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!

Royal Victoria Half Marathon

For the second eyar on a row, Susan Kelly and I ran the Royal Victoria Half Marathon. Once again, the weather was PERFECT. We may not have trained for the run, but it gave us a chance to catch up on all our stories from the last 6 months :)

We Can-Can Do It!
A Beautiful Day!

Oh no! Took a wrong turn and accidentally did the full marathon. Had to recover at the beer table one km after this shot...

Mom is going to carry the Torch!!

Not too much has been going on lately. I've been home in Kamloops, hanging with Mackenzie, running, doing yoga, connecting with friends....just regular, non-blogworthy stuff.

But today things changed!

Mom got word that she has been nominated by the Canadian Medical Association to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay this winter!!

She will be embarrassed that I've posted the following, so that's why I'll do it:

Hello, I am nominating Dr. Nesta Leduc to participate in the Olympic Flame Relay
on behalf of the Canadian Medical association. She lives in Whitehorse,
Yukon. Phone number is xxx xxx xxxx and email is nleduc@xxxxx It
is best to reach her by email as she is often out during the day.
My name is Dr. Sherillynne Himmelsbach from Whitehorse, Yukon and phonenumber is xxx xxx xxxx

Nesta is a 76 y/o retired family doctor who has lived and worked in Whitehorse from early in her career. She has been active for years hiking,canoeing, skiing and sea
kayaking, promoting and modelling an active lifestyle for her children while
working at a busy fulltime family practice. Since her retirement she has remained
very active in the community promotingactive living for seniors through example
and through the Elder Active Association of Yukon. In 1998 she was chair of
the Strategic Committee forPhysical Activity Yukon. She is a member of the board
of the local crosscountry ski club. Nesta has now discovered an interest
in competition. She is often off to national and international senior/master
competitions in orienteering, cycling, swimming or cross-country skiing. In
fact next week she is off to Australia to compete at the international
orienteering championships. In august she won 3 gold medals at the Canadian
orienteering championships and would have won the category below. She was
33 of 90 atthe World Senior Games in Austria in 2005. Nesta has competed
and won medals at the Canada senior games in cycling and swimming and
cross-countryskiing.
I believe for these reasons Nesta Leduc would be an
excellent representative of physicians, seniors and Yukon to participate in the
Olympic Torch Relay.
Sherillynne Himmelsbach

YAY MOM!!

Henri does Moochie Poochie

The rest of the world knows it as 'Macchu Picchu', which is Quechua for Old Man. Macchu Picchu was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. I say rediscovered, since obviously the locals knew it ws there.
MaPi was an Incan temple, and is located in the middle of the jungle, on top of an unimaginably steep mountain. It can be accessed by: a) train, b) foot. That's it. The terrain is too rough even for a road.

Henriette in front of agricultural terraces. Coca, considered a spiritual and sacred plant, was the main crop grown here. Coca leaves are a local remedy for altitude sickness in the Andes Mountains, are very commonly used, and are legal in personal quantities.

llamas still range on the site
Temple of the 3 Windows

a photo of a flower? What a shock, on my blog!

The Incas considered the moon as a god, so these pools of water were mirrors for ceremonies to worship the moon.

The Incans considered 3 animals as sacred:
the snake - which signified intelligence
the puma - which singified power and fertility
and the condor - which ranged from the Earth to the Heavens

Temple of the Condor - chicha (a beer of fermented corn) and blood (both animal and human) was poured along the condor's neck and head as part of ceremonies.

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 Pics II

Here is the second set of pics from Peru.
Auntie and I did a weekend trip to Colca Canyon. It was terrific!!!

Tara had a little lamb...

vicunas, a wild relative of the camel

vicunas

ninos hamming it up in Chivay

fiesta parade in Chivay

close-up of boy in parade - LOVE THE JESUS CAPE!!

Actually, I did see another fiesta parade the night before... It started with people in costume, then came some religious stuff, then a couple guys in regular clothes carrying a crate of beer, then a few more guys in regular clothes, then a brass band. Hmmmm, maybe they were on to something: the beer starred in the parade!

woman with eagle and llama

Henriette said: "Boy, this hat is heavy!"

the crowd at Cruz del Condor...waiting to see mythic birds

condor

blogger on edge

valley view

doing the Love Dance at 7 AM at 4200 masl

shopping at 4900 masl

the hard sell

a Coot, my fave waterfowl (b/c they are so weird!!)

One final story: at lunch on Sunday, my constant attitude of "I'll eat anything once" led me astray.... I tried a little bit of stewed Cuy (guinea pig), as the locals kept telling me it was tasty. It sorta was nice, a bit like chicken, but then I accidentally ate a guinea pig FOOT. ICK. The others at the table had a massive laugh at the look on my face. :)