It turns out that even a routine referral to your periodontist can loop back to your cancer journey. Who knew? The interesting thing is that it may connect some dots. I have a ‘cobblestone’ pattern on my gums—tiny little clusters of bumps I’ve had forever—that my new dentist thought were worth evaluating ‘just to make sure.’ Cue the referral to an oral pathologist.
Read moreCategory: Diagnosis
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On anniversaries, monitoring, and more waiting …
I’m discovering that anniversaries bring up interesting emotions. I expected to be writing about my 5k race for this post, but didn’t realize just how many feels it would create, falling as it did almost exactly a year after starting chemotherapy. And because I’ve been busy, since race day I also had my six month monitoring appointment for my thyroid nodules, with mixed results. So yeah, all the feels.
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Everything changes
This post started last weekend, celebrating my first run on the mountain — a glorious way to spend Easter Sunday. After testing my legs on the treadmill at the gym, I was ready — though nervous — to see what it might feel like to run on the trails for the first time since surgery. And it was lovely, in all the ways you imagine.
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You can’t always get what you want (or more waiting …)
This past Tuesday was supposed to start with an appointment with my surgeon to review pathology results. It didn’t go exactly as planned. Even though it’s been five weeks since my surgery, the pathology report wasn’t ready yet.
The why? of that is a good question.
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Who’s on first?
When I hung up on the call with my gynecologist on that day, it took a while for the reality to settle and the news to feel real. And then it started. Figuring out who to tell, what to say, and in what order. There’s no one way that fits all scenarios, and no right way to tackle the words to use.
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It’s never just one thing.
As tempting as it is to think your diagnosis will receive your undivided attention, we lead complex lives when it comes to our health. My invitation to participate in the provincially-sponsored mammogram screening program arrived while I was still navigating tests early in my diagnosis. I called the closest center and requested an appointment. It was early November. My appointment would likely be February I was told.
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The pre-op consult, and more waiting …
On the day of my pre-op consult, I had to be at the hospital at 8:30 am. We’d gotten a decent amount of snow the day before, so I took an Uber instead of the bus. I didn’t want to be late and didn’t want to risk delays because the streets weren’t plowed yet.
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So … how this started.
It will no doubt seem odd to a lot of people that one of the first things I started thinking about after my diagnosis was what would this mean for my running habit? If you’ve followed my Instagram, especially my running journal, it won’t surprise you at all. My current running habit dates from turning 50, and in the decade since I’ve accumulated a collection of finisher’s medals from various distances and been a member of a running team for half that time.
Running from hysteria 