Normally, I talk about the picture at the bottom of my post, but as we head toward fall, I loved this particular image for a variety of reasons. The colors, the remoteness, and the feeling like you could hide away inside and nobody would ever find you. For most writers, that idea is bliss. A place where there is only you and the words on the page; a place to shut out the rest of the world for a period of time.

It has been a month since I posted about no longer being in remission. I have been reminded how blessed I am to have the friends and family I do. I am touched to know how much support I have — though in many ways this is a solitary journey, I do not take it alone. I am reminded of this on a daily basis. At last update, I was told to stay away from sick people, which can be difficult in an office environment. In fact, the Friday following my appointment, I received a timely reminder as to how difficult it really is. I was generally staying in my somewhat isolated workstation area, but went to the kitchen to make a cup of tea when one of the sales reps walked in to get some coffee. We started chatting and during the course of the conversation, she mentioned she had a cold. I would never have known had she not mentioned it. As it was, I backed up, apologized if I seemed rude and told her I couldn’t be around her.

Fortunately, I had already put the steps into motion to get a note from the doctor to allow me to work from home, and that is where I have been ever since — enjoying life as a hermit. The desk pics you see are my new desk/workstation I have finally put together. I had ordered the desk and it arrived on 8/1, but it wasn’t put together until 8/12. Today was a good day because I finally got a chance to use the standing workstation again. I am used to standing in the office and brought the stand and the monitors from work, along with my keyboard and mouse. In these past few weeks I have learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that I require a standing workstation for the sake of my back. With as much desk work as I do, I cannot sit for that many hours without paying a severe price with my back. The first week was okay, the second painful, and last week excruciating. But a good massage over the weekend and working standing up today and I am doing much, much better.

As for my health, I received a call from the oncologist office to tell me to make an appointment with my GP because my thyroid values were out of whack. I called the office and had them call in the prescription for me, one that I had been able to be off for over a year, and made the appointment. The day before my appointment, an eye infection cropped up, and I was glad it decided to show up before rather than after the appointment. I have also been battling a patch of fungal infection on my leg for the better part of the year, and while I get it to a point where it is not bothersome, it continues to come back, so I asked the doc for some more cream to treat it. The surprise was the spot on my finger was a pre-cancer. It cropped up that very day and we froze it off.

So nothing major, just small inconveniences that have to be dealt with right away so they don’t get out of control. Based on my conversation with the doc, it does seem more likely that I will be headed back to chemo in the next couple months. He received the full report from my oncologist and mentioned that she said she’d have to treat me again. They have not asked me to come back in sooner than October, so I would anticipate either late October or early November. Which is kind of what I anticipated anyway.

So … the worst issue so far has been my back, and tiring sooner than I would like. I take naps daily and my back is already TONS better than it was last week, so all in all I’m good.