Over the course of the last year I have been going in every 3 to 4 months for checkups. During my last scan late summer, they had noticed that I had some fluid in my abdomen and while it normally would not be a concern, with my history they wanted to be careful and schedule a follow-up a couple of months later. A couple of weeks ago I went in for my CT scan and today I saw the doctor to review the results. I have worked at this hospital in the past and sometimes it is jam packed and registration can take a while. I was told to be an hour early for my appointment and arrived early as being late is something that I absolutely detest. This is one thing that Mel and I differ on greatly. She likes to be on time or close to be on time and not be excessively early as my preference would be to arrive excessively early as opposed to the risk of being late. Xavier tends to follow my methodology. In the event that Mel needs to drive him to hockey he gets anxious if we do not leave by a certain time. There have been instances where for whatever reason I was not paying attention and start to drive towards the wrong arena and then we need to adjust. Since we leave so early it is usually not much of an issue. I am telling this story like Mel and digressing into a side story before I go back to the main story.
When I arrived in the room where I was going to see my doctor, I was told he would be there in 30 minutes, so I sat there all relaxed. In the past, my experience has been if a doctor talks to you prior to the actual meeting time it is not good news. Within minutes of me being within that room he walked in. He immediately told me that the scan was good and that I looked anxious. At the time I did not think I was anxious, but after he and I were talking I explained my rationale and what him showing up immediately triggered. The fluid that was seen prior was gone and everything was back to normal. He said that my scans were now going to be every 6 months and that things are looking good. It has now been over 2 years since I finished my last treatment. While I was going through the treatment we had spoken about doing some genetic testing. I did not remember much about it and afterwards talking to Mel she had mentioned that we had received some paperwork for it. He is going to submit a referral and we will see where it goes. She had said that at the time when we received it I was not doing very well and it was the last thing on her mind. I do not remember much about that. My biggest memory of the whole ordeal right now is my complete aversion to protein shakes and things of that texture.
I noticed that being in the Cancer center, it is not a pleasant experience. Sitting in the waiting area, people seem depressed and the atmosphere is very dreary. This is not unexpected, no one wants to be there and if you are there as a patient it is not a good reason… and it could also be the weather outside as it was dark and rainy. As I was talking to my doctor he had mentioned that people are often late to appointments and even during video teleconference or telephone calls people would be late. Every couple of years I have had some major life events and it gives you a different perspective on things. It is important to have a good social support system around you. I am lucky that I am surrounded by a lot of people that are always willing to help me out.
While driving in the vehicle, we were driving by some people that had setup some temporary homes along various areas, and Olivier had asked about them and we started having a discussion about how he should not look down on them. Circumstances can happen and we should try and help people as much as we can. We spoke about different ways to help them out and why it is important.
I am grateful for all of the people that have helped me and for all of the friends that I have made over the years. We were at a hockey tournament a couple of weekends ago in Barrie and an old colleague of mine was there. A couple of years ago he went home to India and purchased me a gift and gave it to me as we had not seen each other for a while. I appreciate the gesture and we spoke for a while about how things were and some of the work he was doing. It was interesting to hear about the impact that I had on his life and how things that I coached him through while we worked together he has incorporated into his life now. It made me realize the impact that you can have on someone whether you know it or not. There are a lot of things that people have done for me and I am sure that if you ask them, it would seem like something small and trivial to them at the time, but it had a big impact on me.
Q