Back to Blogging

Well I have been really slack with my blogging.  I have been in and out of hospital with a chemo session already a week ago.   

The last few days have been fantastic weather wise.  It is still winter but it feels like spring and that is enough to make anyone feel great.   Well me anyway because I am no fan of winter.    

On Friday we went on a little excursion to Healesville santuary.  I uploaded some photos from there.  I also got to see a platypus for the first time in my life.   

Today Danny organised a picnic in the St. Kilda Botanical gardens. It was such a pleasure to be outside and feeling the sun on you.

 

I woke up this morning not being able to move my knees - both knees.   They were in agonising pain.   I went to the doctor and he said it was probably gout.   With some googling we found that it's like it could have been due to a complication of some of my medication and my diet.  Anyway by the afternoon I was able to walk again so I made it to the picnic in time :) 

Emotional day back at work

I went to back to work twice in the last two days to see what everyone was up to and see how everyone was.   It was also a really unexpected and a nice surprised to see Eileen (manager from the US office) there in the Melbourne office.   I attended a meeting where she demonstrated to everyone what they had been working on in the US and the guys here demonstrated the new developments that they had been working on.   We then went out for lunch. 

When I got home I was emotionally drained and cried a lot.  Up until I got sick, work was such a huge part of my life.  Most of my decisions in life over the last fifteen years or so were based on the direction I wanted to go with my career.    I completed my Masters degree a few years ago while I was working and always had a big picture plan of where I was heading.  The technologies I focussed on while I was studying and the direction I was going at work was finally starting to come into line.  I think before I went into hospital I was the happiest I'd ever been at work and I felt that all my hard work over the years was finally paying off.   Also Patrick had just moved here and everything was just perfect ...and then it all just ended in a sudden. 

I didn't expect today that it would hit me so hard like that.

I also caught up with Smadar today who was visiting from Queensland.  I took her to Loco for coffee and Julie and Viv came met us there.  I was feeling a lot of pain and when I got home Patrick reminded me that I forgot to change my morphine patch which is supposed to last three days.  It's times like that when I remember that I still haven't fully recovered from the surgery.

Photos:

1. Me holding an iPhone.  Eileen had one and they are very cool.

2. Julie, Smadar, Viv and myself having coffee at Loco's

Back to normal after Paul's visit

Sorry to my loyal blog readers - I know you are out there :) - for not writing since my last chemo session.

My twin brother Paul was here and the day I got out of hospital I went to a brunch that he had organised and then I went to the footy and then I went to another dinner with a whole lot of people that Paul had organised so it was a lot of fun and I was surprisingly feeling really good considering I just finished a chemo session.

But then the next day I started coming down with something and ended up getting bronchitis. The chemo makes your blood counts go low so it is easier to get sick and more dangerous when you get sick - even small things can be serious. So now I have to make a balance when I am feeling good not to go overboard.

Anyway now I'm feeling good again. I've just come back from the city where I went to see a movie from the Melbourne International Film Festival and then went out for dinner.  I've just been looking over the calendar for the festival and there seem to be quite a few that could be good plus there is also a nice selection of Jewish and Israeli films.   Any Melbourne friends reading that might be interested in seeing any, let me know if you want to organise something.

I think I mentioned in a comment to someone that I was thinking about going in September to visit Paul. Also I have friends in Granada, South of Spain who are getting married around then which I would naturally want to go to. And while we are in the neighborhood, Patrick would like if we can visit his family in the Netherlands. 

Getting sick after my last chemo session made me rethink whether that was wise or not.  My chemo sessions are going to now start being 3 weeks apart when they were 4 weeks apart.  The chemo dose is also going to increase.  I think I will make the plans as if I am going and then I will allow myself to think about it logically.  

On days when I am feeling good I tend to do way too much like time is too precious to waste.  But considering I am much more vulnerable right now to getting sick,  I am starting to think it won't be in my best interest.

Also my parents have decided to move to a retirement apartment.  They will put there house up for Auction in September and so quite a lot is happening already even without moving a finger. 

The photos I uploaded are from my first day after the chemo when I went to brunch and then the football - Nicky and I celebrate a St. Kilda victory.

Update:  Anyone who knows John Wayne (no not THE John Wayne) might want to click on the first photo to enlarge it and reveal a classic John facial expression.

Update:  I just added a photo from the dinner.