I walked into suite 210 of the Nelson Clinic and wondered if I was in the correct location. I could hear music, and clapping and singing and shouting. I checked the door - yep, there were the big letters ASK. I followed the chaotic sound back to the fishbowl (that's the treatment room) and found the source of the noise. Nurses were singing, parents were clapping and the kids were playing instruments and I was then informed that anyone who walks in had to dance a solo.
Um. Seriously?
Patient Buttercup took my hand and said "Yep. Dance." So I danced and clapped all the while we sang Jingle Bells and Rudolph. Perfect song selections for a 75 degree day in Richmond.
Buttercup was in for platelets. Patient Caspian was in for a transfusion as was Patient Tiana. But those IV poles didn't keep them down.
Patient Tiana and I discussed the difference between a Big Mac and a Whopper. Patient Caspian informed me that I have no rhythm and should go out to the play room or stop playing the tambourine and Patient Buttercup told me that I really suck at Mario Golf.
Before I knew it, my hour was up and I had to head back to work. Everyone should be so lucky as to have as much fun at lunch as I do on Wednesdays.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monument Aveune 10K
Saturday, March 27
We interrupt this half marathon training report to bring you the Monument Avenue 10k.
When I woke up on Saturday mornig, there was frost on the ground. And it was 31 degrees. If it had been a regular training day, I would have gone back to bed and ran those 6 miles later in the day or would have gone to the gym and pounded the treadmill. But it was the day of the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K and my dear friend Becky was so excited that she could barely contain herself. First-timers are irritating like that.
I went back and forth for atleast 20 minutes about what to wear and finally settled on tights, l/s shirt, my hot pink ReeseStrong shirt and gloves. An impatient John was glaring at me, so I just shoved all of my race gear in a bag and went to get in the truck.
We picked up Becky and headed to VCU. Thank goodness John drove us. We would have never found a parking place and made it to wave in time. Cary Street was a parking lot itself and finally John turned down Harvie Street to get us there in time. But as it turns out, we didn’t make it to our wave in time. We stood in line for over 35 minutes in the VCU Bookstore to use the bathroom. We met a few characters along the way, such as the middle school teacher who it turns out is as grumpy as I am! 9:31 came and went, we missed our wave. 9:34 came and went, we missed another wave. We finally got started in wave UC, 5 waves after ours. But Becky was so excited to finally be at the start line.
And off we went! We zigged and zagged for the first miles and finally gave up trying to run and just settled in for a stroll and took in the sights. And boy, were there sights to behold! The Monument 10K definitely brings out the best and the worst of Richmond. But the weather was perfect and the crowds were great. A fabulous day to be outside in the River City.
We finished in Becky’s goal time of under 90 minutes. I was so proud of my girl! She’s never done anything like this before and she was a trooper through learning how to dress, how to consume liquid without spilling it at a water stop and how to get ready for that all important race photo. There will be other races for me to set a PR but there will never be another first race for Becky.
And now, back to half marathon training.
We interrupt this half marathon training report to bring you the Monument Avenue 10k.
When I woke up on Saturday mornig, there was frost on the ground. And it was 31 degrees. If it had been a regular training day, I would have gone back to bed and ran those 6 miles later in the day or would have gone to the gym and pounded the treadmill. But it was the day of the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K and my dear friend Becky was so excited that she could barely contain herself. First-timers are irritating like that.
I went back and forth for atleast 20 minutes about what to wear and finally settled on tights, l/s shirt, my hot pink ReeseStrong shirt and gloves. An impatient John was glaring at me, so I just shoved all of my race gear in a bag and went to get in the truck.
We picked up Becky and headed to VCU. Thank goodness John drove us. We would have never found a parking place and made it to wave in time. Cary Street was a parking lot itself and finally John turned down Harvie Street to get us there in time. But as it turns out, we didn’t make it to our wave in time. We stood in line for over 35 minutes in the VCU Bookstore to use the bathroom. We met a few characters along the way, such as the middle school teacher who it turns out is as grumpy as I am! 9:31 came and went, we missed our wave. 9:34 came and went, we missed another wave. We finally got started in wave UC, 5 waves after ours. But Becky was so excited to finally be at the start line.
And off we went! We zigged and zagged for the first miles and finally gave up trying to run and just settled in for a stroll and took in the sights. And boy, were there sights to behold! The Monument 10K definitely brings out the best and the worst of Richmond. But the weather was perfect and the crowds were great. A fabulous day to be outside in the River City.
We finished in Becky’s goal time of under 90 minutes. I was so proud of my girl! She’s never done anything like this before and she was a trooper through learning how to dress, how to consume liquid without spilling it at a water stop and how to get ready for that all important race photo. There will be other races for me to set a PR but there will never be another first race for Becky.
And now, back to half marathon training.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Every day, a new discovery
Every day, a new discovery. That is the motto, tagline, marketing campaign of VCU Health Systems. I learned two things on Wednesday.
1) There are 17 species of penguins. Of those, 12 species live in warmer climates including the African penguin. And the Metro Richmond Zoo has African penguins living in Chesterfield County! Why and how do I know this? Carleigh and I (and Amy) are going to the zoo in a few weeks and I was on the website.
