He's da bomb...

I attempted to take some snaps of my hair this morning, to show how quickly it is growing back...but I got photo bombed by the toddler.

Rattus Baggus Maximus at the moment. Our fair-haired wild child who is talking in perfect sentences and counting to ten with ease. He's showing us every day that he can keep up with the best of them. Nothing is too great a challenge for this little pocket rocket. Fiercely independent but incredibly polite...his standard response to any offer of help is "no sanks". Hubby and I seem to be in a constant state of 'wow' when it comes to our youngest. I still pinch myself that he's ours.

On the cancer front, I had a check up with my radiation oncologist this morning at the hospital. My radiation burns have healed beautifully and everything seems to be on track at the moment. No sign of damage showing up in my lungs, which I found out can happen at around the six week mark post treatment. Hurrah for recovery and good health.

As for my hair...it's officially long enough for me to wake up with 'bed hair'. Who would have thought I'd be excited about that! The colour and texture very much resembles mouse fur at the moment. Kind of a light ashy brown and very soft. I'm tempted to start playing around with the colour but can't decide if I want to get back on the colouring merry-go-round. My vanity hasn't been completely shot to smithereens yet so the likely outcome will be yes. I'm going to see my hairdresser next week for my first cut since chemo. Big moment...think I might get a little teary over my glass of bubbly when Marina tidies up the few strands around my ears. Little things mean a lot these days.

 

 

I did a Centergy class at gym last night. The last time I did one it was called Body Balance and I was heavily pregnant with Harry. It was SO nice to immerse myself in that beautiful blend of Pilates and Tai Chi again. I was anticipating that I would have to go very easy with my arm and chest but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could push myself and keep up with the rest of the class. My aim is to improve my fitness to pre-diagnosis levels by Christmas. Five gym sessions a week should see me achieving my goal.

Well, must dash. I'm taking Hubby out on a hot date tonight for his birthday to see Gotye play live at the Transit Bar. He's teamed up with his original Melbourne band, The Basics, for an Aussie tour and its going to be a bloody AWESOME gig!

 

 

Can't wait!

xx Em

 

 

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A bit of Balance

Tuesday was a bit of a madcap rush around blur of a day.

But I can assure you that I totally rocked the 'two specialist appointments at two separate hospitals within two hours' gig.

 

Totally Rocked It!

 

My first appointment was at Medical Oncology at the Canberra Hospital. Despite having to wait an hour to see the resident oncologist (to get me started on Tamoxifen), I still managed to make it to the other side of Canberra to see my surgeon at Calvary...with five minutes to spare.

 

Thank you Parking Fairy for the celebrity car park!

 

My surgeon is a Prince among men. Apart from doing a magnificent job as a surgeon, he's respectful, kind and compassionate...which is exactly the qualities you want in the person who is removing and reconstructing a most beloved body part. His Fellow surgeon is also a really nice bloke, so genuinely lovely and engaging. So far, my reconstructed breast is looking good. Still losing skin but no longer flaming red and excruciatingly painful. I won't know if the implant has been damaged for another 3 - 6 months. I have to see my surgeon again in February and he will book me in for my other mastectomy (and replacement of my implant if it is damaged), sometime before May.

 

Do you know what that means?

 

I'm on HOLIDAYS people!

 

No more extreme treatments for the next six months. Just need to pop a pill once a day and look after myself really well. I am hoping that I get let off lightly when it comes to the side effects of Tamoxifen. For those who aren't familiar with it, Tamoxifen is an antioestrogen. My cancer is oestrogen receptor positive which means that it feeds off oestrogen to grow faster. Tamoxifen is supposed to inhibit these hormones and reduce the risk of the cancer returning. The side effects can be pretty bloody awful, the worst being cancer of the uterus, stroke or clots in the lungs. Female bodies just aren't designed to do without oestrogen. Here's hoping that the worst that I have to contend with are hot flushes and a low libido...which I've had since chemo anyway. I will have to review with my oncologist if the side effects are worse than that and become unbearable. But we'll face that if and when the time comes. No point worrying about it now.

 

It's been 8 months of treatment.

8 months.

In that time I haven't been to the gym or been walking or done Pilates and it has caught up with me.

 

I dropped 8 kilos in the first two weeks of Chemo. At the end of chemo my appetite returned but exercising was too much for me to manage during radiation and the weight gradually crept back on. I'm now four kilos over my comfortable healthy weight...which doesn't sound like much but feels a lot.

 

I have no desire to be a Skinny Minnie, I'm an Aussie Size 12 and like having curves. My goal is to simply feel comfortable in my clothes, but more importantly, improve my shockingly poor fitness levels & flexibility. Since chemo my body has been so stiff and sore. Partially a leftover symptom from chemo and partially from lack of exercise. Tamoxifen can cause weight gain and fluid retention so I need to be proactive on that front too.

 

So to jump back into good health and harmony, I've started September off with daily early morning walks and Pilates a couple of times a week. Added to that, I'm boosting my diet with green smoothies and a couple of vitamin supplements for my hair, skin and nails.

 

 

I'm feeling better for it already. Didn't realise how much I'd missed that wonderful hour of me-time, breathing in the cool dawn air and pounding the pavement to the beat of my iPod while the neighborhood stirs to waking.

Cheers to healthy, balanced living!

And cheers to crazy fast growing hair!

xxx

Em

 

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Our simple patch of paradise

My husband and I first met in the far north of Australia on a tiny and very remote island in the Torres Strait just over a dozen years ago. We've lived in several other beautiful, tropical parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory since then before settling down in Canberra, an altogether different kind of paradise. It is one of the coldest parts of the country but in my eyes also one of the most beautiful with it's four very distinct seasons. Reminds me of when I lived in New York.

Before kids we shuddered at the thought of joining 'suburbia' with a house and yard and all the maintenance it entails. But then we moved to the nation's capital for hubby's last army posting and we both developed a longing to put down roots. While we loved the excitement of discovering a new town and making new friends, we desired stability and a home that was ours. Six months later we found it...a place to call our own, a place to raise our kids, a place to plant a vege patch and spend time pottering in the garden.

The house was a typical 1960s fibro cottage, backing onto the local primary school. It was far from grand but it met our needs as a first home and was within our budget, allowing me to be a stay at home mummy when the time came. The previous owner had renovated the interior including a very decent kitchen, bathroom and laundry so we were happy to move in and not touch a thing. The exterior was very dull...concrete driveways on both sides of the house with a very sad garden at the front and a rather plain yard with a little shed in the back.

Eighteen months ago we renovated and landscaped to put our stamp on it. We put in double glazed windows and doors to keep out the cold, clad and insulated the exterior of the house, installed solar tubes on the roof for hot water, removed three quarters of that awful concrete, planted a beautiful garden filled with trees from front to back and finished off with a vege patch complete with fruit trees and a hen house.

We now spend a huge amount of time outside in our garden. Its a wonderful safe and interesting place for our kids (and the neighborhood's kids) to play, a fabulous spot for entertaining and brings so much joy to our lives.

Hubby has done an amazing job with the veges, fruit trees and berries...we have a varied and abundant harvest all year round. The kids love getting their hands dirty and have a great understanding of where their food comes from.

I love filling baskets with our eggs, fruit & veg, herbs and preserves to share with our neighbors and friends.

 

I love our simple patch of paradise.

It is a healthy, healing space.

Suburbia...I can't believe that we ever scoffed at it!

 

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