Yesterday we had people at our house helping out the installation of our kitchen. They were here until close to 1am. Over the course of the last couple of months they have come after work and helped out with our renovations, sacrificing their free time during the weeknights and weekends to help us out. I am grateful and appreciate all of the assistance that has been provided to us. The craftsmanship of the work is astounding. When we tell people that we have been doing most of the renovations ourselves, the general consensus is that the work may be very well done but not at the professional level. Except, we had a professional working on all of this for us and the craftmanship is amazing. Watching the end results and the amount of work that went into it, there are so many small things that are done in the background and you do not necessarily see the impact. I appreciate the care to detail that they took in installing the panels on the fridge. This morning I hooked up the fridge to the internet so now we can see what is inside the fridge. When I was talking to a friend of mine he asked me if the fridge told you when things expired. There is a feature where you can put that information into the app and it records it, but it made me think that with the camera system in place you could scan the item while you are putting things away into the fridge and it would automatically record the expiry date and provide updates for it. Creating the AI for it would not be too difficult, and it is something that I should eventually work on.
I will be going in for the intake today where we prep to start radiation treatment. We have not officially identified when we will start but I believe that it will most likely start on Monday. Mel will be coming with me so it will not be too bad sitting there for 5 hours. We can look at finalizing designs elements for out kitchen. Last night Mel had asked me if I was anxious because of today and I said probably. We met with the oncologist and it went well. He said that the fluid indicated atypical cells which indicates that we do not know if there is cancer there or not, but it was not positive for cancer. It might be there, but it is not evident. He took a sharpie and drew on me where the radiation will be. He described what will happen and the risks. The risks have decreased to 1% now. If things go terribly wrong and he damages the bowel then it could lead to death. They need to always warn that and be aware of that. The risk is low though. I had to drink the contrast and it sucks. It is thick and does not taste awesome. The good thing though is that there is no IV contrast today so no poking. I also do not need to fast this time when I go through treatment. He also said that I should not be as fatigued as last time and it should be easier this time through, so that is nice to hear. Mel mentioned the surgeon and what he said and the doctor laughed and said that is why he is a surgeon. They do not need to talk to the patients as much. Both of my oncologists had put pressure on the surgeon to do the procedure and it turned out well. Now we get to try out the radiation and it should be done prior to the tournament in Ottawa. My oncologist will be in Ottawa at the same time so I said we should go grab dinner together. I am close with his wife as our kids are both goalies and they have played together in the past. I appreciate all of the little things that he has done to help expedite things along with my friends at the hospital. I think I should be starting the treatment on Monday.
Sitting at the hospital is a bit draining because the chairs are not super comfortable. When I finally went in to get the scans I did not realize how much I had not healed yet. It was rather painful with the feeling of my stomach being stretched out. I had to hold my arms above my head and I could feel my stomach the whole time and breathing was difficult. I had to take small breaths as each intake reminded me that my abdomen had been sliced open. Even now as I write this I can feel the discomfort on my stomach. The notes on the file said that the doctor wanted to start treatment next week but the schedule says Dec 3rd. They asked me if I had a preference when to go in and I said I did not care if I did not have to fast. I told them I prefer the morning though as delays can happen and I do not want to be there for more than 3 hours. I will bring things to do work this time however. I am pretty sure I need to purchase a laptop to be used solely at the hospital. It makes sense as my current ones have never been there before and I do not want to expose them to the harsh environment of sickness.