my superhero quizz!

Who the heck was the Green Lantern?!!!!







Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

another new start!

Seem to be making a habit of these ... sigh!

So, I'm back at work again, trying to take it easy and not do too much. And trying very hard to be a bit more careful about hygiene etc. Never was a great one for that - always happy to pick food up off (my) floor and eat it! But all this has given me a bit of a fright - on Sunday I cut myself in the kitchen and got in a complete panic that some of the staph bugs that live all over our skins could get into me again via the cut! Rushed around madly looking for disinfectant etc ... Touch wood I seem to be OK (it is Thursday after all now) from that. But it was a bit of a wake-up call to take more care and be more aware for a while, till hopefully my immune system comes back up.

Went to choir practice last night for the first time (since last July). That was lovely ... I was actually a bit tired and could have done with not having to drive into Brisbane. But I really wanted to get the music and just see everyone again. I only stayed till 8.30, and was home and in bed by 9.30 so I guess it wasn't too bad!

And so to yoga ... am going back to class on Saturday again - that's what I mean about another new start! I've been missing for 2 weeks from class so it'll be nice to go back again, and start again from the beginning. Not that I had got past 'the beginning' anyway, so ...

big smiles all round

Me and the pussycat are home - both of us very happy to be here! Feeling 100%, bone marrow completely clear and everything looking great again!

Tomorrow a big day working on the foame:e poetry zine, the new edition for which goes live on 1st March. The 2 other people involved are coming over here (with lunch!) to spend the day working through what's been done and what still needs to be done.

Then Sunday and Monday I can collapse again, going back to work on Tuesday ... :)

she spoke too soon ...

Well, funny how things can change! During the week I was feeling more and more tired, and suddenly realised I should be checking my temperature. On Friday evening when I got home from work I did that and discovered I had one! 38.2C! So I rang the hospital, and got a call back a while later telling me to come back in!!

Not what I had been planning to do with my weekend!! Most of my clothes were waiting to be washed over the weekend, I had hardly any library books ... a very different scenario from when I would go into hospital last year! And what to do with my pussycat?! In the end I decided I'd probably only be in a couple of days, so left lots of food down for her, plus her cat-door open so she could get in and out. Took enough clothes for 4 days, a couple of books and my laptop, and drove off. Five days later, and I'm still here, though I'm feeling fine!

Turned out I had a staph infection in my porta-cath (the device they 'implanted' into me to drip intravenous fluids/chemo into me). God knows how it got there, but ... Anyway, they had to resort to pretty heavy duty antibiotics to get rid of it (I've been on 3 different ones of varying strengths!). But by Monday I'd stopped having shivering, teeth-chattering fits and/or heat attacks and my temperature had gone back to normal! And I have been feeling perfectly fine since then! My doctor is keeping me here till the end of the week as he wants to keep the antibiotics up so make sure it doesn't come back. Which seems like a good idea!

Luckily I managed to get someone to go out to my house on Sunday to collect some more clothes, and most importantly, to catch Mieke pussycat and take her to the pet motel! That was such a weight off my mind that she managed to do this! I'd been so worried about her ... she's such a sociable cat, and hates being left for even a couple of days!

Felt really bad to be off work for another week (at least) after I'd only been back for three. I know it's not my fault, but still ... They are, of course, being really supportive and telling me to take whatever time I need.

I certainly do live in interesting times ... :)

I learnt something ...

from the nurses, not the doctor, yesterday! Apparently it takes 6 to 12 months after you have finished having chemo, for its effects to fully leave the body!! Maybe my doctor or someone told me that before, but if so I'd completely forgotten it! I really need to take that on board and get rid of my unrealistic expectations about what I 'should' be able to do!!

Anyway - my last mabthera treatment yesterday - went fine, like a breeze. Though my blood levels have got lower this time. I'm wondering if the fact that I'd given up on taking the astrogalus (Chinese herb) lately has had an impact on them? I stopped because I thought it wasn't doing anything. My blood levels didn't seem to be improving. But they weren't going backwards either!! Anyway, I'm back on that now! And my doctor said just to watch my temperature (ie. take it if I think it's rising, and let the hospital know immediately if that happens), and not to worry?!?!

Meeting with doctor went fine. He's scheduled a series of 'end of treatment' tests for after Easter - bone marrow biopsy, PET and CT scans. He said he's not expecting to find anything, but just to be sure/have as a reference point. And then (I think) I'll be down to 3-monthly visits to him, to keep an eye on things.

Now I can forget about it all for the next 6 weeks anyway!!! Have to take it a bit easy today - I'm always a bit tired the day after treatment. But things are good, going well ... !

just standing ...

Well, I went to class on the weekend. I was pretty tired the whole weekend, but decided I would go anyway. I'm glad I did. I told Richard I thought I'd start off (again!) by just doing standing, as he had suggested the previous time I started again! He was pleased - said he always suggests that to people who are starting back after a long illness (or whatever) but very few people would do that! (good mark to me!!)

Anyway, that's what I did, and it was good. I was glad. I'm going to carry on that way for a few weeks and gradually build up again.

Coz actually I was quite tired this weekend ... I'd been tired the previous one, the first one after coming back to work, and felt fine about that. But this time I wasn't expecting it and so was a bit disappointed! However, I expect I'm suffering from a case of unrealistic expectations about my progress! In that I'm thinking I'm already fully recovered! Obviously not the case ... Just have to keep reminding myself to take it one step at a time!

(from a not very patient person!)