Cancer Selfies

Saturday July 15, 2023

The staples are gone

Surgical recovery remains frustratingly slow. My trip to the hospital on Thursday resulted in all the staples being removed (each hurt somewhere between a mosqueto and a needle, closer to the needle, except those in the open area which were extremely unpleasant). This changes the treatment plan for the incision, but surgical stuff continues to elude and confuse me, so I cannot say more. What I do know is that we've given up on the skin at that point joining back together again, instead new flesh will grow to protect the opening. I do not know how long this will take, but I suspect my body will be slow at it.

The chemo restart has been scheduled fast (although a date won't be set until August 3rd). I have another CT scan, so we can see how much the tumors have been able to rebound since I ceased chemotherapy three months ago. We're hoping for very little change, but I'll be honest, it's been a lot of bad news recently, so it's hard to he hopeful. There's also blood work, because there's always blood work. If you ever require chemotherapy, I hope you can get over your aversion to needles quick, it's a lot easier that way.

Until the CT scan I remain with my parents in Elliot Lake. I'm hoping I'll have recovered enough by then to be able to go back home, but this process is just so slow and, again, it's hard to be hopeful.

A man is dressed in a t-shirt and hooded sweater vest stands next to a young silver birch tree A man is dressed in a t-shirt and hooded sweater vest stands next to a tree with large leaves