It was a wonderful gathering of so many people, this, our 2nd year at the Walk For Hope.  The day before was terribly windy and rainy all day long.  We were fortunate to have remained almost completely dry, and once we got walking I believe most of us kept our body temps up.  You can see the design of our shirts that A and a couple friends worked on.  We had such a great turn out, and a record number of younger walkers!  Our team was among the 10 teams with the most members, I’m so happy to say!  There was a terrific reaction to the “Save Second Base” image.  The ambulance driver actually wanted to take our picture and ended up buying some of the extra shirts from us.

The back of the shirts have a pink ribbon and a quote from Nikolai Lenon , which our friend C found for us.  “The most important thing in illness is never to lose hope.”  This was such a great addition to the shirt design.

Thanks to those of you who walked with me, to those who were with us in spirit, to those whose contributions will help the Walk achieve its goal.  It really was so much fun.

By the way, our camping trip was excellent.  We canoed for miles, sometimes with great winds at our teeth, some challenging waters.  We slept outside under an incredible canopy of stars.  We sat around the fire, ate hearty camp foods, hiked, watched the sun rise and set from our south facing island.  It was wonderful to have energy and to feel able to keep up with the others.  It was wonderful to be outside and be one with nature.

On October 29th I am scheduled to have the port-a-cath removed.  I will have local anesthesia.  Dr. Surgeon will do her handiwork, which I am thrilled about.  Then I can cancel all the rest of my monthly port flush appointments!  I am purging some of the books I acquired when I first was diagnosed, going through the piles and bags of paper and pamphlets and appointment lists and insurance benefits info.

I have heard from the insurance company that they will pay for the genetic testing, so I may pursue that as I close this chapter.