May long weekend

This year my birthday fell on Victoria Day of the May long weekend, so we decided to go visit Steve & Amy at their cottage. The four hour drive wasn't quite as hard on me as it was when we did it in March, so I am getting stronger. It wasn't warm enough to sit outside but they have a nice sunporch where we could sit and watch the river.

The cottage is outfitted with a vintage record player and a set of old vinyl records, and we brought some more from our friend Doug to add to the collection, so we spent the weekend enjoying listening to vintage music. There was a mix of 33's, 45's and 78's. Barry was hopping up and down all weekend changing records.

Carol & Brian drove all the way from Pakenham to have lunch with us and visit on Sunday afternoon. We hadn't seen them since last summer so it was good to visit.

We left early Monday afternoon to beat the traffic, and had dinner in a Kelsey's in Mississauga. This was my first outing to a restaurant in many months. Here's a photo of my (free) dessert and the sparkler lighting it up. Our server even gave me a personalized birthday card!

Recovery week five

I'm now in week five of my recovery from chemo. It's been slower than I would like, and sometimes I get frustrated at how long it is taking me to recover. But I have to remember that my oncologist said that it would take three months for me to get my energy back and so I must be patient. I have up days and down days, and overall it's two steps forward and one step back, but I am slowly getting better.

I try to walk every day and I can walk for up to a mile on a good day. We often walk the bicycle path in front of our home, and we also like to go to Dufferin Islands and walk there amongst the streams and the ducks and geese. We have also walked parts of the Friendship Trail in Fort Erie.

Twice a week I go to Wellspring Cancer Support Centre in Stevensville for a yoga class and a relaxation class. I'm now able to drive myself there as it's only a ten minute drive. They have a lending library of cancer books and videos and also offer Tai-Chi classes and Reiki, a kind of hands-free energy healing.

A beautiful weekend for camping

Two weekends ago the weather forcasters were predicting a hot weekend for Friday through Monday (in April!). It's early in the year for camping but we decided to go for it. It was a long hard winter for us and my inability to go anywhere had kept us cooped up. We had to cancel our March camping trip to Florida because of my chemo. We had been looking forward to our first camping trip for months. As the camper had been winterized and everything taken out, Barry had to spend some time getting everything packed inside again. I was too fatigued to help and could contribute only my knowledge of where things are normally stored.

We went to Allegany State Park in New York State. It's one of our favourites and under a two hour drive away, in the hills south of Buffalo. We usually go in the autumn when it is absolutely stunning with all the trees turning colour. We got a campsite right beside a little stream and under the (leafless) trees. There were very few other campers there even though the weather was in the high 70's. We walked around the hilly campground every day and even went for a little walk along the streambed. We sat in our chairs beside the firepit listening to the birds and watching the stream burble its way over the rocks down below.




I had been nervous about going away with my level of fatigue but everything worked out well. Barry did all of the cooking of course and we have a camp chair that is like a recliner for me to rest in. We had the camper for me to lie down in when I got really tired.

All in all it was a terrific break and well worth doing. Good memories to keep me going through the rainy days.

In Remission!

Since my chemo is now over, and I've had a CT Scan, my next appointment at Roswell Park was for last Wednesday afternoon. We met with the Doctor's PA, Diane. She told us that the results of the CT scan were negative, that is, no enlarged lymph nodes detected. This and my blood tests mean that I am officially in remission now.

I go back to Roswell Park for a blood check every month for three months, then every three months for a while. I'll have another CT Scan in September.

I'm still very tired and finding my days long. I try to walk every day but we have had some days with nothing but rain. Nevertheless, on the days when I do walk I am going between 1-1.5 km. Unfortunately I pay a price for that and have to spend more time resting afterwards.

Still, a remission is good news and worth celebrating.