Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Christy’s first job was to do marketing surveys for a company. Whenever Pat or I fit into the age category she or her friend was looking for we were happy to answer their calls. A long time has passed though and now we always decline to answer any surveys when they call.

A few days ago I received a letter asking me to go online and take a survey regarding my stay in hospital. Of course I completely ignored it. But today when the telephone rang and caller ID suggested it was the hospital I answered it. Sadly the woman at the end of the line wanted me to do the survey by telephone. I agreed to answer her questions, all of which were very positive towards the hospital staff, nurses and doctors. It went on an on and before we were done a half-hour had passed. Next time I’ll do it online.

I started my day in the sewing room by finishing up the project I was working on yesterday. It still requires some hand stitching and a lot of ends need to be knotted and buried. I had to spend a bit of time online taking a refresher course on how to face a quilt and how to add corner triangles for hanging. How quickly you forget the techniques if you don’t use them.

I’ve also managed to work on another set of projects for the 12 Days packages. They too still need some handwork done and, again, I had to do a refresher on the Nun Stitch. These two projects will go over to Texada with us tomorrow where I’ll hopefully finish them by the end of the weekend.

Yes, we plan to head across to Texada tomorrow afternoon. We won’t go in the morning just in case I get a call regarding any one of my upcoming appointments. I’m sure the calls, when they come, will be in the morning and I’m quite sure none of them will be for appointments the following day – more likely I’ll have several days notice. The wind has picked up this afternoon, as well as the rain is starting, so we’ll hope the ferries keep running.

I’ll get back to work now and wrap up a couple more sets for my 12 Days packages.

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

I did an extra lap on the treadmill this morning. I’m determined to be in the best possible shape before I start my treatments. Between the walking and my arm exercises I feel like I’m doing more now than I have since I quit yoga.

My attempt to keep busy worked well too. I wrapped up two more packages (times three) for my 12 Days packages; I have one more set ready to wrap and another set that need a bit added. I think by the time those are done I’ll be ready for another trip to the post office.

There are two more packages that I need before I’m finished. Unfortunately I still have work to do on both of them. I’ve been putting off even working on one set of projects – I’m not sure why. I was determined to at least get my machine threaded and ready to go tomorrow but once that was done I made a start and now I’m almost finished one of them.

I was going to have a nap this afternoon but then remembered that a quilter was coming to pick up some items for their Christmas party. While I waited I opened up my Diamond Dots and got quite a bit filled in. I’m working on the last three colours, although I’ve missed a few spots throughout the picture that will need to be filled in at the last.

So, while I listen in on my Sunset Safari, I’ll get back to work.

Monday, November 21, 2022

I had my appointment at our local Cancer Clinic this morning and learned a lot about the process ahead of me. There are a lot of variables but they will be answered in the coming weeks. The doctor I saw today isn’t a dedicated oncologist (we don’t have one in Powell River) but she has been managing the Clinic here for a long time. She went over my pathology report and we know more about what was said in it and why we are where we are today.

Ever the optimist, I expected to be told I’d be on a pill form of chemo and that would be the end of it. Sadly that won’t be the case. I will require chemo for probably 3-4 months (one of those things we don’t have an answer for) and there is the possibility of radiation treatment at the end of the chemo. I was unprepared for this information, although I knew it was a possibility.

But to get this all started she has referred me to the Cancer Clinic in Vancouver but warned me I might wait as long as six weeks for an appointment. The Vancouver clinic will determine the mix of chemo that is recommended and pass that information back to the doctor in our local Cancer Clinic (it will be our “old” family doctor that carries out the IV prescriptions). In the meantime I’ll have a full body CT scan, an echocardiogram and a bone scan. With the exception of the bone scan everything will be done in Powell River; the bone scan will be in Comox. She expects these will all be done by the time I see the Vancouver Cancer Clinic so there will be no delay in starting treatments after they get the prescribe course of meds.

The doctor says I should keep myself busy doing the things I’m interested in. Although there were a lot of things I could (and probably should) be doing I’ve spent a lot of my day with my Diamond Dots. Yesterday I started walking on the treadmill as the weather doesn’t really cooperate with a walk on the track. I’m doing a mile and a half which is about six laps around the track. It feels good to be walking and the treadmill doesn’t hurt me at all but it isn’t as pleasant as a walk in the fresh air.

We made a couple of stops on the way home this morning. We got several Christmas packages in the mail and I picked up a new book at the library. Between finishing up my Christmas parcels, reading, walking and a few stitch-related projects my days will be full.

Friday, November 18, 2022

My original plan was to wait for the Cancer Clinic to call me regarding an appointment. It was taking so much longer than I anticipated so Plan B was to call them three weeks after my last surgeon’s appointment, which would have been Monday. But yesterday I was impatient so I called the Cancer Clinic to see where I was on their list – sadly they hadn’t even received my referral. This annoyed me because I had previously called the surgeon’s office to be sure all the paperwork had gone through. The Clinic told me to call the surgeon’s office again, which I did. The surgeon’s receptionist told me that they would send the referral over again, and that they had been talking to the Clinic in the meantime regarding it.

I decided to wait a bit and call the surgeon’s office again just be confirm that it had been sent and that the Clinic had received it. The website said the office was open until 5:30 but when I called at 4:05 their message said they closed at four, so I had missed them and they wouldn’t be open again until Monday.

This morning I called the Cancer Clinic to confirm they had the paperwork. They had it but the doctor hadn’t yet seen it. Not long later they called me and booked my appointment for Monday morning at nine. I’m glad to be getting this next step started.

We enjoyed the sunshine today after about three days of being socked in with fog. There were no planes in or out for a few days and we were really tired of hearing the ferries sounding their fog horns every few minutes. We took advantage of the sunshine and got out for a walk – I’m up to six laps for the first time today.

I’ve been trying to get everything sorted for my 12 Days parcel. Just when I thought I had it all collected (except for the few things I have to finish) one of my ideas was a failure so I had to come up with something else. I found another project but that too didn’t turn out as I wanted so I’ve started on a third and final idea. If this one doesn’t work we may be down to 11 Days.

We thought once I heard from the Cancer Clinic we would try to get across to Texada but we decided not to go. Probably just as well as I’m going to try to get most, if not everything, wrapped for the mail just in case I have a bit of down-time after my appointment.