Sochi 2014 starts now!

Got our tickets today for the Opening Ceremony!

It's almost time for the Opening Ceremonies,  just a few more hours and it all begins.  The last couple days have been pretty quiet here, but people have been arriving fast and furious since last night and today.  The four of us have spent some time exploring the hotel grounds and the area around Adler. We went for a walk along the board walk yesterday and even dipped our toes in the Black Sea.  It was a tad bit chilly!

The Board Walk in Adler

Russia's version of Grand Bend

The Black Sea was cold!!

Last night Tyler and a few teammates were over to visit at the hotel with us and then again today.  They will be allowed to come over to the Canada House after each game and visit with friends and family, but I think other than that they will be quite busy with games and practice.
It's beginning to look more and more Canadian around here with a few flags hanging from our hotel balconies and lots of people dressed in red.
The Paralympic Committee is busy setting up the Canada House right now which is conveniently situated in our hotel.  I can't wait to see it later tonight!
 It's chilly with a little rain today but I'm sure that won't put a damper on the opening ceremonies.
Go Canada!

Flags at our hotel

Let's Talk Turkey!

Hey there, it's been a long couple of days but we have arrived in Sochi.  Although, I'm not sure how alive we are, we haven't had much sleep since Saturday night.  I feel like a train wreck right now, and my brain is quite foggy, so bear with me.

Our plane left Toronto at 10:55 pm Sunday night and we travelled nine hours to Istanbul, Turkey.  It was a little bit hard to sleep on the plane because they just kept feeding you.  First off, we were treated with a little Turkish Delight, then I think it was about 1:30 in the morning when we received our first meal, after that the lights were out for a few hours then around 5:30 am the lights came back on and they are giving you a full hot breakfast.  What?  Wait a second- I just ate surely you don't want me to eat again.  I've figured it out that in Turkey you just eat all day long, so it's no wonder Turkish Airlines wants to do the same.  Wonderful airline, I would highly recommend them to anyone travelling to this part of the world.
As for Istanbul, we loved it!  It is definitely one of those places you have to put on your bucket list.

Basilica Cistern

Blue Mosque

Check that one off mine!  It is a beautiful city, full of old world charm.  The people are so friendly and everyone speaks English.  We felt right at home and perfectly safe.  Monday night we took a walk to feel our way around and I must say there are as many hotels in old Istanbul as there are Tim Hortons in Canada.  No sorry, there are more, many many more!  We met some new people that quickly became our 'family' and were treated to Turkish tea and a history lesson on rug making.  After we refused to buy that $800 rug though we were just plain tourists and booted out the door, seriously, no just kidding.

 The next morning we were treated to a wonderful breakfast in our hotel and set out early for a walking tour.  I am so glad we did this, otherwise we would have missed so much.  Our guide was a bit of a Turkish historian and filled us with a wealth of information.  We saw many Mosques and learned the basics of their religion, it was very interesting.  We toured the Grand Bazaar  which is huge and very expensive but were also treated to the local markets.  To get to these, we had to walk down to what seemed like the bowels of the earth.  Our guide took us for tea and a sampling of a few Turkish pastries! We didn't get to smoke the pipe though, not sure why??  It was overall, an awesome experience!  The people of Istanbul thrive on tourists and everyone wants to sell you something.  Even though we were great marks for vendors with our Canadian wear, we managed to escape buying the Turkish Rug and get out with only a few souvenirs, but next time I go back, I'm getting that $800 rug Dean!!!  I loved Istanbul, love, love, loved it!  Wish we had more time there, but it was off to Sochi late that night.

After a very short flight, we arrived in Sochi at 4:05 am this morning.  Security wasn't that big of an issue, I think it's the same process going through customs as in any other country only Russia is just taking extra precautions.  I am happy for that and feel very safe here, just hoping the rest of the continent settles down so we can get on with these Paralympic Games.
We were picked up at the airport and delivered to the first check point which is where you are given your residence pass for the family and friends hotel.  Not a big deal, only that it's the middle of the night and all the volunteer staff are falling asleep on us.  Finally, we checked into our dorm rooms around 7:00 am this morning and were treated to nice big comfy rooms with a balcony.  I have my door open right now, the breeze feels good and it's about 11 degrees celsius.  No complaints here!

Nice big rooms!

