Wednesday, October 23, 2013

All is quiet

Cool double rainbow after a good rain.
Pretty good news from the oncologist's office, my numbers are still low, however they did do a little jig and increase 15% this last month.  But overall, they are still down a bunch, so we are not worried.  The next drug we'd look into would be Havalen (aka Eribulin), which is (researchers, pay attention) a mitotic inhibitor from the sea sponge.  Go marine biology!  How cool would it be to be one of the researchers to discover they're pet sponge could treat cancer.  Well, that's pretty cool.  Anyway, no reason to worry, this little jig isn't a huge deal, only if it continues to go up, but I think its going down in the long run.  Based on how I feel things couldn't be better.  I still can jog without bone pain, but have chosen not to because it takes such a effort to go out in the cold and isn't as much fun now that I am so de-conditioned. But come spring, or a burst of energy, I can go out an run a good mile.  In the mean time I'll save my energy for running around after Parker anyway.
Getting ready for a home run!

Almost had it, way to go Parker and uncle Eric.

Parker in the vest I knitted him


My wig, I love it.


Friday, October 11, 2013

Unforseen surprises

Through this whole cancer ordeal, I never thought I would return to work, or get bored and want something more for myself.  I was in survival mode, savor the time mode, stop and smell the roses mode.  But now that I have turned a corner, I have time and the mental capacity to think what can I do with my life. It is a strange feeling and it took alot of soul searching to figure out why I was unhappy with the present.  But now that I have identified this feeling its much easier to try and tackle the problem.  It all started when I found out that I wasn't going to die anytime soon (6 months or less), and had to start thinking about my future.  I was so caught up in the present that the future had no place in my thoughts.  If I dreamed about the future, I'd go spiraling down a depression that I knew was unhealthy because chances are that I wouldn't be around to full fill any of those dreams.  On top of that I lost two friends to cancer and I assumed I'd meet the same end sooner than later.

So as of right now, I'm in the process of figuring out what I can do with my education background that doesn't involve standing on my feet, working long hours and is minimally stressful.  So its a bit of a puzzle, but I'm up for the challenge.  I've already applied to edit manuscripts from home but I have yet to hear back from them on the job.  I can't wait to use my science background.  Parker is doing great at a babysitters 4 days a week for a few hours while I get time to myself and get some work around the house done.  This is sort of a pre-preschool for him and he's doing great.  We've found the perfect preschool for him (Heritage Christian in NL) and so I am excited for him to start learning in a social setting. 

My tumor markers are down 55% in 3 months, so that means I have 1/2 the volume of cancer I had back then, amazing news and on top of this great news, we are selling the condo and have a serious offer on it, hooray!  Being a landlord was not exactly the most stress free job I've had for the past 5 years, so I will be happy to be done with it.  Thanks for all your prayers, I know they help and have made a huge difference in my life.