Hectic

The last few weeks have been incredibly hectic. I found my stress levels have been up and down but thankfully we seem to be settling down again and I'm feeling back in control.

The big thing obviously was all of my follow up appointments. I had my MRI two weeks ago. I'm used to the procedure now, but that doesn't stop the anxiety from building. The following day I was so jumpy. Every time the phone rang I was on edge thinking it was my specialist with bad news. I saw my oncologist the next day and the news was good. No tumour growth! The oedema has settled. No tumour shrinkage either however as my oncologist said, it is early days.

I also saw my neurologist that week who confirmed all of that. I discussed with both the dex doses I've been on and how much better I feel on a higher dose. Both agreed that I should go up a dose, however they disagreed on the cause of my symptoms. My oncologist thinks that the dex is keeping the symptoms under control, my neuro thinks the dex is causing the symptoms. Either way, I have since gone back up to 0.75mg and I feel good again. Still a bit tired, but the nausea has decreased. Both seem to think it will be months before I can get on top of all of that. Both specialists also confirmed the nerve damage to my trigeminal nerve (face) is still present but that is more annoying than anything. I now don't need to see my oncologist for a whole year, and my neuro in 3 months just to check on the dex. I can't believe that I am moving out of the treatment and active management phase into the monitoring phase! It feels very strange.

Of course other big things have been happening. We have been getting quotes for the house renovation which has taken up a lot of time; and surprisingly a lot of emotional energy. It is a big decision though with a lot of money to be spent, so I do want to do it right. We also finally got the solar panels installed on our house, fixed up the garage door, demolished an 8 metre high tree, and did some painting around the house. I've been going to aquarobics, started seeing a dietitian, and applied for yet another job.

The kids have been....livewires. It is like a switch got flicked on Angus and he has turned pure evil. We are having a lot of time outs with him. His favourite activity at the moment is playing in the dirt, throwing the dirt, putting the dirt in the cat flap. Or throwing rocks at his sister, hitting his sister, pushing his sister. Sigh. Charlotte unfortunately was sick this week with a nasty bout of tonsillitis but we have noticed a developmental change with her as well where her language, and emotions have taken another leap forward.

And not least of all of that, yesterday was my birthday. I had a fairly quiet day, but it was still in stark contrast to a year ago where I had my birthday in hospital. I am still thinking about this time last year and how sick I was. The busyness of the last few weeks, and how much has happened in the same time that I was stuck in bed, is staggering to me. I am looking forward to things calming down over the next few weeks, that is until we really get going with the renovations. But then it will be a different sort of stress; one which I am really looking forward to as the end product should be fabulous!