Well for those who only know me via the ones and zeros that is the internet, yes I am still alive. I have just checked the site and realise that it has nearly been a year since I posted anything. So much for being an active “Blog”!
Well what has been happening, I hear you ask. Life is what has been happening. In that last 12 months NED has still been staying with us and he is a good mate.
I have had to reduce my dose of the magic drug that is Alectinib due to side effects. This has helped me have a little more energy. As I like to put it, it has taken “the edge off”. This means in the morning, if I have had a good night sleep (so a solid 9 hours) I can get out of bed and be a nice and semi-active person. I am still needing my daytime sleep (not a quick ten minute nap but a 1/2 hour to an hour).
To be honest, i have been working out how my body works again and now trying to build up strength and get a new fit. This has meant looking into different exercises, ones that I have never tried. So for me this is currently reformer pilates. I have also managed to do some long hikes (at a very slow speed), but completed them non the less.
This has all come with a bit of a core focus on acceptance and seeking out assistance to manage the feelings that come with accepting some of the bigger issues that are ultimately out of my control. Now for my great analogy – (not even a movie one!!). It is a bit like getting caught in a rip in the ocean, you can swim against it. You will likely wear yourself out before you get to shore or drown trying. It is far wiser to go with it, then use that burst of energy when you can swim out of it easily and cruise back to shore in your own time letting the waves help you in.
I have to accept my cancer, my diagnosis, my not working, my lethargy, my fatigue, my weird sunburn, the way my muscles/joints just stop working for a few seconds randomly when I am tired (always makes my pilates instructors worry that they have broken me 😂 ). I need to save that energy/fight for when it comes back, which I hope is not for a long time.
In the meantime I am trying to do the things that make me happy and that we want to do. The Mad Scientist and I, along with the cheeky monkeys, are planning a long road trip together. When borders open up* more freely a trip to maybe Japan or somewhere else to blow the minds of the cheeky monkeys and perhaps to see if I can still snowboard.
(*COVID shut them in case you reading this in the future and going … What!!! borders closed – what planet are you on – well Australia shut its borders pretty harshly to protect its people from COVID and our death rate so far is very good compared to many other countries).