Pineapple Challenge

If you haven't already heard about the Pineapple challenge, you need to look it up.  In less than a week (on Saturday to be exact), 10 amazing people will be participating as a team in a 5 km obstacle course challenge. The best part is that it's a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. Oh, and they have to dress up in costumes and carry a pineapple along with them! So far, their team, Team Tori, has done an fantastic job of fundraising. They started out so strong that the organizer contacted them personally to find out what the story was behind their super successful start. And it didn't stop there. When last checked, they had raised $4,475 - putting them in second place in the Montreal teams! A huge thank you to Team Tori and also to everyone who has donated money to the cause.
Check it out at   www.pineapplechallenge.ca
I hope that everyone participating has an amazing time. Maybe next year Jeff and I can participate too :)

Victoria did well with her last admission of interim maintenance. We had to share a room with another child, and unfortunately, he became sick with something that they thought may have been contagious. This meant that we got transferred to our own room, but because we had shared the room, Victoria was told that she had to stay in her new room to avoid any further possible spread. It wasn't "official" isolation but minus the gowns, gloves and masks, it might as well have been. When Victoria is at the hospital she LOVES being in the playroom. From the moment she wakes up, it is all she asks for. We do crafts, paint, watch movies and play with all the toys. It's where she meets other kids and gets to do some people watching too. She was very upset and it was hard for her to understand why she wasn't allowed. Instead, I brought the playroom to her. They may have had a lot of disinfecting to do later but if I could carry it to her room, I did :)
We tried to make the best of an understandable, but crummy situation.

The CHEO telethon film crew came by on Thursday to get some footage to use for their commercial. I'm not sure when it will air, but keep you eyes open for it and you might spot her.

Up next is her "delayed intensification" phase. This is supposed to be a more intense phase of chemo. She should start this in a couple of weeks. She has been on a few of the upcoming chemotherapies before, and they were all of the ones that made her sick. There are also a few new ones. It's expected that her counts will really drop, she will likely require more transfusions, and she won't feel that great. She will also be on more steroids. She hasn't had steroids since the first 2 weeks of her treatments but from what I hear it won't be fun. I'm expecting the worst and hopefully she'll get through it fairly well. Until then, we are going to try and enjoy the next two weeks. Right now, I think life is about as "normal" as it will be for another while.