This afternoon I had my 11th dose of Nivolumab: I have two to go. Having treatment at your work has positives and negatives, but gee I’m lucky to be able to work most of the day and then walk over to the Oncology Unit to have my treatment before heading home. Travelling big distances to get to treatment centres is not uncommon for rural patients – even in the city it might take you an hour or so to get to your place of treatment, so I am pretty fortunate. Also, my friends are there, or they drop in for a chat, so that’s really nice. I had a conversation with Maddie about which hand she was going to cannulate this week – I mean, who gets to have those conversations!

The past month has flown. The school holidays started with a trip to Canberra for a wedding, of which Jess was in the bridal party. We stayed for a few days and pottered about, which was nice. Jess left Canberra and flew to Croatia for a 5 week Euro holiday with her girlfriends. We have been cat-sitting Bailey, who, after a long settling in period, is now quite comfortable.

Rod and I continue to plan our 4 month trip to Europe and SE Asia which begins on September 23 at 0515. Monday I will give Rod his immunotherapy (under supervision at the GP clinic) as I will be administering this for him whilst we are travelling. It’s not a complicated injection, but “stabbing” your family member Vs an unknown member of the public is quite different! He continues to have great reports from his Oncologist, so much so, that he is not due for another PET scan until we return from Europe! Me on the other hand, am under closer surveillance. I had a CT scan last week (not reported on yet!) and will have one more PET and Brain MRI before we leave. Fingers crossed.

After some advice from one of my colleagues, I have continued to tweak my diet to try and help my gastritis. I am now on a low FODMAP diet which basically takes out all the potentially inflammatory foods from my diet. It’s not been too hard (there’s a lot of checking the app) but no cauliflower, no mushrooms, no onion, no garlic, no apples, no pears, no avocado, no coffee, no alcohol, gluten free, dairy free…there’s an endless list. To be fair, after taking away some of my culinary joys, I am actually feeling better and the gastritis ‘attacks’ are really only once a week now and not very severe. I have a dietician appointment in a few weeks to help me sort this all out! My gastroscope was cancelled, so now I have another one booked at Mansfield Hospital in a 3 weeks. I would really love to have this squared away before we fly out.

Whilst on holidays, Rod has been making me low FODMAP meals from scratch. I’ve given this some consideration; he is a competent cook, loves to follow a recipe, but not always confident. One of the meals he made had a citrus emulsion! Pretty impressive. I believe this act of love to be the most singularly kind gesture I have ever known. I loved him being on holidays looking after me whilst I was at work – I hardly had to cook or wash or clean the house – what a treasure. I can’t wait for him to retire (or semi-retire) so I can continue this life of luxury!

Bikes have definitely been neglected in this cold and wet winter, but hoping to clock up a few k’s as the daylight stretches out and the weather warms up a bit. Murphy on the other hand, is living his best life. Rod taking him for multiple trips in the car and exploring new walks during the holidays. Hamish has turned into a teenager, happy to be in touch with his friends mostly via gaming. Lots of communication and organisation skills involved with these young men, with Hamish often signing off with, “I gotta go Lads” – we love this. At his rapid rate of growth, he will be taller than Rod when we leave in September!

That’s about it for this month. Keep us in your thoughts. I’ll re-activate the travel blog soon. Much love, Bel xx