Incredible really.
It's exactly one year since I was diagnosed with cancer.
One whole year.
365 days.
So how's it been?
Hard work
At times, torturous
Lonely
But...
Enlightening
Funny
Mad
Thought provoking
Friendship making
Friendship testing
Parental needing
Family consolidating
Redefining.....me
Redefining.....my love for my husband
Redefining.....motherhood
Appreciation for acts of kindness and support, big and small
Even with a wonky boob
Even with uber cool short hair
Even with no tolerance to the sun in a British heatwave
Even with mega fatigue
Even with aching limbs
Even with the loss of short term memory (Is Winston Churchill still Prime Minister?)
Glad to be alive
Glad to be me
This anniversary of sorts has caught me wrong-footed. Up until the past week or so, I've been slowly getting back on an even keel. The fatigue still comes as a shock. I can have a couple of good days when it's easy to forget the past year then SLAP...I get knocked down as if I've been smacked by a big wet fish. And even then I think, " C'mon Jane. Get a move on. What's up with you today? - you lazy so & so..."
I saw My Surgeon two weeks ago. Just for fun - I wore my lucky magenta twin set again. He was pleased with his scalpel wielding skills. My scars have healed well from a surgical point of view. But he made no comment on my magenta bra & knickers. And if my digital mammogram, booked for August 1st, shows clear - then he's offered some reconstruction of the offending boob. Some liposuction from my tummy, to inject into & fill the gaps of wonky boob. Cool! I shall of course be offering up my thighs & bum for extra supplies of lipo - and all other volunteers - please form an orderly queue behind me! According to My Surgeon, it was all going 'According to plan'. Quite who's plan he was on about - I've no idea.
So just as I'm pretending to be normal - as my hair looks less like a cancer patient & more like a short purposeful pixie-cut - someone has chucked a trawler full of fish in my direction. I haven't felt right all week. Now it's probably a combination of it being a) too hot; b) Lily on school holidays - so I'm having no rest at all; c) the super steroid jab I had 3 months ago wearing off; d) just the thought of exercising - I've bought a bike, been to look round a gym, and go watch Lily in her swimming lessons....
So what's the solution? a) Good old British weather...it's be raining & cold next week; b) Anyone want to borrow Lily for a day? c) Another 'prick up the rear' d) Sit down & watch the Olympics....let someone else take the strain. Yep that'll do it. Sorted.
So - Happy 1st Anniversary
One year down.
Four to go
And then I can say
I'm a cancer survivor
Yipeeee!
