Long time; no blog

It's been a long time since I've published anything.

I've probably covered off some of these life events in previous posts, but it's been a rather disjointed few years.

Stay tuned for a disjointed update.

Including:

• Replacement Transpacific cruise
• Cruise cancelled by a wee pandemic
• Cancer diagnosis
• Living with an ileostomy
• Cruising with an ileostomy
• Ileostomy reversal & recovery.
• etc

Geez, how'd that happen? UPDATE

 Following on from the previous post, here's an update on what's happened since.

May 2021:

Both chemotherapy & radiation therapy conveniently ended in the last week of May. The wait for next steps began.

June 2021:

The fatigue was too much at time. Very short work days as the effect of both treatment slowly eked their way out of my body.

July 2021:

Surgery confirmed for August. Quick trip home to visit mum & sister at end of July.

August 2021:

The joy of bowel prep (not as bad as for the colonoscopy) in readiness for being put to sleep on a table for a while.

Woke up mild delirious, unknown if I proposed to doctors or nurses, but aware my anesthetist owes me a very large Bacardi & Coke. That collect ain't gonna happen for some time.

Also woke up to catheter & ileostomy bag. Mild shock to the system. Expected the first as part the operation, & warned about the second. Took a couple of days to find my feet, & the joy of having a pee was a welcome relief.

Discharged a week later. Nurse wanted me in for another nigh, but overruled by doctors who thought home was best.

To cap it off New Zealand gets first cases of COVID-19 Delta strain and whole country goes into various stages of lockdown.

Off work for the rest of August with series of home visits to slowly learn the process of changing the bag. Highly frustrating time.

September 2021:

Back to work (from home) on hours I can. A very generous & understanding employer. 

Home nurse visits & education continued. Also big learnings in regard to what food to eat, what to limit, and steps to take when things take a wild turn; bags of fun. Managed to do first solo bag change towards the end of the month and have continued since then.

COVID-19 Delta strain lockdown levels adjusted depending on serious of community transmission in region of country.

Appoint with the chemotherapy oncologist also recommendation a new longer course of chemo; same drugs as before, but with added 3-weekly infusion at hospital, that plus added anti-nausea medication. 4 rounds of this will take me up to Christmas, so no firm plans made for this festivus.

October 2021:

First social outing in over two month. Slow walk to local pub, only one wine consumed, but a meat pack won. That some foods for the week or two sorted.

First actual sit-down not-at-home dining out. Pancakes & bacon; also a learning experience.

New round of chemo starts Tuesday the 5th. 2 weeks of treatment & one week off. 2 weeks of being less than social & hopefully much of the rest week to build up to being a bit more normal. Then repeat another three times. Due to the potential immunity reducing side-effects of treatment I'll be working from home for another 3 months.

Hopefully 2022 will have my insides back from the outside into my insides & life will be a bit more normal.

Geez, how'd that happen?

 So if you read the last blog (thanks whoever did) or read my tweets, you'll have found out that I've been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Here's the shortened version of the <cough> "journey" (apparently that word isn't the best descriptor):

Warning: There will be words & waffle.

Oct 2018:

Went to my usual medical practise, (but couldn't see the usual GP) because of a bit of blood in the poos. Had the finger (med, it's not that bad), sent away for blood tests (nothing unusual found), and told to monitor. The blood where it's not wanted disappeared.

Oct 2020:

Went to my doctor because blood was back. Another finger, more blood tests, and a referral to specialist.

Jan 2021:

Specialist referral received. Yep, unless you go private, things move slow on the public list.

Feb 2021: Here's where the shit get's more real

Went in expecting a sigmoidoscopy; that's a small camera into where the sun don't shine. A bigger finger later, and specialist recommends a colonoscopy.

March 2021:

Colonoscopy through public healthcare. A very interesting watch, totally recommended for those not squeamish about what goes on in their insides. Unfortunately the nurse who usually gives out the results and counselling wasn't available so the doctor who did the camera came up with "You've got cancer" & here's the report, & you'll be got in contact with. Wow, fuck you mate.

Contacted by the more sympathetic nurse, & given a far better lowdown of what's to come.

Just of a week later a CT scan of chest, abdomen, & pelvis to confirm where cancer was and if it had spread. Plus an iron infusion for good luck.

 A couple of days later, a MRI scan to check the local area & surrounding bowel. Then back to the specialist for quick look at results. Confirmed size, location, and possible treatment options.

A couple of days later, got the news. Due to catching the cancer early on it's not the aggressive short-term treatment, but the longer 6 week combination of daily chemo tablets & radiation therapies.

Late March, met with the Chemotherapy Oncologist. An excellent doctor who explain the therapies very clearly, wanted to get me started ASAP, but had to wait until his colleague had seen me.

