Todd's Journey

For those of you who asked, the photo at the top of the main homepage for Todd's Journey is, in fact, me doing a tandem skydive last year in Arnprior. I had wanted to do that as part of my 'bucket list' so I put on a brave face and dove from 13,000 feet. Free fell for about 8000 feet then my tandem partner released the chute. Was definitely a thrill of a lifetime, but to this day I have NO idea how I ever did it!!!!

Was finally able to go out for a bit today. Had to visit my Nanny. Was thrilled to see her again.

I know I've said this before, but it's worth saying again. The one thing I did learn from my cancer diagnosis is to never ignore your body's messages.

Had I not paid attention to the blood in my urine, and passed it off as "nothing really" they would have never found my cancer. My cancer happens to be a very aggressive, fast growing cancer, that appeared earlier this year. We were lucky to catch it relatively early on, but even so, the cancer did spread making it a bit more difficult to resolve.

So listen to your body's messages. Even small things that just don't seem right to you should be checked out by a medical professional. It's your life. Take care of it.

I just received this from my Nanny. She always looks out for me, and is another one of my rocks. (not to mention she is 101 years old). Oh, and I am her favorite grandchild... lol

Had my Day 8 Chemo session today. This was only one particular drug that was used and is supposed to be less rough on my body in general. I still have major hiccups, which the doctors (and nurses) are trying to figure out for me. There are different medications they can try, however with every medication comes potential other issues. So, it's a tricky needle to thread. But they are working on it.

The nausea and getting sick is still a bit of an issue. Normally that would be resolved by now, but for me, it's still an issue. You learn very quickly that some people have very little side effects from Chemo, and others have a lot. I am considered in the middle. If I can get rid of the hiccups and nausea, I'd only have the fatigue left.

As for the fatigue, I know many of you have seen my video blogs, and were probably not going to say anything, but yes, I know how tired and sickly I look. This is simply fatigue, which is pretty much 24-7 for me these days.

In any regard, I am now clear of Chemo for two full weeks, so hopefully some of the side effects will resolve before I start my 2nd cycle of Chemo on October 4th.

Thanks for reading, and thanks for all the support.

Here's my rock!!! Taking a bit of a nap during one of his everyday visits to the hospital with me. Cannot do this without him.

Jamie took this picuture of me during on my many cat naps I seem to be taking these days. Greta was on a shift break so Brandon took over at keeping my bladder nice and warm and protected.