Round three is over!!!!

YAY! Joe finished his last day of chemo for round three yesterday. Joe had a bit of nausea yesterday, and he was feeling especially sore and tired. He made it though! In the morning, we stopped by Borders so that I could wait in line with a bunch of other crazy people and get a ticket for a Jerome Bettis book signing. Joe is such a HUGE Steelers fan, and so I wanted to get him an autographed book! It was the least I could do after all he's been through. The line wasn't bad at all.

We then proceeded to the hospital. Joe got his blood drawn and then his Vidaza injections. Afterwards we decided to go visit a bunch of people in the radiology department. It was great to see everybody again! Everyone just loves Joe (or they do an amazing job pretending they do! But honestly, what's not to love?) . It was great for Joe to catch up with everyone. We even got to hang out with Joe's dad for awhile, which was nice. We checked Joe's lab results while we were there, and everything still looks great! Thank you to everyone for the love and the smiles!!!!!

After the hospital visit, we picked up Joe's car and dropped it off at the car doctor. Poor thing has an engine problem. Booooo.

In the evening, I went back to Borders for the book signing. I heard from some people that they gave out 500 tickets. Others said closer to 350. All I know is that the place was just teeming with people. I was number 166. I only had to wait for around 2.5 hours...which meant I only had to listen to "Here we go Steelers, here we go! Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl!" about 573 times. The wait should have been much shorter, but the BUS was about an hour or so late. People were pushing and grouching in the area where the line was. This was super silly since they were calling groups of 50...and then lining everyone up in order based on their ticket number. I found myself a nice cozy spot by the magazines. Then when that got crazy, I found a completely empty corner of the bookstore. Haha. My dad saw coverage on TV and was wondering where I was! I was hiding. :) Silly people. I was feeling bad all night that Joe wasn't the one who would get to meet Jerome. But it ended up being quite underwhelming. He's a good looking guy, and I love seeing him on TV, and it was cool seeing him in person...but the folks in charge had everything set up very machine-like. A couple people stuck post-it notes in the books so that Jerome could just look at it and dedicate it. One person opened the book for you. One person took the book and handed it to Jerome. One person handed the book back to you, and that was it! I actually felt sorry for Jerome, because he was just signing and signing and signing. At one point, he looked like he was going to sign a bear a kid put in front of him...but one of the folks in charge said, "he can't sign that!" And so the kid walked away crying. Poor guy. So yeah. That was it. Joe ended up having a blast at home, because his buddy Mike called, and the two of them can talk forever! I really didn't mind the long wait though. It was still worth it to be able to give Joe and autographed book. :)

Tomorrow is the drive in Philly!!!!! If you can go, go! If you can't, try to convince at least one person to go! So many people are praying for a miracle match it hurts my heart. Let's do what we can to help. Here's the latest drive info...

Sunday, September 17, 2006
12:30pm-4:30pm
Chinese Christian Church
Vine St. Building
1101 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 627.2360

September 23
NJ Chinese Festival
Jersey City, NJ

September 29-30
NYU Asian American Health Conference
NYU School of Medicine
New York, NY

Here is a fun way for people in the Pittsburgh area to help people...

"This Sunday, September 17, 2006, big Burrito Restaurant Group invites everyone to join us as we serve up a generous helping for the Hillman Cancer Center. The big Benefit dinner kicks off at 5pm and runs throughout the evening at big Burrito’s restaurants: Casbah, Eleven, Kaya®, all eight Mad Mex® locations and Soba.

100% of all food proceeds from this night will be donated to the Hillman Cancer Center for research and patient care.

No paperwork to fill out. No checks to write. The more you order, the more we give. It’s that simple.

About the Hillman Center:
The Hillman Cancer Center is an international leader in cancer treatment, research and care. The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) is the only center in western Pennsylvania with the elite Comprehensive Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute. Working in tandem with UPCI are the UPMC Cancer Centers, the largest and busiest cancer center network in the US, treating over 37,000 new patients each year. The network includes 43 cancer centers throughout the region with the Hillman Cancer Center as its flagship."

And here's something fun for those in the California area...

Lani Misalucha with Society of Seven • Benefit Dinner & Concert Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts • Sunday, October 15, 2006
	TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE Concert Prices: $87, $67, $47 Cerritos Center Box Office: (800) 300-4345 www.CerritosCenter.com 10% discount with purchase of 20 or more tickets Dinner & Concert Package: $177 Sold Out Call A3M: (888) 236-4673 5% discount with purchase of tables of 8 by 9/11/06 Click here for more information.

Happy day to Sarah and Mike and their families. :) Happy belated birthday to Pearlie. :)