Greetings from the world of CrapBag!
The good news from my end is that I have been so busy actually LIVING that I have not had time to update my blog. Things have been really crazy, but very exciting and positive, over the last few months and I want so share some of it with you.
First of all, a shout out to my thith - who was awarded the Golden Gutsy award for all of her work for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada. I don't know of anyone who deserves it more - she has been tireless in her fundraising efforts for Team CrapBag and she has been my most vocal supporter and advocate. I guess the "brass" at the CCFC figured out how great of an asset she is (can/will be), and they have tapped her to be the new chair of the Family Committee of the Gutsy Walk. Which reminds me - they have changed the name of the Heel'n'Wheel-a-Thon to the Gutsy Walk. That's right: as of next year, we in Team CrapBag will be bringing out impressive thunder to the Gutsy Walk for Crohn's and Colitis. The new tagline (which I think is fantastic), is "it takes guts to find a cure." (I am sure there is a joke to be made here about my lack of guts, but I can only think of jokes that are super obvious and not really worthy of you, my dear readers.) So, in keeping with this new fundraising re-vamp, my sister will be chairing a new committee that is aimed at promoting more family participation. I guess Team CrapBag made an impression (not yet sure what kind of impression yet) and they want to try and encourage more people to come out with their support teams to help fundraise for a cure. As I said, terribly exciting!
I also helped coordinate a fundraising event known as "Martini Madness" here in O-town, which is a fabulous night of martini sampling*, hors d'oeuvres**, a silent auction and an art exhibition. We raised over $22,000 for the CCFC, had a fantastic time with family and friends, drank a bit (read: a lot), ate a lot (read: everything in sight), AND I had an excuse to dress up and actually get my hair "did", which was nice. Also nice, of course, was having hair to actually get "did" - it is back to pre-sick length, which is a source of endless happiness for me. It may have come back with curl and without as much thickness, but it is BACK, my friends: back, back, back!
I have also been asked to participate in an educational event here in Ottawa in January. It will be a patient panel, moderated by a local GI doctor who is amazing (both in skill set and patient-care), discussing the role of Biologics and IBD. As many of you know, I did not have an overly awesome experience with Remicade and Humira but that I am a strong advocate for individuals making the right (informed) choices for themselves. As a result, I will be on hand to speak to my experiences alongside two friends of mine: Sherry will speak about her experience with Humira (she has Crohn's), and Matty will talk about his journey with Remicade in the treatment of his UC. Luckily for everyone, we'll also have Dr. Oliveira on hand to answer any strictly "medical" questions that are outside our areas of expertise (somehow I think degrees in political "science" provide me the same level of knowledge as someone who spent three and a half jabillion year in medical school).
Tomorrow is also a really exciting day in the life of CrapBag: it will be my one year anniversary of living bag-free! HEYYYYYYYY-O. Incidentally, this is also my one-year anniversary of not being admitted to the hospital, AND of not being cut open by a scalpel. Good times. To celebrate, I will be speaking at the Ottawa educational symposium about how IBD has affected my life, and how involvement in the CCFC has helped me cope with my medical realities. I'll post my speech once I have written it (why DO I persist in writing these things at the very last minute?!?!) and let you know if I was pelted with olives or not. Stay tuned...
* My friends interpreted this as "all you can drink'orama for charity!" I think we should consider making that our event name next year.
** Max's mom interpreted this as the "post dinner, pre-after dinner snack" portion of the evening. The good news is that I have it on good authority that she tried everything at least once (twice), and it was all apparently delicious, even the cocktail napkin she chewed on while she awaited the arrival of the chocolate-covered strawberries. Thanks for your dedication and service, poisson!
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