Wednesday, July 31, 2019

odds and ends

A few missed items, in no particular order...

My hair is growing back. A few weeks since hair reappeared, I now have enough hair for it to be seen, still not enough to need brushing. Need-to-shave is back to normal. Arm hair looks normal, legs are still swimmer-smooth. Funny that hair is regrowing at varying rates.

Fingertips are still sensitive. Soles of my feet tingle but not all the time. Top of my toes was very sensitive to changes in temperature, would itch a lot when warmed up. That has faded, is almost gone.

For a couple of weeks I have had occasional spots of blood in my snot. I guess that my clotting platelets were still recovering, it's stopped now. I seem to bleed more than in the past when I scratch myself on an orienteering course. I'll try to be more careful pushing bushes aside with the back of my hands.

Two bits of good news from a visit to the dentist. One, no dental work to be done. Two, it's well over a year since I told the dentist to take me off his twelve-month recall list... Not often that I'm pleased to find that it's time for another visit to the dentist :-)

Way back, I wrote that I am worried about the effect on our toddler grandson when I finally die. No more worry, if I can judge by his parent's slow announcement of an impending second grandchild. Ten years after I'm dead they will probably still be saying, No, grandad isn't here today, maybe next week...

For a couple of weeks I feel really asocial. Not antisocial, just have no urge to talk to anyone. It is largely due to other things on my mind, other things that I want to get done. Contacting people becomes a low priority. I complete a few things, switch my mind off with WoW and suddenly, Click! I'm back to normal. Which is not particularly sociable, but not distinctly a-social.

Have you noticed that I have switched back to typing with appropriate use of Upper and lower case letters? I dropped the capital letters when I was on IV and restricted to one finger typing on a tablet. Shift to upper case is just too awkward.

Now I'm using mixed case -- even though I am typing on the tablet... I realise that it is (partly) a mood thing. I just can't be bothered typing correctly. Now I'm feeling quite well, healthy, cheerful... and prefer to type correctly.
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These "other things on my mind":

I send two books to publishers. One is my blog as a book, the other is a novel written by my son. This involves several stages: Find a publisher willing to accept non-agent submissions. Get each book to a standard to match the publisher's requirements. Submit book. Wait one month or three then -- if no response -- assume the book has been rejected... Better, I think, than assuming it has been ignored.

Speaking of ignored: I'm trying to contact an employee in the RAC. I have a name, an email address, a switchboard phone number. None of these get a response.
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What I'm really doing -- other than being ignored -- is to organise our next holiday. Deb & I are going to Scotland to watch the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

I commit as little as possible till my scans show "clear" in early June. Then organise accommodation, hire car, flights to and from.

I finally remember to check our passports... Deb's has expired... we have a new one within three weeks, a couple of weeks before we leave. Get travel insurance for Deb. Make a couple of phone calls about the question, Do you have a terminal illness... I may now be covered as long as I don't claim anything related to cancer. Which I shouldn't.

We have always travelled -- overseas, anyway -- with travel insurance. We have never claimed. So I appreciate the "free" travel insurance that comes with our credit cards.

My latest scans are clear, next scans are due after we return. We are travelling to the UK, which has a good health system. I'm feeling fine. (Except for a minor worry that my head may explode when the plane flies high with low atmospheric pressure.) Should be fun!

And expect that this blog will shift back to being a holiday blog. I'm planning for a few weeks with nothing cancer-related to report :-)







====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"The most dangerous gift is advice"
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====
   

Saturday, July 13, 2019

status: 13 July 2019

Status: 13th July 2019
Physical
Recovered from a cold, a couple of weeks' back. Now -- I'm in good health!
I can jog 5km or walk a lot further -- but slowly. I'm unfit but feeling well enough to improve. And that is an improvement.
My hair is growing back, I have a fashionable stubble on my face and on the scalp. As Deb so thoughtfully commented, now people will be able to again see the patch where x-rays burnt me bald :-)
Finger and toe tingling is still there. Possibly shading into numbness. Except for the fingertips which are still over-sensitive.
Still 10kg heavier (yes, round my gut) than I was two years ago. So, 15kg above my "target" weight. A target as unattainable as my plan to do the Cradle Mountain Run :-)
Mental
As far as I can tell -- my mind still works. Though...
Emotional
I'm suffering from Weltschmerz... the belief that "physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind." But then, I've always suffered from that.
Related to cancer: I'm happy -- but accept that there is a big black cloud on the horizon. The cloud is so uncertain that I generally ignore it. Except for a reminder, to live in -- and enjoy -- the present :-)

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

even better !

It's been a month since my last post -- because nothing (relevant) has happened :-)

No chemo, no treatment, I just get better and better. I'm lucky, it's only the treatment which knocks me around. Treatment is essential and, so far, effective. I have a few months' of treatment then more months' of no treatment -- no drugs at all, just good clean living (drat!) -- just time to recover.

Okay, I had a cold and felt lousy. Now I'm feeling better. Fingers and toes tingle and are sensitive, an expected effect of the chemo drugs, it should fade, eventually. Occasional instability if I turn suddenly, probably age-related. Problems breathing when I bend over -- entirely due to the extra 10kg that I carry round my gut :-(

The most annoying lingering effect of treatment is that I am still very unfit. Amazing how unfit I am after a year or so of sitting round, can't or can't be bothered doing any exercise... I'm now well enough to get fit again -- if I can be bothered :-)

Meanwhile, holiday planning is almost complete. Just need a new passport for Deb (oops). And medical travel insurance -- for me -- will be limited. Funny, that :-)
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Just a week ago I admitted to Deb, I'm feeling remarkably happy. There's a big black cloud on the horizon but it's a distant unknown, it doesn't stop me being happy. Better yet -- to make me even happier -- Deb admitted that she also is happy.

Not that I'm going to stop complaining! How do you find a good but cheap developer for a phone app? How do you get a book published? How do you get a foot in the door of a public service committee? Sheesh! So many doors that are not just closed -- but, so far, completely invisible. Mumble, grumble, mumble... :-)





====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Dogs also bark at what they do not know" … Heraclitus
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====