Taking it in stride

This was a good week. I was feeling well and focused on my writing. I finished the web story on deadline and delivered it Wednesday morning, before the start of THE BIG DAY – my appointment with the Professor.

The Professor looked dapper and suntanned after his sporting holiday in Italy and he had good news for me. My cancer markers are down, which means that the treatment is working. My white blood cells are back to normal, so we can have treatment. And, last but not least, all my various organs, like liver and kidney, are working fine. Phew! It was good to hear. But then, there was a down side.

I am not out of the woods yet and the Professor could not tell me how long I have to have chemo treatment, which has been adjusted to my current status. Instead of a three week cycle, we now have a four week cycle. Two weeks on, two weeks off . This will go on until I leave for a planned, six week vacation with my family in the US in November.  On my return, there will be a reassessment and we shall see.

So, the way I see it, at present my best option is to settle in for the long haul and treat this as a quasi chronic disease and get on with my life. The question that remains is how to do that.

Until now, I had the philosophy of taking one day at a time.  I had incredible emergency help from my family, community and government services. This can't go on forever, so I have to plan to re-enter my normal life and earn some money. My current assignments are a good measure whether I am physically and mentally ready to do that.

So far, so good. Yesterday, the day after the intravenous chemo, I was pretty groggy and, even with my wonderful helper, Shoko, I could only get to my local supermarket for a few groceries. Today, however, I was quite all right. I mean, better. I went for a walk and was still dizzy, and my eyesight has been shoking today, but my head is clear and the dreaded chemobrain is still at bay (I do my brain exercises every morning in the hope that the dreaded fog will never rise this time).

Another thing I started to do is to organise my exercise regimen.  On Monday, I went to the gym and got assessed for gentle strengthening exercises. I am going to see if I can go back this weekend, or latest Monday.

Everything at the moment is trial and error. I don't know what my abilities and limitations are for the two weeks of chemo treatment. That is the next lesson to learn during this particular cycle.

And talking about learning. The only thing that suffered this week was my studies. I have only done about the third of the assignments, if that. Tomorrow I'll focus on catching up and see if I can make up what I've missed so far.  In order to get a certificate, I have to pass a quiz each week. So far I got 80% and 90% for the first two weeks respectively. Now we are getting to the end of the third week and I have two more to go. Let's see what I can do. If I make it, I'll definitely be superwoman! If not, well, I've tried. It's still a triumph in my eyes. What do you think?