Sunday, January 16, 2011

Retreat

No flight can come off without a hitch, so I am currently in Seattle, they have just changed our gate and delayed our flight. Don't know why, but that's just the way it is. I figure it just gives me a chance to catch you all up on my retreat this weekend. Not only did I not have to share a bed or a room...I didn't even share a house! Because I asked for a room by myself and by the time they came and picked me up from my afternoon downtown I was absolute toast, exhausted and almost in tears, they gave me the guest house which is over the spare garage. They have a 4-car garage, this is a separate 2-car garage with an entire house built over it. I had my own incredibly comfortable king size bed, my own bathroom, even my own kitchen and gym if I was so inclined. It was funny, all these "moms" were worried if I would be okay out there all by myself. I assured them I would be just fine.

It was uneventful flying in on Friday, the gal I was meeting, Deb Mumma, was delayed on her flight from the east coast so I hung around for about two hours before she arrived. That was okay, I just sat and did crossword puzzles and waited. I knew once she was there we were gonna get dropped off downtown and my energy would be put to the test, so I was in no hurry. She got there about 11:20am and we recognized each other immediately, which is funny since all we ever did was email each other. We were very close in age and story and hit it off right away. We caught our ride and headed to "downtown" Park City.

If you have never been to Salt Lake or Park City in the winter, you are missing out. It is absolutely gorgeous. We enjoyed the ride to Park City and after some confusion as to where we were storing our luggage, we were finally strolling the streets of downtown looking for a place to have lunch. We found a nice little place that overlooked the street so we could people watch while we ate a leisurely lunch. After lunch we walked down the hall and found a polygymist shop!! It was crazy! It was an entire store devoted to all things polygymist, t-shirts, hats, mugs, etc. I have to say it cracked us up. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but Deb did and she took some pictures. I'll share them with you when she sends them to me. A polygymist shop, never thought I'd see that!!

Once we got to the house I took a nap for about 30 minutes before I joined the group. If I didn't get some rest I was never going to be able to participate in any sharing, so I powernapped and then joined the group and met the rest of the woman. We were all over 30, most in our 40's and all currently in some sort of treatment for metastatic breast cancer. We shared the gap in support groups that most are for breast cancer, but metastatic breast cancer is a whole 'nether beast. If you are Stage 1, 2 or 3 your odds of overcoming are pretty good, once you hit MBC you are dealing with a chronic lifelong disease that is never going away. Your treatment may ebb and wain, but you will always be fighting the battle. MBC just doesn't go away. It was so enlightening to hear these woman's stories, their battles, their thoughts about their disease and their plans for the future. We shared, we laughed, we cried and stayed up late into the evening holding hands and hearts.

Saturday nearly all of us slept in until about 8 then sat around and drank coffee most the morning. I think a few might have gone snow shoeing, the weather was lovely and there were no planned activities. We were supposed to have lunch at 11am then spend some time downtown before coming back for facials and massages, but the lunch service was terrible and we didn't get done until after 1:30. So half of us headed back to start being pampered and the rest stayed downtown for awhile. When it was all said and done everyone had been pampered and then we were treated to one-on-one discussions with a local physician. It was very helpful, we could ask anything and the questions were in-depth and probing. Very interesting.

Chef Daniel whipped us up a fabulous dinner concoction, he truly earned the name "chef" and we were delighted with a dinner fit for a room of Queens complete with excellent wine. We shared and laughed some more and had a marvelously great time. After dinner we made journals. It was an amusing and enlightening way to spend our evening.

Sunday started with yoga and ended with all of us hugging and crying and sharing address, emails, facebooks, etc. and promising to get together again within the year. One of the gals won a malpractice lawsuit (they missed her cancer and in the interim it metastaticized) and has a huge house in Knoxville and wants all of us to come and visit. That just might happen.

It was a wonderful weekend. I gained 9 new sisters to lift me up and keep me going during this disease. These women get it. We all get it, we understand each other, our ups and downs and our will to survive. If I had to say one thing that we all have in common it is this most powerful urge to overcome the disease and live life. Even if we have to deal with some sort of treatment the rest of our lives, we are determined to survive, and if the energy of the weekend is any indicator, survive we will. I had a great time and am delighted that I went. It was time well spent and refilled my joy and hope meter to overflowing. Despite the challenges, I am still one lucky woman!