Just got Home!`

We just got home to our comfy house and while exhausted, know we had the most amazing 3 days of our lives.   More to come....in detail.  Happy top be home.  Happy we did it! 

It's day 3! Pouring rain, we are almost there!

Finished ALL 23 miles yesterday! Knee did fine. Major blisters including a big blood blister. So frustrating. I am at the 2nd pit stop on day 2. 28 miles down!

All ready for opening ceremonies. Soooooooo many people here. Police in pink tu tu's. Gotta love it!

At the team hotel with a 3:00 a.m. Wake up call! Shuttle bus pulls out at 4:40. It is going to a long, exhausting, exciting, glorious day. 3 day Seattle!

Final Blog Before the Walk!

My bags are packed.

 But I just now remembered to bring Tylenol PM with me.  I know I am forgetting things!  I am sooo excited!  I have raised $3500 and Terry raised $3000.  TO THE PENNY!  Yes!  I have set up my cell phone so that I can blog briefly from the event.  Of course, with out power, my phone use will be at a minimum.

I don't know what is ahead of me, but I do know what is behind me.  Miles and miles of training, a few injuries, lots of blisters, lots of moral support and YOU.  I am sporting my new tie dye pink flamingo shirt

and I am ready to rock this thing!  I hope I can sleep tonight.  Now, to find that tylenol p.m.!

Packing.........oh Lordy.

I must be the most inefficient packer EVER.  I think this is worse than traveling ot Europe for 3 weeks with just a carry on.  I don't remember it being this difficult!  I have walked back and for the from one end of the house to another, inadvertantly leaving something behind.  The guest room looks like  a bomb hit it and suddenly plastic bags are irreplaceable. 

I keep thinking of things I am forgetting and then other things that I thought of but now realize they won't work.  Like the blue tarps we borrowed from Teryl and Hunter.  Way too heavy!  At almost 8 lbs each, my bag weighed 36 lbs before I had any clothes in it.  Never mind.  That means a trip to the hardware store tomorrow for light weight painting tarps.  I did however, get to Kinkos and get the photos copied and laminated and they are now attached to my fanny pack.  Yeah for progress!

Mom, Emma, Jan, Bonnie, Jess, Linda and Penny are all on my pack, ready to walk 60 miles with me.  At night, they will be on my tent as a reminder to all who walk by, why we are here doing this 60 mile journey together.

That's all for now, back to packing!

The Motivators

Yesterday I sent out my final pre-walk email. Being $500 from my personal $3,000 fundraising goal propelled me to try one last time to reach for it. I am serious about my goals and am excited to report that at this point (4:10 a.m. on Tuesday morning.....can't sleep!) I am $78 from that goal! Another reason for sending out that email was to give information regarding the route, the cheering stations, the fact that we will be on a bus headed to opening ceremonies at 4:30 a.m. on Friday morning (see I am just in training this morning with the no-sleep zone). But the most important part of that email was for The Motivators.

The Motivators are those people that created in me the desire to take part in the 3 day. They are the ones that are my heros. Each of them had to hear the words "You have Cancer." The moment they heard that word, their lives changed forever. FOREVER. The months that followed involved so many doctor visits that juggling life had to have been difficult. Some lost their hair, some didn't. Some lost a breast, some didn't. Some lost their life, some didn't. All of them fought a gallant battle. All of them are my motivators.

My Mom. 82, white haired, shrinking to under 5 feet, survivor of polio, daily swimmer, fiesty, beautiful, breast cancer survivor.

Mom is the warm cookies and milk Mom and Grandma.  How lucky were we to have her as our Mom?  Especially with an ex-Marine strict father, she was a great balance and a soft place to fall.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago at the age of 80.  She is religious about her healthcare, so they found it early during a routine mammogram.  Early detection saved her from advanced breast cancer.  I love you Mom.

Jan Cone Boyd, friend of the family since she was 9 or 10, tall, witty, funny and as it turns out, fiercely brave.  Jan's breast cancer affected me greatly.  It was advanced.  It was one of the rare types that do not respond well to treatment.  Jan went through chemo and radiation.  She lost her hair and it came back in this baby soft curly mop that was adorable.

She fought a gallant fight and the world gained another angel when she was 42.   42.  I am 52.  I often hear Jan's laugh in my head and I know, that she is glad I am doing this walk.


