To my surprise, several people (including friends, colleagues and internet randoms) have quizzed me recently about my progress on the non-cancer goals that I set myself during first line treatment last year. I´m actually really grateful for the enforced accountability, so here is a quick progress summary.
Homelife
Get a dog - Done. I bought the kids a dog for Christmas. His name is Dash. He´s a pain in the arse right now (all the puppy madness), but I think he´s a great addition to our household craziness.
Family tree - Done. I wrote about it here.
Property Plan - Done. Well kind of. The original pre-cancer plan was to buy 5 acres outside of Sydney however I realised this just was not realistic post diagnosis. So instead we bought the house next door and created an urban farm right here is suburban Sydney. Check out highlandurbanfarm.com. I also wrote about it here. Huge thanks to my Dad, a retired builder, for making this all come together.
Professional
Sideline - Total fail on this. Still looking for an ongoing sideline business / project. Open to suggestions !
Upskilling - Ended up only starting this when I went back to work and so the focus has been on ramping up for a new role, but I think I can tick this one off.
Creative
Writing - Done. Wrote a bunch of things. Don´t need to share them.
Singing - Done. This ended up being a fairly time consuming project. I wrote about it here.
Track 2
'DTAT' Videos - Done. Created 'Dad to the Ace Team' private Youtube Channel. Still need to add more videos but I think I can call this done.
Palliative Care Prep - I am actually working on this now. In fact tomorrow I´m touring the hospice facility where I would likely die. I´ve spoken to all the doctors and the nursing team who would be involved in the ¨final stages´ and I feel much better that I know what to expect. Remember, I´m not being fatalistic, I´m just being realistic and doing some planning to put my own mind at ease.
Finish documentation stuff - Partially done. I´ve got Will and Power of Attorney sorted. I have not finished writing my Advanced Care Directive, but this won´t take long. It will basically say ¨do not resuscitate¨.
Improve mental strength and resilience - Well this is never totally done but I´ve done enough work on it, including a week long retreat at Quest for Life, to consider it ticked off my list.
Random / Other
Lived Life Video Collection - Nope. Parked this idea entirely.
So overall not bad. I actually need a new list. Adjusting to work while trying to balance the cancer side of life is proving even harder second time around (after the recurrence and subsequent surgery). I feel like I need something else to work on, totally separate from work and all the cancer stuff, something that provides a bit of inspiration. Again, always open to suggestions !