It was good news at my appointment. The results of my "Circulating Tumour Cells" test were that I do not have any cancer cells in my blood. However, I do have quite a few clusters of "potentiallly malignant cells". This means, according to Avni, that I need to be learning better stress management skills. He gave us a few ideas like attending weekends by the experts such as Ian Gawler, going to the movies (concerts?) more often, learning to identify stressors and how to manage them. So, we are going to work on that.
I get the big tick for my dietary efforts, but was told very strongly that no diet would keep me safe if I was anxious or depressed. I can hear you wondering why am I so stressed. Well sometimes I don't even know I am, but Keith feels it pretty accurately so we will keep working on the ANTS.
I can recognise when student is stressing me so I am working on dealing with that in a better way. For example, one student is very angry about only getting a pass in a recent assignment, and although I am not her tutor, I am the coordinator and must deal with it in a way that will not come back to bite me later. Another student is asking questions I would expect from someone who was not capable of doing a university degree. Answering her questions many times in a way, that maybe she might understand, is difficult when I feel like saying that maybe she should give up.
I am learning to say no to some activities that come my way, spacing my events out so that I have more time to just "be" at home.
I am not watching any more graphic news of poor wretched refugees or victims of earth quakes etc. I tried last night but was surprised how quickly my tears flowed.
Avni suggested that insensitive people who do not care or think might not be as susceptible to cancer as more sensitive people. He gave examples of a few politicians but I won't mention their names.
I am relieved to have this result and also to know more definitely what I need to work on. I am also glad to be guided on which doctors and professionals I need to be visiting and what tests I need to have in the future. In my next blog I will talk about these tests. For now, I can just live until February.
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