The only not so fun thing I discovered is that I am having not five but SIX weeks of radiation (5 weeks of "regular" weekday treatments + 1 week of "booster zaps")... which will begin on Tuesday, September 1st (after I get back from Seattle and my visit to my friend Margaret) and end on Friday, October 9th... the day before the 2009 NYC Avon Walk! Eeeek!
This has left me rather stressed, since radiation -- while not painful and thankfully needle-free -- by all accounts results in a cumulative sense of fatigue after a few weeks. Since I am already dealing with chemo-induced fatigue -- which has left me rather slacking in my training -- the bonus round of fatigue is extremely undesirable, especially right before I am supposed to walk 26 miles in 2 days! As Bill The Cat would say, "Ack.. Ack.. Ack!"
Speaking of fun beings named Bill, my Avon Walk buddy, Bill, who has been very sweet and supportive throughout, pointed out that I have an entirely justifiable reason for not completing the entire 26 miles, but I, however, would feel like a fraud if I raised money without putting in the miles. (Who says you have to be Catholic or Jewish to be raised with a guilt reflex? Try having a Chinese mom raised during the Second Sino-Japanese War! [better known to us Westerners as WWII in China])
Speaking of Mom, I will at least walk a measly 1.3 miles from the office to her home tonight -- unless it's raining when I leave (and hopefully also 1.3 miles back to work tomorrow morning).
And where there is Mom, thoughts naturally turn to vast quantities of unhealthy but extremely delicious FOOD... which brings me to Saturday night's group dinner at Forte Baden Baden... a Korean beer hall that I am so going back to at some point!
With no English signage (or I think even a street number on the building) and a location on the 2/F in the middle of Koreatown, it did feel almost like being back in Hong Kong. Finding it is a challenge for the uninitiated as I defy you to figure out where the entrance is in this streetscape.
My sweetie and his WingTsun class all went there after their exams on saturday. (When I say exams, think along the colored belt system of grades in karate.) Their sifu (teacher/sensei) also invited SOs along, so I got to hang out with a bunch of buff guys (and one female instructor whose handshake nearly crushed my fingers -- before you think of various unflattering stereotypes, she is a petite and attractive woman with zero body fat -- her hubby and I represented the rest of us mere mortals).
We attacked the following dishes at BBNY --
Their signature deep-fried rotisserie chicken with super-crispy fries... so yummy: crispy skin and moist flesh (I'm drooling just thinking about it...)
Rice cakes in spicy (kimchi?) sauce with vegetables...
Deep fried shrimp (hiding a deep fried green pepper ring/slice underneath)...
Far side: Sweet & sour deep fried pork with fruit (but it tastes different than Chinese sweet and sour dishes). Near side: deep fried beef and onion rings... Are you sensing a theme here?
Somehow, I seem to have misplaced the photo of the Don Ka Su -- deep fried pork cutlets, similar to Japanese tonkatsu, but with mushroom sauce. One of the guys said it reminded him of wiener schnitzel, since it was breaded and the pork was pounded flat.
We then headed off to Red Mango for a tasty, healthy (and remorsefully lo-cal) dessert. I found their yogurt tastier than Pinkberry, and rate the pomegranate and tangomonium flavors best. MY engineer got the pomegranate (which has POM Wonderful juice), which I liked a teeny bit better than my tangomonium w/ bits of fresh mango.
Okay, time to get me some Mom-cookin'... hungry and tired (low blood sugar will do that to ya)....
Squirrel -- See how you feel. If you are feeling knackered after you finish your treatment, just do as much as you can (or see if you can defer to one of the other Avon Walks later this year (or next year). Call the Avon Walk people and see if you can work something out. Use some Frequent Flyer miles and do the Charlotte walk 3 weeks later. When I did the walk 9 years ago, it was unseasonably hot and I ended up doing only half of the second and third days (which was still alot of walking). 50 people ended up in the hospital from heat exhaustion. Believe me, the organizers (and your friends) would rather that you stay healthy.
ReplyDeleteeg
My...god. Did I eat out as much as you when I lived in the NYC? I suspect so. What a boring old suburbanite I've become....
ReplyDelete--Margaret
I know how you feel about wanting to complete the walk. My team couldn't believe I actually wanted to walk the whole Relay for Life, especially since we had just gotten out of the hospital for the second time. They conspired with Harold to send me home at midnight.
ReplyDeleteBut your friend eg is right - we're sponsoring you because we want to support your fight, not because we want you to walk to exhaustion! Do as much as makes you feel powerful - you can make it up next year by walking faster :)
Judy