Go Riders - but not like that!

Our beloved Riders somehow snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Our guys played better than anyone expected them to (except maybe the players themselves). I guess there's a lot of life lessons in that game and how it ended: from Montreal's perspective we learned that no one is infallible, and that sometimes sheer dumb luck will carry the day. From the Riders' perspective we learned that you have to pay attention to all the details, and that sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

Mike turned down a chance to go to the Grey Cup, because he wanted to enjoy it at home as we always watch the 'away' games together. Someone commented that he was either crazy, or really loved us. We suspect it's a bit of both, if the truth is told! We had some family and friends over to watch the game and enjoyed the thrills and chills together. Laura put a 'racing stripe' of face paint right over the top of Tom's head. Then she added more decorations until he became a Rider Mr. T. He said, "I pity the fool that's not a Rider fan!"

Today we  had the usual Monday routine of blood work, radiation and chemo. The docs have been rechecking whether there is any other drugs they could give for chemo during radiation, but returned to the consensus that only the Vincristine was safe enough for him right now, much as they might prefer to administer more during this timeframe. There was a bit of excitement when the bag that the chemo was in sprung a leak, prompting the gals in the clinic to get out their hazardous spill suits and cleanup kit. The spill was very minor, and only landed on the floor, so no real harm was done. It just slowed up our day a bit, and I suspect created a paperwork and reporting issue for the staff. We had to wait for the pharmacy to fill a second order for his Vincristine, but once it arrived, it was administered really quickly.

In the grand scheme of things we have much to be grateful for:
* Good news for fellow patients George and Corbin, who both have received excellent prognoses - many prayers have been answered! Now we pray that they will stay cancer free for the rest of their lives.
* Friends and family: both collectively and individually, we have so many wonderful people supporting us - please continue the prayers, as we know it makes a real difference
* A visit from Steph
* Tom feeling well enough to go to some classes Friday and Monday, and church yesterday. He will sing with the choir in the Rotary Christmas Festival Monday night if things are still going well
* Each of our four children and their unique gifts and talents
* The wonderful staff at the Allan Blair Cancer Clinic - everyone we have met along the way has been outstanding.

So we close with Go Riders Go! one more time. Tomorrow we'll change to a winter background that Tom has chosen for the blog, but we're not quite ready to move on. (The loss is still too fresh).

A snowstorm is predicted to roll through later tonight, so winter will begin in earnest.

Take care and stay safe,
Thomas' Mom