Bonnnie Ronan, Mom, health care provider, marathon runner, breast cancer survivor.  Bonnie and I cross paths every few years and I keep vowing to change that, but haven't yet.  I admire her greatly.  When our daughter Teryl got married last year, the bridal shower was at Bonnie's house.  The morning of the shower, Bonnie was running a marathon.  A marathon.  26.2 miles.  She was in the shower when I arrived and came out looking fresh as a daisy.  Bonnie has done the 3 day, she has also done the Race for the Cure with her daughter Kelly (one of Teryl's best friends from high school and also one of my biggest cheerleaders....remember pink duct tape??) and probably a lot more philanthropic events than I am aware of.

Kelly and Bonnie Ronan at Race for the Cure

Bonnie is a rock star and the best example of survivor that I can imagine.  On my list post-walk is a phone call to Bonnie.  I promise.



Jessica Rench and I have yet to meet in person....but I know she is a rock star.  Jess is the girlfriend  fiance of Adam, son of my dear friends Timm and Susan Fair.   Jess was diagnosed with breast cancer this year.  She was 31.  31.  When someone you are connected to fights a chronic life-threatening illness at such a young age, it affects you.  Jess created a blog to keep her family and friends up-to-date as she embarked upon the journey of chemo and radiation and doctors visits.  Her blog is a how-to-book for others to follow who are facing breast cancer.  I love the name too, http://jesswearspink.blogspot.com/. 

Jess was also featured in a local magazine in an article about breast cancer.  Here she is getting ready for her photo shoot.  Have you ever seen anyone so beautiful?  Me neither.  Jess and Adam are looking forward to a long and happy life together as they plan their 2011 wedding. 

Maybe I will finally get to meet her in person.

Penny Quinn, mother, grandmother.  In my business, I am so lucky to meet wonderful people and maintain contact with many of them years beyond a house sale or purchase.  Chris and Ashley Quinn bought their first home 5 or 6 years ago.  The cutest couple ever with a darling little boy.  It is so fun working with first time home buyers....they are so excited, everything is new and I get to be a part of such an important thing in their lives. 

The emails that I sent out after I signed up for the 3 day, revealed to me how many people have been touched by this disease.  Ashley shared with me that Chris had lost his Mom to breast cancer.  I will be honored to carry Penny's photo with me every step of the way. 

 

And one last addition.  Just yesterday I was emailing a client and told her I would not be available this weekend because I was participating in the 3 day.  Her response was immediate and incredible.  "Do you have sponsors, oh my gosh I didn't know, this is near and dear to my heart."  After she promised to donate, she shared with me that she is a breast cancer survivor.  Twice over.  So is her Mom.  So, even in daily contact with someone you may not even know that breast cancer has been a part of their lives. 

So Linda McNeal,  I walk for you.  I have been amazed at your strength and courage through family illnesses and life changes and challenges.  You epitomize the word strength. 

These are The Motivators.

6 days until the walk and I feel GOOD!

I was soooooo looking forward to the walk today. I have missed my teammates something fierce, my Flamingo Road "Flocking Together for a Cure" mates who I have walked hundreds and hundreds of miles with. I missed them! While this not an official walk day, it was a let's go for a 6 miles stroll and have breakfast along the way, walk. Plus we started at 9 a.m. which is practically noon compared to our other walks.

Today was my test drive. I was NERVOUS. Please, please, please do OK, Mr. knee. Please! I was super cautious on the hills, baby steps up and baby steps down. Straight posture, pay attention! No tripping or slipping allowed. You know what? I did absolutely FINE! It's funny, 6 miles is sooooo nothing anymore. I look back at my post from early in my training when I did 6 miles in the rain. I felt accomplished then and truly I felt accomplished now, but for different reasons. Yep, still got blisters. Don't care! Everything else was super. I was a good girl and came home and iced it and have iced it a couple of times today. It was empowering to get out there, with my team and know that I am going to be OK.

Now, focus on packing! I have lists for my lists. More on that this week. I am too busy to be nervous. Just excited, pumped and READY!

Determination and Positive Thinking (and a little help from my friends, MRI and cortisone)

I know I haven't done much blogging lately. There hasn't been much to blog about other than working on improving my knee! It was really bothering me this weekend, so I called Saturday morning and made a Monday afternoon appointment to revisit Dr. Story. I climbed the stairs to his 3rd story office rather than ride the elevator. It's weird that climbing stairs doesn't seem to bother it and I have been feeling rather sloth-like without my mega walks, so stairs were inviting. Dr. Story looked at it and said, "well, it's time for an MRI. I can give you cortisone, but at this point I don't know if it's the ligament or the knee itself."

