Oh my!!! Time has gotten away on me and I haven't been posting on the blog regularly. Briefly, I am very healthy and I have lots of energy and strength. This is why I haven't posted. The summer was spent outdoors with my gardening. After years of neglect, I finally got the gardens somewhat weed free and flourishing. My vegetable garden performed very well and I spent the last couple of months reaping the benefits of the vegetables. My freezer is full for the upcoming winter with various soups, beets and sauces. I also froze my apples, pears, rhubarb and zucchini in quantities for baking throughout the winter.
Thanksgiving was a beautiful holiday even though my children were not able to spend it with us. Instead, we shared the holiday and harvest meal with my husband's cousin. It was a lovely weekend. The weather was unseasonably warm and we were able to enjoy an evening around the small, contained fire pit.
Throughout the month of September, the plan to finally return to work was put in place. With excitement and some trepidation, I started the process of the required medical tests and procedures which are required to volunteer or work in the hospital environment. After asking my oncologist a question regarding the timing of my last maintenance chemo treatment and the flu shot, I received information from my doctor that indicated I should not return to work or volunteer in the public realm and certainly not in the hospital. My immune system is permanently suppressed and even with all the vaccinations, I am very susceptible to all the viruses that circulate. It was a very sad day for me. It was difficult to have to tell my manager that I would not be returning to work on November 11 as previously planned. My emotions were very close to the surface. I felt anger as this disease has once again taken something that I thoroughly enjoyed away from me. I felt grief. I felt sadness as I won't see my co-workers on a regular basis. I felt like I was a failure. I've since recovered some of my joie de vivre. I continue to look for another way to make myself a contributing member of society. I may look into volunteering at the food bank but not with the public part of that. I could help unload and put away the various food items on the storage shelves.
With the good weather behind us and winter looming, I have decided to enroll in an exercise program. I intend to pick up my painting again. I haven't painted regularly since 1990. I am going to learn to paint using acrylics instead of oils this time. I will still have my blog that I can write in. And maybe, if I have good energy and we have enough snow, I can pick up snow shoeing again. I have also been able to return to singing in the church choir. I'm thoroughly enjoying it!!
Today, I will have my last maintenance treatment of Rituxan. Yayyy!!!!! I saw my oncologist yesterday and all my blood levels are in the normal range. I will have this last treatment this afternoon and then I'm off to a special dinner with my hubby and 2 very close friends. If I need to leave the dinner early, our friends are willing to drive me home as Hubby has some obligations to take care of at the evening event.
As I write this, our first snow is drifting lazily down. Big, fluffy snowflakes have been falling all morning and are accumulating on the ground. Hubby rode The Big Wing (his Honda Goldwing motorcycle) to the shop for storage this morning in the snow. That was a first. The poor Big Wing has never seen snow while we've owned it. We will look forward to next Spring when it will come home and we can go out for our rides again. My next post on the blog will tell all about our summer vacation in August on The Big Wing. Life is full of adventures and I really have climbed out of my doldrums of the last few weeks. It's time to look forward and see what life brings my way. As of yesterday, I have graduated to seeing my oncologist every 6 months for a check up.
Keep checking back for future posts which will happen more regularly now.
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