the oreo cream in the cookie that is the month of march

 pre-wedding skiing with bradrey, the groom.

 portland head light, on my second trip to portland in one week.

 favesies.

getting married?  how about bowling the night before? awesome, of course.

 grown children in elevators.

we clean up well.

all of the sudden the month of march is over.  i mean, technically, there are still three days left, and a lot can happen in three days, but here we are, looking down the windy, cold, rainy barrel to april.  i can't believe how fast the month went, but when i start thinking about how much i crammed into it (and how much i had to cram into luggage of all sizes, i suppose it should come as no surprise that april fools' day is next week already.

getting business out of the way, i started the ariad clinical trial february 25 and returned to HUP for blood tests each subsequent tuesday, until this tuesday, when i had another long, ten-hour day at the hospital, this time for hourly EKG's and blood tests.  my chief complaints regarding side effects thus far are mild GI upset and fatigue.  i'm also very spitty.  (i don't think that's a word, but neither is saliva-y, and that's what it comes down to)  my blood tests looked good on tuesday - most notably, my pancreas continues to do what it is supposed to do.  so, i will continue at the current dose of 180mg of this mystery medicine each day.  i have a CT scan of my chest april 21 and meet with dr. evans april 22.  here's hoping this medicine is killing the cancer, or at least keeping it in check.

so, the big date on the march calendar was the 22nd - friends would descend upon portland, maine for a wedding weekend and all the festivities that go along with such tomfoolery.  i, however, was tuned into the weather reports of TWO FEET OF SNOW having fallen the weekend before and before you could say "ski" i'd gotten the happy bride and groom to be to sign on to a weekend of pre-wedding "relaxation".  read:  skiing.  homero was on board immediately and his betrothed agreed to it as well.  it took a bit of plane-trains-automobiles to get there, but homero and i set out for sunday river early saturday morning, leaving the bride behind in portland to rest and take care of the list of pre-wedding, pre-honeymoon things to do.  we met homero's friend, who i am quick to call my friend now, too, at the rivah and he welcomed us into his fantastic slope-side, hit a lifty with a snowball from the balcony, condo.  we nearly succumbed to the warmth and coziness of the fire before we came to our senses and got to skiing.  we had a great day - sunny and warm before heading to a bar for appetizers and drinks and then to a pot luck for dinner.  it was a late night, for me, but we still had skiing to do the next day and i slept like a baby.  the next day was about 25 degrees colder with a windchill and everything on the mountain had gone from soft to bulletproof overnight - this translated to my favorite, fast conditions.  we had so much fun running trails from top to bottom, playing like kids.  throw in a cinnamon roll and hot drinks around 11am and we were all set for nearly four hours of skiing before we went to the condo to pack up and enjoy a delicious and very welcomed pasta lunch prepared by our host.  sunday night we rendezvoused with wdp and the bride for dinner at a cozy little portland bar before heading home for couch texting and a movie.  monday, after a brief four-hour delay due to weather in philly, i was back home and preparing to head to HUP for my weekly blood draw.  

blood was drawn, some work was done, and i was airborne en route to portland once again for the wedding weekend.  we stayed in a nice, old, creaky but cute place in south portland.  it was fun to all be under the same roof again, this time with old friends from far away who don't always make it to new years festivities.  we ate in, we went to the beach, we walked around old port, we bowled, we walked around the art museum, we had some nice meals out, and then we saw some good friends get hitched before dancing the night away.  it took me a full two days to recover from the late nights/early mornings but more than anything else i've had perma-grin most of the week because i'm still laughing from being around my friends.  once again, despite the cancer being moved a bit more to the forefront this month, i am continuing to live my life very nearly how i want to live it.

and i'm going skiing again in two weeks...