Farwell

This is Christi posting a final blog on Kevin's behalf:

My dearest husband died in the night on May 10th at home in his own bed, holding my hand.  A service to celebrate his life will be held on Tuesday May 15th from 2-5 pm at The Lambton Golf and Country Club, 100 Scarlett Road, Toronto.  There will be Steam Whistle.

Au Revoir, But Not Goodbye

Today my work/life friend Patrick dropped off a book wonderfully curated by Lindsay Dyson. Within it were more kind thoughts and sentiments than I deserve. Thank you to my family at 121 Bloor.  

As I suggested earlier, I seldom have the energy or creativity to do the blog justice.  This is not to say that I won't be posting anymore, but it is to say...don't count on it.

Wish me luck for the future.

Love to you all.

kevin 

Cancer Benefits Continue to Roll In

A big thanks to Kevin, and all the guys from the rotisserie league, for the on-field passes to Sunday's Jays game.

And an equally big thanks to Stephen and the others of the Toronto Blue Jays.

We were treated like royalty and all had a blast.

Hats Off

The "Team Hoss" gear is starting to roll in. I now have an official West Coast chapter headed by my aunt Peggy, my uncle Dudley, and my cousins Rebecca and Tom. Maybe we'll break out into onesies next so that baby can join the club!

I may have never followed up on this, but half the price of each hat is being donated to KC's Cancer Cushion Fund: http://www.cushionfund.com/

I have been very fortunate in my battle. Besides having ample friends and family, I have also not needed to worry about money. This charity is about exactly that: helping out those who don't have the money to help themselves. They were overjoyed when Tracy told them of our donation.

So if you've been on the fence about putting in an order, the email for the amazing Tracy Vincze is tracy.vincze@gmail.com

Today was about a different hat. My mom and I went down to Rogers Centre to catch the afternoon match up against the big-budget Boston Red Sox. Root, root, rooting for the home team, I purchased a Jays cap with the old/new logo.

As I post in the coming days and weeks you will notice that my analogies and metaphors shift from cycling to baseball. Gosh, I love baseball.

I realize my posting has become not only less lucid and entertaining, but less frequent as well. The fact is that my cancer is really knocking me on my ass. Some days, crawling over to the keyboard has not been high on my list. I can't promise the frequency will improve.

Without going into too much detail, I am on a pain management regimen that seems to be working. If things stay the course I will be able to turn my full guns on fighting this thing - an improvement over these past few months when the disease has really had me backed into the corner (boxing analogy!)

That's all for now. Appreciate what you've got and chill out when things seem overwhelming!

Free Great Mother-In-Law with Every Great Wife

With apologies to my mom and dad (and John & Barb*), who would roll back time for me if they only knew how, I have to give a shout out to Liz, who for the past 2 days has been my chauffer, cook, and maid.

Liz would drop what she was doing to help me out, even if that something was juggling chain saws while tight roping across Niagara Falls.

So as I rub my contented belly after a delicious and healthy dinner in my sparkling clean kitchen, I say to all who can hear and read: "Thanks Liz."

*the trouble with name-checking people is that it's hard to know when to stop.

Sunday; When the Big "C" Stood for "Catan"

Patrick (who introduced me to Catan 2 years ago), Will, and Scott came over on the weekend for a couple of games.

Is Catan a "cool" board game?

Well, not really.

But it sure is fun. And most importantly, after hopping around from foot to foot for an hour or so, it's also a nice distraction from the pain I feel on an ongoing basis.

Foulness Redefined

I have taken a lot of pills, tinctures, drops, syrups and capsules since being diagnosed last October.

Some were big, some were sticky, some were chalky. But none of them prepared me for my vitamin C gels.

They look pretty innocuous, no? If you've ever used energy gels, you might even expect them to be tasty.

NOTHING could be further from the truth. The taste is so bad, words can not describe it.

So...all I can say is that they taste like "___."

And I have to eat 6 of them, 4 days per week.

I feel like I've been pretty clear that I don't want people feeling sorry for me.

Screw that, I am asking you now.