2) Do you know what hazardous antineoplastic drugs are? Chemotherapy. In clinic, I had to read the procedure for cleaning up a HANDs spill. Some of the procedures include: donning a gown with cuffs, a respiratory mask, two sets of gloves, and double bagging/boxing everything and cleaning the spill site with soap and water, not once - but three times. All of this for a spill, yet these are the drugs that are being injected into cancer patients' body and treating the disease with success. Amazing how something so extremely harmful, does some good.
In the pediatric clinic, children are faced with these drugs all the time. And their parents sit beside them, not know if the drugs are killing the cancer or doing other harm. But fortunately, statistics show that survival rates are on the upswing and rising. It is the look on the childrens's and parents' faces after a treatment or after receiving a popsicle or just after receiving a friendly smile and squeeze of the shoulder that make the fundraising aspect of TNT just a little less daunting (not much but a little....). The need for private funding is crucial and even though my family has been ravaged by cancer, it took spending time in the clinic for the slap of reality to hit me.
I've also learned that in addition to dollars, the clinics need time. Nurses and doctors are stretched to the max so volunteers sit with patients, insist that a parent take a break and get some air, and clean up treatment rooms. And, as I learned this week in clinic, volunteers often pick up and deliver chemo so that nurses can stay with patients and do their jobs and be with the patients.
Its amazing to see so much life and vibrance in the clinic. Today, one little boy was using his IV stand to skate down the hall. And another was looking through the snack basket looking for his favorite crackers. It is incredible that even by surrounded by so much illness, the kids are still just kids.
1) There are 17 species of penguins. Of those, 12 species live in warmer climates including the African penguin. And the Metro Richmond Zoo has African penguins living in Chesterfield County! Why and how do I know this? Carleigh and I (and Amy) are going to the zoo in a few weeks and I was on the website.
2) Do you know what hazardous antineoplastic drugs are? Chemotherapy. In clinic, I had to read the procedure for cleaning up a HANDs spill. Some of the procedures include: donning a gown with cuffs, a respiratory mask, two sets of gloves, and double bagging/boxing everything and cleaning the spill site with soap and water, not once - but three times. All of this for a spill, yet these are the drugs that are being injected into cancer patients' body and treating the disease with success. Amazing how something so extremely harmful, does some good.
In the pediatric clinic, children are faced with these drugs all the time. And their parents sit beside them, not know if the drugs are killing the cancer or doing other harm. But fortunately, statistics show that survival rates are on the upswing and rising. It is the look on the childrens's and parents' faces after a treatment or after receiving a popsicle or just after receiving a friendly smile and squeeze of the shoulder that make the fundraising aspect of TNT just a little less daunting (not much but a little....). The need for private funding is crucial and even though my family has been ravaged by cancer, it took spending time in the clinic for the slap of reality to hit me.
I've also learned that in addition to dollars, the clinics need time. Nurses and doctors are stretched to the max so volunteers sit with patients, insist that a parent take a break and get some air, and clean up treatment rooms. And, as I learned this week in clinic, volunteers often pick up and deliver chemo so that nurses can stay with patients and do their jobs and be with the patients.
Its amazing to see so much life and vibrance in the clinic. Today, one little boy was using his IV stand to skate down the hall. And another was looking through the snack basket looking for his favorite crackers. It is incredible that even by surrounded by so much illness, the kids are still just kids.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Saturday, March 20
Wow, it has been quite awhile since I blogged. I started out with the best intentions but we all know what they say about the path to hell....
Over the past few weeks, I have been completely overwhelmed by the gifts of individuals to my fundraising campaign. So many kind people given money that will support cancer research, patient services, patient financial aid, cancer educational services and the list continues. None of this would be possible without private funding. And believe it or not, a reseacher at MCV is a recent grant recipient and that is a great source of pride. I have achieved 80% of my fundraising goal and am excited to meet that goal soon.
Great weather for a training run! Faith, a lymphoma survivor, came out and shared her story as the mission moment, she has been in remission almost 1 year! We went through the usual Saturday morning announcements, stretches, etc. and we were off.
I had a horrible cold and each step reminded my sinuses that we should still be in bed. But the weather was just too nice to be inside and the scale was kind enough to show me that, despite what we believe and tell ourselves, Girl Scout cookies really are not calorie free. My goal for the day was to make it to the end of each mile without coughing up a lung and I thought I started off pretty well.
Until.
Until I felt something warm and wet hit my shirt and it was not the mucus dripping from my nose. It was black and gross. A bird must have mistaken my nice green running shirt for a nice green tree branch. It was a sign, I should have stayed in bed.
But after using most of the water in Art's water bottle to clean off my shirt and receiving from my "ew gross, this sucks" meltdown, we headed out for the miles of the morning.
After two miles, I had to make a choice between breathing, talking or running. I chose the breathing and turned around. Figured I would do 4 miles and call it 6. But once I got back to the park, I had visions of girl scout cookies and the bathroom scale in my mind so I did another mile around the lake while I waited for Art and Chuck to finish up their miles so we could head out to breakfast.
