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#27 – Bye Bye 2019

My final blog for the year… Let’s catch up on the last month or two!

Chemo days have been really good recently. I’ve had lots of new visitors which has been fun! My dad came with me to one round which was hilarious. He kept asking the nurses where the TV was and when was it lunchtime?! 🤣 The nurses loved it just as much as we did, it was a really fun chemo day. Another round, Elyse and our friend Hoz came to visit. That was another laughing session which was caused by the below photo! Now that my oncologist appointment and chemo are on the same day, we have a couple of hours spare in between, so Anthony and I have even managed a few lunch dates over the past few months!

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Since the reduction in my chemo dosage, I’m happy to say that I’ve been feeling much better on chemo weeks. On a full dose I was having at least 1 nausea tablet a day on chemo days, whereas, now I’m only having 1 or 2 tablets during the whole chemo week. It is much nicer to feel a bit more ‘normal’ again, although my appetite hasn’t been normal for a long time. I’ve struggled a LOT recently with loss of appetite. At the moment, I’d say that’s the hardest part about all of this. I feel as if I’m getting anxiety around food now because I know I need to eat but I hate feeling like I’m forcing myself. Just in this past week I’ve taken a few more nausea tablets than usual because just thinking of eating makes me feel sick. Luckily yesterday I got the munchies and made up for a few missed meals!

In terms of alternate therapies, I don’t like to add in any new treatments in between scans. I like to wait to see scan results to know if what I’ve been doing for the past 3 months has worked or not. So between my Sep – Dec scan I added in a couple of new things. I started having colonics, ionic foot detoxes and getting into the infra red saunas a bit more frequently. I think these few things have really helped with receiving even better news from my most recent scan! I’m happy to report that my December scan showed a “Drastic reduction in liver metastasis”! My results and the word drastic haven’t been used together before so I was very very excited to hear those words! Although the doctor could have said ‘reduction’ a little bit quicker… Lucky for me it was a positive thing and I’m even more excited for my next scan! I’ve already started adding in a few more things this month, such as a reishi mushroom extract and beetroot detox powder to help detox my liver as much as possible.

Round 21 of chemo was delayed a week as I had a virus 🙁 Most likely caused by a quick 24hr trip to Sydney. Airports, planes, terrible air quality and temperature changes were probably what did it 🤷‍♀️ But it was worth it to spend a day surprising my bestie and going to a party for our favourite bikini brand Kulani Kinis! We had the best time and I may have even woken up the next day feeling a little seedy… haven’t felt like that for a very long time! So the delay in chemo meant I had a 3 week break between rounds, but because I was sick the whole week before, round 21 wasn’t as nice to me as I’d hoped. All good though, I got through my last round for the year and don’t have to go again until early January! YAY! I’m hoping to spread chemo rounds out to every 3 weeks next year, just to give me a bit more time to recover in between. You’d think with the dose reduction that chemo would start getting easier, but it can do the opposite. All the cumulative effects of chemo this past year can make each round a little harder to cope with than the previous round. My oncologist said that it should be fine to push to every 3 weeks and that I could even have a couple of months off if I wanted. Which I do, but I won’t. While chemo is working I’m doing it. Until it’s gone. Twenty-one rounds down, hopefully not too many to go 🤞🤞🤞

Safe to say, I’m glad 2019 is coming to an end. It’s been – by far – the hardest year of my life and I really believe that 2020 is my year! Usually at this time of the year people start reflecting on what they’ve done in the past 12 months and what their goals are for the new year. In years past, my new years resolution always seemed to revolve around eating better & exercising more. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of a resolution that didn’t include something about body image. How vain was I?! It’s only now that I’m in this position that I realise how stupid I was for thinking I was fat and always needed to lose weight somewhere. I read this all the time and it’s cliche, but I think I’m a completely different person now. Or at least the same person with a completely different mindset. I don’t know if others have noticed a change in me or not, but I have, and I’m happy with it.

So here’s to a joyful Christmas for us all, spending time with our loved ones and staying safe over these holidays. 2019 – you can piss off. Bring on 2020!

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