Alright, then.
So the rest of the connection comes from the flurry of American activity and influence in which I have been engaged over the past week. And I'm not talking about how I watch the U.S. presidential race in pain from across the border. Here are some photo and video highlights.
Lisa saves the day! As I previously posted, my hellish day in O'Hare ended on an awesome note when I told the lovely airport people to just send my ass to Pittsburgh (rather than my original destination of Harrisburg), where I was graciously picked up by Lisa and Larry. Here are me and Lisa in Mifflintown!
Bonjour, Madame! Lisa and I had some bites and beers with our high school French teacher, Pam, pictured here with me. Lisa's mom Vicki also joined in the joy and goodwill.
Here are Lisa, Pam, and me, saying "Au revoir!" and see you soon.
The next day, my sister Hanh and niece Stevii came for an overnight visit. Stevii, Lisa, and I spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Scrabulous on Facebook, while Hanh looked over our shoulders so that she could "help" us. [FUN FACT: Lisa's dad Joel was Hanh's teacher at Fermanagh-Mifflintown Elementary School, where he infamously kicked over a desk one time and scared the bejeezus out of my sister. To this day, the mere mention of "Mr. Cunningham" causes my sister to cower in fear.]
The next morning, I greet my niece with kisses, as her mom kissed my head with her bright red lips just moments before. You can tell by Stevii's crazy hair that we had a wild night of IM'ing.
Here's me and my not-so-little nephew Tyler in his newly purchased house. He's so happy to see me!
Now, this is one of the proudest moments of my life...I made front page of my hometown newspaper! Yes! Carol Smith, who's a high school pal of my sister's, interviewed me during my visit home. She was super nice, and the article is just freaking awesome.
Page Deux of the article.
Finally, the day before I headed back to Vancouver, it was my nephew's 22nd birthday. Twenty-fucking-two years old. I used to change his diapers. Anyway, my sister said she had not one, but TWO, Big Macs right after giving birth to him. So even though Tyler was not there to celebrate his birthday with us, we honored him by eating Big Macs and fries.
That was probably the most awesomest time I ever had in Mifflintown. Perhaps the cancer crap has helped me put things in a new light, especially concerning where I came from and all that cheesy stuff. But it was pretty cool to see my family and spend time with them. And as I told my cousin Kris, the next time I go to Mifflintown, I'm either going to be hot or pregnant. Cuz if I'm hot, then I'm not having anymore kids. If I'm less than hot, then sure, why not. I mean, you know, there's got to be an upside to all this, right? And with this perspective, the glass is always half full.
So, a couple days after I returned to Vancouver, my funny girl Irene came to visit from LA. We all love hanging with Auntie Reenie. Here are a couple pictures of the silliness, taken with Chloe's cam:
Auntie Reenie and Chloe hamming it up, after spending hours braiding Chloe's ponies' hair.
They turned the camera on me after Chloe placed her horse on my head. I'm really happier than I appear.
After Irene went home today, I had my fourth biopsy. Good news--it was hard to find any evidence of cancer. However, there was one tumor that appeared on the ultrasound, from which they took four samples. I have an appointment with my oncologist tomorrow to discuss my future. And this Wednesday, I begin radiation. Twenty-five treatments. FUCK YEAH!!!! Let's burn the shit out of the cancer.
So now I'm just trying to enjoy the return to normalcy, if there is such a thing at this point. Of course, I'm also freaking out a little about how that normalcy will be taken away yet again in April, when I have surgery. But my outlook on life is pretty good for the time being, and for that, I am grateful.
AMERICA AND CANADA--FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!
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