Chemo – home working confinement

06/12/18

Day 9 of the first cycle of chemo and I am in self agreed confinement to make sure while my immune system is at its lowest I am keeping myself safe from germs. While this is what I need to do and keeps my family and man cub happy while I still work, I know this is going to be hard (and this is just the first one!). To be honest, I will never run out of work that I can do at home, and without distraction I’ll knock doors out of windows! But I also know that this crazy work pattern will not be helpful to my lovely work colleagues. However, as its December and the festive season approaches I might get the first two of these cycles through without too much disruption.

I spend the day making a plan of my diary, but it looks like a Sudoku  puzzle that doesn’t quite match up. Much as my confidence was high after speaking with OHS, I now feel a little overwhelmed with the task ahead of me. How am I going to actually make this work, support my small team of work colleagues without failing them, while keeping myself fit and healthy to keep the battle going so I can continue to be cancer free in the future for my cub. Its certainly a challenge!

09/12/18

So, two days working at home was fine, I actually got caught up finally after the disruption of my hospital appointments and operations. But this Sunday I am down. I have missed out on Santas Breakfast yesterday, which I have never booked before but thought it would be good for her to go to this year (before I realised that I was going to miss this!). Then today I’ve missed a family birthday, where the man cubs family all were and I had to stay at home and miss catching up, miss seeing them when we usually catch up this time of year. And I don’t return to normality (i.e. leave the house) until Thursday. I am cabin fevered already!! The only thing keeping me going is the fact I have a project that for the next three days will take all my waking hours so I can distract my mind from this. Its got too – I need to feel alive.

10/12/18

Well today was interesting – noticed the lady garden was going – my discovery led to the wider revelation that I must have been shaving my armpits in the dark for absolutely no reason whatsoever the last few days!! (I don’t ever turn the light on in a morning until I am dressed so have been totally oblivious to this little joy!!). I have checked my head hair religiously and as it was fairly intact I hadn’t thought about the wider body hair implications. It’s a funny feeling, I mean I know I will save fortunes on razors and wax but oddly its just another step where I feel less like the woman I was (all because of a bit of body hair). This journey is truly the gift that just keeps giving and in ways that I never thought it would. I also realise that I am very lucky to feel so well and the lack of a bit body hair is shallow and self deprecating. But that doesn’t stop me having a hard time with this. And I will be honest about how I feel, thats why I put pen to paper,  but I don’t doubt that I am wallowing in some instances and will look back on these moments further down the line and chastise myself when I am in a better head space.

12/12/18

Third day solid working at home since the weekend and I am ready to tear the walls down. I’ve spoken to four people in total (that includes the cub, man cub, mother and boss) and I am craving normality. I need to get out and tomorrow I will – I’ll be back at work and I bet by 10am I will be missing the quiet of my own home!! I also realised late last night due to my mother kindly highlighting, that I may not be able to donate organs. I’ve already mentioned earlier I need to look into blood donation, but now organ donation? She’d read an article in the Times (her bible of choice) and there was a lovely (scaremongering) feature article on two people who had received organ donation and then got cancer in those organs. Why, oh why does this kind of article make it to a mainstream paper. Where are the articles that remind women (and men) to check themselves, to go for smears, to attend mammograms, to get every lump and bump checked. Where are those articles that can save peoples lives rather than scaremongering about organ donation and the good that it does every day – all those organ donations that allow people to live life that would have evaded them if they had not been blessed to receive one.  I am not naïve to the abuse and pitfalls but still truly believe the pros outweigh the cons, and when this part of my journey is finished, I will start the conversations with healthcare professionals about what I can and cannot donate.

This journey is relentless, but I still have this.