Just Keep Swimming....Just Keep Swimming!

Hello out there!

As you can see there is a new layout. I was getting bored with the other one. I don't know; I still feel that it could be a little more exciting. But either way; I hope people are reading.

Well the summer flew by as usual. Nothing too much to report on the treatment cycle. I finished my chemo around the middle of July. Of course hoping that this would be the last treatment. I went a while without writing in my journal during this summer so that makes me think that it was a pretty uneventful summer. Sometimes it is hard to remember what and when stuff happened. I find that I have begun to date my life as BC (before cancer), and now. But I am doing my best.

Dan had gone on a 7 day cruise. I was supposed to go with him but I worked a volleyball camp the week before and the week after the cruise was camp fantastic. This year right after camp fantastic I had to leave for school. I decided that to have a cruise vacation in the middle of that craziness might just be pushing the limits a little. Though it would have been my first cruise and a blast I'm sure; I prioritized. My mom would have been proud; then again she was probably the one who kept me in check with having too much on my plate in the first place.

So it was time for camp. This would be my 3rd year as a counselor at camp. I still get the same feelings about it...like a 5 year old on Christmas eve! This year I am working with 9 year old campers. This is the youngest age that I have worked with. One of my campers eventually earned the nickname M.I.A. Mia because she was always missing. I was co-counselors this year with a wonderful girl named Kelly. Little did I know what a lasting bond we would have. We were both bald and I think there may have only been a couple other campers that were bald at the time. Shirley and her husband Erik also came to camp this year; which is amazing. Camp is not only good for the campers. It is also sometimes a therapy session for counselors. I had an amazing conversation with Kelly and another survivor Hiedi. Heidi and I had worked together for the past 3 years and we were great friends. We talked about what we were going through and how hard it can be. Sometimes it takes one to know one; and other people in my life just can't relate. But once again...the week goes by faster then ever and it is back to the real world...or at least one version of it.

This year at school I am a Junior, taking 18 credits. I will only have 4 more semesters and I will have my undergraduate degree in Health and Physical Education!!!! I was scanned in September and saw that my tumors were active in my lungs. It had been a couple months since I had chemo. The doctors decided it would be best to take them out. So I had my first cancer surgery. They took 3 tumors out of my Right lung. Surgery went great, the only thing I was really nervous about was the epidural. I have never gotten anything like that before and of course I didn't feel a thing. I was recovered from surgery and back to school within a month. Little did I know what I was coming back to. Missing 3 weeks in the middle of the semester is never a good thing. I was swamped with work; and not necessarily in the best mindset to get it done. I found out before returning to school that my friend Sam had passed away. Sam was an inspiration to me and had been fighting longer than I had. This news really hurt. Luckily I still had my rock, Shirley. I try to stay positive but I am really holding on by a thread now. Between my work, having a terminal condition, being sore from my surgery, and it being cold and snowy.....I think this is a little of a low for me.

I have been told that in order to see the rainbow you have to withstand the rain. I am holding them to that statement. Holidays are coming now and I am sure things will get better.