google.com, pub-6750398400224078, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

We bought a house!

In my previous post about my cancer diagnosis, I said that I hoped to make a life insurance claim to help set-up the family for when I’m no longer around.  As difficult as these circumstances are, I’m very pleased that my life insurance has been paid out and we’ve bought a house.  We wrote about this on the family blog site, but it’s too exciting not to write about here on my personal site as well. 

new home

Our new home has five big bedrooms (so we now have a “spare” bedroom), a fire place, triple garage all on a good size block of land with a decent back yard.  After renting for 14 years, it’s finally good to have a place to call our own. 

We spent a week moving into our new home, mostly done with Mandy’s car, my work ute and a small trailer.  We only had to hire removalists for half a day to take the big stuff.  I vlogged a lot of the move with my phone and put together the below YouTube video to remember the occasion.  Once we’ve settled in, I’ll also record a house tour video and will add that below as well.

Good and Bad news

So this post is a mix of both good and bad news in relation to my Pancreatic Cancer; 

Bad News:  The cancer has returned.  Even though we thought the surgery, followed by chemotherapy, had beaten the cancer, my regular check-ups showed that it had returned.  So to combat the reoccurrence the oncology doctors have put me onto a different course of chemotherapy.

Good News:  My body is reacting really well to the new chemotherapy.  I do get nausea and vomiting the night after treatment, and I have lost my hair, but there are no other side affects.  The tumour has reduced in size and the cancer markers in my blood test have returned to a normal level, so doctors have said I can have a break from treatment for a couple of months.  I’m also feeling pretty good, I certainly don’t feel like I have a life threatening diagnosis.

Bad News:  Even though I’ve been reacting well to treatment, doctors want me to be aware of the reality of the situation: my cancer is terminal.  It is likely that I have less than 12 month to live.  My intention is to prove the doctors wrong.

12 months to live

Good News:  The terminal 12 month life expectancy diagnosis means I should be able to make a claim on my life insurance, which will allow me to set the family up in a good home and debt and worry free after I have gone. 

 I have continued to record YouTube updates about my cancer journey, it helps me get my head around everything that is going on.  Check out my latest cancer update video below.  

My Last Cancer Update (hopefully)

My most recent posts on this blog have been about my health and battle with pancreatic cancer.  Thankfully the growth was discovered early enough for doctors to be able to totally remove the tumour.  Six months of chemotherapy has hopefully reduced the risk of reoccurrence.  I’m back at work full time, in a new role that I’m enjoying and family life is pretty much back to normal (well as normal as it can be during a pandemic).  The only remnant of my cancer journey is tingling pins and needles in my feet (a side effect of the chemo), so hopefully it stays that way.

As you may have seen in my previous posts, I’ve made a series of videos on YouTube about my cancer journey.  My latest video is hopefully my final cancer update, check it out below… 

Christmas Photos 2019

Family Christmas morning photo 2019

2019 Christmas Morning Family Photo

Just a quick look (above) at our annual family photo in front of the Christmas tree.  We always post our traditional Christmas pic on the family blog, and I try to then re-post here on my personal blog.

This year, I can honestly say this is the worst I have ever looked.  I don’t care that Christmas Day was my second-last day of Chemotherapy, so half my hair had fallen out and I was about 15kg down on my normal weight.  The point is that I look a bajillion years old.  The other issue I have with this photos, is that I didn’t have time for the usual Lightroom processing, just an Instagram filter. 

Next year has to be better, but in the mean time check out the better looking members of the family, with some more Christmas morning photos below.

Family Christmas morning photo 2019
Family Christmas morning photo 2019
Family Christmas morning photo 2019