Coming Out & 5 months tomorrow

Big days out...

This week marked my coming out. Not that "coming out!" - Coming out of hibernation and back into circulation.

Way before I was diagnosed with Cancer I had a number of commitments lined up, including having accepted the honour of being the Australasian Auction Championship Judge position and representing South Australia. All credit to REISA and in particular MSAA CEO Garry Topp and Brett Roenfeldt, who held their nerve and backed me in, even after hearing of my cancer. 

I felt compelled to get across the line on this prestigious appointment and yet I was quite anxious about it. The heats required a full day of judging and even when you are well, this is exhausting. 

Rewinding things, I started the week catching up with Prof on Tuesday for my 8 week check up. I took Sylvia and Suz with me and had my list of questions as always. I have been desperate to get off the Clexane blood thinners injections. The ultrasound that I had the week before didn't give me the answer I was hoping for so the injections continue for now. As mentioned last week, two out of three clots have dissolved but one has more to go...yuck. The injections continue.

Then there is the Diarroeh. Guess what...not contagious but something common to this operation. All the nerves that are required to send messages to the stomach and the bowel have gone with the operation. The body has no idea what the hell is going on now. My system will have to learn over time to "slow down" in order to process my food. The medical guys call this DUMPING. So the food is eaten and then races through the system and is dumped. The reason I have lost so much weight is that my body is not absorbing the nutrients, rather than what I am eating. I am eating really well at the moment (touch wood again).

 Managing all this means in the short term taking tablets to slow the bowel down, and eating food slowly and chewing everything to a pulp. 

The reason this has only recently become an issue is that my pain killers masked the problem as they also slow the bowel. While on pain killer drugs constipation was the issue, not diarrhoea. Crazy hey. I am completely off all pain relief which is terrific, however now am managing DUMPING.

It has become clear why weight loss is a feature of this operation. It is also clear why weight gain seems to take a couple of years, the body takes quite a while to adapt to the new conditions, and may never fully work it out.

As I settle into my new life post cancer and post operation, accepting that what was is no more, and I have to rebuild to a new normal. Some great advice I have received from the medical team is to accept that my body will be different yet be pleased that the new normal can be fully functional. 

The reflux has settled down heaps, "touch wood"! I am sleeping almost normally, oh my God that is such a relief. A good sleep is hard to beat on life's best experiences...seriously. Recently I have actually had sleep, dreaming and even on Saturday morning I had my first sleep in until nearly 8.30am. 

Incredible, and such a relief to know I will be able to sleep with one pillow again. We have raised the bed head by one and a half bricks on advice from the Prof, he was spot on. The bed is now on an angle sloping down to our feet. So any visitors to our bedroom, we aren't weirdos, we are just using gravity to let me be able to sleep. Sylvia is cool with it, and you hardly notice anything EXCEPT that you do tend to slide down the bed over night.

This week was hectic. We had a massive real estate week with the Australasian Auction competition hosted here in Adelaide, followed by the REISA annual awards on Friday night. 

My week. Auction briefing Tuesday night followed by cocktails as welcome to all the stars from around Australasia,  judging all day Wednesday, drinks, and dinner at Shiki official party. Thursday 8am finalist viewing of the property which happened to be our place "Kensington House" (was big secret) so Sylv the girls and I were all madly cleaning up for the finalists and judges. Then judging and drinks and dinner to announce the winner Thursday Night. Three big days and nights in a row.

I felt privileged to be involved and the judging. This sure was a test of how I was travelling. Back in a suit after 5 months!! No opportunity to rush to the toilet! I am so happy to report that I got through all of it, I even went to all the dinners after expecting to crash and burn well before the night events.

Backing up! Friday night was our massive real estate night and Toop&Toop had 50 of the team attend the black tie dinner for the announcement as to who the industry winners were. 600 people, it was just spectacular, a great credit to REISA and a week to remember. I fronted up to all of these events, got through them and am actually feeling OK. 

We had an awesome night on Friday night. Won 3 big awards, missed a few but we are Hall of Famed out of the main game with all our key categories so we were rapt. We had 13 finalists and I was so proud of the team. 

Then there was the weekend. Today Glenn and Alison (Davis) had their 90th (Glenn 50, Alison 40...today), and it was just a great day. All day grazing at Melt. Very special day.

This week I have a speaking engagement in Sydney. I am presenting day one in the morning so I guess I had better be on my game. We leave Tuesday afternoon, back Thursday night. I agreed to this well before I was crook but feel confident after this week that all will be ok. Organisers do get VERY nervous when key notes get Cancer.

So, there you go. Back in the suit this week, back to socialising, and tested with some late nights. Past the test, but smart enough to know I had better pace things and be ready to pull back fast if I need to.

Today was the first time I have really felt like having a few laughs...it has been a rather serious few months.