DHC Hope: Pristine Blood

I have decided to reduce the frequency of my blog entries to about once a month. Thank you for those who told me what you would prefer. I am glad some of you are waiting for this entry. Here it is!

Monday 21 November I had maintenance chemo round 3. The Avastin only takes about an hour but I was at the hospital from 12.30 to 5.30. Had my blood test at 12.30; went to lunch; saw Dr Lisa at 3.00 (appointment 2.30); finally began chemo at 4.15. Reminded me that I need to be patient.

The good news is that Dr Lisa said my blood is ‘pristine’! The three indicators of liver function are all normal. Only one of the oodles of indicators was 3 points above normal and this was a typical side effect of the oral chemo I now take. I am almost a week in to the two weeks of Xeloda tablets. Then a week off and next chemo round begins 12 December.

My annoying side effect continues to be the numbness in my fingers and toes. To keep this in context, I remind myself that I have had relatively few problems compared with most people. I saw Ingrid on Monday afternoon. She was having her 40th chemo visit and is currently having chemo at the hospital once a week. This is a lot of times in her two-year journey. I notice that I seem a bit more tired with the tablets but, on the other hand, I have resumed my usual work routine.

This month I have facilitated the financial modules of the Company Directors course five times and am scheduled for two more in December. On Wednesday I was working in Newcastle and took the opportunity to visit a cousin and her family on the Tuesday. I am on the Gold Coast working in early December and am visiting friends while there. I am also updating the financial modules of the Company Directors course this and next month. Feels good to be doing this. When I am feeling a bit tired I talk to myself to make sure I perform well at the courses.

The weekend of 12 and 13 November I finally finished the side garden – a six months effort. It is now planted with vegetables. Barbara and our youngest helped by doing the final earth refilling. Various vegetable plots are now yielding produce.

Completed side garden, with netting to protect
vegetables from the voracious possums

Side garden looking toward back gate

One of my dad's 60 year old coach
screws used to hold up lattice wire

Reclaimed lawn that has yielded radishes and beans to date

The smallest vegetable patch

I have continued some social activities but at a slower pace. I have felt like a bit more space – maybe partly due to working again. This year we decided to permanently reduce our Thanksgiving and concentrate on family. Thus, yesterday, Thursday night, November 24, Barbara and I celebrated Thanksgiving with family and in-laws. Tonight we are celebrating Thanksgiving with Barbara’s small group ESFNG. We appreciated our friends understanding of why we decided to reduce the size of the celebration.

Buttons has now been here almost five weeks. Last night, for the first time, she slept in the laundry with Muggles. Today (at least in the morning), I am keeping her in the laundry and outside to help her be more of an outdoor cat. She has done very well adjusting to lots of people and meeting another cat for the first time. It was fascinating watching her gradually discover the garden. She had never been in one before. First she spent some days tentatively walking on the paving blocks along the side of the house. After about three days she jumped up into one of the wall gardens and loved it! She has ‘cat grass’ in a pot. So, when she first leapt into the garden she started sampling all the plants. She now realises that only grass is for her. Then she explored the rest of the backyard making it down to the back gate. I don’t think she has been beyond that. She has also discovered the small lizards. A number have lost their tails and been killed in ‘cat and mouse’ play. Muggles has been very tolerant but has let Buttons know that he was here before her!