Meals, maps, & Montréal

I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve posted. No news is more-or-less good news, though, as I’m sure you’ve guessed.

So, on Monday the 9th, on the way to Montréal for the conference, I finished my radiation therapy. After bidding a fond farewell to the technicians, I got to ring the lovely brass I’ve-finished-my-therapy bell that had been donated to the center by an early patient. What fun!

Cameron and Karen came up On Monday for a quick taste of Montréal and to help me get settled in the Airbnb. Cameron’s favorite moment (OK, ours too!) was a late-evening stop at Juliette et Chocolat:

The conference was great — I learned a great deal and met many friendly cartographers and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) folk. Despite my complete lack of formal cartographic education, I was welcomed and treated with serious interest. Several attendees even expressed their hope that I would consider presenting at the conference next year (in Norfolk Beach rather than Montréal).

Meals were the most difficult part (though the food throughout was absolutely top-drawer), because I still have to eat slowly and intentionally, and most people (including me!) were more interested in socializing. Up until the end things worked out pretty well, marred only by a couple of small choking incidents. But the conference ended with a banquet, and I must have gotten too distracted by the food itself and by getting to know the people at my table.

Throughout the months now dealing with my constricted esophagus, I’d never experienced a choking/coughing episode that lasted more than a very few minutes — and so, after I’d excused myself from the table and recomposed myself in the men’s room, I returned to the banquet. I ended up repeating that twice more without eating anything further: coughing, choking, excusing myself, regaining my composure, and returning. Finally, I left the banquet altogether and sat out in the reception area.

The one person at the conference that I slightly knew came out and asked me whether I preferred to be alone or would like some company. We passed a very pleasant quarter of an hour, and then I felt well enough to begin the journey home. It’s about 2¾ hours to get back home; other than needing to pull over a couple of times to deal with coughing, the trip was uneventful (and included the easiest border crossing I have ever experienced).

All in all, though, the experience was overwhelmingly positive, and I am so glad that I went ahead and did this instead of letting the cancer keep me at home. And, despite the experience at the banquet, I actually put on a little weight even though I was eating carefully during the day and tube-feeding with the bag only at night. In fact, I’ve continued tube-feeding only at night since then, and put on even more weight: at this point, I now weigh more than I have since August 8th!