So we have just come back from a lovely w'end in Matakana which is an hour north of Auckland. We flew into Auckland on Friday afternoon and borrowed Nick's sister's car to drive an hour north to Matakana to stay at a lodge called Sandpiper Lodge. The Lodge was supposed to be a 5 star luxury lodge, but i thought it was more 4 star. It needs a bit of updating, fixtures and fittings in the bathroom are a bit dated, a bit of chipped paint here and there and then swimming pool was a little green...you wouldnt expect that at a 5 star lodge would you? But i'm not complaining too much...the main thing was that it was good to get out of Christchurch for two nights and have two nights away just the two of us whilst Nick's mum Di looked after the kids at home.
The area is pristine, lots of reserves to do walks in, marine reserves to snorkel in and places to buy fresh produce etc. There were a lot of little stalls set up on the side of the road selling fresh strawberries or avos etc which were 'unmanned'. There was just a sign up telling you how much things cost and you just had to leave your money there and take what you wanted...all based on trust. My first thought was 'that would never work in SA!'.
We had a lovely meal at MMK (Matakana Market Kitchen) on Saturday night and i was pleased that they catered for people like me who are trying to avoid dairy...i had a lovely quinoa salad with roasted veggies which was right up my ally.
Nick went for a snorkel at Goat Island on Saturday which i had my much needed lunchtime nap on the beach...very pleasant :-)
But of course all good things come to an end and i'm back at work today and thinking about that black box that arrived on Friday morning. Its the medical box which has come from the genostics company so they can take some blood off me to be sent away to Greece then Australia for testing. Every time i look at the box i feel a bit ill. I feel like my fate lies in the box. The genositcs company will test to see if there are any CTC cells (circulating tumour cells) still circulating in my blood and will test to see what medicines may help to eradicate those roque cells from my body. I think the best result i can get from the test would be that i'm in remission...i don't think i can expect there to be zero CTC cells circulating since the oncologist told me that the chemo is only 30% effective at the very highest. But i do like to live in a dream world dreaming that there are no cancer cells left in my body...so i feel this test is going to bring me back down to earth. But i find in cases like these i need to look at the positives in this and that is that if they do find bad cells that they can recommend to me what would be the best potion to get rid of those cells which is of course very specific to me and my cancer. So thats gotta be good and i feel like i'm one step ahead of others that have cancer and don't take this test. Of course the cost of the test makes me feel ill too...BUT...who can put a price on health? If the cancer ever came back i'd pay $1mill to get rid of it if it was guaranteed...life is not worth living if u don't have your health right? Anyway, the next step is to have the blood taken by my doctor and then arrange to get the package couriered to Greece. My appt with the doc is next week Thursday...i made it next week so that i could get my head around this all.
On a lighter note i came across a health drink at the Farmers Market in Matakana over the w'end called 'Kombucha'. Its a effervescent fermented tea drink! Sounds disgusting but actually tasts quite pleasant. Whats interesting is that it comes with a list as long as your arm of health benefits. I have googled it and there are a few sites telling you how you can make it. I've got a bottle at home which i'm going to trial and if i like it i may make a few batches of my own.
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