With the Russian madman causing mayhem in the world, I am really trying to maintain a positive outlook.
The war news is dominating and it’s difficult to avoid. But am very aware of how my mental health can affect my physical health, so I am attempting (and so far succeeding) to limit my news watching/viewing. I look at just enough to get a very superficial overview but even that is more than I want. I feel so sad for all the people affected by this megalomaniac!
Time flies by, even the chemo treatments. Yesterday was #5 of the planned 6. The results of my blood tests continue to be good. The cancer marker went from 301 to 187 this week. But not low enough to move on to the next stage. Dr. McCleave said they want to see it at around 30 which is quite a long way yet.
When I came back to South Africa in 2019, I naturally gravitated to where I was born and grew up. And actually ended up in the what we used to call the village of Kloof. (It’s no longer a village!) Kloof is about 18 miles/29km from Durban and just on 1600ft/500km above sea level, giving the area a more moderate climate than Durban, usually being a good 10F less which was the case when I took Rodney to the park this afternoon. Plus less humid.
The fourth treatment went as planned. Mick came with me so he was able to meet my doctor. It’s always good to have another set of ears in a consultation but this one was very straightforward because everything is going so well.
November 16 last year is the fateful day I got the definitive news that changed my life.
By then I ‘d been in hospital for 8 days going through tests and everything else that goes along with a cancer diagnosis. I’d just had laparoscopic surgery for a biopsy and the GYN/surgeon came to visit me after I had very gently been given the diagnosis. He’s a lovely man and from reading his bio, a pretty religious one as well. He said to me as he sat at my bedside, “Have you considered end of life?”
Here we are at 6 months of lockdown. Six very l-o-n-g months! And now, on Level 2 and soon Level 1, life has picked up and it feels like I’m going at full steam again.On one hand it’s exhilarating to be so busy and have so much to do. But I am actually missing the long days with nothing planned and nowhere to go. It was such a time of retrospection, introspection and calmness (if you stayed away from politics).
Helping out at Woza Moya (Hillcrest Aids Centre) has its benefits! Yesterday I was was able to go on a trip I have been really looking forward to, out into the Valley of a 1000 Hills, where the majority of Woza Moya beaders live. We’ve been working on a Christmas (yes, Christmas!) promotion and the purpose of the trip was to do video and photos for the promotion. We planned on visiting at least two of the bead ladies in their homes.
There’s a countdown clock on TV, clicking off the seconds until we go into lockdown here in South Africa. And this is a real lockdown, with pretty much no movement out of your house allowed. No going for walk, even alone. No jogging. No walking the dog. No take away food vendors or fast food or food deliveries. No veering off the path to the grocery store if you don’t want to be stopped by the police, backed up by the army. It’s pretty much martial law.
