 10:40 AM!

Al, when we walked the dogs at -25 C

Leap of Faith

Today I went to trapeze school.
Seriously, as in, flying through the air with the greatest of ease.
It was at the Santa Monica pier. It was bloody terrifying hanging onto that bar and leaning way out into space. I need to re-emphasise that - OMG, I HAD TO STAND ON A PLATFORM WAY UP THERE, AND LEAN OUT INTO SPACE AND GRAB THE BAR. AND LET GO.....
But it was AMAZING swinging by my knees and doing back flips onto the net.

I did a lot of screaming and laughing and my legs nearly shook right off. I could barely stand when I got back on safe ground.
Oh, and by the way, I have HUGE issues with height. Climbing up to the platform was really really hard. Jumping off was ..........WOW.

this is pretty much exactly how I saw Dean....squiggly

Sammy making it look easy

Katrina getting ready

This is a vid of my first catch attempt. So close....and yet so far.

Cactus MacDoggie

Mackenzie sniffed a cactus. Poor fella! He still has spines embedded in his nose a week later :(

Thanksgiving Cancer Update

Last friday I met with my new surgeon in Vancouver. He was fantastic!!! Thanked me several times for coming in, and was cheery and wonderful. The radiologist did an ultrasound on my tiny tumour, and the surgeon was watching and asking questions and trying to decide if he can cut it out. He was not cocky, and I was totally impressed! (hahha, what does that say about my expections of tall, smart, powerful men?) My speck, aka tumour, has not grown since my last ultrasound in the spring, and is still 3 and a bit millimetres by a little less than 3 millimetres...smaller than a pea. He was happy about that, and doesn't feel like there's pressure to do anything quickly. He was not 100% sure about whether surgery was a great option, sent me for blood tests, and (here's the best part) he will call all my medical specialists, plus a couple of his colleagues, together for a conference this week.

(So great, as my OBNOXIOUS endocrinologist, who is supposed to be the quarterback of my care, has tried to tell me that isn't how our medical system works. I've had to meet all my docs myself, and a conference among them wasn't an option. I am completely excited to see how my little endo, all 5'5" of him, will respond to a directive from my surgeon, who is 6'3"!!)

So my surgeon suggested I call his office on Friday, if I have not heard from him by then.
Great news!

Tara at Marine Corps Training Camp, Part II

I did a fantistic hike on Saturday! I started at Aguas Calientes, Peru (the closest town to Macchu Picchu) and summited a mountain called Putucosi.
Total elevation gain: 500 m.
Time to summit: 1h 15 mins, with plenty of rest. And a mouth full of coca leaves.

view of Putucosi, from Macchu Picchu


Aguas Calientes, in the valley bottom

mountain views
Alpenglow in the Andes

and this is why it was a quick summit - ladders!!!!

technically for Marine Corps training, I should have had a 50 pound pack instead of a shopping bag slung over one shoulder....but seriously, I have never done a hike so steep it involved many ladders!

view from the summit, looking down on Macchu Picchu

And in case you were going to ask, NO, Auntie was not up for this hike!

Santa Catalina Monastery

Apologies to all Catholics, or anyone who might be offended by my flippant comments.

__________________________________________

Yesterday, we visted the Santa Catalina Monastery. It was a fully cloistered nun facility for 400 years until part of it was opened to the public in the 1970s.

There were a surprising number of plants. Of course, the nuns are too busy to tend them themselves, so they have gardeners now.

Sorry to Catholics, but I don't understand the whole scary tortured Christ thing. Burned fingers? Yuck. I'd choose a softer, nicer religion myself.


This lime flower smlled INCREDIBLE. Did not know that lime trees have thorns - huh. And how do nuns use limes? Margaritas, perhaps?

One of the courtyards within the complex.

