June 3 - Day 3

Rise and Shine Peoples!

It is now about 8AM and what do I wake up to? Beep...beep...beep. I called the nurse but no one has come yet. I became a master at controlling these pumps when I went through treatments the first time...I am very tempted to start pushin buttons...and possibly even un hook myself and go down the street to Denny's for breakfast. Yesterday after my 5 hours of chemo I was allowed to go for a little walk outside. I was bugging Christa when I stepped out to the street and put my hand up yelling...TAXI! Then I got a whole lot of stares from doctors and nurses and who knows who else who were probably thinking...this guy is nuts...he is still hooked up to his pump and has a million bags on him...where's he going? Someone call security. Ha-ha :)

Good times. Yesterday I arrived back at hospital at around 8am from my overnight pass. They hooked me up pretty quickly to some all sorts of meds to protect my kidneys and me bladder and then they started the chemo. I don't remember how much chemo I received last time I went through this during the first week of my diagnosis but it amazes me that I only have 3 days of a few bags each day and that is enough to wipe out my entire body. They doctor's and nurses don't expect that ill be too sick with this and plan on having me rebound pretty quickly. I've heard that the transplant process can be a bit painful leading up to it when they give these shots into my tummy which will draw the stem cells from my bone and into my blood stream so that it can be taken for transplant. Technology amazes me.

Yesterday one of the nurses who was helping me was very keen on hearing more about my bike tour and how did I train for and how much money we raised, etc. She said it is really nice to have patients come in once in a while who have done amazing things because it helps to keep the nurses attitudes positive and remind them why they are doing what they are doing. Christa's uncle Laurie Skreslet who was the first Canadian to climb mount Everest is also friends with Alan Hobson who is an acute leukemia survivor, had a donor blood stem call transplant, and was only given 1 year to live. Alan was on his third expedition to reach the summit of Mount Everest as well when this terrifying news came. Not only did he summit to the top of Everest but he also summits to the top of Cancer and is still alive today writing books and speaking around the world on his climb back from cancer. This is just a few of the people that I have met in my journeys and have a had a chance to hear their story and be inspired but what they have done...and what I will continue to do as well.

There is a hall on this ward called inspiration highway where it is lined with pictures and stories and newspaper clippings of cancer patients who have walked this road given the worst prognosis and are still alive today achieving their dreams and living life to the fullest!

I thank you all for your encouragement and support as I press on into victory and as I become the 1 stat that rebounds and reacts to these medications so mildly that doctors are astounded and can't believe my case :)

Cheers to you :)
Tim Harriman