Friday 21 April 2017

A Minor Inconvenience

Water and Ice #3

When most people hear the word “cancer,” they expect the worst possible consequences.

And for many people, that’s what they get.

For whatever reason, my experience has been quite the opposite.

Water and Ice #5

From finding the squishy benign cyst on June 24 last year, to the malignant lump underneath that was removed November 10 (and having full motion on that side within two days), and finally completing sixteen radiation treatments March 9, I have had an amazing crew of people caring for me.

My surgeon made me laugh endlessly, and vice versa, while my medical oncologist and radiology specialist always treated me with respect when I drew the line at not having chemo, while the friends who walked me to my daily treatments, my mindful meditation and yoga group, and my psychologist kept me sane.

Water and Ice #6

I know I’ve been lucky in finding it early, getting appointments at what felt like light speed on many occasions, and that’s done a lot in having such success. Almost everyone I know has a friend or family member who hasn’t been aggressive as the cancer has in getting something not right looked at in time, and I wasn’t about to add to the list.

Water and Ice #8

That’s not to say the whole adventure has been a walk in the park (Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, in the case of these photographs), because it hasn’t. But the few side effects I have had (loss of sense of taste and sense of smell, and some minor burns from the radiation) have almost completely disappeared, and the mental stress has eased considerably.

The healing continues.



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