Still Kickin'

 I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I suppose I just haven't had much to say!  Everything has become quite routine and steady.  Scans have continued to show stable disease and tumour markers have been stable.  I am managing side effects well (still have some nausea for a few days... but not horrible).

I marked my 30th lifetime chemo treatment on February 3rd, 2021.  My incredible husband organized cards and gifts from friends and family to mark the day.  It was quite something.  It's actually kind of mind blowing to me when I think about it.  The chemo suite has become my most familiar place when it comes to healthcare.  I'm there more than anywhere else over the past year; every 2 weeks.  Many of the staff are the same since I started going in late 2017.  

Kids are managing with school and the pandemic reasonably well.  We have managed through one period of isolation due to a positive case in a class, but as we've seen many times, there was no spread in the cohort... thankfully.  

Now I just wait for the vaccine.  I should be up any day now in our region... so hopefully soon.  Fantasizing about travel as most of us are.  I am looking forward to getting the opportunity to open the cottage for my parents and get everything cleaned and set up for cottage season.  It always feels so good to have that quiet time up there to clean on my own schedule without disturbing anyone.  It feels cathartic to clean out the cobwebs, dust off the mantel and put clean linens on everything.   The view doesn't hurt either!

I'm going into my next set of scans feeling reasonably at peace given the level of my tumour markers.  But as I go into these scans I'm struck by the fact that we are now coming up on a year of this chemotherapy.  The fact that I have basically been doing this every 2 weeks for a year seems crazy.  But then when I think about my actual diagnosis and prognosis... that seems surreal also.  The only time I feel sick is while I am receiving treatment (the first 5 days of the 14 day chemo cycle).  So what is making me feel sick is what is also prolonging my life.  I often find myself thinking about that while I am out for a run.  I can feel my lungs working well and breathing easily, yet I know I have lesions throughout both of them.  Surreal is the only word that comes to mind.  

I'll leave it there for now, with a nice Thunder Beach view.... hope you are all enjoying the spring weather.  I know I am!!!




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