Spring 2013

I’m getting better. At home I’m in charge of dinners and running the calendar. I still have a nap every afternoon, but I’m getting out and doing things. I’ve been to yoga, and I’ve been to the dentist (chemo is bad for your teeth and gums). Turns out the stain on my front tooth was probably a blood stain. I’m in remission and my blood counts are near enough to normal. I've enrolled to study one unit over summer. I should finish my degree at the end of next year.

I’m still on the transplant medications, but will be getting off them over the next eight months. My doctor wants me to return to my leukaemia drug soon, the one I was on before that costs over $5000 a month. He wants me to take it as insurance that the leukaemia doesn’t return. Thing is, it isn’t available under the PBS to post-transplant patients. He is appealing to the pharmaceutical company to give it to me for free on compassionate grounds. 

Now that the weather is warming I'm being careful about sunburn. Because of the treatment I'm at high risk of getting skin cancer.

I’m reading books again. I wasn’t reading because, I realised, my hands were too cold. Then it took me some time to realise I need my reading glasses all the time, not just sometimes. My eyesight has deteriorated due to the radiation therapy. I’m getting cataracts that will need to be removed. My doctor has referred me to an opthamologist at the hospital.

I’m giving up following politics for a while - it’s all too exhausting. I’ve gone all Serenity Prayer. Decided to concentrate on what is within my control, so I’m spring cleaning.

I hope I haven’t given the impression that living a little life being involved in a small community isn’t enough for me. I love my little community. I don’t go very far from home by choice. I know I already have the things that matter in life.