This is the continuation of the My New Elephant and the Wood Ewe Believe sagas previously published.
I cannot believe how life just continues to pass quickly by, so about time for another update. I know you all have been patiently awaiting!!
The four of us are still carrying on just nicely here at the lifestyle block. It's hard to decide where to begin, so lets start with newest news I guess.
It was over six months ago when i sorta felt something was not right, had a feeling like a cramp in my side ( Cramp?... you only get that from exercise....and thats not something I aspire to!!). After two trips to the GP, I was sent to the experts on Kew road (Hospital), and had various appointments..Soon I was called back to the GP, and pretty much told to buckle up and be ready for the ride of my life.. the dreaded C word. So within seven days , I was off to Dunedin, for (yep), more poking,prodding, sampling and giving of blood... but the Leukemia diagnosis was given, and the plan of attack was planned. There was zero chance that this was going to fail, nope no,no nine (or is that nein?). Once back home I was given the start date for the first cycle of Chemo ( Huh? The day before my birthday ... sheesh....), any,way, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do... BUT oh no, i began to realise that this journey wouldnt be plain sailing... it took two days to get the first dose of Chemo in me (body was being awkward ...sigh...), so yeah i was there on my birfday, but having the wonderful nurses singing to me sure made up for it. I was worrying how the side effects would affect me, and after one cycle my hair held in for a couple of weeks, but soon began to drop out,( worserer than a moulting dog), so decided a trip to the barber was in order...He was great, only took maybe six minutes to shear me like the eight sheeps we had in our back paddock. I'm a lucky girl,I have a lovely friend who made me two hats so I didnt get a sunburned noggin,(yes the sunshine is strong in the deep south!). So we quickly settled into the new normal, lots of prescriptions, plently of care and rest, and trying to behave and not get into too much strife. Geocaching did take a bit of a back seat, only managing the park and grab ones, not the strenous hikes or difficult terrains. And then there were the nights in hospital...(way more than seven), a side effect for me was fluid on a lung, (weird i know),...they eventually sent me through to Dunedin where they fixed me, but i was in a four berth jail cell, (aka ward), which at times felt like a retirement village. But the nursing staff were amazing, and i tried my best to not be trouble. Finally things seemed to be trucking along nicely, yep i had no hair, but hey it'll grow back..
We were in the yard on a Saturday and a ute and trailer came into the drive, and out pops the bloke who owned the eight sheeps that we were grazing. He'd forgotton where they were,until reminded by his mate, and was astounded about how enormous they had grown. We helped him chase the sheeps around the paddock until we all were puffed and panting,( who am I kidding, i just stood there and offered advice!!), and the sheeps hopped up on the trailer like good little lambs. Four our troubles we were promised that we'd get a sheep back... and just before the great covid lockdown it was returned, and tastes blimmen delicious too!!
At time of publication , my head feels like a shorn sheep as hair is starting to re grow, and Chemo seems to have done its job!