A note on the colours: the stone was originally all white, as is common in Arequipa. But, in the 1800s, a doctor told them to paint a bunch of walls, as the nuns were haivng eye problems. So they chose rust and sky blue.

a nun's bedroom. the bed is under an arch as protection during earthquakes. (Arches are structurally stronger than flat roofs.)

a well-used kitchen. Again food is protected by an arch.

an oven. Pizza, anyone?

the cooking area is made of sillar stone, from a nearby volcano.

rust walls, a window and geraniums. Maybe I could be a nun? hahahahhaha

me n Aunt Henri at the group laundry area.

translation, anyone??

condor fresco

close-up of the menu in the Nun's cafe. Who knew nuns were so funny?

courtyard

Peru Monday

today's auntie update:
she had treatment number 9 of 12 today. I asked her how she was feeling:
her arthritis is about 10-20% of what it was before she got here...and she has stopped taking her medication for it
her bladder is "behaving itself" and she only got up once last night
she sleeps better and her insomnia is nearly gone
her hearing has improved
she has not had a back ache since her first treatment (she had been in constant back pain)
she stands much straighter
she walks up and down stairs easily
she walks for a couple hours a day, and is fine
she smiles more


I think once she has built some fitness (she has not moved around much in years), she will really be back in the swing of life. Obviously, we won't know anything about her cancer status until she is tested at home, but at a minimum, her quality of life has improved incredibly. She is thrilled.

Auntie continues to heal rapidly. She is having a side-effect of having a really stuffed nose, which is bugging her a lot, but I say, "Oh well. Stuffed nose for a few days as a trade-off for healing cancer? Seems like a small price to pay."
Her treatments are fascinating. (no, still can't give any details.) And we spend quite a lot of time chatting with her healer about his life, his culture, etc etc using a total of (ummmm) 5 languages. I only speak 3 languages even passably, but he is now teaching us words in his language from the jungle, plus words in Quechua, which was the language of the Incas.
Today, I asked him what happens when someone dies:
They wash the body with herbs, which preserve/mummify it. They wrap the body in three blankets, put it in a squatting or fetal position in a basket made of bamboo, and bury it in the ground facing the dawn. This is so the person can watch the sun rise. They put all of the person's jewelry in the grave, as well as their best clothes, and a serving of each of their favourite foods. This is so the person will have their things in their next life. Finally, they kill the person's pets, and put them in the grave too. This is to spare the suffering of the pet. This custom is followed all over Peru....except possibly in Lima. There, they are "spiritually corrupted" (about this, and many other things) and follow other customs such as cremation or putting coffins in crypts.

He was very clear that no one would ever wear the clothes that had belonged to a person who had died, as they would have a bad aura. It was kinda of funny, as I wearing a sweater at the time that belonged to my aunt who passed away last year. They looked a bit freaked out, but I said, "Well, she doesn't need it. And she would be happy for me to wear it. She had nice clothes, and would have hated for it all to be chukked out."
They were sceptical....

Peru, Day 4

Auntie continues to improve. We took a bus tour today of the city sights plus lunch. She was nervous that we had seats on top, as she's not so great at stairs, but she a total trooper! She went up and down a couple times, plus toured the mini-zoo of camelids. (btw, I love those animals....guanacas, vicunas, llamas and alpacas all are related to camels, and have the most lovely doe eyes!)
When the tour was over, I thought she might be toast, but oh no! I managed to convince her that 5 blocks home isn't a far walk. This, from a woman who thought she couldn't do more than a single block last Friday.

GO HENRIETTE!!!!!!

P.S. yes, I'll add some pics soon. Got some good ones.

Peru, Day 1

Auntie and I arrived insanely early this AM in Arequipa, Peru.
We fell into bed at 6:30 AM, and the phone rang at 9:00 to invite her to her first treatment.
Adan, the doctor, is very nice, and she feels really feel confident in his skills. He has not looked at any of her Western medical records, but can tell she has cancer in her cells, and noted pain elsewhere too.
This morning, the treatment was for detoxification. It was very nice- he brewed a sort of tea made from herbs. It was warm and soothing, and smelled pleasantly grassy and herbal, and is used as a shower.
It is all very interesting, but nice.
Her review of today: "feeling great! Even better than if I'd stayed home :) no pain in my back at all, not tired."

travel doula

Quick Update: Got back to Kamloops Friday night, attended my lovely friend Susan's wedding, and visited with cousins over the weekend.
I'm off to Whitehorse tomorrow to pick up my dog and bring him back here. Then next thurs, I am off to Peru! Less exciting than it sounds. My aunt has a serious recurrence of cancer so wants to work with a naturopath down there, and she needed an experienced traveller to accompany her. That's me - travel doula!
Will be back Sept 17.

My intent is to backfill this blog with all my stories and pics from the last month. I'll post them with the dates when they occured, so keep scrolling down to see what I've caught up on!