Day 114 "Had A Full Day"

I took my first Abilify after dinner last night and it never made me sleepy.  I was able to sleep the entire night and wake when I needed too.  It was a nice change to be able to get out of bed without any trouble.  When I was taking Seroquel I would have to either roll out of bed or have something to help pull me up.  The only side effect I had with the Abilify was that my heart felt like it was racing a little.  However, it's only been one dose so I need to give it more time before I decide whether it works or not.

This morning I attended a group session that just started on Mindfulness.  The session lasted almost two hours and there's about nine members.  I have a hard time being around people and I'm hoping that I can build some good social skills as well as learn how to be more Mindful.  I don't remember a whole lot but we did do an exercise, kind of like a meditation, where we closed our eyes and the leader instructed us what to focus on.  It was OK if our minds wandered but we were supposed to try and get back to what we were told to focus on.  They also gave us some reading material that I think will help me to do well in the group.  In any event it was a good first session and I look forward to next Tuesday.

This afternoon we took my uncle to the oncologist to find out what his treatment plan is going to be.  The doctor talked for over 30 min and the only thing I got from all of it was that he's going to have a Pet Scan to show exactly where the cancer is.  He said until he has the results of the Pet Scan he won't be able to really tell what stage the cancer is or give any kind of prognosis.  He did say that Chemotherapy and Radiation is probably what is going to happen.  He said my uncle could have surgery down the road to remove the part of the esophagus and stomach where he presently sees the cancer but that a surgery like that requires a long hospital stay as well as a very long recovery period.  He also said studies show that having surgery doesn't have many benefits over the Chemotherapy and Radiation alone.  I just know that there was a lot of information to take in and there's going to be more coming so as of right now I'm just praying that my uncle can have a comfortable end to his life that I hope is years down the road.