Today we did a 5k run/walk for brain cancer research and awareness called Head for the Cure. It was at Marymoor Park and there was a nice showing. At the beginning they honored two people who had brain cancer; one was a 14 year old girl who had survived and another was a man who had recently lost his battle and left behind his wife and 2 children. Their loved ones had written letters and they were chosen and read aloud. This got me to thinking...if l had known about this, l would have written a letter about Trina. And if l had written that letter, what would it have said? I think it would have gone something like this... I met Trina Carlstrom in February at a mutual friends memorial service. After talking with her for a short while, l knew that there was something about her and that l wanted to get to know her better. We connected with each other on social media and spent most of the next day talking back and forth. She told me of her condition, and for a brief moment the thought crossed my mind as to whether or not l should get involved with a woman who has cancer. People with cancer need love too, so l dismissed the idea quickly and have never looked back. The rewards she has brought to my life in such a short time have far exceeded any risk there could have been. In 2006, Trina was on a business trip to Salt Lake City, and the group decided to take a day and go ski Utah. While driving up to the mountain she had her first seizure. After a battery of tests they discovered that she had a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball in her right frontal lobe. She flew home to Seattle and had the tumor removed about 10 days later. This was just the beginning of her new life. The removal of her tumor has left Trina with a nerve disorder called Trigeminal Neuralgia. In a nutshell, Trina is extremely sensitive to scents and noise. For you and l, walking by a smoker might be a little offensive. For Trina, it sends extreme pain shooting through the entire right side of her face. She describes it as a hundred knives stabbing her in the side of her face. The most common occurrences are with cigarette smoke, strong perfumes and colognes, and, interestingly, when she sneezes, which sends a lot of pressure right up through her Trigeminal nerve. As you can imagine, a day in our lives is very different from the way most people live. We are forced to pick and choose where we go based on whether or not there might be stinky people there. We love a pizza place up the street, but we only go there at lunchtime because the bar next door allows people to smoke on a bench right outside on the sidewalk. We can never go to casinos due to the noise, and loud concerts are out of the question. More than anything, though, it is the unknown variables that can change the tone of our day. An unknowing stranger wearing strong perfume stepping in line behind us at Starbucks can change our plans for the entire day. If she gets it bad enough, or has too many flare-ups in one day, it can ruin tomorrow, too. Trina has a great helper in her beloved service dog, Halle. Halle is trained in scent detection, so sometimes she is able to alert Trina when a stinker is near. She is also a great companion who gives Trina confidence and lets her know that she is never alone in case something should happen. The two of them are a great pair, and they inspire me everyday to live life to its fullest, and to never let anything stop me from making things happen. Trina could stay home everyday and no one would ever question it. She could become angry and bitter, fall into horrible depression, turn into a recluse and walk away from life altogether. Instead, she lives. She goes out to restaurants when she can. If she wants to do something, she just signs up for it and gives it her all. Last weekend we took a rowing class because she always wanted to learn to row. And she travels. She has a world map with a pin in every place she has been, and it looks like a pin cushion; many of those places she has seen since she had her surgery, including both the North Pole and the South Pole. She lives in pain everyday, so she takes with her the attitude that she might as well live with her pain rather than just enduring it. The reality of her condition is that her type of tumor is one that will almost certainly grow back. Every 6 months she goes in for a head MRI to make sure there is no new growth, and gets a new lease on life every time she gets a clean bill of health. For 6 more months. She knows that she will likely have more surgeries in her future, and that the consequences of those surgeries will be unknown. Yet she continues to live, knowing firsthand how tomorrow can change your every today in a blink of an eye. She has lived with this for over 8 years now, and continues moving forward everyday...because if youre coasting, youre going downhill. Trina is the love of my life, and l am proud to walk beside her, no matter what should come along
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:25:06 +0000