Day #35 –
Wednesday July 20th, 2016 – Viva Las Vegas
“When I
think about this trip, the overall impact of it. I tend to focus on the
information that I am providing these cancer patients, organizations, families
and hospitals – this vital information that we are gifting them is one of the
many pertinent pieces of information for their journey and their survival. We
lose so much when we face cancer; whether it’s our stability, our careers, our
sense of value, our independence or our “normal” lives we are faced with an
even bigger battle and like warriors we MUST persevere somehow. I have always
believed that everything happens for a reason and the wonderful support we
received for this trip, was exceptional, but we received it because of the
wonderful people who believe in UCAAN, what we do and what we hope to accomplish
from this journey. We hope to build UCAAN into a huge organization for Cancer
Patients, Cancer Warriors, Survivors & Their families. Without the support
of generous people out there we wouldn’t be able to accomplish all we have.
Doryn and I only have a few more days on this trip and while it is about to
come to an end, our mission will not – UCAAN Will continue to grow stronger and
stronger and help where we can!” – Rachel
Today was one of our relaxing days… finally we really needed
one. So we chose to sleep in a little and then embark on an adventure of sorts
which involved absolutely NO driving on our part – for most of the day at
least! So when we got up we had a protein bar and then called an Uber. We were
set to check out Circus Circus and their free acrobatic acts that I read about
online. Our Uber driver arrived and got
right to talking, starting out with the best conversation imaginable “So did
you hear about the shooting here yesterday?” When we said here he was indeed
referring to our hotel. And Nope we hadn’t heard about the shooting, but I had
seen a security guard on the premises and thought nothing of it. As he
continued he told us that a guy was robbed by 2 guys and he was a retired cop
and got shot but had survived. There were 2 guys he told us, 2 guys robbing
this guy at gun point. Before he dropped us at Circus Circus, I looked it up on
my phone. The story was this: A guy was in his car at 4:45am and a guy came up
to him with a gun asked for his valuables and wallet, there was a fight and the
man was shot in the shoulder and was doing well. The cops got the suspect. I
honestly wasn’t scared hearing this story, but it was a little shocking hearing
it. So we exited the car and entered the hotel.
Circus Circus wasn’t at all what I had expected, I was
honestly disappointed with it. And as we walked around I started to feel sick,
like dizzy. So Doryn and I searched for some food, because we had only ate that
protein bar. We walked around until we headed downstairs and found a
restaurant. We went inside and looked at the menu. Sure enough everything I
wanted to order had… black pepper in it. So I kept it simple, because I’ve
learned sometimes that’s the best thing to do in situations like this. I just
ordered egg yolks scrambled and toast. Everything else had black pepper! So
here’s the deal with black pepper… I wasn’t allergic to it among other things
until I had my stem cell transplant for my battle against leukemia. The
transplant had changed so much in my life including allergies! I am now
allergic to egg whites, black pepper, spicy foods, most cow dairy, ginger and
more!! Yes it’s sometimes tricky eating out with people, but I always find a
way.
So afterwards, we headed out to check out the Shark reef at
Mandalay Bay. Doryn and I love these amazing creatures and wanted to see them
up close. Shark reef was wonderful and so much fun but it was a little smaller
than we had expected. So afterwards we took an Uber to our hotel for a nap.
Our day at Shark Reef!
Golden Crocodille
Entrance to Shark Reef
We
had even more scheduled for our evening, so we needed a little rest. One of my
business associates from Ventura County who’s now living in Vegas with his
family invited Doryn and I to a networking event to meet some people who really
wanted to meet me. (Thank you AJ for the invite and the wonderful connections I
made!) So Doryn and I headed out to Henderson to a nice restaurant called
Sauce. Luckily they were able to cater to my allergy too. The meeting was a
TEAM networking meeting, which I was familiar with. When we arrived we greeted
people and I gave AJ a hug and he was right on top of introducing Doryn & I
to people at the event. We enjoyed a great evening of networking indeed!! I
also saw AJ’s wife, Linda, her sister, their new baby and my super little man,
ALEX. How I missed that little cutie, but it was great to see him too!! I was
thankful to connect with some wonderful people and get some video footage as
well! Many of these people were affected by cancer in some way! It’s all about
spreading our messages to as many people as possible!
After networking we headed to my friend Jessica’s house to
see her and her parents. I hadn’t seen them in over a year, so I was excited we
were able to all connect. It was a wonderful visit and I wish it was longer
with them… next time, next time. After we headed back to our hotel to relax and
head to sleep. We had a big day ahead of us as we were going out with Jessica
and couldn’t wait!!
No comments:
Post a Comment