Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Canada Day! As I hoped, June was a great month for me: I did everything I could to heal my body and to lift my spirits. I feel ready to start radiation treatments tomorrow.

 

Early in the month, I realized that food tasted as it should again. The big test was peanut butter. Several times I had had a bagel with peanut butter for breakfast during my chemo months, and it was VERY disappointing. My siblings will attest to the fact that peanut butter is one of my favourite tastes. In high school, I had a peanut butter and jam sandwich every day!! So imagine not being able to get the reward that familiar and delicious flavours provide.  Over the course of my chemo, I found myself eating more than I should, trying to find a taste reward. In fact, contrary to most people’s expectations, I gained weight during the treatment. I am sure there were other factors that caused me to put on some pounds, like the steroids I took for three days around the time of my infusions, but since I am extremely weight conscious these days, I was not happy to see a higher number on the scale.

 

Consequently, my challenge for June was to enjoy my favourite foods again, while at the same time losing a few pounds so that I could feel comfortable in my clothes. I have done just that. I have eaten well, sometimes very well – dinner at the Oban Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake was a stand out – but I have made good choices and added enough exercise to burn off unwanted pounds. Occasionally, I have savoured the taste of Kraft peanut butter (there is no better brand, right Gail?), and, a few weeks ago, I opened the caramel sauce that Jess gave me for Christmas, warmed it, and drizzled it over some frozen yogourt. Yummy!!

 

With radiation cramping any July travel plans, I took two mini vacations in June, one over three days and one over four days. Bob and I pampered ourselves in the Niagara region on the first weekend of June. We golfed twice, attended two performances at the Shaw Festival, and, of course, I shopped along Queen Street. The weather cooperated too: both the Friday and Saturday were warm and sunny. On June 18^th, I started my second vacation. This time, my son, Graeme, and his buddy, Rob, joined me for our fifth baseball road trip in the last seven years. We made our way to Boston, staying with Gail and Bob Lovering in their beautiful home. We took in games at Fenway Park, in Cape Cod and in Manchester, New Hampshire. There was a good chance the weather could have ruined our plans, but we were very fortunate. The sun shone during our evening in Boston, and on our trip to Cape Cod; it did rain in New Hampshire but since we were given suite seats, we could watch the game through glass if we wanted. This trip was really fun. I laughed constantly, it seemed. If laughter is the best medicine, then I had a huge dose of it.

 

I haven’t mentioned the medical side of things because I have had only one appointment since my last report. However, I did not get off scot-free. Apparently, I developed a urinary tract infection (UTI in med-speak), or so my June urine sample indicated.  I did not know because I was asymptomatic; however, I took an antibiotic for a week, and I am assuming I am better now. I will know for sure after my next check-up.

 

My only visit to the hospital was for “radiation planning”. I met Oliver, a technician, who interviewed me, and then (after I waited about an hour), prepared me for future appointments in a machine that looks like an MRI contraption. I was positioned on the bed, lying on my back with my left arm above my head, resting in a tube-like container, and then, some pictures were taken, I think. I had to lie still for fifteen or twenty minutes. As I lay there, I thought of my acupuncturist and my physiotherapist, who had loosened up my shoulder in March and April. Without their efforts, I would have been in excruciating pain for those twenty minutes. Thanks Victoria and Shiraz!!  In due course, Oliver and his fellow technician, Connie, came at me with Sharpie pens and drew circles and other geometric figures on my left breast. Lastly, I was tattooed four times, in a square formation around my scar. The tattoos are boring – little dots that look like blackheads. I had asked for butterflies but that was not to be.

 

So now I am ready for tomorrow’s first radiation treatment. I will be making my way to the hospital every weekday in July, until the 30^th. I will send a report in about a week, once I get the hang of it.