Long overdue!

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted anything interesting. Wow. Life has felt relatively normal lately, so I think the blog just kind of fell by the wayside. And as far as personal medical updates, I don't have them very often (thankfully), so I have to actually come up with something to post now and then!

So medical updates - none at the moment. My blood work has continued to be stable/normal/good. I don't have any GVHD issues (knock on wood), and I'm feeling great. Besides avoiding crowds and public places and children and sick people, life has felt really normal. The flu is rampant around here - everyone either has it or knows someone who has it or had a child who has it - so I'm being really careful to not put myself in a situation where I can possibly get sick. My 6 month biopsy is coming up on November 17th, and hopefully the results will be NEGATIVE for any leukemia. I'm really nervous, but there's nothing I can do about it - not like I can study before the test to improve my score or anything! So I'm trying to just not think about it right now.

Anyway, I have so much to post. First of all, Light the Night! Our team Imagination Domination raised a total of $7,404.70!!! I can't believe it! I still have some money (in the form of checks) to send in, and we can donate/send in checks until December. The National Capital Area Light the Night Walks raised a total of $1.3 million!!! And the DC walk alone raised $552,054! Everyone's contributions made a difference - every little dollar helped. Thank you again to everyone who donated/participated. Now the bad news - I didn't even get to go to the walk. :( It was pretty devastating - but it was about 40 degrees outside, raining, and windy - not a good environment for someone like myself, especially since I was still recovering from a cold. Add flu season to the mix - no bueno. So while I knew it was the right decision, I was so sad that I couldn't be there to participate. I was looking forward to it so much - I put so much work into it - and I had to sit on my butt at home and text Gus for updates. Quite a few team members were sick or had sick children, but a bunch of team members did go and participate, and I feel so fortunate to have such supportive friends. Here are some photos (and a video) from the DC walk on October 17th:

Friends and family all across the country participated in their local walks - I won't lie, the pictures made me cry a little bit.

Here are photos from one of the Los Angeles area walks:

Here are some photos from a walk in Ohio, thank you to the Berens family!

Here are photos from the Sacramento walk, where Bill and Bev participated:

If I keep adding to this post it'll be neverending - so in the interest of my sanity I'm going to walk away from the computer, go for a walk around the lake (it's so beautiful outside!), and then come back and post more. I've got more - Dave and Corrinne visited, lots of food pictures, even a pic of Roscoe Patterson-Krebs (I'll let you pontificate on that one). :)