We have put a stop to life at anchor on the Broadwater and moved to a marina berth at the Boat Works. This week has been another rollercoaster ride, busy with medical appointments and decision making… and more waiting.

At The Boat Works

With the stormy weather, the size and frequency of the wakes coming through as motorboats raced past our anchorage doing 30 knots, the soggy ship to shore dinghy trips in the bucketing rain and choppy water all got a bit too much for Chris who was feeling trapped and aggravated. She would be a very dangerous woman if she had a gun… a few of those cruisers, jet skis and boats which anchor 20m from us would be a risk of getting shot!

A call to the Boat Works gave us some relief and returned a semblance of calm! They will accommodate us for whatever time we need until a marina berth at Southport becomes available. The Boat Works team have been really caring and supportive. We are so grateful for their help.

We organized to get our friends’ car and moved Anui to its berth on the weekend. We are on the northern side of Boat Works, on the pink arm of the marina… how appropriate! The stress level has dropped a little. We are safe, settled and it is much better than being bounced around on the Broadwater. It is stinking hot and humid though with extreme temperatures and being away from the ocean, there is no sea breeze. So Wade covered Anui with a tarp which makes the inside cooler, and the aircon and fans are on night and day.

Medical Update

When you find out you have cancer, everything is chaos and fear. It is a really rough period emotionally and soon to become tough physically too. There are days when you sort of cope, and others when you are just a scared, grieving mess. Wade keeps us afloat, or rather pulls Chris out of deep sink holes.

This week we have had medical appointments each day and have been moving swiftly. Wade is now the diary chief because someone else’s mind has turned to mush!

We saw the breast surgeon to review options and map out a treatment plan. We got an MRI done to rule out any additional lesion. We saw the occupational therapist for Chris to regain arm, shoulder and chest movement once the sentinel lymph nodes biopsy and the breast surgery are done. We got a lung test and chest X Ray done because Chris has been coughing a lot for over two months now – which is a worry with anesthesia and stitches! Might be long COVID, might be asthma.

Little by little we deal with areas of doubt. The big one left is to do with the spread of the cancer which won’t be known until the surgeon gets the results of the two sentinel lymph nodes biopsy (which happens at surgery time).

At this stage the overall treatment plan consists of a lumpectomy of what turns out to be a 1.7cm tumour plus clear margins, followed a month later by 3 weeks of daily radiotherapy. Then the slow process of recovery starts, but also 5 years of hormone blockers (unless the side effects are unacceptable). The surgery is now confirmed for Tuesday 30^th January.

We were taken through a mass of information to arrive at this decision. There is not just one possible treatment track but several, each with their challenges. In the end you have to decide with guidance from the specialists which path is right for you, taking account of your pathology test results, other medical conditions, your self-knowledge, the consequences and side effects of anything you opt for. Each alternative has its gains and losses – all of them are foul to go through. You hope you are making the right decisions, but none of them are palatable.

One factor which makes things harder is that with T1 Diabetes the body does not heal very well. So for Chris, recovery from any ailment or surgery takes longer than usual and multiple scalpel attacks are best avoided. As the surgeon said: we will use the KISS principle: keep it, simple, stupid. Get in, remove two lymph nodes, more if needed, cut out the tumour with enough margin, get out and sew it all back up as best as possible. No fancy reconstruction! Deep breath in… Deep breath out…

Friends to the rescue

Looking after our body and mind is important to get through this ordeal. Experienced yoga practitioner Åse, who is a catamaran sailor currently at the Boat Works refurbishing Thor with partner Mike, has put a routine together for us both. She is also teaching Chris yoga breathing techniques for relaxation and stress management. We meet up for a session several times a week. We thank Åse for her concern and generosity.

And talking about generosity, one of the comforting and heartwarming aspects of being very public with our cancer plight is that friends, cruising buddies and a number of people who have gone through a cancer trial themselves have rallied around us. It is so crucial to have a strong support network when you go through a traumatic period. We are able to pick up the phone when things are too difficult and offload to a sympathetic ear, or we have a catch up about all sorts of other things with friends. It is also good to not have to initiate every contact and to feel comfortable saying “not today” to visitors knocking on the hull for a chat if we don’t feel up to it, knowing that they will understand our ups and downs.

Every day someone rings, visits or sends a message, it brightens our day. Being secretive gives you privacy, but it is isolating, which does not help us at this time. A few people say “you are brave putting it out there”, however for Chris what would be brave and much harder to cope with would be to keep it all hidden!

We want to express our gratitude for the strong moral and practical support provided by Wendy K, Bill G, Ann J, and of course Véronique (Chris’s sister). You are our pressure cooker release valve and dearest confidants. Thank you to our cruising buddies, especially Amanda C, Gaye J, Helene Y who make a point of checking up on us regularly. Thank you to the old and new friends who have connected with us… You are all precious. Please keep doing this! It helps a lot.

Talk to you here next Friday, hopefully with some progress to report! In the meantime we look forward to reading and responding to your comments.