Goals

Another week and not much new to report. Olympics are done which means that I need to find something new to occupy my time throughout the week. With each passing day, my energy level is getting higher which means I need to find more things to do as I no longer require as much rest. This is a good problem to have.

I have started to get back to fixing my deck this week. As you may remember, this project started in May and is long overdue. I had to take a hiatus for a little while as I did not have the strength nor desire to work on it during all the heat we had this summer. This week, I have spent several hours removing old staples that once held down an ugly carpet (a.k.a. AstroTurf) and have started sanding down the deck in preparation for painting. The goal is to get this done before I need to go back to work. Given how well I am doing, this may come sooner than expected so I better get on it quickly. In my head, I am planning to be back to work on a part time basis around the start of October. In speaking with the insurance company, they are also on board with me starting on a part time basis so as to allow me to ramp up to full time 6 weeks later.  Based on the way I feel now and how quickly my energy levels are increasing daily, I think that I could be able to start even sooner than that. However, all this planing and hopes are still contingent on what my Besty has to say. Another thing that I am noticing is that my hair is starting to grow back. This is both a good and bad thing. Hair on my head and eyebrows are good but it also means that it is growing on my chest and back, a bad thing. Also, nose hairs are coming back which is both good and bad: good for my allergies which have been crazy lately; bad for grooming and overall looks.

This week I had an appointment with my family doctor. We originally booked it after the CT scan, prior to hearing that a PET scan would be required. The goal was to get the results sooner than my next oncologist appointment. This appointment ended up being scheduled so far into the future that, at the time, it would have fallen just a few days prior to visiting the oncologist so it was going to be a waste but we kept it anyway as, we have learned, things can change. Well it was a good thing since I had to push up the oncologist appointment to September as it needed to be 3 weeks after my PET scan and that was not scheduled until Aug 24 (yesterday). Also, since I was able to move up my PET scan by a week, it allowed my family doctor to have the results prior to our visit on Tuesday. Though we had a few items to discuss with the doctor, the main thing on our minds were if she had the PET scan results. Well she did not disappoint and did not wait to update us on them. In her opinion*, they are positive! The report states that I have responded well to the chemo treatments. There is a lot of medical jargon that talks about lymph node sizes, both before and after treatment, and how they have shrunk. There is talk that there is no presence of any other issues in other parts of my body. What it does not say though is if I am cancer free and this is where she could not help as she is not an expert in this field, like my oncologist is. With that, good news is good news and I will take as much as I can get right now. I was able to move up my appointment with my Besty by a week as a result of having an early PET scan. Also, since he has not called me, he has enough information to make an assessment of my condition and is able to start planning what happens next (at least this is my assumption right now). I am hopeful that he agrees with my assessment of how I am doing and decides that no further treatment is necessary and I can get back to my normal life again, not that it will ever be like it was before now that I am a survivor! 🙂 We are still being cautiously optimistic that we will have great news when we finally do see him.

One other thing that my family doctor was surprised about was the fact that I had very mild symptoms during all this, in comparison to others. She was wondering what I thought might be the reason. I told her that my positive attitude helped but I did not mention anything about the amount of water I drank before, during and after treatments. I feel, and MA agrees, that all this water helped flush all the chemicals out of my system more quickly minimizing their effects on my body. Combine that with eliminating alcohol during this period, also allowed my body to focus on getting rid of the toxins and healing faster. If there is one piece of advice that I could share with others going through this is to stay (overly) hydrated to help minimize the side effects of the drugs. I personally believe this was key to me being able to feel and do what I did during all of this.

The Hip show last week was amazing! I am assuming that most of you watched it on CBC. Though I was impressed with their coverage and thought they did a fantastic job, I think that our show was just a bit better. Both shows were very emotional and awesome and the songs selections were different enough which made them both unique. I am very happy I was able to attend and appreciate the show in Ottawa. When I bought the tickets, I was not sure what shape I would be in once the time came. Needless to say, I was in better shape last week than I could have imagined way back in April when I purchased the tickets. I had not seen them in over a decade and it was the one show I have been wanting to see again.

As a result of the show on Thursday, we got to bed late which made it a bit difficult to get up for my golf tournament. I did make it and played much better than I thought I would and better than I have in past years. Given that I only golf once a year, if I am lucky, I did really well. Still, it was a good thing it was best ball as I still needed the support of my team to get through most of the holes. Even more impressive is that I still found the energy to make it to band practice that night.  But then the remainder of the weekend was mostly spent resting. I think I did really well especially when you factor in that I needed to get up early on Thursday so that I could do my PET scan!

Tonight, it is back to playing hockey. I have missed the last two weeks and can’t wait to get back to it. Also, I am overdue to score and will take any help/gimmes I can get. There is a kid’s birthday party this Saturday where most of our family will be attending while Geneviève fences.  It also represents the last weekend of summer for the kids as they head off to their new school this coming Tuesday. I was hopeful that we would get a chance to visit it prior to school starting (their old school would let them come in early to setup their lockers, get their schedule and supplies and catch up with long lost friends before school officially started) but the school is not ready yet so I suspect they are still feverishly finishing what they can before the mob of kids show up.

It also looks like my 5 month summer vacation may also be coming to a close. Unlike the kids, I actually want it to end sooner than later. I find it ironic that while I am at work, all I think about is having time off. Now that I am off, all I want to do is go back to work. Anyway, it will come soon enough and it gives me something to look forward to and keeps me focused on getting better quickly.