Well, July is here.
I am in between rounds of BCG, so I just don’t wanna do a video update, so I will skip this one – try again in October.
June was an interesting month, I had just completed the quarterly cystoscopy, and done a whirlwind trip to BC when I made my last post, but still didn’t know how the rest of the month would unfold.
Such is the reality of being a patient – trying to balance the treatment and appointment schedule, with the ability to live a lifestyle. The challenge becomes – when you don’t know what one will be, how do you adapt to the other.
I have mentioned before that I get between 3 days, and 3 months notice for upcoming medical events (scopes, treatments, appointments, scans etc), and I am getting pretty good at predicting when something is coming due, and roughly when it should be. That does help me learn to plan a bit more long-term – October has been fairly clear for the last 2 years, this year lines up to be no different.
But, what happens when the month you are expecting something to happen, and want to plan something epic comes along – and you don’t have enough information to put a plan together? Such is what happened in June.
I had a plan for a motorcycle trip into the NorthWest Territories (North of 60 deg latitude) – upcoming blog post about “One Week 2017”, and I knew that I would have BCG in the program.
The conflict – if BCG delays too much, it would impact the rest of the summer, so sooner is better, but too soon impacts the run north for the summer solstice. I knew that I had a one or 2 week window to pull off what I wanted. I had an idea of what the perfect plan would be.
Then I finally get the call I had been waiting for – I had been calling the Cross Cancer Institute and my doctor’s office to track the paperwork. There was a glitch with it, so things needed to be re-adjusted, but then it came through. I didn’t get the perfect solution, but I got one that I can work with.
So, I got to go on a long motorcycle ride. I will post about it, because a long solo trip like this allows for someone to let ideas bounce around the inside of a helmet and provide some clarity on many things. I had 3 full solo riding days at 700+kms a day(one 730km day with a buddy) to let my thoughts marinate. Days with hundreds of kms of nothing, other than some bison, and really big bugs.
I shared an article (from 2013 here ) to the chronicles fb page recently about perspective changes, and your outlook on life after a cancer diagnosis. As I recently reached the milestone of over 3 years actively still fighting and in treatment, things like this continue to adjust my perspective and focus.
That is why I will tell you about a motorcycle ride, even though earlier this year I said I would write less about my motorcycle exploits… this will be more philosophical.
If you haven’t seen the movie “One Week” filmed in Canada, by Joshua Jackson (Canadian Actor), give it a watch.
July is shaping up to be a quiet month for me, I am being cautious with my commitments, and starting treatments off by conserving energy. I am making a point of sitting quietly on my computer, trying not to be cranky with people (that isn’t working out so well), and puttering around on various projects to keep my mind occupied.
This will help me out in the long-term as I start working on my recovery after the 14th. Now that I am an old hand at this, I am getting pretty good at reading my body language, and understanding the impact, and my bodies responses, to the dramatic influx of BCG.
As always, thanks for joining me on my bladder cancer journey. Nobody is really sure where we will end up, but I try to make the travelling there as good as possible.
Please comment, like, and share this post to others that might want to join the ride.
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