 Later after breakfast, the four of us went for a walk to get our spectator passes.  It was a very long walk!  I wore my flip flops which felt really good, but not so much on the way back when my feet were sore.
 Anyways, we now have our passes to get into the games and have found a shorter route to shopping, all in all a good first day.  Bev and I decided we needed a nap after our outing but Nat and Dean decided to walk over to see the sledge team practice.  I think it took them an hour to walk over to the gate of the venues only to find they couldn't get in..so then another hour to walk back.  Looks like we are going to do a lot of walking this week!  The only issue we have had so far is the language.  Luckily the menus are in Russian and English and most of the signs, but the people do not speak much or any at all.  We found a young volunteer tonight that spoke decent English, but I couldn't pay him enough to be our personal translator for the week.  Not to worry, with the help of Karli (our go-to  Hockey Canada girl) and Michael (our go-to Paralympic committee man) we will be just fine!  Only problem so far, we aren't able to see Tyler.  Weird, it's like they are in quarantine and no one can see them till the Opening Ceremonies.  It's only two days away, I'm sure Nat will survive!

Go Tyler! Go Canada!

It's Go Time!

We are packed and ready to go!  By the time you read this, my sister will have edited and posted and we'll be waiting at the airport for our plane to leave.  Tyler arrived safely in Sochi on Friday morning, unfortunately, his luggage did not.  No worries, his luggage is coming from Germany on Tuesday and he has been supplied with everything he needs.  Just missing his brand spankin new suit!  Minor details, I'm sure it won't upset his game plan!

Tyler stayed the first night in the hotel we will be staying in and assured us it is very nice.  I hope he realizes I like nothing but 5 star!!!  He did send me pictures and it does look nice, but I'll let you know when we get there.  The Canadian team was the first to arrive in Sochi, and Saturday they moved over to the athlete's village.  Tyler says it's all very cool, and when they arrived all their Paralympic wear was waiting for them with P & G supplying all their toiletries.  Sounds awesome!  The Paralympic committee is posting pictures online, and everything does look awesome!  It also looks like it is warm enough for t-shirts there.  Yay!

Dean and I do not pack lightly, I think we have everything but the kitchen sink!  One never knows what one will need in a strange country.  We've got everything from peanut butter to bandaids!  I'm not kidding!  I know, it's crazy!  Note to Meagan, I don't think you need to pack the fur coats, just throw in your bikini instead!!!

I have been avoiding the news lately, all this violence happening in the Ukraine makes me nervous.  And now the government is beefing things up at the Russian border, yikes!  I'm sure we will be fine in Sochi, I just hope the security is as tight as it was for the Olympics.  I'm keeping my political views to myself (heeding my very smart editors advice)-hopping on a plane and going to the Paralympics to watch my son live his dream..it doesn't get much better than that!!!


Go Canada!

Might be off the grid for a few days, but we'll be in Sochi on the 5th.  Can't wait, we are so excited!  Thanks everyone for all your support, it is really wonderful to see all the windows decorated and hearing the buzz around town.  Tyler is feeling the love from everyone and everywhere!  Here are some special supporters that helped in a huge way to get him to where he is today!

Woohoo!  Go Tyler!  Go Canada!

OUR HERO - Tyler McGregor

OUR HERO - Tyler McGregor

Hey there, turns out we can have a party without the guest of honour!  A great big thank you goes out to Skeeter Barlows in Forest for reserving a large part of their restaurant for some loud and proud Canadian Sledge Hockey fans.  Thank you all for coming out to help us celebrate and sign the banner.  Great food, fabulous friends and an incredibly delicious cake!  Here are a few pics of the night!

 

And the night ended with a very special video of our hero!  Missed you Ty!  No worries, we'll have a big party when you get back!  I can't believe my little man with a  such a fierce love of the game is going to Sochi in 2 days to play in the Paralympics!!!  Who would have ever thought this would be happening?

Blood, it's in you to give!

This post has nothing to do with Sochi tonight, I just thought I should blog about blood.  Dean and I went to the blood donor clinic in Forest tonight, he has a rare type of blood AB- and is always asked to donate, I have a more common type, A+.  Dean was able to donate, I was kicked out the door.  I wasn't really, it just felt that way.  Turned away because my haemoglobin was too low, AGAIN!  I haven't been able to donate for ten years now.  I've tried really hard to get my iron levels up and lately I thought I had done it.  I take those little green pills everyday, I eat broccoli at least once a week, spinach all the time, I have oatmeal for breakfast five days a week and I eat red meat, even had steak for supper tonight.  I give up!  I had me a little meltdown with tears and everything tonight, then I got over that.  Then I was just mad, so I called the doctors to set up an appointment to see what the heck is going on.  Now I'm over that!  I was born anemic and I will die anemic.  I can't give blood, simple done, already over it!  I guess it's up to Dean to give enough for all of us.  The next blood donor clinic is April 15th and he has an appointment this time.  Go Deano!   
I never realized how important it was to donate blood until we were thrown into the cancer world.  I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of most of the medical terms they were throwing at us.  The first and most important were the CBC's, no not ABC's, CBC's, it stands for complete blood count, and every time we were there they were taking more blood to check all these levels.  The white blood cells, the hemoglobin, the platelets and the neutrophils, all very important factors when it comes to what the heck is going on in your body.  As far as I can remember Tyler had only one blood transfusion and it was for low hemoglobin.  I think his got down to 87-90, 110-140 is normal.  It was creepy at the time, watching someone else's blood drip, drip, drip.  Yuck!  And this from a mother that watched them fill her son with poison, you'd think I could handle anything by then.  It was amazing how fast he perked up after that transfusion!  The scariest number we had to watch out for were the neutrophils, cause if these got too low your body had nothing to fight off infection.  The point of chemotherapy is to kill off all the cancer cells in the body, but unfortunately, all the good cells go to.  It's been a while, maybe it was the white blood cells that were so scary, I can't remember.  Anyhow, I think Tyler's neutrophils were low just once and his chemotherapy was postponed until they came back up.  I tell you this kid has amazing blood.  He was like a rock-star on chemotherapy drugs!  He could bounce back so fast.  I remember we had a couple scares with fevers and low neutrophils, but he always made it through the fire.  Me, not so much!  Fevers to this day can send me into an absolute panic!  Needless to say, I fail, big time as a nurse.  Thank God for our home nurse Ellen who was there for us almost everyday for eight months!  We were so fortunate to have such great care, thanks to all our nurses and health care team! 
Not all kids are rock stars like Tyler, many depend on your blood everyday to survive.  It is so important to give blood, so if you are able, please donate...it could save a life!

