Wow, two years already. It was two years ago today that I was told the news that changed my life forever. The news that I wouldn’t be leaving the hospital for a few days because I had a little unwanted friend camped up in my brain. December 30th, 2021 was the day I thought the doctor was going to tell me I was going to die.
What a roller coaster these last two years have been! I know I haven’t posted in a long time but what better time to do it than today! A two year recovery update post seems like a pretty good idea to me!
So what have I been up to since my last post allll the way back in August 2022? Well I started chemotherapy, which wasn’t as horrible as you’d imagine. I was on the pill brand for a year and once a month every month for a cycle of five days I had to take a handful of more pills before bed (on top of my anti-seizure pills I take throughout the day) and then as soon as I woke up I had to take an anti nausea pill just in case, but I never got sick so it was okay 👍 Then twice a month I had to go for bloodwork to check my white blood cell count to make sure I was making enough of them and if not my oncologist would have to down my dose of chemo the next cycle and I’d also have to wait a few extra days to start the next cycle to make sure my cell count was back up. And about once a month I’d go into the clinic for a check up and get my weight taken, which I would like to say was okay but I remained around the 110-115 lbs. mark for the duration of that year. However in good news, since being in 5 months recovery I’ve gained a healthy 10lbs so I’m slowly working my way back up the scale and putting more meat on these skinny bones😊
Throughout the months there wasn’t too much I was able to do on my own throughout the week without a job or a license so I took up a lot of reading, which inevitably led to quite a few Amazon purchases😅 But on the weekends I got to spend a lot of time with my boyfriend Alex, and in June we got to take our first trip together to Vancouver where we stayed for five days and got to go the Aquarium, The Quay Market, The Suspension Bridge, and then finished our trip off with getting to see one of Alex’s favorite podcasters live!
In July I finally finished my last round of chemotherapy! The next check up my oncologist informed me that my MRI’s can now be moved from every 3 months to every 6 months, which is a good thing because they don’t need to monitor me as closely anymore and eventually it may move to only once a year! And for now I can just focus on recovering and getting back into a normal life style!
To celebrate the end of this hard era my mom got a beautiful tattoo of a black and white sunflower entangled with a cancer ribbon that says Ohana, and needless to say, I was very touched. My dad and I celebrated a little differently however, we took my little nephew to Monster Jam in August. My dad and I, Alex, both my sisters, my brother in law, my nephew, and my little sister’s boyfriend, all went to Calgary to watch all the Monster Trucks, and it was definitely a great way to celebrate!
In September the best thing of all happened, I finally got my license back! I got a brand new B.C. License and I’m back driving again! After not driving for two years I’m not going to lie I was a little afraid to get back behind the wheel, but after a little practice it was like no time had passed. Now sadly since my car sat for so long she’s a little out of commission and needs some work done, so for now I’m driving my dad’s truck. But either way it’s still way better than being a passenger princess all the time. I had to wait about six months to be completely seizure free before my neurologist would give me the clear to drive again, but when he finally did I was over the moon! It feels like I have a little piece of my identity back that was taken away when I was diagnosed with everything, and there’s a big weight lifted off of my shoulders now that I have some of it back.
My road to recovery right now is going great! I look better and feel better and thanks to a lot of people I’m very happy. Even though I’ll never be 100% okay because my little “hitchhiker” is always going to be with me, I’ve learned to be okay with that and live my life knowing I’ll be just fine in the end. It’s all in the positive outlook you have to have on life☺️
All the Feels 