I know it's been a long time since I last blogged. There's been plenty of things happening that I could have written about, and I have actually been doing plenty of writing, by hand for my little birdie, but just not on here.
I started a life writing course at the beginning of March at the cancer support centre at my hospital, and it has been amazing. I've had a lot of support from online cancer groups since my diagnosis last year, but I hadn't been to any in real life. As expected I've enjoyed the writing part of the class, including the homework, but what I didn't expect to enjoy so much was the class itself. There is almost a 50 year age gap between myself (the youngest) and the oldest person in the class, but we have all shared so much with each other through the reading out of our own stories in class that it feels as if I have known these people for years, not weeks. We have all been affected by cancer, some as patients and others as carers of cancer patients, but that is rarely what we focus on. For me, I almost feel like I go off to group therapy each week, where I am reminded of what is important in life and what I appreciate most, and I will truly miss it when the course finishes in two weeks time.
Since I last blogged a lot has happened cancer wise too. I have had six chemo treatments, been hospitalised twice due to my battered immune system, and had some good news. A CT scan two weeks ago confirmed that the new chemo treatment is working and the two nodes in my lung (one they hadn't been concerned about as it hadn't grown in any of my scans) have both shrunk by 10%. My oncologist was extremely happy and said he would have been pleased even if there was no change, so a reduction was great.
I still haven't decided exactly how to process my stage IV diagnosis, so I try to keep it out of my mind and focus on the most important thing in life, my family. Right now I'm at chemo again, but this weekend we are going away for Mother's Day, along with my parents, my brother, and my sister and her family. Little birdie has been so excited for Mother's Day ever since she learnt about it at daycare last week, and has been telling me she is going to make me breakfast and that it is 'YOUR day mummy!' She also can't wait to spend the weekend away with her four cousins and neither can I.
