As some of you guessed privately, the lack of update since the trip means I wasn't able to get back fast to Enfin, Di and Princess.
Instead, after a series of checks, my Doctor confirmed that I unfortunately have relapsed. She has a habit of presenting things with "good news" and "bad news". The bad news are self evident. The good were how fast we caught it, and more importantly that there is a brand new protocol -only just approved- that has shown incredibly high success rates and is now available to me. One of the main criteria for eligibility is being fit, and my Doctor even wrote it in English in capital letters in her opinion that is then reviewed by the medical board collegially to approve the treatement.
FIT.
The word that allows me a high success rate treatment. I have always done my best to stay fit, but there is no doubt that living on Enfin for the last couple of years, walking Princess a minimum of 2 hours every day, but often 3 or more, and all the "boat yoga" and exercize that living on a boat entails, have played a great part in me being medically FIT.
So, once again we had to shut the boat down. But with a major twist this time: Di would physically do it herself, as we would check together via video conference as she went through each step on the checklist.
And she also would arrange for Princesss to fly to France. We had some nice neighbors offer to guard Princess while we needed, including a very nice couple who already own a beautiful husky that looks exactly like Princess' little sister. They play well together, but in our hearts of hearts, we know Princess is a pack animal. Her pack is us, and there is no way we would leave her behind.
No dogs left behind!
There were almost no hiccups in shuttting the boat down. A couple of absent moments from both Di's part and mine meant we went about the checklist order wrong. Closing a water valve before she was finished using the water for example. But overall, since Di had reopened the boat with me and is getting really familiar with it, things went rather well. We ticked each item as we went along with both Di and I checking visually that a task was complete.
Di reached out to the dog travel company we used last time and asked for their help: Normally they need 14 days notice, but we needed things to move much faster than that. My Doc had scheduled me for my first treatment in only a few days, so we were rushing to get Di and Princess here before my first short hospital stay.
Thankfully the company reacted fast, drove down from Seattle to grab Princess, and arranged the whole trip, including vet checkup, paperwork and everything else from their end.
In the meantime, Di organized her trip, including making sure she had PCR negative test results as required for entry to France. Needless to say arranging all this in a few days was a huge feat.
Princess -the poor dear- had a horrible trip. She was in good company, with good people, but you can see from her lost eyes and posture that she's lost and wondering where her pack has gone. All ended well however when she arrived on time in Lyon, except that the French company that was supposed to do the pickup and bring her to us was nowhere to be found. Di had to rush to the airport and sort out Customs and importation by herself instead. She eventually recovered a lost little dog, naked (with no collar) and all personal items gone. No leash, no collars, no toys, no T-Shirt with our smells. All gone, all lost.
But the most important part was we were back together, all three of us.
Now we can concentrate on getting me back in remission. The Doctor continues to believe we can make it all the way from remission to a complete cure. My cancer is one of the few where being cured is an objective and a very real possibility.
My new treatment is much shorter than the initial first line one. It's more concentrated, harsher, but should be done in just over 3 months.
Better times are ahead. We will be back onboard to explore the coast some more.
Yorumlar