Living With Gladys Full Time

We made it!

So as promised an update from Turkey, and I have to say that as we finally boarded the plane, had it not have been so public, tears of relief would have flooded down my face.

The build up to ‘The Op’ and the 10 days ‘Post Op’ had certainly taken their toll and the sneaky worrisome language of anxiety posed in ‘what if” type questions and thoughts  were doing their best to sabotage my excitement about our well needed rest.

To cap it all, Alistair decided that it was time to have some help to slow the growth of the ‘curve ball’ which had begun to champ on a wee bit too steadily. It was not a decision he made lightly and rest assured we both researched as much as was humanly possible on the best way forward. However, right from the start of this tapestry that life has weaved for us, it wasn’t Alistair’s intention to lose his life being stubborn. It was and is his intention to do everything in his power to take as much responsibility as he can to make as many biochemical, environmental and personal changes possible that slow the curve ball down and extend the quality of his life for as long as possible. And, we both feel that the past 16 months have done exactly that. His immune system is working a treat! So the Friday before we left he had his first Hormone Therapy sub cutaneous injection. His plan is to remain on this course of treatment for a few months to give his body a chance to recover from surgery and kick the curve ball into touch.

His poor tummy though, at the 2 injection sites, rallied against this invasion (more I think against the toxic solvents used in these preparations) and within a few hours 2 red, raging and swollen lumps appeared followed quite quickly by a  rather hot flush! Other than that though so far so good.

The other thing that was conspiring against us was the travel insurance. I tell you, if you want to make money and you don’t have a moral conscience then get into the travel insurance game for people with ‘life limiting conditions’ you will make a killing if you pardon the pun! A couple of companies who professed to specialise in insuring people with cancer wouldn’t touch us with a barge pole (PSA too high, too little time out of surgery, made me feel like I was an idiot even contemplating the idea of travel) but eventually after being stung for £260 smackers we were certified good to go!

The first thing that greeted us when we awoke after our late night arrival was a Tortoise just outside our door! In Shamanic terms the Tortoise reminds us to slow down, what a beautiful message for us both as we started our 33 day unwind! So the little tortoise set the pace and we followed obligingly.

The weather has been warm but mixed, some cloud, some thunder, some rain and a good sprinkling of free unadulterated vitamin D. Who cares, we are away together and  apart from some Skype work for me each day we have nothing to do but relax and recharge. We are staying in a very simple, non pretentious apartment, that by the way if you are looking for a very reasonably priced break away I would thoroughly recommend (http://www.gardeniaapart.com/)

Our time is spent reading (Im afraid I have yet another Biomed exam looming so a few hours study each day is necessary, but what an amazing location to be studying in) and Alistair has taken to walking, quite far I have to say, with the aid of his stick (to make him remember that he is not long out of surgery and his body needs time to convalesce and also because his back is quite sore). I sing to him sometimes as we set off on our walk “Slowly Slowly walks my Grandad leaning hard upon his stick, wait for me my lad says Grandad Im too old I can’t be quick”- it makes us smile anyway. I  have noticed his step is getting more sprightly each day and the stick is becoming a valued pointing mechanism. And can you believe we have seen the most amazing sight, a stalk up high in her nest feeding her young with dad stalk not too far away staving off danger, simply amazing.

I have news of another change too, Alistair is trying the Ketogenic diet for a couple of months. It is getting some really good research write ups and we figure anything is worth a try! Its very weird though to see him eating meat again! I though dear readers have remained true to my vegetarian conversion and have not joined him on this particular dietary change. Alistair regards it as is own form of chemotherapy and is keeping his Carbohydrate intake down to a mere 20grams a day. The science behind putting his body into Ketogenesis is that our normal body cells can convert energy from fat and protein and can manage quite fine for a period of time with very little glucose. The greedy cancer cells however can only survive on Glucose and are unable to convert fat or protein. So quite literally he is starving the curve ball. We are still very much focused on good quality organic food and certainly no processed foods whatsoever so the only change albeit a big one is the addition  of  meats, more fish, more eggs, cheese (sheeps still, we avoid cows at all costs) and for the time being a drastic reduction in vegetables. Dark green leaves, salad leaves, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli & cauliflower) and mushrooms are all allowed but still need to be accounted for. So for the time being I have lost my juice buddy but in a couple of months he can once again return to the side of the light!

So all in all things are very good. Ooh, sorry, I didn’t mention the elephant in the the room, the catheter; its working out fine, the trusted Colloidal Silver is being taken every day and probably 4 litres of water so things are being kept flushed through and in good working order.

We are of course awaiting the entire family to arrive ready for Hannah’s wedding at the end of the month. Alistair and Hannah are no doubt overjoyed that we have got him here to this all important life event for Hannah and probably the proudest day in Alistair’s life so far, walking his beloved daughter down the aisle (now that sentence did get the tears flowing).

What a difference a few short weeks make and as a someone said to me when I was having a really rotten time several years ago; the sun always comes up, it doesn’t matter whats happening the sun will always be there.

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