A Major Milestone

WOWOWOWOW, I finally did it. I finally did a run that burned over 2000 calories!!!

Sue, Carol and I went directly to one of the local Mexican restaurants, and I showed our waitress my run computer. She was awesome! She ran into the kitchen and shouted, "The marathoners need a 7 Layer Dip NOW!"

ed note: Just for reference, a normal-sized woman, of normal activity level, probably consumes about 1600-2000 calories in a whole day.

Public Safety

Here's a funny story for you:
I went to the hospital for a chest x-ray today, and while I was waiting, a kid (I'd guess 15?) and his mom came in. I noticed he had a graze on his elbow and it was really swollen.
him to his Mom: I bet the x-ray will show 2 hairline cracks
me: were you skateboarding?
his mom: ha! See???
him: no, I was riding my bmx. At the skateboard park.
me: were you wearing a helmet?
his mom: HA! see? (and to me): thank you!
him: well, no
me: come over here so I can kick your ass
He got up, came over to me, and presented his ass. I KICKED IT!
his mom: HA! See? Thank you!

I then proceeded to tell him a bunch of stories about ski patrolling and nasty head injuries and wearing helmets. He was really polite and attentive, but I don`t know if I swayed him.

Trip Home

Last Friday, I went to the Opera Rocks concert in Whitehorse with my mom. I'm not into opera, but they said they'd include modern rock operas, operettas, ballads, etc. so figured it would be fun. In the choir were 2 of my school friends' moms, my High School English teacher's wife, and a gal that I was in high school band with....
The concert was really fun! The first half was just opera, but the second half they did Phantom of the Opera, Pinball Wizard from Tommy, AND Bohemian Rhapsody. They were accompanied by a high school kid on electric guitar, and a bunch of gals on strings. For the Queen song, they got another high school kid, obviously TOO COOL for words this kid, wearing drainpipe jeans with a big music note belt buckle, tight shirt, little choker necklace and swoopy hair. He sang Freddy Mercury's part, and absolutely rocked it! But when they got to the heavy choir part toward the end of the song (remember it from Wayne's World?), the choir started banging their heads, just like Wayne's pals in the Gremlin!!! I was laughing my head off, partly because it was funny in itself, but mainly because it was hilarious to see my friend's moms, at their choir recital that they were taking so seriously, banging their silvery heads!! I had to explain TWICE to my mom why it was funny at all. :)




And here's a related picture of my friend Karen. We were best friends from when she moved in next door, when she was 2 and I was 1. You may recognise her from the back seat of Wayne's Gremlin!
I think this pic may have been taken on her honeymoon.

American Beauty

Here's a few pics from the trip I did to Alaska this week.

Windy Arm, Tagish Lake, BC
Only in the north do people sunbathe with sleeping bags!

Mom's coffee companion

Super handy in Haines. (Liquor store and acupuncture, all in 1 stop!)

Beach in Haines, AK

And you can view the rest of the photo highlights here:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/lh/sredir?uname=teleduc101&target=ALBUM&id=5330984309691950161&authkey=Gv1sRgCOeDse_Zj7HSWQ&authkey=Gv1sRgCOeDse_Zj7HSWQ&feat=email

Suddenly Sarah!

This week I am staying with my parents in Whitehorse, Yukon. Mom and I decided to do a road trip to Alaska, first to Haines and then ferry to Skagway. And would you look at who we met on the ferry!

Why yes, that IS Russia in the background!

Turns out, Sarah lived in Skagway for her first 5 years, and back then, they often accessed Whitehorse for medical care. Mom was practising in Whitehorse then, so she said to Governor Palin, "Wow, maybe I delivered you! HA!"

Ms. Palin was really nice, very friendly, but definitely as dumb as she appeared on TV. I certainly didn't throw any Couric Curveballs at her, and yet, she still had a ridiculous response to chatter about the weather. Thank you, America, for not allowing her to be second in charge of the Free World!

[A couple weeks ago, George Strombolopolis interviewed her on The Hour, and he went on and on about how distracted he was by her shiny, black patent, stiletto-heeled boots. I was beyond disappointed that she was wearing really dull shoes with sensible heel for walking ferry gangplanks and Skagway boardwalks...]

