My mind boggles. For a sailing blog I am gobsmacked that I now have very nearly twice as many visits a day than I did than when I was sailing across the Pacific. At least as measure by the wordpress stats which I presume are reasonably accurate. And that’s with me blogging only every few days. That’s phenomenal. It’s also very humbling.
So I invite you all to live this next day and a half with us. As mentioned in my last blog entry I spent 90 minutes in the MRI last Friday. This will form a significant input into the diagnosis I will receive next Tuesday morning.
The two words any cancer survivor wants to hear are ‘Complete Remission’ (CR). Wants is barely an adequate word. There really is no such thing as complete recovery in any literal sense but this term essentially means the cancer is no longer detectable.
The next best thing is ‘Partial Remission’ (PR). This means the cancer has been significantly reduced. I achieved this at the end of my first 5 rounds of chemo so it’s unlikely I’ll be any worse than this. So I won’t go any lower than PR.
So while I have a lot to talk to the doctor about, that’s what Tuesday is going to boil down to. Complete or Partial Remission.
It’s now a waiting game. I’ll blog what the doctor says. Good or bad. For most readers the result will be given to us while you’re tucked in your beds and you’ll be able to know the results when you wake up.
Saturday turned out to be a rough day. I had a very bad headache for most of the day. Regular painkillers struggled to make a difference.
One of the guidelines for dealing with cancer fatigue is to get some exercise each day, even if it’s gentle. We did go out for a short walk yesterday afternoon and I felt a bit better.
Then, late in the afternoon, in the space of a few seconds the headache went from being quite intense to hovering in the background in just a few seconds. I could even feel the rapid change in pain level quite distinctly. It seemed too good to be true so I held off mentioning it to Helen until I was sure. She had been understandable been very anxious as it did appear to be like some of my old symptoms returning.
Today has been all good. No need for any painkillers, just a faint uncomfortable feeling in the distance. Did a lot of planning for our Hong Kong trip and organized my music collection a little. Well, just a bit of the E’s.
Also today, Sarah, Russ, Jack and Ros returned from a trip to Sydney. We’ve been looking after the animals for a few days. We have all missed each other and it was good to see them again. It was bitter-sweet as it reminded us all the clock is now ticking down the last few days/hours of our time here. The feelings Helen and I for this prospect are so mixed. I think I’ll leave it to later to express how we feel as I’m sure this will intensify as the last few days tick by.
We went out again messing with a semi-VR game on my ‘phone’ called Ingress. It was a bit cold so we didn’t stay out too long. Being at the very beginning of the learning curve not a lot made sense but I did manage to collect 2 resonators and was attacked, virtually, by somebody nearby. I think I know who it was even. Anyway, this will make less sense to most of you and a lot of sense to some.
No more blogs planned until after the results on Tuesday. Ride the hours with us.
hello my intrepid voyagers, as usual ive read your blog im so gateful that you’ve allowed us into such a huge part of your lives . Im so proud to stand up and say i am a nurse but its working with patients like you that make me count my blessings everyday and do the best i can,its not always the medical interventions that count , sometimes its holding a hand, giving mouthcare,a smile of reasurrance, but most importantly time , time is priceless. Bless you steve and helen you are in my thoughts and prayers. xxxxx
With you all the way stevie god bless big hug
Wishing you all the best for tomorrow xxx