41. Threading needles.

Another week has almost gone by, it's Saturday today. I feel maybe 70%. I did my first exercise class this morning with Lewis since I have been sick. I started off with some standing exercises and then about half way along did some ones on the floor, using lighter weights. I felt better afterwards, good to get the blood flowing and moving the muscles and joints.

Monday was a big day. It also got to 40c when I was driving in the afternoon!! Dry heat though so it didn't bother me as much as the heat has been. I started off by visiting my GP so she could check my vitals post hospital visit. Things were all ok, oxygen levels were 96 if I remembered to breathe deeper and slower. Gotta retrain the lungs to breathe after their trauma. After that I went to the pro bono lawyer and signed all my documents. I was a little apprehensive about where I might park at Brighten-Le-Sands so I called up the law firm to check and they are in the Novotel Hotel building complex and there is a public carpark below with a lift that goes to the offices which is separate than the hotel lift. Very easy, didn't have to go outside and the appointment took about 15 minutes. He already had all the details from the Cancer Council when they did my assessment. I went home for some lunch.

Next appointment on Monday was the first one with Dr Lucinda Morris. She is the radiotherapist. It was mainly an information and question session. She let me know what radiotherapy was, where it would be etc. It'll be after my 2nd surgery, which could be June sometime. She says usually there is a 6 week wait after surgery so that brings me to perhaps the end of July for the start date. I'll have 25 sessions, which is everyday Monday to Friday so that means 5 weeks. A session is less than 5 mins for the actual treatment. I'll get some little dot tattoos which tells the machine to only do the treatment inside the dots, not outside. As it's my right side that means my heart should be outside the area which is a good thing. I'll have to go to St George public hospital which is a bit of a bummer but she said I'll be well enough to drive myself there and back so that is ok. Side effects are a bit tired and my skin will get red, like a sunburn. She says that it will be easier for side effects than the chemo. Here's hoping. I have a follow up phone appointment with her on June 2nd. Hopefully I'll know when my next surgery date will be by then.

Tuesday I took it easy most of the day, did some food shopping and had a video chat with Ange about an exciting new project we are working on (stay tuned). Ange had a sore throat and I had planned on seeing her and Evie today but it then turned into a virtual chat for health safety reasons. Don't want to get sick again. Thank goodness for technology! I also sewed a LOT of hexagons. So fun. I counted up all I have done so far and I have 1187. I have run out of templates so need to print and cut out more.

Wednesday I had lunch with a friend at the local cafe, we sat outside in the breeze and in the shade. She is someone who I had some classes with at UNI and we met once last year prior to Hector making himself be known. We had said we would meet up again before Christmas but I had my surgery and she ended up flying to Germany to help out with one of her daughters who was quite sick. Over 3 months later and we did catch up which was great.

I sewed a couple of dresses for nieces this week. It was a free pattern from Jordan Fabrics which is a YouTube channel I like to watch. Donna Jordan mainly does quilts but sometimes something different. The dress is super cute. If anyone is interested here is the link. https://au-jordanfabrics.glopalstore.com/pages/jumper-dress-pattern Very easy to make, the hardest thing was threading the needle on the sewing machine. The next hardest thing is doing the button holes. I'm not that good at doing them but am getting better. I plan on making a few more, they really only took about 3 hours to do.

I had a dentist check up on Thursday. It'd had to cancel my appointment as it was on the Monday where I had my two ambulance trips. Dental check ups are important when having chemo to make sure there is no issues with the teeth, gums or mouth, as that can be an easy way for infection to get into my body. All is fine and the dentist gave my teeth a clean too.

I went to choir on Thursday night. I could sing again which was a relief, though my voice started to conk out on me a bit over an hour. I couldn't quite sing the notes and talking my voice got all gravelly and hoarse. Not sore though and it was fine again on Friday after a sleep. Things will take a bit to get back to normal. We are working on one piece that has some pretty fun syncopation in it and the words used to be a poem in English, then translated into Russian and then added to music and then translated back into English. It means there is some weird places for some words. It does sound good though and I enjoy learning pieces that challenge the voice and the brain. People at choir were happy to see me and one lady commented that my colour was much better than 2 weeks ago. Seeing as I was at the start of a downhill slide and hospital visit I'm not surprised I looked off. I know I felt really crappy but I mostly thought it was chemo side effects. Sort of hard to sort through the symptoms of which was linked to what.

