I’m thrilled to say I had three amazing days in a row, symptom-wise! Thursday, Friday and Saturday were the best days I’ve had in a very long time. It was a good thing too as I was rather busy those days. Jan and I drove to my neurologist’s in Hamilton on Thursday morning. I was happy to hear that I can go back on my monthly IV infusion of Tysabri. After driving back to St. Catharines, I tended to the kitties then headed over to work to pick up a co-worker. We had a course to attend the next day in Toronto, so were able to go up the night before. Otherwise, we would have probably had to leave at 5:00am to get there on time. The trip there was great – smooth sailing traffic and no problems finding our hotel. After we checked in, we met up and drove over to the Square One Mall which was just a few minutes away. We wandered around for a bit, then decided to grab dinner at Earl’s restaurant. We both got a cajun chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries. Yummola:
After noms, we headed back to the Hilton for the night:
We met up with a few people from the course we were on in Ottawa last April, plus another co-worker from our office. It was good to see everyone. If you go back to my Ottawa training blog from last April, you’ll notice I brought Donkey with me. Needless to say, he had to join me on this trip too. The reaction from the folks from Ottawa that remembered him was quite amusing:
There were about 50 people or so in the course. The guest speakers were really interesting to listen to. There really wasn’t a part of the day where I was getting tired or bored. They even provided us lunch, which was nice so we didn’t have to wander anywhere:
And an afternoon snacky:
What made the day perfect though was the fact that jets were flying over us every couple of minutes.
I tried very hard not to turn and look every time I heard one.
It was an awesome day of training and I hope we get another course like that in another year or so.
After my somewhat long day on Friday, I was impressed with how well I felt on Saturday. Good thing too as the Waterloo Airport was hosting the Women In Aviation: Fly It Forward With Flare event. They had volunteer pilots fly in and take up girls and women for free fifteen minute flights, all throughout the day. The contest is to make Waterloo the most female-friendly airport. It’s an international contest run every year. We had 603 females registered to go up for a flight. Most of which have never flown in a small plane or helicopter before.
I landed in Waterloo around 10:30. Just a tad early since the pilot briefing wasn’t until 12:00. Oh well. I lined up little Vyctor with the rest of the planes ready to go.
I wandered around for a bit and met up with some of the other pilots and volunteers. I was really looking forward to the briefing so I could get back up in the air.
My first passenger was a woman who moved to Canada from Russia. She was so nice and very curious about everything that had to do with the flight. We followed a bunch of other planes around the extra large circuit over the airport. I was thrilled that she loved the flight. Here she is heading back to the gate:
All passengers were escorted by a volunteer at all times when on the ramp.
Little Vyctor and I patiently waited for our next passenger, while they guided in planes behind us:
My second passenger was a sweety, probably about ten years old. Once again, I had someone else totally enjoy the flight.
Things started getting a little hairy up in the circuit though. I heard a few people being told that they were in the wrong place. The controllers in the tower sure had their work cut out for them with about twenty planes flying, two helicopters plus all of their normal commercial flights. Still, I was looking forward to going up at least a few more times.
My third passenger climbed aboard and up she went. Once again, I lucked out with a really nice, inquisitive person. It was such a pleasure to speak with her during the flight. I still thought everything was going great, until I was told upon landing to park and shut down for at least an hour. I didn’t hear any one else being told that, so I took it somewhat personally at the time. I decided to fuel up, visit the little pilot’s room, chat with a few folks then head on home. I knew I didn’t have the energy to sit around for over an hour, then start taking people up again. It was about 45 minutes after my last passenger, I fueled up and visited the terminal building before heading back to my plane. I was actually kind of relieved to see many of the same planes sitting there when I landed, still there in the same spots. It looks like things did get a little crazy and not everyone was still able to fly.
As I taxied over to the runway, I was the first one in line. A few more planes filed in behind me. Then I heard the tower talking about a different runway. I guess the winds shifted so they started using 8 in addition to 14. The runways cross each other so they weren’t able to have planes land and take off at the same time. Needless to say, we had to wait quite some time to take off. Here is my flight timer about five minutes before I was cleared to take off:
At least I had planes to watch land while I was waiting. Killed the time a little:
Planes kept lining up behind me:
When I was finally cleared to take off, there were eight planes behind me.
I had an uneventful but very pleasant flight home. It was an absolute blast and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
My Cessna 150 Aerobat was tucked back into the hangar for the night:
Today’s symptoms: I had a rather rough day on Sunday, but Monday and Tuesday have been quite good! I’m having quite a few really sharp pains in my hands and forearms again, plus an average headache. Other than that, I’m feeling pretty good! I hope I feel this good after my Tysabri infusion tomorrow, but I usually end up feeling quite flu-ish a few hours after the medication is administered.
Lizzy McFly 