30 April, 2006

Game Night, Hat Party, pre-Easter Shindig

We had another get-together at the house a couple weeks ago - Game Night - on Easter Eve. It was originally scheduled to happen while my sister (M) was here. A week or so before she was scheduled to come up, she called to say she wasn't going to be able to come right now - she just found out she has cancer: Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (a non-Hodgkinson form), stage III - her 3rd chemo treatment is tomorrow. For such a sucky deal, there are lots of positives: they caught it early; she's young & in good health; this type of cancer is extremely rapid growth but chemo is especially effective against rapid growth cells (they'll do testing after the 4th treatment to see where things are at); and M works hard to keep a really positive outlook.

So we changed the focus of the party just a bit. Still Game Night, but we asked people to wear hats and bring one to donate to M if they felt like it. We told them we were going to take a pic of everyone toasting M - we toasted her a couple years ago when she got into med school - and give it to her with the donated hats. My sister Sara came in the Monday before - we tried to change her departure so she could stay for the festivities, but no luck. So she helped prep for the party - cleaning & shopping went much easier with her help!

Heather & Sara - Hat Shopping
We decided to have ham & deep fried turkey in honor of Easter. Mmmmm!! In addition, we had all kinds of food: fresh spring rolls, curry egg rolls, fruit, devil'd eggs, green salad, potatoes & peas, salmon salsa (courtesy of Sara), cookies... and more. It was *delicious*!!! Everyone ate and visited for a while, then we played Battle of the Sexes - boys against girls, of course! (Girls won - was there any doubt?!?) =)

Must be story time?
And we spent the rest of the evening having fun and enjoying good company. It was very heart-warming to see all the support from our friends for my sister, whom they've never met. We know some really *fantastic* people!!!

Here's to you, M!!

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