A few things have changed for me since my last post. The most visible of these things is the result of some advice I received from Sherri, a friend of a friend. I’ve never met Sherri, but she wanted to share something with me that she learned from her own experience. Sherri has lived with bone cancer for a number of years, and a week ago this past Thursday, she asked our mutual friend to pass along some advice. She said the one thing she wished she had done differently when she was first diagnosed was how she dealt with the loss of her hair. Sherri went through the whole disturbing process of losing clumps of hair – through the trauma of having handfuls of hair literally falling on to the floor, and on her bed, and in the shower. Her advice? As soon as the hair loss begins, take control of the situation and shave it all off. Make the whole process less traumatic.

I have to thank Sherri from the bottom of my heart. My hair loss began this past Tuesday and her advice encouraged me to take control of a situation that is otherwise out of my hands. Unfortunately, I can’t thank Sherri in person as she lost her battle the morning after her visit with my friend…before I even received her message. So to express my gratitude and also pay my respects to a woman that I have never met, I have a new hairdo.

The new ‘do isn’t the only change I’ve experienced recently. The other change is all about perspective.

I had a conversation last week with a friend from work – a few of you may know Greg! We were discussing my treatments and the fact that the chemo would be a duration of 21 weeks. As some of you may know, 21 is a significant number for me for another reason… and it’s not Blackjack! If you are a runner, you may have figured this out already. I specialize in running the Half Marathon distance and a Half Marathon is 21.1 kilometres. Greg made this connection for me and it gave me a whole new perspective.

Each week of my treatment is equivalent to one kilometre in my favourite distance. So right now I’m coming up to the 3K marker in the last Half Marathon that I will run this year. I might be the only runner on the course, but I know that all of you are on the sidelines cheering me on from near and far, helping me get to the Finish Line, one kilometre at a time.