Today it is beautiful outside and with the stay-at-home orders, things will be wonderful! I joined a bunch of cancer forums because people were talking about things that I could provide insight for. A lot of people are down about things so I feel the need to be careful on the forums. I am not sure people would appreciate that things are super fun!
1.) I started telling my team members immediately the day of and my team was super supportive and they told me that they would make sure that when I came back in 6 months everything would be great. It has been 4 weeks or so and my team has done an awesome job of things. There is one specific team member who has taken on a great load doing parts of my job and their own job. This person has been able to deliver on things that they are suppose to in their own role as well as take on the responsibility of running the team. I am sure it has been difficult, but I appreciate what they have done in the role. Last summer when I had pancreatitis and was out for awhile, this person had also brought me blueberry muffins. They were delicious. I am grateful for having such a competent team that can function when I am not at full capacity and take on extra works. I am especially grateful for having someone that can step in and knows how I would do things
2.) My family has been fantastic. Whether it my own, my in-laws or all of the extended friends that I consider family. There was a day where I was scheduled to have chemo treatment and it would involve the kids being woken up early to go into the van, or have them sleep while I get dropped off at the cancer center. Melanie and I would figure it out and did not think it was that big of a deal. Instead my father decided to get up at 5:30am and make sure that he is in my driveway by 6am in case I needed assistance. I was not expecting this, so when I was in the kitchen packing my lunch I get a phone call from my mom telling me that they were outside to drive me just in case. They decided on their own to be there extra early just in case I needed them. The thing is, this is not an isolated incident. Within the circle of people I have in Sudbury, there are 100 people that I could ask for a favour of driving me somewhere at 5:30am and no one would bat an eye. I did not have to leave until 6:45am, but it was a nice gesture. Being surrounded by so much love, how will something trivial like cancer win.
3.) There are a lot of little things that you take for granted until it is taken away. My sense of smell and taste have been severely impaired right now. To the point that I can not taste much when I eat. It is not a big deal to me right now as this is something that eventually goes away and if not then I will adjust. The loss of smell has been a blessing as well as a lot of my migraines were triggered by smells. The doctor had said to make sure to keep the PICC line dry. One suggestion was to wrap it up in cling wrap. We bought some. I thought that the better solution was to cut out showering all together. I have no sense of smell, so what does it matter to me whether I smell or not.