The kids will be going to my parents for the beginning of the week as I need to be at the hospital for 6am. Last week when Xavier tried to connect his laptop for school he could not because of the security that I had setup on the home network. This morning we drove over to set it up the laptop and to give my mother her Mother’s Day Gift. The drive was not as painful as the other day as it seems to be healing rather well. The recovery was suppose to be 7 to 10 days, but I worked on Thursday and Friday and received numerous messages from my colleagues telling me to stop working. I appreciate all of the support that we have that make our lives easier. This summer I will not be able to mow the lawn and we have had tons of offers for people to come help out.
1.) Every time I send out updates about my current situation at work, I receive a lot of comments and encouragement. It is nice to see the outpouring of support. They look out for my best interest and repeatedly tell me that I should be resting instead of attending meetings or being on my computer for work. I am a hypocrite and tell them all of the time to take care of their health first and work comes second. My manager and team tell me that all of the time as well. I do not do a very good job of it, so having everyone else tell me is great and helps out.
2.) We have family drop off things for us repeatedly, little gifts to help spark joy. When people come by they make a comment about it now. It is rather amusing. I have had to stop my baking lately as I physically am unable to do it, but I think in a couple of weeks I can start up again. Next week when I am gone, our immediate family will be helping out a lot with taking care of the kids. With the recovery afterwards it is expected to be weeks, but I think I can try and have it done in a week
3.) I appreciate the connections that I have made with friends, even those that I do not speak to on a daily basis. I have learned a lot from my various friends and the friendships that I have maintained with people over the years. Right now I am half way through this journey and in a couple of days they will be cutting out the remaining cancer. Every time I visit the hospital I run into new friends and I always find it interesting when they ask me how things are and we have a quick discussion. As I am leaving I tell them that I am at the hospital for cancer treatments which shocks them. I get amusement from dropping that bomb and they are quite surprised by it and are surprised by my flippant attitude about the cancer. It is just a bump in the journey and we are almost through it. I have learned that I have an insanely strong support system that will help me out in whatever way I need assistance in. For that I am grateful for being able to see the strength of my support system for when I may really need it.
I am not sure what next week will be like, or the recovery period afterwards. I will need to make some major life changes, like eating smaller portions of food and some dietary modifications. In the next three days I can eat what I would like, but without much taste. Afterwards I have a reduced stomach. I am curious on how well I will adjust to this and the challenges that will come with it. The pain and soreness this time was quite manageable and was not too big of a deal. It was easier than the pancreatitis. The doctors have said the next surgery will be far more difficult of a recovery. It should be fun.
Quoc Hao