It has been a year since I found out about the return of the cancer. There has been so much that has happened since then and time flies by so quickly that if you blink you will miss out. I think that is why it is important to just focus on the positive things and it dwell on things that you can not control. Over the past year, the memories of the difficulties are not as strong as what we did to overcome it. Xavier’s abandoned child, me insisting that I was fine and then being hospitalized for a week. In all of these instances we do not remember how difficult it was, but we remember the fond memories of events surrounding it. No matter what the circumstances are, you need to reflect on the good. I went in for my bloodwork and preassessment this morning and generally when I arrive before 8am there is plenty of parking as treatment does not start till 8. The parking lot should not be full as you would not have 20 people all starting treatment at once. When chatting with one of the clerks at registration I mentioned this and they informed me that staff were parking there. Not staff from the cancer centre but other parts of the hospital. During lab work I have had the same person for the last couple of weeks and she mentioned that there were workers who did not abide by the scent free policy. One of them said it was not an issue since they had a relative on HR. I know that if I was in that situation and someone close to me was blatantly breaking rules that I would not protect them. I would be livid that they are trying to hide behind me. I am not sure what drives people to behave so selfishly when it impacts others so greatly. I am quite sensitive to smells and Mel’s whole family adapted to me when we started dating. Mel was not super happy having to vet all of her creams and materials through me as they would trigger migraines and then I would be in an unideal state for a couple of days. Unfortunately Olivier is quite sensitive to smells as well and he has had migraines being trigger by smells. Tempura and stale oil from restaurants trigger him.
Season 1 was filled with a lot of unknowns as we were trying to figure out different treatment options. This year we know what the treatment will be, it is just a matter of how effective it will be and at what point is it safe to go back to Spain for additional treatments. I suspect that Mel wants to go back just so she can bring back tons of olive oils and treats in her luggage. There were a lot of wines that she had tried but there was not one that she wanted to bring back specifically. Some people saw the content about the drinking over the weekend and you may think it was a bit excessive. It is prep for when we go back to Spain and you drink a glass at every meal. She needs to build up her tolerance so she does not get too drunk.
Driving home with Xavier from his private 1:1 session today we played a game. It all started when we passed a bus and checked to see if it was Mel’s cousin driving. It was not, but Xavier confidently told me his name was Jeff Robinson. I laughed and said that there was no way for me to very that and he could make up whatever he wanted just like moves in BJJ. So we played a game where he told me the names of some moves and I had to say whether it was real or not. I did not do very well at this game. Kiss of the dragon is a real move, while dragon take down is not. I was making fun of him and saying he could say that there was a move called Pink Pony and I would not know. The issue is he will lie and make things up so quickly and easily that it is difficult to ascertain whether it is real. We tried it with Mel and Olivier and they were not much better at this game. When we go to Spain I am not sure what story he will tell people, as we have abandoned him once already and this time we have skipped the country.
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