Update, and a word about Multiple Myeloma

Hey blog!

I know, I'm sorry, I've been away for a little while. Teacher training is surprisingly more vigorous and exhausting than I ever expected! But, I love it!!! We started on July 1st, and so far our days look something like this:

5:00am - get up
6:30am - 1.5 hour yoga practice and meditation
8-9:30 - shower and breakfast break
9:30-11:30 - lecture
11:30-1 - lunch
1-2:30 - lecture
2:30-3:30 - 1 hour yoga practice
3:30-4:15 - shower and snack break
4:15-7:15 - lecture
7:15-7:30ish - travel back home
9:30pm - collapse into bed after doing a load of laundry (smelly yoga stuff), eating dinner, packing lunch and yoga/lecture stuff for the next day, and doing whatever homework we were given.

*yawn*! So yes, we practice twice a day, and are in teacher training for about 13 hours a day. Every day. For a month. Wheee!!! It's going great so far though. My sangha is awesome, and we're still just sort of getting to know each other. If Ed and other teacher's experiences are any indication of what's going to happen, apparently we're all going to be BFFs by the end of the month :P

I'm also still caffeine free, back to alcohol free, and have been doing my best to stay vegetarian as well. I've had a few accidental meat ingestions this week, as it has been Filipino Food Fiesta all week. We've been spending whatever free time we have with Ed's family, and I had to miss a day of training as a result (see below), and of course there's no such thing as vegetarianism in the Philippines!

So what's with the Filipino Food Fiesta and why would I have missed a day of teacher training??? There's a good reason. Here comes the personal update section of this blog post... My boyfriend's father, Eduardo, passed away on Tuesday, June 29th. He had been suffering from multiple myeloma, the same cancer that my own father was diagnosed with (see About Me!). He had gone through three rounds of remission, however the last time the cancer had metastasized in his brain. We learned that he was sick again in April, and he was given 6 months to live. However, the chemotherapy and radiation treatments did not help to extend his chances of survival, and the cancer took over. He passed away just a couple of weeks after his 62nd birthday, and had been living in palliative care at the hospital for almost a month. We had the funeral service today, and have been staying at his mom's place all weekend for visitations and helping her deal with the arrangements. Though I didn't know his dad for a very long time (only 2.5 years), I will miss him dearly. He was a man of few words, but despite this he truly made me feel like I was part of the family. He was a wonderful man, incredibly passionate about his family and his community. He touched a lot of lives both here and in the Philippines, as demonstrated by the enormous turnout at his funeral service and visitations this weekend.

If anyone is interested, we are asking friends and family to consider donating to Myeloma Canada in his honour and memory. Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells that reside in the bone marrow, affecting how your body creates red blood cells and affects other body systems in later stages, especially the kidneys. It is not curable, but can be treated. Myeloma Canada works with researchers to encourage new treatments for myeloma and to provide support to patients and their families.

I will also be participating in a 5k walk in October in support of myeloma research at Princess Margaret Hospital. Search for 5k Your Way, a 5k run or walk during the Goodlife Marathon where you can select the research department at PMH that you would like your donations to go to (e.g. skin cancer, lymphomas, brain cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc etc etc). The Myeloma group is located here: www.mm5kwalk.ca