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 ...

first post

Well, I haven't set this up completely to my liking yet, but may as well make a start!

I'm off to hospital on Monday to start my chemo treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma (mantle cell). I can take my laptop in with me, and hopefully that means I'll be able to get connected somehow. So I'll post some more info etc then, when I can slow down. Right now it all seems such a rush - doing all the last minute things etc. As I've got to stay in hospital for 2 weeks ...

Today's my last day at work for a few months. I may be able to come back part-time in November or December, or maybe not till January - time will tell I guess! Anyway, to my total amazement, they had a morning tea for me at work today, and I got given 60 small presents! I'm to open one every other day or so!! Someone else here who'd been through chemo a couple of years ago suggested this ... I was blown away! In fact, it's probably the first time I've cried in all of this!

This evening I'm off to QPAC (Queensland Performing Arts Centre) where the choir I'm in (QUMS) is singing Carmina Burana as part of a huge youth music festival. Should be great - we're not all that youthful :), but anyway, a great way to start this next 'step' in my life!

And tomorrow I'll be going to my last yoga class for a while. Though I'm hoping I'll be able to get to a class in the one week of the 3-week cycle that I'm at home. We shall see ... I've got my David Swenson dvd so I can practice at home in that week. I just have no idea what I'll be able to do with a porta-cath in. I'm not taking my yoga mat into the hospital for the first time - the doctor was quite surprised when I asked if I'd be able to do yoga during that period! But - I'm taking it all on a 'wait and see' basis. If it seems possible then I'll take the mat in the next time.