The good news from the medical team has been a huge motivator. I mean, there was trepidation before the consultation on Feb. 5, then of course the euphoria associated with receiving some good news.
Then, hitting the road to Portland and San Diego was a treat. This was a quick trip Gay and I had planned to coincide with our anniversary back in November. Of course, it was delayed, yet we were able to pull it off last week! The drive through central Washington is very nice and we enjoyed what we saw of Portland. The flights in and out of San Diego were fine, and we were able to zip over to Palm Springs for three nights as well.
Now that we're back home safely, I'm looking forward to getting back to work. We are about four or five weeks away from opening the golf course...the Shannon Lake Golf Club. I like that we are somewhat cautious about opening dates because some of the worst decisions in the history of golf have been borne of "impatience"! If you open too early for play, you risk damaging turf that is just beginning to recover from the harshness of winter. I like that our maintenance crew prefer to play it safe. It's the right call!
Another bit of "work" I'll be tackling is returning a host of emails and phone calls. We have kind of disappeared these past 10 days, so we will re-connect with everyone over the next few days. Thanks for being patient!
Gay continues to be the complete all-star in my life. Since last July, her entire focus it seems has been on me and my plight. Without her energy, I'm probably not here today. I am healing, both physically and mentally. I really feel like I'm in a pretty good place right now.
The upside for Gay is that she can now turn some of her focus back on all of the exciting things in her life, the activities that became less of a priority over the past few months. I like that she at least has a choice now...she can begin to spend less time worrying about me. This should be a nice change of pace for her.
The HEALTH SIDE...
While everything appears to be cool...the cancer-free diagnosis...there are lingering issues that should subside over the next few months. I'll have another CT Scan in Kelowna during the summer, rather than in 90 days. Being able to wait six months for this suggests there has been success in killing off the cancer cells.
While attacking cancer cells, radiation and chemotherapy treatments inevitably butcher normal tissue. Thus, there are "side effects".
About 50% of my ability to create saliva is history...gone! So, eating takes longer and the effects of a very dry mouth are taking some getting used to. There is no definite news as to whether this issue will improve or not. Only time will tell and the process will be very slow. The two solutions at this point are to make sure I have a bottle of water at arms length at all times, and also chewing gum (sugarless) tends to help keep things moist.
Talking and breathing really tend to dry things out, so again, a bit of a battle looms ahead.
There is still significant inflammation in my throat, thanks again to the radiation. There are certain organs that respond very slowly to this trauma. When things are swollen, they don't move very well, so I have that bit of pleasure to deal with. Again, time will tell as to how this all improves.
At a little over 170 pounds right now, I am trying to get used to clothes that no longer seem to fit. As far as a "weight loss program", I would certainly strongly advise against cancer treatment! But, I am finding these days that I am doing just fine by eating less. I seem to have the energy I need. So far, so good...
My brain seems a bit sluggish at times, be it attention span or simple things like looking at dinner receipts or bank statements. I have always been a pretty good "numbers guy", I mean, I could look at numbers and quickly do the math. Lately, I have to focus a bit more intently to get it right. It just takes longer, which is frustrating.
Really though, these are just inconveniences. It's not about constant pain...it's about minor discomfort.
What the heck...I'm still standin'!
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