Marching into March

Hair today, Gone tomorrow…

Actually that’s not quite true.

It’s been hair gone yesterday, and back today… kind of.

While I was on my previous cancer drug, I was gradually ‘thinning out’ quite a bit – though most people have been too kind to remark upon it (except for our poor ensuite cleaner). However there’s always a silver lining somewhere – and for me it meant that I didn’t need to shave my legs for approx. 10 months! Now that I am off that drug and onto the Nivolumab, my hair has started to re-grow (so out with the razor again). But most noticeable has been my interesting hair colour. My hairdresser burst out laughing when she noticed the distinctive bands of colour – from brown to grey/white and now… to black! 

Hmm… I think I’ll begin a new ‘rainbow’ trend. Any takers? 

One of the 'pleasures' of having an illness like cancer (if there are any) is the surprise visitors that have made a special effort to come for a visit. Last week I had a lovely catch-up with Jenny - a friend from my early teacher training days (at LTC). I refuse to believe it has been around 45 years ago that we regularly caught the Overland train between Horsham and Adelaide, laughed our way through 3 years of study, earned the princely sum of 40c an hour for babysitting (and 50c an hour after midnight), and learned how to master the twin tub washing machine without shrinking our very limited wardrobe. However that was the beginning of a long future in Lutheran Education for us both, and we had a very nice time reminiscing. 

No Jenny, it's NOT 45 years ago that we began our training at LTC. 

 Meanwhile the last couple of weeks have been pretty much the 'new normal' for Brian and myself. Every second Monday we drive to Warrnambool for my treatment - 3 down so far. Fortunately there are virtually no side effects, unlike many traditional chemo treatments and my back pain is unlikely to be related to the Nivolumab. However I am being given support and strategies to better manage the pain. I will be given more CT scans before long but they don't want to rush them as sometimes the initial trial results can look 'worse' before improvement is shown (says the oncologist, not me). 
Brian too continues to have ups and downs. He has had a very positive few weeks, but the last few days not so flash. Unpredictable! 
Nevertheless we do as many normal things as possible: stewing pears (Lorraine), taking photos of Jupiter (Brian), involving ourselves in music for worship (both) while Brian is enjoying getting his head into St John's School Council this year. 
Today, someone said to me that I must get so sick of life in a wheelchair - yes, yes, and yes! However there are still so many things that I can do, and that's where my focus needs to be.