April 2021:

Seen by the Radiation Oncologist. Again covered what I'd already heard, but explained more about that side of the treatment.

Couple of days later in for another localised CT scan, & body tattoo dot to help the lasers align.

Home visit by a community nurse. Another well spoken professional.

20th it all starts. First radiation treatment, but without chemo (prescription in hand). No side effects, but warned that effects of both treatments will be accumulative. Took the first dose of chemo drugs that night.

Late April the brain fade & nausea is becoming a thing. More tablets to try to combat that. Nausea is easy, the brain fade not so. Brain fade possibly also due to a lack of liquid before taking chemo tablets; so daily diet/intake adjusted.

May 2021:

The pains & fatigue are intensifying. Paracetamol is all I'm allowed due to interaction of other painkiller with other drugs I'm on.

Last Wednesday was the first day I couldn't cope with work. Fatigue & tiredness hit me within an hour of starting & soon sent "home" (already working from home).

Survived a very satisfying day in the actual office. Great uplifting banter from colleagues that I'd not physically seen for many months.

But that level of intensity totally me for Friday, & stayed at "home" again. Hoped the weekend would see me better.

Nope, despite a trip into town for a nice steak, any form of physical activity just added more fatigue & tiredness. Tried curling up to sleep, but brain not obeying body.

Today, Monday, just like Friday. My brain just hasn't wanted me to be a function human being until I started writing this. It's only down here now because of solid concentration on one task; feel free to point out spelling/grammar errors after you read.

So there it is. The story so far. I'm roughly half-way the treatments & I just really kinda thinking of packing it in workwise until it's all over an done with. People to talk to about that, & decisions to be made.

Apologies for waffling on. Feel free to comment.

Hopefully, to be continued.

That was a year 2020/2021

Nothing much has happened over the last year, so here's a summary.
No dates, but trying to be in roughly chronological order.

• Measles panic started hitting the world. One of the stops on our planned trans-Pacific cruise got rerouted
• COVID-19 corona virus struck another blow, and things really started fall apart.
• Ship, Ruby Princess, we were on for the planned for Apr/May 2020 cruise got quarantined in Australia.
• Lockdown came into full effect in New Zealand. Cruise got cancelled, but could work from home.
• Fun and games with travel refunds.
• The quickest refund was for a non-refundable hotel room. Thanks Accor, & sorry that the hotel we'd have stayed in is now a inbound traveller quarantine facility.
• The cruise refund became messy. It processed as a credit rather than refund. We were told it could take up to 3 months to correct. Accepted the credit as we'd be able to use that on a later cruise.
• The refund for flights is effectively impossible, because of booking through a travel agent. It may be the traveller's names on the ticket, but because they didn't pay the carrier they're not eligible for the direct refund.
• Plodded along working from home until the levels of lockdown became more relaxed. The biggest thing that became available at next level was takeaways. Far better than cooking or reheating at home every night.
• We then got to a more social level, and could actually eat in restaurant & pubs. All very socially distanced and had to be in & out in 2 hours. Still a number of covidiots couldn't comprehend that.
• Yay, we were one of the first countries in the world to "eliminate" community spread of this bug. The doors were more open, & we could hug others again. We could travel internationally out, but coming back you'd have to pay while you sat out 2 weeks of managed isolation.
• Not feeling to well. So went to the doctor. Men, here's the reminder to get the finger. Uncomfortable as it is, it's an indicator of what's going on up there. Got referred to be put on the list for further examination.
• Managed to visit family over Christmas/New Year break. Starting to use the flight credits.
• Went to a retrospective presentation of Van Gogh's work (sat through two sessions to get money's worth), then had an enormous "bottomless" yum char style lunch. Didn't at for nearly a day after.
• Got in to see a specialist, with very quick referral for a deeper inspection.
• Would have been on another cruise to celebrate my sister's birthday, but again that didn't happen. Fortunately only $2 lost on that.
• Had a camera where the sun don't shine. The doctor that performed the procedure couldn't find the appropriate nurse, so blunted it out with "You've got cancer". Thanks Mr medical professional. Stunned. Fortunately the nurse called me a couple of days later to go the results I'd been given. (Let's talk about this in another blog.)
• Used up some more of the flight credit to celebrate sister's birthday closer to home home. Broke the last bullet-point news to Mum & sister. Went as well as can be expected.

So, it's been an eventful time since the last blog entry.

There'll be another entry soon hopefully with the gory details of my diagnosis & upcoming treatment, but just a reminder now that if your body isn't acting as though you normally think it should then do take it to your GP.

Let's try that again...

After a few months of recovery we're ready to try that cruise again. This time in reverse from Auckland, across the Pacific Ocean, and back to Vancouver over the course of April/May 2020.

Hopefully no medical emergencies this time!