Now, talk about the stars being aligned. The Radiology is right down the hall from Dr. Story's office and miracle of miracles, they had a 2:30 opening. The nurse called my insurance company to get an OK on the MRI and 15 minutes later I was sitting in a cool contraption that was way more comfortable than the brain MRI I had a few years ago. I tried to find a picture of the machine online, but couldn't. This machine was so nice because you sit in a chair and stick your leg in a tube MRI machine. They put noise cancelling headphones on you and there you sit without moving for 30 minutes. Not so bad and certainly NOT claustrophobic.

Dr. Story had instructed me to come right back to the front desk and tell them to get me in STAT. He had to leave shortly after 4:00 to get down to the Mariners game because he is the team Dr. Within 15 minutes, he is back in the room and has read my MRI. Turns out the issue is IN my knee, not around it. He said I have a degenerative tear inside my knee that has been exascerbated by all of the walking. I will likely be a candidate for arthroscopic surgery in the future but no tellling how long that will be once I go back to a normal life (4 miles a day instead of 20). Could be 1 year, 10 years or one month. No way to tell at this point.

We talk a little more about the cortisone and the walk. And he says "I really get the impression that you want to get through this walk." And I said YES with my hands together in a praying posiiton, I will do ANYTHING to get through this. Well, the cortisones maximum effectivemness comes at 2 weeks, so I will be just shy of that. After 3 days I should feel relief. I asked him if I could make the tear worse and he said no. OK! that is good. He said pain is there to help stop you from that, so if you feel pain, STOP. Ice it, elevate it, and see how it goes. No guarentees that the cortisone will be THE answer, but it should be a big help. YES!

I thanked him for hearing me. For hearing how important this walk is and all that I have given up to be here.

On Thursday, I will be taking Bella for a nice little walk and every day there after. There is talk of the team doing a little walk on Saturday, our technical "bye" week, but more like 6 miles. I would LOVE to do that!

Now, it's focusing on the packing, the air mattress test runs, starting to pack the suitcase, all of that. I will be so happy to move beyond focus of the knee. Thank you Dr. Story!

Seattle's 3 Day Info Released!

As I have been nursing my knee (yep, icing 5 X a day and now taking prescription anti-inflamatory Rx) I have been focusing on the upcoming 3 day.  As I write this, we are T - 16 days.  Yikes!  The information from the Susan G Komen site is trickled out....little bits here and there.  We know the cheering stations are:


Friday Sept 24
8:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Red Robin - Just south MIll Creek - north of the 405 Frwy
21215 Bothell-Everett Highway
Bothell, WA 98201

12:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Silver Lake Shopping Center - Just north of Silver Lake
112th St. SE and 19th Ave. SE
Everett, WA 98208

Saturday, September 25
8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Jackson Elementary - just north of Forest Park
3700 Federal Ave.
Everett, WA 98201

11:45 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Fluke Corporation
9028 Evergreen Way
Everett, WA 98204

Sunday, September 26
10:45 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Cal Anderson Park - Capital Hill - 11th & Pine
1635 11th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122


Oh my God, it is so REAL now!  I missed last weekend's back-to-backs and my husband, BMOTP (Best Man on the Planet) did both days.  20 miles on Saturday and 16 on Sunday.  He does fine!  No blisters, no leg pains, but he does get some lower back pain.  Otherwise, he is a trooper!  I wanted to be on those walks :-(  This weekend's back-to-backs are the last long walks before THE walk.  In the meanwhile, I will be focusing on shorter walks, lots of stretching and continuing the icing.  If I feel anything in my knee, I am going to go back for a cortisone shot.  That is my job right now.  Get this leg back in SHAPE. 

The little details for the walk are what to pack, what to pack it in, etc.  It is ideal to have a large rolling duffel.  One big enough to pack your clothes, your air mattress, sleeping bag and pillow.  Um, that is a lot to pack in one bag.  Plus the weight limit is 35 lbs.  I did some looking last week when I was at Ross and they had large suitcases for $59.  I didn't buy them because, well they are suitcases.  We are light travelers, after our Rick Steves training, so the reality is that we will not likely use ginormous (yes, that is a word) suitcases again.  Terry checked online and ol, no I don't want to spend $100 + per bag.  So we checked Overstock and Terry found 36" soft sided rolling duffels for $59 with $2.90 shipping.  Ok, order those puppies!  We borrowed an air mattress and sleeping bags from the kids and will practice inflating the mattress in the upcoming days.  I have started a 3 day box.  There isn't much in it yet:

I have earplugs, a hook for my clothes bag in the shower trailer, a bandana, buff, my PINK Duct tape, the beginnings of our tent decoration and giant Zip Lock bags.  It is just a start!  There are so many things to think about. 

