Good News for a change

NO MORE CHEMO FOR TWO MONTHS!

That's the good news.  The not so good news is that I am not in remission and, most probably, the chemo monster will now be my friend for life.  In other words, my metastatic breast cancer is now under control and can be regarded as a chronic disease. I can look forward to having periods of chemo therapy for the rest of my days.

Well, I hope not, but it's a very likely scenario that I just have to get my head around. The possibility of this being the case dawned on me last month and, after a good cry, I had a session with Angela, my cancer counsellor, who informed me that it's a possibility, but she has patients who have been living happily like that for over a decade, so I calmed down.  I have had a chronic disease with my adrenals since 1985, so what's another one. Piece of cake!  I don't think so!.

In any case, that's the way the situation is at the moment, and I decided to go with the flow and get on with my life. I need to get my energy back, then get back to work and make some money.  I haven't been able to do that all year, but am getting freelance work now.

So....

Reassessing my life...

We are going into summer here in Australia and, just like in Europe over July-August, everything pretty much stops after mid-December until the end of January.  People take their holidays and business slows. My temping job definitely stops, as do sources of freelance work.  I am very lucky to have just been given an editing assignment with an end-of-January deadline. And I have to see the Professor again around that time. How sweet is that?

So the plan is to finish my essay that I am currently writing for a competition.  It's a labour of love about the treatment of asylum seekers by the Australian government, but the first prize is good money, so I am aiming for that (aren't we all?). The deadline for the essay is December 2. When I am done with that,  I am going to have a well earned break and visit a friend on the Gold Coast. I love traveling by train, so I may indulge myself. Rail travel is also preferable to airplanes because of the compression sleeves you have to wear in planes to avoid lymphedema, and compression sox to avoid deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  Actually, one of the things on my bucket list is to travel on the Gan and see more of Australia.

When I come home from my well deserved rest, I will sit down and reassess my situation. I am already planning to reinvent myself as a freelance writer and am getting excited about the prospect. I have a couple of projects planned already.

Regarding my mental health, I am hoping that I can transition smoothly from yearning to go into remission to getting on with reality and adapting myself to living with cancer as a chronic disease.

2014 should be an interesting year.