Writing Challenge

I was chatting with my friend, Joe, the other day. He teaches gifted kids, and currently has a Grade 7 class. He gave them an assignment originally created by Hemmingway: tell a short story in 10 words or less.
Here's mine:

Chef finally made me steak. Undercooked? Guess it wasn't love.

Ca Update

As you'll likely recall, I have had some slightly weird blood test results over the last few months. I didn't update the blog, but have been doing more tests, scans, trips to Vancouver, doctor visits, etc etc. My blood test and body scan results indicated that I had a recurrence of cancer. Hunh. That sucks.

(OK, to give you a little history, there was cancer and I had my thyroid taken out in 2000. And there was cancer again in 2003, and I was treated again. So now I get metastices to lymph nodes in my neck. Thyroid ca pretty much always affects a few lymph nodes in the neck. But unlike other cancers, where lymph node involvement generally indicates a VERY serious outcome, with thyroid ca, it's like "whatever, no biggie." Also, the stats for thyroid ca show that unlike other cancers, a recurrence of thyroid ca does NOT seem to affect survival rates. There's still better than 95% survival after 20 years. And after 20 years, they don't keep track anymore, so a patient is probably not dead, but more likely "not medically interesting". So to reiterate....MY CANCER IS NOT GOING TO KILL ME. IT IS JUST A PAIN IN THE BOLOGNA!)

Yesterday, I had a biopsy on my thyroid bits. Just FYI, this involved my lying on a stretcher in a darkened room with a pillow under my shoulders so my neck was all stretched out. Because it's a teaching hospital, there were half a dozen docs and techs there, with one of them holding the ultrasound thingy on my neck, saying, "See that? That's a lymph node. That's the jugular. There's the esophagus. Hmmm, it's small and tough to get a needle in that little node. Hmmm, gonna be tough. Oh jeez, it keeps moving." I was like, "Ummm, please don't stab me in the jugular." But mostly I couldn't speak nor swallow, because it hurts to move your neck when there's a needle stabbed in it. I know this from past procedures, since docs usually forget to warn you about this... Anyway, it took around 30 minutes for them to stab me in the neck about 10 times. And yes, even when they use a fine gauge needle, it's really stressful to be stabbed in the neck. I left big sweaty hand prints on my hospital gown. And they wouldn't let me leave for a while, since it appeared I might pass out.

The doc who did the biopsy yesterday said the spots were so tiny he had trouble getting a sample. I'll get the results in a couple weeks, which will tell the true tale, but he and I figured it likely just made sense to watch it, and wait till there's something a bit bigger to treat. Not like thyroid cancer is gonna kill me.... I'll just hang on for another year or 2, or5, and then maybe treat it. Maybe. Unless I'm busy doing something more interesting.

Anyway, I'm doing well. Fingers crossed that in 20 years I won 't be so dang medically interesting.

Jet Laaaaaag

It's nearly 4 AM on Saturday morning, and I'm awake. Why? Because at 6 PM on Friday night, I was dozing in front of the tv, so lay down on the couch for a nap. And woke up 9 hours later. It's my 3rd night back at home, and it was an 8 hour time change from the UK. Grrr, you would think I'd be better at this.

Mom's Race

Many of you know my mom, Nesta. At age 75, she is always gallivanting around the globe, competing in World Class orienteering competitions, entering walking festivals and "accidentally" doing 20 mile days - that sort of thing. Last Saturday, she went in a 25 km cross-country ski race, and had a major crash. She dislocated her shoulder and broke her arm. She appears to be fine, other than that.



Here's the email I just got from her:


They even have my picture on the T shirt...and my favourite colour!!!!!!!!!!!

haha, she's humorous about her humerus :) (cheers to Juice for that one)

As my great friend Dana used to say, "If you plant a potato, you get a potato."

Moving Progressively

I am in the throes of moving AGAIN. This time I'm moving my aunt's stuff out of her apartment in Wales. It's not too much stuff, and I don't even need a crane this time, but I am right this second in the red-bull-and-ibuprofen stage. Had a small crisis, as I couldn't find my purse, so thought maybe the packer put it in a box......but I found it once the red bull kicked in.