So now for the plan. The hardest part is being ‘told’, once you have ‘the plan’ things start to get a little easier. My oncologist, a lovely man, not that you’d wish to have a close relationship with your Oncologist, as it can only mean one thing….. you are seeing him waaaayyy toooo much! Anyway, I like to refer to him as my ‘Health Stylist’, just doesn’t sound as scary as Oncologist plus it makes me sound groovy.
So let me introduce you to my ‘Health Stylist’, his name is Gary which of course is the same name as my ‘brave man’. The fact that they both share the same name, I feel, is a good omen. I look for anything positive these days, good luck charms, four leaf clovers, symbols of hope and signs of optimism.
Every time we go in for an appointment with my Health Stylist, I’m always armed with various good luck charms and good luck processes and procedures. And now that I have been coming for so long, I have quite the collection. Last visit I counted four bracelets for each wrist, including the one Sienna made me for Mother’s Day in ELC. Three lucky bunnies stuffed in my handbag, (handpicked by Sienna) the ‘brave man’s’ hand in mine and my lucky undies. Carrying all this, whilst not stepping on the cracks in the path and watching out for black cats, can be tricky.
It won’t be long and I’ll be turning up with a Coles trolley full of ‘lucky stuff’ and it will take me about three hours just to walk across the road. Great, now I’m developing some obsessive compulsive disorder as well as cancer, can it get any worse?
So my ‘Health Stylist’ tells me that the plan is chemo every three weeks for six months, he mentions a concoction of drugs which have longer names than some of the streets we walked down in Stockholm and about as easy to pronounce. Of course, one of the side effects is that my hair will fall out again. Ho Hum, no matter how many times it’s fallen out, I still can’t get used to the Uncle Fester look.
But he also says the words, “confident, treatable, you’ll be ok”. That’s all I want to hear, hair or no hair. I give him a hug and we get on with the plan!