I guess if I were to think through the process of blogging recently, it could appear to be a little morbid to be writing about a serious illness but….I really am not feeling sorry for myself so caution you to read this update in a positive manner as well.
Had the grandson with us for the past week as he attended swimming lessons, swam in our pool, enjoyed great meals and good times. The therapeutic joy of having a five year old spend the end of summer with you cannot be downplayed. It wasn't the greatest of weather for lake swimming lessons but he did very well, learned lots and we all enjoyed ourselves.
I travelled to the city for my oncology clinic appointment and treatments and all went fine. We drove down the day before so that the shore captain could help put the rest of the garage ceiling up in the afternoon for the daughter and son-in-law and I whipped up the nursery curtains for our soon to arrive grandchild. As our daughter was having a class in her MEd course, we headed out to supper at Ela's. Have eaten there before and it's….okay, but wasn't overly impressed for the price/service this time. Really had my heart set on dessert and when the server picked up our plates she said "all finished?" with just a couple of vegetables remaining, I assumed the next visit was going to include a dessert menu or at the very least a question as to dessert and a cup of tea as the tip is on the total if nothing else. She appeared in a few moments with the bill and said "thanks a lot". We stopped at Dairy Queen for blizzards, nuff said. Have been having some middle of the night awakenings (likely due to the steroids given with chemo) and was brought wide awake at 4 am by something I thought flying through the side of the house….turned out to be a helicopter overhead. An early morning clinic visit with new resident and oncologist and my chemo drugs were reduced to 80% of the original and the next cycle is four weeks vs three as I clearly had proven I responded to them. Upstairs to have the infusions and a bit of a struggle to get an IV, delay for new dose of meds and finally on our way after about six hours in total, so not too bad really. We headed out in a pouring rain (only the city got wet) and down to Lunenburg to meet up with the grandson and his Auntie who were visiting the Fisheries Museum as the lad had finished his swimming lessons and was celebrating his badge. We stopped at The Fish Shack where I had lobster poutine (no worries about side effects) and it was a foggy late arrival home. Another 4 am awakening - this one also included a VERY loud text message signal from the shore captain's cell - but back to sleep after a while.
The weekend sped by and with the steroids (you can see how those athletes are so pumped) I got all sorts of things accomplished. Attended a coworker's wedding at the local church on Saturday which was one of the hottest days of the year and managed to wear my new hair in style. Got compliments on my wig as folks thought I'd coloured my hair and looked younger. It was actually pretty comfortable, so I know I can manage it now. We ended up with an impromptu swim/BBQ for a gathering of friends who enjoyed fresh halibut, beverages and great conversation. As I said to the life partner "I feel as if I'm myself again with being able to entertain as it's been more than six months since we had people over".
Yesterday and today have been spent dealing with….hitting the wall. Think the complete physical exhaustion I woke up with yesterday is the after effects of steroid withdrawal as it was mentioned as a side effect. I feel a lot better this evening after finally giving in, rescheduling my car appointment and convincing friends to travel out to visit me versus going to lunch in town. Hard thing not to push myself as I usually do, but after 60 years of living in this body I am finally learning to listen to it. Had a wonderful supper of salad and fresh haddock, just off the boat. As I said to the family "these simple days are the best ones".
So the plan for this week is bloodwork on Thursday and if the counts are good, chemo on Friday. Since it's a short visit with only one medication we'll just travel down for the day. But as with nursing…plans are always subject to change, gotta be flexible.
