Great Thanks...

I had the honor of attending a football game on Friday with my family that raised thousands of dollars for cancer research. Our family friend Karen and her son John was nice enough to include my sister and I :) My Mom couldn't do it due to just having surgery on her foot. So, we were able to join around 100 or so other survivors and were brought onto the field before the game and cheered on by the crowd! It was a pretty surreal experience (for more ways than one which I'll explain later). Anyway, all of the players and coaches wore jerseys with each survivors name on the back and Nicole and I were represented by the coaches. After the game, the players and coaches gave their jerseys to us and The Lymphoma and Leukemia Society donated light the night balloons that were released into the air... It was really cool watching the balloons fly off with the big orange moon in the background. All in all, a really nice event. To anyone who's reading this that donated, it's much appreciated :) I also wanted to thank my Mom for getting the word out for the donations.


From left, my Mom, Karen (both have sunglasses) and Rich


Nicole and I before we walked out to the field


Nicole and I waving to the crowd as we walked out onto the field with the other survivors/caregivers.


After we got our Jerseys joined with John (who is a coach), his buddy with the beard (can't remember his name, doh! nice guy...) my Godmother Aunt Shell next to me) and my cousin Susanna in front.


The balloons...

So, as I mentioned earlier, the night was very surreal. Surreal in the fact that here we are out there being honored and applauded for "surviving" cancer... I've written before about the disconnected feeling you sometimes have with the rest of the world and it really hit me as the crowd stood there and cheered for us. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't appreciate it, it just feels weird, hard to explain...

This brings me to the other surreal experience... Earlier, before the game, I pulled in to the parking lot to wait for my Mom so she could give me my t-shirt. I had the dogs with me so I wanted to take them out in the field for a quick walk before we went inside. Right as I got back to my car, my Mom called and told me where they were. Meanwhile Gomez, who was on a leash, somehow managed to pull out from his collar and proceeded to race off through the parking lot and around the corner, ugh. He's been escaping lately and once he's gone, it's hard to get him back because he doesn't come when you call him and he's fast as hell. So, with Chili still in her leash in my hand, we take off running after G. He's nowhere to be found and just outside the parking lot is a busy road, yikes. I had two things that suddenly struck me, first, he's going to get hit by a car, or, because his tags are on his collar which was now laying in my car, someone is going to find him and keep him because there's no contact information on him. Either way, I thought he was gone for sure. I then looked across the street and there was a young girl who was trying to get my attention. So I could hear her better, I stopped traffic and ran across the road. As I got closer to her, I noticed that she was pointing back across the road and as soon as I turned around to look, there was G making a mad dash toward me. I looked to his right and there was a woman driving a mini van (oblivious to him) and speeding forward right toward him. I screamed out NOOOOO and from what I could see, she hit Gomez as she was trying to slow down with the right corner of her bumper. I thought he was toast. Sure enough, he bounced up and started running the other way, unbelievable... I then stopped traffic again, with Chili still with me and ran across the street after the G man. By now of course, he was really freaked out and wouldn't let me get close to him. At that point, I decided to unleash Chili and she went right after him. It was almost like she was able to calm him down as he just stayed there and let me come and grab him. He was covered in burrs from getting down into the riverbed next to the road and shaking like crazy. I put him back in the car after making sure he was ok (he ate a bite of pizza and drank some water). It was then that I discovered that while all this was happening, I dropped my keys somewhere, what else could go wrong! Luckily my Aunt Shell, Sister and Susanna showed up and said prayers to St. Anthony and within minutes, I found the keys!

I haven't experienced that level of anxiety for at least a couple of months, haha. I mean, I of course really like the little guy but was more freaked out because he's not even my dog!

So, I had to break the news to Jackie and couldn't sleep for the rest of the night thinking he might have a head injury, bruised lung, something... I called the emergency hot line when I got home and they said as long as his gums are pink and he's not having trouble balancing and walking, his head should be ok. To be safe, I took him to the vet the next morning and after $175 later, was proclaimed to be ok except for excessive gas in his intestines! Thank God...

So, Saturday was pretty much shot because of the no sleep the night before but had a chance today to catch the last home game at Comerica Park and the Tigers which they won and was a lot of fun.

Of course, the Lions lost, surprise!

The adventure continues...