In November, instead of going on a long trip, I went hiking in nearby mountains.
At the beginning of November, My wife and I went to Mt. Takao with friends couple.
The course was just over 10km long, traversing Mt. Kagenobu, Mt. Shiroyama, and Mt. Takao. However, this time the main event was not the mountain walking, but the drinking wine at the summit. We walked at a leisurely pace, warmed up the Oden (fish-case stew) we had brought with us at the top of Mt. Shiroyama, and toasted with wine. Feeling refreshed, we descended from Mt. Takao on Trail 6, a path beside a mountain stream, and enjoyed the pleasant route with sunlight filtering through the trees. It was before the autumn leaves began to change color, but it was a lovely route to descend the mountain, surrounded by beautiful green trees and listening to the sound of the stream flowing.
On November 10th, I attended gathering of pancreatic cancer patients and their families in Kamata first time. (https://www.tsudoi-cancer.com/Home) This event was attended by around 50 pancreatic cancer patients and their families, and after listening to the lectures, a social gathering was held for the participants. It was a very valuable opportunity for people with the same disease to get together and exchange information. It was very refreshing to hear stories from people who have been undergoing chemotherapy more than 100 times and people who are trying new treatments that I have never heard of before, and I found the stories of people who are living positively and healthily despite having a serious illness very informative. The next event will be in January, and I would like to attend with my wife.
November is the season for planting onion seedlings. In mid-November, I plowed the field at parents in law’s house and planted about 500 onion seedlings. Field work is much more strenuous than soccer or mountain hiking. The day after receiving chemotherapy, I used a hoe to make furrows, but I was unexpectedly out of breath and had to take breaks before I could finally finish. After receiving chemotherapy, it’s better to move your body to feel refreshed, but it seems that full-body exercise like field work was a bit hard.
At the end of November, my wife and I climbed Mt. Kintoki. We had heard that it was an easy hiking course, so we went up without any worries, but it was a steeper climb than we thought. However, once we reached the summit, the majestic Mt. Fuji suddenly appeared before our eyes, and the view made all the tiredness of the climb disappear. The course was about 4km round trip, so we started climbing early in the morning and were able to descend before noon.
The numbness in my feet has been getting stronger every week, and after descending from Mt. Kintoki, I started to feel pain, so we went to a hot spring in Hakone and massaged my feet. When I massaged my feet in the hot water, the pain in my feet subsided and I was able to walk normally, but the numbness has been spreading by a few millimeters every week and getting stronger, so I’m a little worried that I might not be able to play soccer or go hiking in near future.
I consulted with Dr. I at the end of November to ask him to reduce the dosage of Abraxane, which causes numbness in my legs, so that the numbness would not get any worse. The CT scan taken the week before showed that the shadow in my liver had gotten smaller, but there was a small shadow in my lung. It was still small and it was unclear whether it was cancer, but for the time being, we decided to continue with the same anti-cancer drug treatment until the situation became clearer.
The numbness in my legs still doesn’t cause any problems in my daily life, so it’s not something to worry about seriously, but I want to be careful to keep my legs warm in my daily life so that the numbness doesn’t get worse as much as possible.