I wish I could say that Saturday was a life altering experience or that I had a great run or that I had experience some Divine motivation but it was just an average run on a great day to be outside.
Wow, it has been quite awhile since I blogged. I started out with the best intentions but we all know what they say about the path to hell....
Over the past few weeks, I have been completely overwhelmed by the gifts of individuals to my fundraising campaign. So many kind people given money that will support cancer research, patient services, patient financial aid, cancer educational services and the list continues. None of this would be possible without private funding. And believe it or not, a reseacher at MCV is a recent grant recipient and that is a great source of pride. I have achieved 80% of my fundraising goal and am excited to meet that goal soon.
Great weather for a training run! Faith, a lymphoma survivor, came out and shared her story as the mission moment, she has been in remission almost 1 year! We went through the usual Saturday morning announcements, stretches, etc. and we were off.
I had a horrible cold and each step reminded my sinuses that we should still be in bed. But the weather was just too nice to be inside and the scale was kind enough to show me that, despite what we believe and tell ourselves, Girl Scout cookies really are not calorie free. My goal for the day was to make it to the end of each mile without coughing up a lung and I thought I started off pretty well.
Until.
Until I felt something warm and wet hit my shirt and it was not the mucus dripping from my nose. It was black and gross. A bird must have mistaken my nice green running shirt for a nice green tree branch. It was a sign, I should have stayed in bed.
But after using most of the water in Art's water bottle to clean off my shirt and receiving from my "ew gross, this sucks" meltdown, we headed out for the miles of the morning.
After two miles, I had to make a choice between breathing, talking or running. I chose the breathing and turned around. Figured I would do 4 miles and call it 6. But once I got back to the park, I had visions of girl scout cookies and the bathroom scale in my mind so I did another mile around the lake while I waited for Art and Chuck to finish up their miles so we could head out to breakfast.
I wish I could say that Saturday was a life altering experience or that I had a great run or that I had experience some Divine motivation but it was just an average run on a great day to be outside.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Was that the sun?
Wow! What a great day for a 5 miler! The sun, that bright, beautiful, yellow ball of fire in the sky, was out today and it wasn't freezing cold. Hard to believe, but true.
Our training was small but mighty today. We started out with the mission moment from Blair, who was diagnosed in the early 1970's and taken to St. Jude for treatment, with little hope of survival. Her story resonated with me because Jennifer was diagnosed at the same time with the same chances. But Blair is a 35+ year survivor and Jennifer survived for over 25+ years before she passed away a few years ago. Now in 2010, if Blair or Jennifer walked into Massey, the chances of survival is over 90%. We've come so far in 30 odd years, it makes the fundraising less daunting. Well, no. I lie. The fundraising is still daunting, but it is more meaningful.
Our small but tiny team included my training bud, Art and one walker. None of the racehorse runners were there and probably for the one and only time EVER, we were the first ones out and the first ones back! :) While it was unfortunate that the rest of the team was not out for training, Art and I benefitted from individual coaching from the two coaches, Chuck and Walter. It was nice to have real time with the fast coaches! :) They both were cognizate of the times we needed to walk but they also pushed us to maintain a strong pace while running.
The 4 of us had a great 5 miles this morning. The time passed quickly and when we arrived back at the park, I was truly surprised at our pace. The day was warm and sunny, great conditions to finally be outside! And after training, I ran into a few other other former TEAM in Training participants so it was like a reunion run with TNT.
So the training run is over for this week and now its back to the business of fundraising for LLS. They always say to not be surprised by who gives and who doesn't. I have to admit, even though I shouldn't be, I am really surprised by the people who haven't.
Our training was small but mighty today. We started out with the mission moment from Blair, who was diagnosed in the early 1970's and taken to St. Jude for treatment, with little hope of survival. Her story resonated with me because Jennifer was diagnosed at the same time with the same chances. But Blair is a 35+ year survivor and Jennifer survived for over 25+ years before she passed away a few years ago. Now in 2010, if Blair or Jennifer walked into Massey, the chances of survival is over 90%. We've come so far in 30 odd years, it makes the fundraising less daunting. Well, no. I lie. The fundraising is still daunting, but it is more meaningful.
Our small but tiny team included my training bud, Art and one walker. None of the racehorse runners were there and probably for the one and only time EVER, we were the first ones out and the first ones back! :) While it was unfortunate that the rest of the team was not out for training, Art and I benefitted from individual coaching from the two coaches, Chuck and Walter. It was nice to have real time with the fast coaches! :) They both were cognizate of the times we needed to walk but they also pushed us to maintain a strong pace while running.
The 4 of us had a great 5 miles this morning. The time passed quickly and when we arrived back at the park, I was truly surprised at our pace. The day was warm and sunny, great conditions to finally be outside! And after training, I ran into a few other other former TEAM in Training participants so it was like a reunion run with TNT.
So the training run is over for this week and now its back to the business of fundraising for LLS. They always say to not be surprised by who gives and who doesn't. I have to admit, even though I shouldn't be, I am really surprised by the people who haven't.
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