We will be spending Thursday night before the walk in a hotel in Bellevue with the rest of the team.  We have a team dinner planned that night and then when we wake up in the morning, buses will transport us to the opening ceremonies and a ridiculous hour of maybe 5:00 a.m..  The word is that day 1 and 2 will actually be 23 miles and day 3 will be 14. 

My lists are ever growing.  I can't believe we are so close to the start of an adventure that began last April.  I have such a new appreciation for all of the people before me that have trained for this event, have walked it, have raised the money and given up their personal time so that we can find a cure for breast cancer.  It is such an honor to be part of that group.  Each day, each step, each dollar raised, is the cumulative result of people working together for a cause.  My granddaughter's birthday is tomorrow.  She will be 6.  It is my hope that in her lifetime she will no longer have to worry about breast cancer.  I would do anything to make that dream a reality. 

"You have done 18, you can do 20"

My long-anticipated visit to Dr Story came this morning and I was one eager beaver to get there!  I arrived 30 minutes before my appointment time with X-Ray in hand.  He walked into the examining room right on time and thankfully, I felt like he really HEARD me, heard my desperation to get resolution before the 3 day walk in 3 weeks.  He twisted my leg this way and that, poked around (OUCH!) and then told me that it is tendonitis caused by a strain to the hamstring muscle.  He pulled out a diagram of the leg and showed me how the hamstring comes down the back of the leg and wraps around the knee exactly where I felt the pulling and strain on Saturday.  I may have taken the hills a little too fast, didn't shorten my stride, or over-compensated for my feet blisters, but that was what he said it was.

Now, the plan of attack is to take 2 Aleve 3 times a day for 3 weeks until the walk and to ice it for 3 weeks as well.  After a week, he wants me to do some small, slow walks, 2-3 miles and work up to 5+.  If I feel anything I am to STOP and call him.  He said, at this point, you have nothing to prove.  You have done the training, you have walked 18 miles, you can walk 20.  But the goal is to get you there, healthy and able to do the walk.  I felt like kissing him right then.  But he also said he can give me a shot of cortisone if needed, but that he would prefer this plan first.  He felt that physical therapy wouldn't be much help right now, especially with the short term urgency.  So I feel like I have a PLAN!  Thank you, Dr. Story for listening!  I stopped at Rite Aid on the way home and bought an ice pack with a strap so that I can be mobile while icing.  Sitting on the sofa 5 times a day is just not going to happen!  Here is the lovely wrap now.  It's so fashionable!  Who cares!  I love it.  It is perfect!

But most importantly, in my rant on Monday about my GP, I neglected to share how the morning started.  I was at the computer sending emails to clients, when UPS drove into the drive way.  I went out and retrieved the box he left there and when I opened it, this is what I saw

 
OK, Pink Duct Tape!  No "Flamingo Pink" Duct tape!  I stood there for a minute, wondering if I had ordered it and if so, when?  (This is what happens when you are old, you forget that actually have done things).  After a minute, I pick up the invoice and look at it

Now it's small print.  But as I look more closely, I see this " PINK!  I don't actually know if pink duct tape works better than boring silver, but it sure is fun looking.  Try this out in the next month and see if it helps.  Love you, Kelly.

Awwwwwwwwwwww, now Kelly has been one of my greatest cheerleaders.  She is one of Teryl's best friends and has spent many an evening on the sofa in our house when they were in high school.  I love Kelly.  She is an amazing woman, living in DC now, buying a condo, worked heavily on the inauguration for President Obama and gives tirelessly to charities, such as the Susan G Komen (which she has participated in) the Race for the Cure and many more events.  She runs, she walks, she crews, she HELPS!  With her mother as a survivor, she has a profound personal reason to believe in the cause. 

And somehow, she believes in me too.

If that isn't reason enough to make her proud, I don't know what is.

I plan to make you proud, Kelly.  I love my pink duct tape!