Canmore and Catch-up

It has been a busy few days!

Thursday afternoon was my appointment with the radiation oncologist. She had me at 'hello' ;)
Her first statement when she saw me was 'You look great!', music to my ears even if she was embellishing the truth. We discussed the guidelines for radiation therapy at our Cancer Centre, which I fall into and we discussed several recent studies which seem to indicate that I would benefit by choosing the extra insurance that radiation therapy would provide me. When making the choice I mentioned that one of my reasons for making the decision for radiation therapy was that I had three grandchildren already, one on the way and hoping to be there for more in the future. She managed to act suitably surprised that I could be a grandma, again music to my somewhat deaf ears. :)

Friday morning I received a call from the radiation therapy scheduling area, I am booked for a CT Sim on Monday afternoon at 3:15. I'll know more about it after the fact but this is where they map the radiation area and I get my tattoos.

Shannon is Ev's daughter-in-law, she is currently on leave from her work in the radiation therapy area and she has graciously offered to give me an overview and tips and tricks. We have set a lunch date for Monday, before the CT Sim. Apparently the first tip is that the more relaxed I am during the CT Sim, the better.

The rest of Friday found me preparing for our trip to Canmore and running out for a quick visit with my Mother. Her hair looked great, she seemed pleased and she seemed to be settling in and much less anxious about everything. I had to chuckle when I looked at her walker though. She had various items of clothing draped over it. When I pointed out that this wasn't actually it's intended purpose, she told me she 'hated it'. She is missing her four wheel walker, which the physiotherapists felt she was not ready to use as she is putting too much of her weight against the walker as she walks - with a two wheel walker this is OK, but with a four wheel walker it could be a fall hazard. She is not happy about it and points out at every chance she has that everybody else in the lodge are using four wheel walkers. I try to tell her that she is not 'everybody else' - it is remniscent of dealing with teenagers when they use the 'everybody's doing it' excuse ;)

Our weekend in Canmore was pre-booked a while back when the people I work with gave us the gift certificate for a two night stay there with all the bells and whistles. We couldn't have asked for better weather or better timing for the weekend with chemo further and further in the past and radiation not here yet. The scenery was spectacular, there was a winter festival going on so we got in on freebies like hot chocolate and marshmallows and events like ice carving and dog sled racing. I loved that I was just one of very many people wearing hats as we walked about town. The stores all seemed to be having sales on to coincide with the winter festival and we found a few things we just 'had to have'. Our stay included one dinner for two and two breakfasts for two and with some of the extra money provided on a Visa card we treated ourselves to a lovely dinner at Murietta's. One of the items purchased that I will carry forward to my return to work is a tea cup that has a mesh basket insert for loose tea and a lid. It is in a very pretty pattern and I bought some apple spice tea to go with it. Whenever I use it I will remember the generosity of my co-workers in providing us with this weekend.

When I reflect on the weekend I realize how much I have changed through this cancer process and how much more I am enjoying the moment and not looking at the 'what could be's' or 'what if's'. We had to take it slower as we walked about town but in taking things slower I think we saw and appreciated things we may have missed if we hadn't had to take our time. Being outside in the cold weather seems to make me stiff and sore, combine that with the occasional nausea and tiredness and we ended up ducking into various places to warm up and take a moment to sit. This allows for more people watching. We very much enjoyed watching a fairly new 'walker' escape from his mother, after the first time it became a game for him, by the fourth time, Mom didn't give chase and the poor little guy wandered back to make sure all was still well with his world, which for him was Mom.

As I look at the week ahead it again promises to be busy, but a pleasant busy. Monday will be the lunch with Shannon and the CT Sim. Tuesday I am lunching with Robin, Thursday (Valentine's Day) I will start a Return to Work course at Wellsprings that runs for eight weeks. I had to miss the first week for my radiation oncology appointment but hope to make the rest of the classes. After the course is my Herceptin treatment and then I will probably lay low again for Friday.

Take care everyone.