Tyler is in Calgary this week and leaves for Russia in a week.  Less than two weeks to go for us, it's time to start packing.  Hmmm, what to pack?  I think I'll throw in the flip flops, shorts and t-shirts!  You just have to love Winter Olympics in the tropics...Go Sochi!

It's Throw Back Thursday!

Hey there family and friends! 

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still here in Canada and will not be leaving for Russia until March.  Just in case of any confusion, the Paralympics take place after the Olympics from March 7^th to 16th.  Same place, same venues, different athletes, different sports.  We are the after party, after the big party. 

Here are a few facts about the Paralympics!

They consist of six events:  Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Cross-Country Skiing, Wheelchair Curling and Sledge Hockey.  All games are amazing with incredible athletes!  Only three of these events are at the coastal cluster while the other three are at the mountain cluster.  The sledge hockey games will take place at the Shayba Arena, with Wheelchair Curling taking place at the Ice Cube Curling Centre-all are within the coastal cluster.  All other events take place at the mountain cluster which is just a short train ride away.  We hope to take in all the events while we are there.  The mountains look beautiful on television and I cannot wait to get up there.  The schedule for sledge hockey is online but I will break it down for you here. 

Canada plays their first game Saturday, March 8^th against Sweden at 1:00 pm Sochi time which is pretty early if you want to get up and watch it live here in Canada (nine hours difference).  The next game is Sunday, March 9^th against Norway at 1:00 p.m., no sleeping in on Sunday either.  The last game of preliminary play will be Tuesday, March 11^th at 8:00 p.m. Sochi time, that’s a little better timing for Canadian fans, not so early. 

I think I mentioned before that March 11 is Tyler’s 20^th birthday, don’t forget to show your Canadian spirit and support that day! I wish Tyler could be home to see the support he is receiving from Forest.  It’s crazy!  

Huge Support from TD Bank

Hometown Proud-Skeeter Barlows

After the preliminary round I’m not sure when Canada will play again, but I do know that 30 days from today, one of those eight teams will be going home with a gold medal!  Go Canada!  Tyler and the rest of the team are still here in Canada training hard every day.  Sunday they head to Calgary for one last week of training before they head to Sochi on February 27^th.  Good Luck Team Canada!   

In this house we are huge fans of the winter Olympics and with the CBC’s amazing coverage of the games, Dean and I have turned into serious couch potatoes.  I am so proud of all of our athletes, but here are my three favourites so far; Alex Bilodeau, Mark McMorris and Gilmore Junio.  Love these guys!  Our Canadian women’s hockey team are rocking the Olympics going undefeated so far with the Canadian men’s hockey team having their first game and a big win today.  Woohoo, Go Canada! 

I was a little disappointed with the coverage of the Paralympics in 2010 but I’m hoping CBC will come through this time. 

Before Vancouver 2010, I had no idea what sledge hockey was, and I would have never dreamt at the time that Tyler would be playing four years later.  I do remember watching a story about a young man that was supposed to be playing sledge hockey at the 2010 games, like Tyler, he had bone cancer and had his leg amputated, but his cancer had returned and he never made it to the games.  His name was Matt Cook and he died April 4^th, 2010, another dream, another life taken too soon by the monster as we know it, cancer.

