Site icon Fabienne S. Morgana

Milestones along the way.

fabiennesmorgana
Image of traffic sign; white arrow on green background pointing up and a white sign with black writing underneath saying "Milestone". Background is a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.
Milestones were an important part of how I got through the whole cancer experience.

Milestones

There’s a sense of completion today, as I have been notified of the date for my follow-up surgery; kind of neatly bookending with the milestones from a year ago when I was discharged from the wound clinic.

15th September 2021

Soo… guess who has basically been discharged (conditionally) from wound clinic??

🌟 Fuck Yeah! 🌟

Conditional discharge

First Condition – still not cleared for an actual bath or for pool.

It’s a year later, and I’m still not cleared for public pools or spas or hydrotherapy pools due to the fact that my toenails still haven’t fully recovered from chemotherapy. They split like my fingernails, but also thickened due to lymphoedema, and they lifted from the nail bed, so the risk of a fungal infection is too high to risk a public wet space.

Second Condition – have a new wound care regime, but… no more dressings, baby!
Sent home with yet another care package of wound care stuff…

Third Conditon – I have to contact them immediately if the scars / wounds break down in any way or show any signs of infection.

Wound care nurse

My wonderful wound care nurse was very complimentary: she told me that I was actually amazing, and that I should be really proud of how well I have managed my recovery from such huge surgery and how disciplined I have been with my care, especially with the compounding factor of chemo on top of such extensive surgery before I was healed.

She said that she has found my way of framing the process quite inspirational – and she’s been a wound care nurse for over 30 years, so that was such a great compliment.

And you all know how precious I am being about my eyelashes… she told me I had beautiful eyelashes and asked me what I was doing to look after them so well 💗

What can I say – I clearly have a fucking praise kink!

Advice to live by 🤣

And some of her advice today, although I am sure she didn’t mean for me to apply it to the rest of my life:

“As much as possible, no underwear, no pants”.

Hair loss… *all* the hair, *everywhere*

Gratitude Practice

I have mentioned this before, but from day one of chemo through until I was officially out of the last chemo cycle, I did a gratitude practice everyday.

Over the course of the day, I would write notes on my phone through the day and then share it on Facebook at night.

I matched with a quote about gratitude and I did this for nearly 100 days. It really helped me maintain an attitude of gratitude even when I was very, very sick and there wasn’t too much to celebrate.

So here’s an example.

Gratitude Practice Chemo Edition.

Chemo Round Two of Four, Week One, Day Six (Day 27 of chemotherapy treatments).

Oncology liason nurse

I’m grateful for the Oncology Liason Nurse who checks in every week post chemo without fail. I run through my litany of woes, they reassure me, and it helps.

Milestones

I’m grateful for milestones – I told the Oncology Liason Nurse that last night I went through the calendar and counted out the days until I was three weeks post final chemo and decided that is my “End Chemo” date – and therefore the next day is my “Start Recovery” date… they basically cheered.

So they said that a lot of people think of their last chemo as the end of their cycle and they often get disheartened because they don’t account for the three weeks post chemo… so they were delighted that I had already factored it in. That Chemo Closure date, ironically, is the 11th November, Remembrance Day.

My housemate

I’m grateful for my housemate cooking dinner for me: they simply do the best fried eggs.

Clear Covid Test

I’m grateful for a clear covid test.

I had to have PCR tests done before going into the hospital and before each chemotherapy infusion.

Shower chair

I’m grateful for the shower chair on loan from a friend… I use it every day – not in the shower at the moment, but during wound care, and lotions and potions. The fatigue is cumulative, and making use of supports and aids like this is absolutely vital to being able to get through the day.

Gratitude quote of the day.

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

🌹 Be kind, Gentle Creatures – soft eyes, clear vision, open heart, walk gently where you can and harness your rage mindfully when you can’t.

Somewhere along the line that shifted from what I was originally writing (Be kind, Gentle Creatures, tend your gardens, take time to eat the roses, and walk your boundaries), and I’m not sure when that shift happened, but I’m curious now!

❗ Check your breasts, check your testicles.

Self checks

Ensure that you are vigilant around your self-examination. Train yourself to check your breasts/testicles routinely, and monitor your bowel habits and your urine output. These are our body’s early warning signs, and we don’t have a lot of awareness of them.

Related blog posts

 

Exit mobile version