Football Friday

Hi everyone, sorry about the distinct lack of posting this week - it didn't seem like there was anything worth writing about, it was just a boring week (with no allergic reactions or strange rare diseases) that is.... until today. There weren't any reactions or diseases today either, but it certainly wasn't boring!
We had been hearing all week that the BC Lions were going to be at the hospital today around the same time Noah had his clinic appointment, so we were pretty excited. Actually I was more excited about it than Noah was because -yep, you guessed it- he is cheering for Winnipeg.  ( I know - he is such a brat!!!) I thought it would be pretty cool to meet some of the Lions, so I was disappointed when a friend from RMH who had seen them told me that they were just some guys, no one special, like Travis Lulay or anything. We were getting ready to go when a woman pops her head into Noah's room and asked if we wanted to meet some football players. I said sure, so these two huge guys come into the room and introduce themselves and ask Noah if he is an Eskimo fan, because he had his Oilers hat on.  He said no and the one guy, Jerome Messam, says, that is too bad, he plays for Edmonton, and signs a card for Noah. THEN, Anthony Calvillo (!!) walks into the room! 

I recognized him immediately and said, "OH! Wow!  Hi!  Can I take a picture of you?" I was so starstruck; if there is any CFL player I would want to meet, it would be Anthony Calvillo! He teased me because I forgot to take the lens cap off my camera... duh! He gave Noah a little football and they all signed it. 

The third guy was Josh Bourke, who also plays for the Alouettes.  Turns out these guys all won awards at the CFL awards last night and then decided to come and tour Children's!  It was so cool.  I totally did not expect that it would be players from other teams.  They teased Noah, and tried to get him to say his favorite team was Montreal; it was cute -he didn't really want to, but he didn't want to be rude, either.  
Then when we left the clinic and headed out of the hospital, we met them again and Noah asked Jerome Messam if he could sign the football again because his pen had been pretty dry and you almost couldn't even tell he had signed it at all. Anthony Calvillo came up to us and said," So you're done for today? Hey, who is your favorite team?" Noah thought for a while and then said, "Ummmm, Alouettes?"  I was impressed that he remembered that Montreal's team is the Alouettes! Then he offered to buy us all coffee (!) I said no, thanks, our ride was waiting for us.  Then he went and stood in the lineup at the Second Cup.  And no one said a word to him.  Or even looked at him.  I wanted to tell all thep eople sitting there that Anthony Calvillo was *right there*! I thought, wow, we must be in Canada, where a professional football player can just go stand in line at a coffee shop and no one notices.... I wonder if he likes that....

Anyway, we also got to go to the Vanier Cup game tonight!  The Vanier Cup is won by the best Canadian University team.  The two teams in it this year were the Mc Master Marauders and the Universite Laval Rouge et Or.  Noah decided as soon as he heard the McMaster team name that he would be cheering for them.  (He also thought the uniforms were the same colour as the Winnipeg BlueBombers, but he was mistaken - the Marauders wear burgundy, not Navy Blue.  My poor colur-blind boy, too bad, lol) 
He got bored by the third quarter and wanted to leave but I wanted to stay so I convinced him and we are so glad we stayed; it was so exciting!  I was surprised how much I know about football - I even knew and could explain to him the format of the overtime!  It was a lot of fun and after  blowing a  23-0 lead and going into double overtime, the marauders managed to pull it off.  It was so much fun!

I always know that I have waited too long to post when I start getting emails and messages on Facebook asking how the week has gone -  oops... Sorry.  He has been doing great!  Everyone comments on how good he looks or much better he looks than the last time they saw him!  The week has been just fine. Noah is just finishing up the chemo he missed when he was sick, so we are only supposed to be here for one more week of Erwinia injections and one more Vincristine, then a week break, then back here for December 13 or so.  There has been some talk about whether or not Noah can have his next round done in Smithers at the hospital, but it seems that after much discussion, the consensus is no.  I think they are scared of him.  I think I would be too; you never know what is going to happen with him, lol!
The next round is similar to what he did in the summer, where he had to be admitted for a few days out of every 14, except he doesn't have to be admitted and it is once every 10 days.  It is the same chemo, just a lower dose, and this time it is in combination with Vincristine.  He shouldn't react strangely, he never has, but I guess they in Smithers would rather not take the chance. I can appreciate that.  So it looks as though we will be here for Christmas.  It could be a lot of fun, so we are just looking at it as an adventure, a different kind of Christmas than we are used to, but it will still be good.  We will be together, which is all that matters! 
Well, I am beginning to lose focus - my eyes keep closing, so I suppose I should go to bed now. 
Thank you for reading and praying for us and what ever else you are doing - we appreciate how much everyone cares for us and takes such good care of us.... Thank you Lord for the friends and family you have given us and how you show your love through them.  Please bless them and keep them close to you.  Amen.