Christmas chemo

A lot has happened since 19th November when Chris wrote his diatribe on Post Hope.

I’ve settled into a routine with the new chemo, which is delivered each week. The side effects are different – less severe, but more regular and I’ve noticed the tiredness and nausea is starting to creep in. This means I’m doing far less at home but thankfully Mum and Chris are keeping everything in order. 

Chris and I spent some time in the emergency department two Monday nights in a row after I had a reaction to the chemo which resulted in a high temperature. I stayed overnight for observation on both occasions but, thankfully, I was able to come home the following day. The care we’ve received has been quite good. I guess the staff at the hospital must have read Chris’s last post because they’ve been super-friendly and thorough! Canberra Hospital was fabulous for my admission and the oncology ward was very well set up… although I still don’t want to go back.

As of today’s treatment I only have six weeks of chemo left. Yay! I’ll have a few weeks off to let my immune system recover, and then I’ll commence radiotherapy for a further six weeks. I had the option of doing this in Townsville, but we decided that it would be easier and far less stressful to do it all here in Canberra with the same medical team and then move to Townsville afterwards. Not to mention, we can then have a fresh start in Townsville with plenty of sunshine and holidays.

Canberra forgot it was summer for a while, and it was only last week that the weather finally got warm enough for the girls to swim in our inflatable pool in the backyard. They’ve both finished school for the year and are now enjoying summer holidays. Now that school is finished, things around the house are a little easier to keep on top of – and the girls are far less emotional. I even made the girls get dressed in their school uniforms for their ‘last day of school’ photos. No wonder they were sick of home-schooling.

We’re all looking forward to Chris’s mum, Julie coming down for a few days over Christmas. The girls will be so spoiled with both nannies here.

Obi has been growing rapidly, and he’s already too big to sit on my lap comfortably… although that doesn’t stop him trying. He’s so far been a wonderful puppy and he loves going for his daily walks. He’s still learning how to chase the ball and he keeps himself busy in the backyard without getting into too much trouble. 

Chris has been packing for his move to Townsville. I don’t know why he needs to take all five guitars, the PlayStation, two boxes of wine, and the chesterfield lounges with him… but whatever. He will be living in an apartment on the Strand, which I’m sure will be terrible. But when the girls and I join him in the middle of the year, we’ll drag him back to suburbia. He’s too busy to write his usual PostHope article because he’s been completely consumed by the cricket on TV.

We haven’t seen Noah in a long time due to COVID, but Chris will be picking him up on his road trip and they’ll drive to Townsville together. Noah finished year 12 a few weeks ago and we’re so proud of him. He had a great time at his graduation formal (he looked super-handsome) and he’s relieved he doesn’t have to study anymore… until Chris convinces him to go to uni and do a history masters.

I wish all of our family and friends a wonderful Christmas and hope you get to spend plenty of time together. If this year has taught me anything it’s that we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. So please enjoy the time you have together, relax, eat, and be merry!

Kirby. xoxo