It has been too long since I have addressed this blog and
given an update for those of you who take the time to read these notes. Why do I know that? Well information has been getting back to me
about what has been happening to me and I have not yet shared that information
with you who take the time to read these ramblings. So today I have finally found some quiet time
to actually sit down and write about my last week.
You might recall that I had a CT Scan on Aug 28th. That scan was to have a look at what progress
or regression had happened to my cancer since my last one in early June. The appointment went off easily and I got a
bonus as I was well prepared to spend 2 hours drinking their horrid drink that
lights you up for the scanner. It turned
out that the instructions did not include the horrible drink and I went right
into the scan shortly after I arrived. I
am familiar with the process and the man who runs the scanner at the Civic
Hospital. He is not too friendly as he
only spends 5 minutes with his clients.
However, we chatted this time and I consider that a breakthrough. After the scan I took advantage of my free
two hours and squandered away the time doing menial chores at various retail
outlets in the city. All I could do was
to wait for the results which I would get on Sept 5th just prior to
my next treatment on the 6th.
I do not recall clearly what happened over the next week other than we
had some company and it was a busy time at the cottage. In addition I do recall rather crappy weather
for the better part of that time.
On Tuesday morning (Sept 5th) I went to TOH for
my normal blood tests and happened upon Dr Auer in the hallway. Unfortunately, she was in a hurry as she had
been delayed at home with kids being sent off for the first day of school. As a result she was running late for her OR
appointment. We waved and passed on best
wishes. I then went to do some chores in
the city before my appointment with Dr Jonker at 2 PM. Freddi joined me at the appointment in Mod C
of TOH. I had been considering many
scenarios going forward and my mind had settled on one ask of the Dr. My treatment had been underway for 14 3 week cycles
in this session and I was not particularly enjoying the side effects and the
seemingly cumulative effect of the Chemo.
My nausea was lasting longer, the feeling of being tired and sick was
lasting longer, my sleeplessness was lasting longer, my bowels were on their
own schedule with a variety of “special” effects to keep me on my toes and
overall my mental state was that of not being happy or content with the
situation. So my mind played with many
scenarios to make thing different. It
swung the pendulum full cycle looking for different types of relief. With all that in mind I was prepared to beg
the Dr to give me a little reprieve for a period of time.
So finally, we were called in to get weighed and to chat
with the nurse as she did a preliminary review of the last treatment. We walked through all of her questions and
provided some feedback to her to pass on to the Dr before he came to see
me. It is a pretty good process as the
Dr comes in prepared to answer your questions and has time to think about what
should be next given everything. Away
she went armed with lots of notes and a big smile. She is almost new to working with Dr Jonker and
she was very pleasant and caring.
Dr Jonker arrived and settled in to chat about the CT
Scan. He started with the fact that the
scan came back with no visible growth since the last time. That is good news and we were happy to hear
that. He then said, “I hear you are
looking for a break from Chemo.” I
responded in the affirmative and he said, “Fine but we will have go a whole
session without treatment as if there is a mix of treatment and no treatment
the changes in the results of the scans will not be easily interpreted.” So what that meant was that he was OK with “The
Break” and it would start that day. That
meant that my Wednesday treatment on Sept 6th would be cancelled and
I would go until the end of November without a treatment. Needless to say I was a bit surprised that I
did not have to convince him of the need for a break and he was very supportive
of my Chemo weary state of mind. We
established that I would have a CT Scan on November 7th and then see
him again on November 14th to get the results. He expects that there might be some marginal
growth and that he will recommend further Chemo treatment starting at the end
of November. As I always do when we
close in on winter, I advised him of our travel plans and he noted that
information on my file. Dr Jonker has
been very good about making sure that my time away is as enjoyable as it can be
and as Chemo free as possible. With all
of that settled he stood, wished us well and went on his way as his clinic was
running 45 minutes late.
We were left to digest the rather short conversation and
eventually we left the clinic feeling pretty good about the fact that I had
several weeks (12) ahead of me before I had to face the Chemo drugs and side
effects again. That is pretty invigorating feeling. I spent the rest of the afternoon digesting
this situation and feeling the effects of the fog lifting off me in such a
short period of time.
Later that afternoon, I received a call from Dr Auer’s
assistant stating that thee Dr wanted to talk to me. In short she was unhappy that we could not
talk in the morning as she wanted to know how I was doing. However, it was
fortuitous that I had more information about the going forward position due to
my appointment with Dr Jonker in between our discussions. We chatted about family, summer vacations,
cottage life and of course where I stood in my treatments and my attitude about
being a cancer patient. It was so nice
to chat with her and for her to give up some of her busy day just to check in. She made my day with that call and reminded me
why I liked her as my Oncologist of record.
That was one week ago.
In the last week I have been so busy doing things that I normally do not
do that I have been unable to get to the blog to share this information with
you. Now that it is written I feel
better as I have been harbouring my enthusiasm and dealing with some busy work
at both the boat business and the consulting business. The weekend was spent with Tara-Lee and her
family and friends as they celebrated Kaia’s 1st birthday (actually
Sept 19th) on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Freddi and I were also invited to babysit on
Saturday night as Tara-Lee and Brehn went to a concert with friends. All in all a busy week has passed and I had
plans to golf in Florida starting tomorrow but a hurricane called Irma changed
those plans. We are not going to Florida
this fall. It has been terrible watching
the effects of the hurricane on the many small islands in the Caribbean and the
destruction and chaos in Florida as the hurricane moved north at a good
clip. I feel very badly for the millions
of folks who have suffered over the last 10 days or so.
So, on this very sunny and warm afternoon, I feel that I
deserve a short cruise on Lake Bernard to contemplate what the 3 month Break
will mean to me. I am happy, feeling
well and getting stronger and I can only hope that you also are feeling as
positive about things as I am.
Thank you once again for dropping in and feel free to send
me a note if you have any questions, concerns or just want to say hello.
My best wishes to all and my love goes out to all of you.
