Today is World Cancer Day. It’s also my long run day. As much as it was sunny outside, it was also cold, so I took my run to the gym instead of heading for the mountain as I had intended. Sixty minutes later, I’m comfortably tired, stretching like a cat as I let my heart rate come back down.
Tag: Pre-op
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Tapering? For surgery?
I was a little surprised when my phone showed that it was the hospital calling on Tuesday afternoon. My pre-surgery screening was already scheduled for Thursday, so maybe it was to move my appointment time? No, it was to confirm that my surgery will happen on Thursday, 8 February. Short taper.
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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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A new take on a training block.
Before I was diagnosed, my last in-person race was a 10k in May. It was my ‘home race’ where I usually ran the half, but this time I had picked the shorter distance. In my head, I was on the cusp of breaking up with longer distances — my entry into the Chicago marathon had gotten waylaid by the pandemic and looking at turning 60 felt like a good time to reframe why I was racing.
Running from hysteria 