With the Russian madman causing mayhem in the world, I am really trying to maintain a positive outlook.
The war news is dominating and it’s difficult to avoid. But am very aware of how my mental health can affect my physical health, so I am attempting (and so far succeeding) to limit my news watching/viewing. I look at just enough to get a very superficial overview but even that is more than I want. I feel so sad for all the people affected by this megalomaniac!
Time flies by, even the chemo treatments. Yesterday was #5 of the planned 6. The results of my blood tests continue to be good. The cancer marker went from 301 to 187 this week. But not low enough to move on to the next stage. Dr. McCleave said they want to see it at around 30 which is quite a long way yet.
When I came back to South Africa in 2019, I naturally gravitated to where I was born and grew up. And actually ended up in the what we used to call the village of Kloof. (It’s no longer a village!) Kloof is about 18 miles/29km from Durban and just on 1600ft/500km above sea level, giving the area a more moderate climate than Durban, usually being a good 10F less which was the case when I took Rodney to the park this afternoon. Plus less humid.
The fourth treatment went as planned. Mick came with me so he was able to meet my doctor. It’s always good to have another set of ears in a consultation but this one was very straightforward because everything is going so well.
November 16 last year is the fateful day I got the definitive news that changed my life.
By then I ‘d been in hospital for 8 days going through tests and everything else that goes along with a cancer diagnosis. I’d just had laparoscopic surgery for a biopsy and the GYN/surgeon came to visit me after I had very gently been given the diagnosis. He’s a lovely man and from reading his bio, a pretty religious one as well. He said to me as he sat at my bedside, “Have you considered end of life?”
The COVID numbers here are going down, but whether they will stay down is the question!
But it does feel different this time, or maybe it’s just me.
The last few weeks have been really difficult. Fighting off the feelings of being stuck, the isolation as friends retreated, the ineffective vaccine rollout and…what I realize is lack of anything creative in my life. For that, of course, I only have myself to blame.
What can I say? Other than a string of expletives that would probably get me banned!
First of all; No, I DO NOT have Covid. But apparently, according to the SA Covid Alert app, I was exposed to someone (anonymous) who has reportedly tested positive so I have to quarantine for 10 days from the exposure date, which was 19th December. As I was just alerted yesterday, I only have 6 days to go.
We’re on Day 92 I think of the lockdown here in Sunny South Africa. Feels like a lot longer than that!
Has much changed? Not really. No eating out unless you do take-away or to-go. No getting together with friends and family, although there are ways around that! I think a lot of people are “going to church” in various places!
There’s a glimmer of hope during this horrendous, draconian shutdown in South Africa. Starting June 1, we will be “allowed” to buy liquor, exercise any time and the full-on curfew from 7pm-5am will be lifted. Of course, all the social distancing protocols are supposed to be adhered to, but we’ll have to see how that plays out.
I had high hopes that when Level 4 of the South African Lockdown kicked in on May 1, there would be an easing of restrictions to make this isolation more bearable. But except for a 3 hour window in the early morning when we are allowed to “exercise”, nothing changed for me. No visiting, no socializing, no, no, no.
