I’m just coming out of my latest chemo fog. This round was a bit better than the last three. Those were marked by vomiting and overall just feeling worse than ever, but this last round the oncologist and nurses were able to adjust the anti-nausea medications to a point where I was able to make it through without the unwanted departure of Euphoria’s lemon loaf from my body 😉
As chemo kept getting to me more, I was so thankful for the love and care I got from both my Twisted Sisters in their prayers for me and my BACA buddies who supplied awesome hugs and just plain company to help and distract me from the less desirable things in my life.
On the bright side, I had a few really good weekends: first, Emma and I took a weekend trip to Mount St. Helens, Seaside and Portland to mark the beginning of her time as a college student. We got a few God moments that made this trip extra special: when we arrived at Mount St. Helens, it was covered in clouds. Within a few minutes, it was clear – only to be covered in clouds again just about 30 minutes later. It felt like God had drawn a curtain aside just for us. Then we went on to Seaside, Oregon and from there to Cannon Beach where we spent the evening. The attraction there is Haystack Rock, but we were much more fascinated by a pod of Orcas that came around “just for us”. For over 45 minutes we could see them swim around, dive and splatter! On Sunday, we finally drove into Portland, spent the day between Powell’s bookstore and Voodoo Doughnuts before attending a church that Emma had heard about. The drive home was long (we arrived back in Langley at 1:30am), but it was a wonderful weekend of adventures.
The following weekend, I got to ride to Anacortes with a few of my BACA friends to attend the annual Oyster Run – imagine a little seaside town crowded by roughly 40,000 motorcycles and their riders. We saw lots of people (too many for my liking), lots of bikes (some of them really crazy looking, never too many bikes for me) and we met with some of our BACA friends from Washington. For the rides to and from Anacortes, we found really interesting back roads, curvy and along the ocean – all in all a long, but beautiful day.
This past Sunday was the Vancouver Toy Run. This run was organized over thirty years ago to help collect toys and donations to provide Christmas gifts for children from struggling families. My own kids have been on the receiving end of these donations a few years back (before I knew about the toy runs). This year, BACA was invited to ride right behind Santa, who leads this ride – a big honour for us. It was quite an experience to participate in this 45 minute long ride – and then wait for another 45 minutes before the last riders made it to the end point. The estimate is that there were 1500-2000 bikes in that run! After that we were invited to an after party in Maple Ridge where BACA was invited to have a table to sell T-shirts and hats and raise awareness about what we do. We ended the day in Mission at one of my BACA buddies’ house with a barbecue and conversation, laughter and hugs.
In case you think that I’m away all the time…well, I do work two days a week (one day as a parenting coach and one day at a coffee shop) and I’ve been able to finish a few more assignments towards my Masters. This past week, I was quite anxious about the upcoming chemo which slowed my ability to study down a bit, but I am still decently well on track, hopefully able to catch up over the weekend.
This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. To all my Canadian friends – Happy Thanksgiving! To all others – still happy thanksgiving, whether you celebrate now or later or not at all! I am thankful for being decently well, for being able to work and study some and for many fun experiences with good friends!