New Beginnings

Wow it's been a really long time since my last post...just couldn't get myself to the point where I felt like writing about cancer stuff.  I guess sometimes you just want to forget that it's there, and for some brief spans of time, it may have actually worked.  But...I figured the blog was definitely due for an update, since there's actually some GOOD news to to announce.

On March 18, I got stuck (many, many times before a successful vein was found) for what was hopefully my last chemotherapy infusion ever.  My mom and aunt came down to be with me for the last go-round, which made it much nicer to deal with.  After wrapping up the infusion, we headed over to the Georgetown Med School's courtyard meet up with Andrea and celebrate her residency placement at Johns Hopkins [her top choice!] for orthopedic surgery!  So yeah, pretty good day all around.

The next day we went to a pre-race pasta dinner event organized by Team in Training where I was recognized as the top fundraiser for the D.C. group - over $7,500 raised for blood cancer funding - thanks to everyone for your generous support over the past few months!  I was also asked to speak briefly at the event about my experiences with cancer and how it's changed my life thus far.  Fortunately, I joined my company's Toastmaster's club back in the fall and have slowly been working on my public speaking skills.  I'm happy to report that I was able to get up in front of a crowd of about 80 or so and deliver a speech that seemed to be pretty effective (over 8 minutes as well - definitely my longest so far) and coherent.

Early Saturday morning, Andrea, Lissi, Katie and me rode the Metro over to RFK, the starting point for the National Half Marathon.  It was pretty chilly when we left the house around 5:30, but it warmed up quickly and turned out to be an absolutely perfect day for running through the streets of D.C.  Right around 9am, Andrea, our friend Ryan and me crossed the finish line in 1:51:15, only about 45 minutes behind the top finisher haha.  Shortly after, Katie and Lissi both came screaming through the finish line as well.  A bunch of friends from UNC came into town and were at the finish line to celebrate with us; later we went to stuff our faces with delicious dim sum at China Garden.  And finally, to cap off a great weekend, we hosted a little (OK, not so little) shindig at our place to celebrate all the positive things happening in our lives...good times.  Just posted some pictures of the weekend on Picasa (see below)...big thanks to Aubrey for taking some sweet pics with my new camera...



Back for another update shortly (I promise it won't be a month this time)