What a year!

 Things have been going well since my last post. We had good scan results at the end of April; stable disease. I am continuing to manage the chemo well.  I had been getting more nausea but my doctor suggested an additional medication that has worked wonders the past 2 cycles and it is helping with sleep so win-win!

May 13th was the 1 year anniversary of starting "palliative chemo" and was also the day I received my second dose of the Moderna vaccine.  Those 2 events coinciding have really struck me and it has taken me a little while to digest.  I remember saying to my sister, at the beginning of the pandemic, that I felt like I was in a race with covid.  There are places I want to go and things I want to do with Ian and the kids and I feel like I've spent the past year biding my time for that.  Yes, having all this "extra time" with the kids feels like it should be a gift.... but it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows.  As we all know, trying to navigate virtual school does not lend itself to quality time with the pre-teen members of a household.  That being said.... shout out to all the teachers, CYWs, ECEs... the work you are doing and the changes you are able to make on the fly astound me.  Thanks for doing everything you're doing... it might feel thankless... but we appreciate you!!!!

Ian and I have made some tentative travel plans for the fall and will spend as much time at the cottage as we can.  As I see this vaccine rollout picking up steam I am encouraged, but still nervous I'll have the proverbial rug pulled out from under me.  Every set of scans (which are done every 3 months) feels like we're waiting for this stupid cancer to throw us another curve ball.  All that to say I have another 2 months before I have to worry about that again.  I find myself really living with this and thinking about it as more of a chronic condition than a terminal one.  Yes, this cancer will eventually kill me... but in the meantime, I'm not actively dying. So if I'm not actively dying, than I better go out and actively live!  

On that note... I will leave it here and head out for a run.  Much slower than last summer... but still kickin'

Stay safe everyone... we're in the home stretch. 


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