It seems no time at all since I wrote the last sentence of my "Background". It read "....the sooner I get started, the sooner I will be through it". Here I am at the end of the year with all the nasty treatment behind me. I will still have a "fix" of Herceptin every 3 weeks but apart from the inconvenience of having it administered it causes me no problem at all. I was a bit worried about having to take pills for 5 years but again they are not causing any problems. The Doctor said I might find that I had stiff joints but I will keep up the exercise to counteract that. I would say that it takes me an extra few seconds to go from 0 - 100 but at least I can still go at 100 .....eventually!
What now? I had a dialogue with Gordon McCready whose journey has been so much worse than mine. He said that he always had a goal to focus the mind on and I am going to take his advice and plan my year. We are going to Madeira in February (flights permitting!) and to Vienna and Budapest with the Theatre Patrons in June. These are the only events that are fixed at this moment but I look forward to sitting down with John to decide what our other priorities will be. Top of the list would be a family holiday with our children and grandchildren which now amount to (including spouses) 16.
Will I ever cycle from John O'Groats to Landsend? We are going to get a date in the diary to discuss this with Liz and Lewis Wood and work out a training plan. Might even try the London to Paris cycle but maybe that is too soon. I would also like to have a go at Tai Chi (spelling?) and put some effort into coming to terms with golf.
On the less physical front I think I will have a go at learning to play the accordian which if nothing else must be a good brain exercise (if I can find it!). As John and I both have Skye connections I would like to do a Highland Tour in conjunction with Family Tree research. I have many other things on my wish list although I know I will not manage them all in the short term.
I have to stop for a moment and think of the people I know who are still going through this and my heart goes out to them as it is no picnic. I recognise I have been lucky as I did not have to go through the traumas of a mastectomy but for those who do there is so much expertise out there in the form of reconstruction. Just think - 90% of Holywood women embark on such operations by choice! I have also been lucky to have such strong support from family and friends and would like to thank them all especially John (who will never read this anyway!) for getting me through it.
What advice would I pass on from my experience? For me the main thing that has helped me is keeping up some form of exercise. I separated "really not feeling like exercise" from "cannot be bothered doing exercise". When I experienced the latter I pushed myself just a little bit and generally felt the better of it. Writing a diary, or blog in my case, was very therapeutic and I counted down the days rather than dwelling on the whole journey. I do not know what is in front of me but we are all on "The List" somewhere and I am not going sit around worrying about it.
I am looking forward to putting 2009 behind me and I am now drawing a line under the whole year. 2010 is the beginning of the rest of my life and I am looking forward to knocking the hell out of it!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!
What now? I had a dialogue with Gordon McCready whose journey has been so much worse than mine. He said that he always had a goal to focus the mind on and I am going to take his advice and plan my year. We are going to Madeira in February (flights permitting!) and to Vienna and Budapest with the Theatre Patrons in June. These are the only events that are fixed at this moment but I look forward to sitting down with John to decide what our other priorities will be. Top of the list would be a family holiday with our children and grandchildren which now amount to (including spouses) 16.
Will I ever cycle from John O'Groats to Landsend? We are going to get a date in the diary to discuss this with Liz and Lewis Wood and work out a training plan. Might even try the London to Paris cycle but maybe that is too soon. I would also like to have a go at Tai Chi (spelling?) and put some effort into coming to terms with golf.
On the less physical front I think I will have a go at learning to play the accordian which if nothing else must be a good brain exercise (if I can find it!). As John and I both have Skye connections I would like to do a Highland Tour in conjunction with Family Tree research. I have many other things on my wish list although I know I will not manage them all in the short term.
I have to stop for a moment and think of the people I know who are still going through this and my heart goes out to them as it is no picnic. I recognise I have been lucky as I did not have to go through the traumas of a mastectomy but for those who do there is so much expertise out there in the form of reconstruction. Just think - 90% of Holywood women embark on such operations by choice! I have also been lucky to have such strong support from family and friends and would like to thank them all especially John (who will never read this anyway!) for getting me through it.
What advice would I pass on from my experience? For me the main thing that has helped me is keeping up some form of exercise. I separated "really not feeling like exercise" from "cannot be bothered doing exercise". When I experienced the latter I pushed myself just a little bit and generally felt the better of it. Writing a diary, or blog in my case, was very therapeutic and I counted down the days rather than dwelling on the whole journey. I do not know what is in front of me but we are all on "The List" somewhere and I am not going sit around worrying about it.
I am looking forward to putting 2009 behind me and I am now drawing a line under the whole year. 2010 is the beginning of the rest of my life and I am looking forward to knocking the hell out of it!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!
