5th chemo session - done and dusted
Jan 2, 2019
My initial outlook on the chemotherapy sessions was this: “I can do ANYTHING 12 times.” Since there are 12 scheduled chemo sessions. The interesting thing is that this saying is actually adapted from my fitness training. Most horrendous, suffer-inducing workouts generally have time caps or a specific number or reps or sets that are ‘required’ to ‘Rx’ the workout (complete the workout in the prescribed fashion). In the middle of these workouts I would always tell myself that I can do ANYTHING “n” number of times; it was an easy way to mentally armour oneself against the pain. I can safely say, that, so far, this mental game seems to be working rather well for my current challenges!
Chemo round five is "done and dusted”, as the Irish saying goes (well, I guess it’s a UK saying, but while in Rome). Denise and I believe that i’ve actually gotten a bit better at handling the chemo each time … this doesn’t mean that the side effects are less, just that we’re able to anticipate the effects and properly deploy counter measures at the proper times. Nausea being the biggest culprit. I’m not sure if you have ever experienced ongoing nausea, but let me assure you, it’s nothing to take lightly. It’s amazing how a bit of nausea can completely derail a daily routine. It makes it very difficult, indeed, almost impossible to properly concentrate on complex tasks, and sometimes even simple ones. Imagine getting off the shittiest, sickness inducing roller coaster you can think of and then being required to take a technical test of some sort.
I’m not getting to the gym nearly as much as I had ‘planned’ to … the fatigue is very real, I’m definitely getting more sleep these days than I think I’ve ever gotten in my entire life 🙂 Since I’m not getting as much gym time, I have been trying to make sure that I get good walks in every day. I’ve also attempted to join the “Float Life”; I purchased the OneWheel and have been trying to get out on that a bit to keep my coordination up.
We had a wonderful Christmas and New Years holiday, and hope all of you did as well! Denise, Connor and Riley had great visits from Santa and hopefully I’ll
be reaping the benefits of their gifts soon! Riley got a new acoustic guitar and lessons (thanks gma and poppop)! I fully expect her to perform a full
on concert for me within a few weeks. Connor got a new SLR, as he was using Denise’s old one which was definitely a bit dated. So we should have
amazing photos to share with everyone soon enough!
We have an exciting guest here over New Years, Brynn Hughes flew from PA to hang out with us (well, to be
honest, mostly with Connor). She mentioned that Connor did an “ok” job as a tourist guide for Dublin - so the next time one of you lovely
people decide to visit Dublin, you won’t even need a guide! We also had a very cute little visitor over the holidays, “Kaia”, a cute
little 3 year old bundle of energy (adorable dog in the picture above). Denise and the kids became very attached, as she was quite a little snuggle
bug. So, now I know what type of puppy to get Denise when we “settle down” somewhere 😉
Nerdy bits: I’ve started contributing compute time to SETI and Rosetta under the team: “Team Colson”. Feel free to get nerdy with me and join our group! Link explaining HERE.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone! We love you! Peace & Love!Jay & Denise
