September 20, 2013 - It has been just over a year since I came home from my stay at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. The radiation skin burns have mostly healed. There is still scar tissue around the tumour sites in my neck. The chemo affects are lingering. I had my annual PET Scan in Edmonton on September 6 in a brand new machine which only took 12 minutes instead of 45. I haven’t heard anything back yet and my next medical is October 9. I will assume no news is good news. I am at home, sorting out camera gear and getting ready for a trip to Jasper tomorrow with a group of photographers. Now, that is the easy part. I can sort and select and pack and get excited about the trip, but then I look at another carry all that I use for the more mundane stuff and I start getting a bit anxious and a bit sad because it represents some of my other frustrations. I pack my resource 2.0 liquid food and my small blender and various food additives that I can carry to mix my smoothies. That, represents my frustration. I still have difficulty swallowing, although my saliva is returning, and eating, once a pleasure, is a chore. I am pretty much a vegetarian now as swallowing any meat or fish is still difficult. I was excited to actually be able to eat the new MacDonalds Vegetable Wraps over the last few weeks. I still can’t really taste any sweet so such joyful items as dark chocolate or pies or fruit, are extremely bland and akin to a wax birthday candle in flavor. So back to my carry all. It represents much of my frustration with my current recovery. It accompanies me on my outings, to various hotels and represents the chore of eating. I still eat two of my Resource containers per day (1000 calories) and I try to get additional nutrition from other food, including fruit such as frozen collections, bananas, avocado, strawberries and whey protein, milk and so on. I eat out with friends and family to be sociable and try different items on menus. Simply put, eating is a chore. Now, other issues such as my voice and regaining strength are all coming along, but so slow for what you might think of as a normal recovery. Those days of having a cold or a flu and anticipating recovery are like fairy tales today. My Doctors do reassure me that recovery is going well but I get impatient, and bored, and frustrated with my limitations. I can maintain 20 minutes of a good walk on the treadmill now. Weight lifting is going to half to wait until more core body strength is built up. Still losing weight but more like a few pounds per month but my strength is improving. I was at the grand opening of the ATCO complex here yesterday and realized how weak and quiet my voice was when trying to communicate with my guide. Yes, in the mountains, I don’t need to talk much. I am going to Jasper. I may even be able to carry my camera back pack this time. ☺
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 15:22:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015