Stories like this and any other negative stories (as I called them at the time), I blocked out.  We had to stay positive, we had to focus on winning this battle, and anything negative lead me down a path that was really very scary.  When the doctors told us that there was an 80% chance of survival for childhood cancers, we had to focus on the 80%, you couldn’t think about the 20% because that was just the unthinkable.  I met so many families that didn’t have that same ratio; theirs was a 20% chance of survival, a 35% chance of survival, some worse, some better.  How do you stay positive with numbers like that?   I don’t know; you just have to!  The best thing to do in our case was to throw the 20% out the window and focus only on making that 80 into 100% survival…so far so good!  We have met so many kids along this journey and have made some lifelong friendships.  We all, unfortunately, share the same bond.  For our special Monday PMDU crew, we love you and miss you but don’t ever wish you back there.  

We shared some really fun times together and some really sad times, never to be forgotten.  Tyler’s fellow warriors that didn’t make it, he carries with him on his shoulder.  His friends, Sarah, Savannah and Sebastian are travelling the world with him and they’ll be right there on his shoulder when he’s playing in Sochi.  He’ll be playing for Gold!  He’s playing for all kids that have ever faced the monster, past, present or future.  Go for the Gold Ty! 

Thanks to everyone that has helped us along this journey.  We couldn’t have made it without the support of friends and family, the hockey community, Tyler’s school, the town of Forest, all the doctors, nurses and staff at London’s Children’s Hospital, and so many other people and organizations, too many to mention.  Tyler did not get here alone!

It’s Throw Back Thursday and I will leave you with a few pictures of some pretty special times for Tyler while he was going through treatments. 

Tyler's team at the Huron Perth Lakers Minor Midget AAA- Awesome organization-Awesome Team-Awesome Families!!

Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer 2011

A very special night with Drew Doughty's parents, his jersey and his Gold Medal!

Benefit Game For Tyler- his last able-bodied game with his friends vs. his Dad and the Forest Muffers Oldtimers Team

An amazing night with the London Jr. Knights and the Elgin Middlesex Chiefs

My first blog....

Hey there family and friends!   

I’ve started this blog to share Tyler’s incredible journey to Sochi and our family’s adventures while we travel with him to Russia.  I hope you will follow along, but I can’t promise anything too extravagant as I’m not very computer savvy, texting has destroyed my spelling and grammar skills and I really don’t have a lot of time to write.  I am under pressure already from my editor in chief (my sister Patti-Ann), and I have my top researcher (Dean) searching Google for info, but he is just a wee bit slow.  I’m hoping Meg and Nat can help with input too when we are in Sochi.  Wow!  I have people to do my stuff for me, this is awesome!  I will try my best to keep this honest and real with maybe just a bit of humour.  I can’t promise you won’t cry, because I have already cried over three medals today.  Something about the Olympics!  WooHoo, way to go Canada!   

It’s been four years since Tyler’s diagnosis with cancer and I think back now and wonder how we ever made it through.  We were thrown head first into a world we knew nothing about.  Hospitals, medicine and sick kids were so far from our day to day lives.  We were in a foreign land and scared to death.  Sometimes it seems like ages ago and then tonight searching through old pictures it all came back fresh like it was yesterday.  The tears are always just a blink away.  Our lives are forever changed, and I have come to terms with the fact that life will never be normal again.  I would not wish the world of childhood cancer on anyone.  It’s like a warzone that you can never leave.  The memories and the scars stay with you forever. 

While under pressure from my editor to find pictures for the blog I pulled this particular picture from the file and remembered it instantly.  It was February 12th, 2010; Tyler had been in the hospital since his diagnosis on January 28^th.  The opening ceremonies of the Olympics were about to begin that night and we were looking forward to watching. 

We were also anticipating meeting Dr. Peter Ferguson that afternoon; he was a sarcoma specialist coming from Toronto.  Unfortunately, when we met him the news he had to deliver was not what we were hoping for; Ty would have to have his leg amputated.  It was a devastating blow and I wasn’t sure if he was going to pull through.  He was so afraid he’d never get to play hockey again, and I didn’t know how to fix this, I felt so helpless.  It was probably the hardest time for Tyler, but with a lot of support from family and friends and his positive attitude, he made it.  And most importantly, he never gave up his dream.  He found a way to play hockey again. 

There have definitely been some ups and downs for Ty in the past four years, but he has found his way.  He is living the dream!  On March 7^th 2014 he will be representing Canada as he travels to Sochi, Russia playing for the National Sledge Hockey Team at the 2014 Paralympics!  Woohoo… Go Tyler!  Go Canada!

I hope you will be watching and cheering for Team Canada from home, and I’ll do my best to keep you up to date and informed from Sochi.  By the way, Tyler will be celebrating his 20^th birthday in Sochi on March 11^th.  It would be awesome if you could send him a birthday greeting in the form of a picture or video of you showing your Canadian spirit cheering him on.  If you don’t have him on your facebook, then send it to mine, or send him a greeting on his caring bridge