Friday I had an appointment with Dr Michael. It was for 1pm and he comes out and asks if it would be ok for him to go get a coffee as he hasn't had a break that day yet. I said that was fine, it was nice and cool in the air con in the hospital and it was another hot day (which got humid in the afternoon 🤢 ). He comes back in about 15 mins and says he even snuck in an apple too. I said he'd be all sorted then with his double shot of caffeine. "But I only had one shot in my coffee" he says. I tell him that the apple was the second shot. He didn't know that apples have caffeine in them and went and googled it straight away. Yep, he believed me then and I was happy to teach him a little something.

We talked about my whole downhill journey from Chemo IV to hospital to right then. He was quite miffed that I had been sent home on the Monday without any oncology consult and then came back so sick hours later. Maybe he'll talk to emergency about it and they can update their staff. He showed me my two chest x-rays and where the shadow is and how it got bigger on the 2nd one. He says that I had pneumonia. I'm not surprised, I have never felt that bad in my life. He went through the blood tests I'd had too and said my lymphocytes (white blood cells that fight off infection) were 0.04 and they should be over 1. I looked at my discharge letter and my last blood test before I left hospital was 0.75. I wonder what they will be from my blood test on Monday. I'll ask the nurses at Chemo V on Tuesday morning. He listened to my heart and my lungs. He is sending me for another heart ECHO to make sure that it is ok. He pressed my shin and said that there is a bit of a dent which could mean some fluid retention which can mean the heart it working hard or not quite well enough. He'll have the echo checked against the one I had prior to chemo. The first four chemo sessions I had were a type of drug that can affect the heart so he needs to know what's going on. We had a good discussion, lots of details. He was calmer this time than the first visit, and I felt like we were working well together discussing my health and future plans. I'll see him again in two weeks, unless I feel unwell or even just need to see him again and then I can see him in a week. The heart ECHO is booked for the 23rd March. At first the lady on reception said the earliest was 30th March but when I said I'd just been in hospital and I'm on chemo and my oncologist needs to see my results she said the 23rd.

I sure was glad that Dr Michael gave me a 3 week break between Chemo IV and V. He debated whether or not to delay the start of my chemo for another week but after having a another look at the final biopsy results for Hector, Lionel and the other nodes of doom he decided that as my cancer was so aggressive let's keep to the schedule and not give the Hectorites any chance of an encore. The next chemo drug is Paclitaxel, or Taxol. It's made from the Pacific Yew tree bark. It's synthesised now as so many trees ended up being killed by all the bark being taken for chemo drugs. I'm glad my treatments aren't killing trees. We need to plant more trees, not kill them or cut them down. The health of our planet and all life depends on trees, that includes us humans. So, weekly chemo's 12 times starting on Tuesday. Dr Michael says that about 1 in every 6 or 7 people end up having the full 100% dose all 12 times. Other people have part doses or skipped a dose depending on how they are, how their blood work looks and if they have any allergic reactions or bad side effects. I wonder what I will get. He did say that allergic reactions almost always happen in the clinic and almost always at the same time after the drug is started so the nurses know what to look out for.

Some other things I have done this week was to cut out some more templates for the hexagons. There is 22 per A4 page. I watched the Hobbit trilogy and then the extended version of Fellowship of the Ring. I'll watch the rest of the trilogy in the next week. I like having movies on I have seen while I do sewing or crochet or other things with my hands. The music is also so great in those movies too. I need more templates and will cut some more fabric so I'm ready to sew some more at chemo on Tuesday.

I also downloaded an app for my iPad called Procreate. It's a digital art program, painting, drawing, annimation, and so many other things. It is amazing and I am loving it. After this post I'm going to watch a few tutorials on YouTube so that I can get more skills with it. It's only a one off fee of $16.99. I have an Apple pencil as well so that makes it even easier to use. This is something that will be used for the project I'm doing with Ange.