ATHLETICS ACT AWARDS NIGHT

21st and 22nd May 2010

Friday I was not alone at home, poor Nalani when she was running Cross Country on Thursday felt a twinge in her left knee when she was running in the second lap down hill and on Thursday night it became inflamed and more painful. We ended up getting her some crutches so she did not have to walk on it because that caused her dreadful pain. She commented that now she knows how I feel with all my pain and mobility restrictions. Nalani was lucky because for her swelling she could take a voltaren tablet and it worked very quickly to reduce her swelling and make her knee feel more comfortable. I am unable to take voltaren for swelling as it contains asprin, which thins the blood and my blood levels are still not back to normal following my chemotherapy. She is hoping that it is not too serious as she absolutely wants to run in the ACT Schools Championships on 31st May. She has a physiotherapy appointment on Tuesday so hopefully we will know more then. Whenever she has an injury she knows to follow the RICE method which is Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

The day was fairly quiet, we watched a DVD and Nalani did some homework, she did mathematics and Human Movement work. For her mathematics part of it was to design a logo for a company using sketch pad on the computer, you have to type in functions which are like mathematical equations and then that is how your logo is formed. It looked really difficult, so it was lucky that Nalani knew what she was doing and I think her logo is really impressive, she then had to write about the company that she was designing it for. She decided it was a newly formed company that were gaining sponsors, producing merchandise, raising awareness and assisting families who had been affected by Brain Tumours. I think the logo would look terrific on a tee-shirt, cap, handbag, pen, soft toy or anything. Maybe one day her idea could be turned into a real company that did do that.

I have now received most of my appointments for Sydney. I have to see the Neurologist and have my MRI on the Monday, Tuesday is Physiotherapy Review, Clinic with my Oncologist, Occupational Therapy Review, Lumbar Puncture and Endocrine Review, that is a full day. I am unable to see the Orthopaedic Specialist because he is away on holiday, so he will be reviewing my knee, hip and ankle next time which is a little frustrating as that is what is causing me so much pain and anguish. We are waiting on when the Neurosurgeon can see us but that is likely to be Wednesday and then they are seeing if any further appointments need to be made following results. I also have some personal appointments which are my radio interview with WS FM on the Monday morning and it is going to be pre-recorded so I will let you know when it will air and I am having lunch with the generous and wonderful people from Sydney, Gavin, Ben, Paul, Tess and the Focus Creative Team on Thursday or Friday.

It was then time to go to Athletics ACT Awards Night and Jarrett had been nominated for an award. We sat at a table with Jarrett and Nalani's coach and people from his squad, as part of the night there were two sheets, one with logos and you had to write what they were for and another sheet had brain teasers on it. They were fun to do, our table did not win but we had lots of fun doing them. Then it was time for the business end of the evening, the awards, they started with the ones for Cross Country and went through the age groups it came to Jarrett's age group and they said something about each of the athletes who had been nominated and then the big announcement of the winner and the winner was JARRETT! He won a resplendent trophy for been the most outstanding Cross Country runner in the U16 Males, it had a gold athlete on it running and it had the Athletics ACT badge. I was so excited for him, he really deserved to win because he is so dedicated and focused on his running and has achieved some awesome results, he really puts a lot of time into his sport because he loves it so much. There were three athletes there Melissa Breen, Lauren Boden and Brendan Cole who are all going to the Commonwealth Games, I hope that they perform really well and maybe they will bring a medal home.

Another fantastic result from Friday night was the Wests Tigers win over Newcastle, they have finally found their winning spirit again through courage and determination. I hope that they will be on a winning streak from now on until the finals.

Today was another crisp start to the day with a thick frost covering the Canberra lawns. Jarrett went to running training but I had slept in from all the excitement of last night and of course Nalani could not train with her knee injury. It is a little better today but is still painful which is a bit of a worry for her. Mum was very busy cleaning the walls, white edges and windows today ready for moving on Friday. Nalani and I played Upwords and watched 17 Again the DVD, I love that movie!

Now it is not only me who is excited about our move, Nalani is very glad we are moving because she is finding negotiating stairs with crutches very tricky and her bedroom is on the second level.
In our lives it often seems that it never rains, it pours, we seem to have been given so many challenges in our lives lately and I wish I knew why. I remember though that only the strongest are given them and I also think it is to continue inspiring others.

'Life can't be counted in candles or measured in the number of years, it is counted by the small joys, good times, laughter as well as the heartache and tears'