Kate
"I was in Cambodia for work. It was a very hot night, and I literally swept my hand down my body and said out loud, ‘Oh, it's so hot!’ And I felt this lump, It felt like half the size of a golf ball. I thought, I'm not going to be too worried about it, but I emailed my doctor and made an appointment.
They've said all along you're very lucky you caught it early.
I guess there's some people who go through this sort of thing who are not information seekers. But I'm like, ‘tell me everything!’. My oncologist, at our first meeting, said, ‘our job is to take your body to the very edge to kill the cancer. We take you to the edge, knowing that once we stop, the systems that we are affecting will recover.’ So it is scary stuff.
I just asked questions all the time. I'm a pretty cynical person, but I'm so impressed with the quality of care. I was told when I was first diagnosed, you're in the best city in New Zealand for breast cancer care. When you go in for your chemo you are given a nurse for the day, and she looks after you. They're super resilient these women I mean, obviously they have to be.
When I was heading into chemotherapy, I think the vision I had was that it would be a very quiet, somber place. Oh, no! It's like, hi!, hi! Hi! it's bustly, people are laughing. I actually come away from my chemotherapy sessions feeling quite uplifted because the talk's very lively, and there's just this feeling of caring and concern.
I'm at the pointy end of the treatment now, and although I'm only having treatment every three weeks, the drugs that I'm having now are very heavy duty. I'm just holding my head above water with work.
I continue to turn up with full makeup, I'll put earrings on. And my eyebrows, which I draw on fastidiously every morning and sometimes I end up with like Groucho Marx and sometimes I end up looking like Twiggy. It just depends on my mood. People say to me, oh, gosh, she's looking so well. That helps me too because it's a bit of normality in a very abnormal situation.
Perspective is really important. Getting your head out of what might happen, and bringing yourself back to the present is really important. Counseling helps, right? Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Society both fund counselling.
At the beginning, I was trying to be upbeat about it all the time. I'm not now. I acknowledge when I have down days, those are the days when my sister rushes around and gives me a foot massage.
Actually, for the last week, I felt really afraid of dying. Most of the time, I'm not, because I have faith. So it’s just like, I’ve got this job to do this year, which is an absolute shit job. But it will come to an end.
Boy, have I developed as a person and I'll continue to develop right to the end of this journey, whatever that looks like. Because it just forever changes you. Physically and mentally and emotionally. Spiritually. I've got people praying for me all over the world, and I believe that has made a difference."
- Kate
View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
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Plan to keep Kaikōura ‘moving forward’
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
Community input into Kaikōura’s long-term plan (LTP) has been hailed by councillor Vicki Gulleford, who said residents accepted rates needed to rise.
The Kaikōura District Council adopted its 2024-34 LTP on Wednesday, June 26, confirming an average rates rise of 14.75%.
Gulleford, who sat in the mayor’s chair for the meeting, said she was impressed with the community engagement.
‘‘Even though it is a reasonably high rates rise, it has been respected that it is what we need to do.
‘‘People said ‘yes, lets keep moving forward’.’’
The council received 124 submissions, with 86% backing the council's plan to increase spending on footpaths.
There was overwhelming support (97%) for the council giving financial assistance to the Whale Trail cycleway from Picton to Kaikōura.
The community came up with ideas for investing in the town centre, West End, with councillors adding it into the LTP for future years.
‘‘It is really cool to get that feedback,’’ Gulleford said.
‘‘That is the conundrum, if we want to see things improve, we need to spend money, so you need to find the money and that means rates.’’
Gulleford praised the efforts of staff in putting the plan together, but she stressed the work has just begun.
‘‘It is now time to knuckle down and do the work.’’
Her thoughts were echoed by chief executive Will Doughty.
‘‘Most councils have a dedicated team to work on the long-term plan, but we only have a small team, so we have to do the day-to-day work of council as well.
‘‘There is not much respite, as now we need to continue on and deliver it.’’
Doughty said he understood the Hurunui District Council’s dilemma in deferring adopting its LTP by three weeks, as it made adjustments after not receiving the funding it wanted for roading.
‘‘It is an age old issue, we all need to be able to make assumptions around what we think is going to be funded in the National Land Transport Plan.
‘‘We won’t know the final numbers until August, so it would make more sense if the processes were aligned.’’
He said Kaikōura was in a fortunate position as most of the major bridges in the district were replaced or repaired after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2016.
The council has also invested heavily in recent years to improve the standard of its roads, but it does not have a roading network as large as Hurunui.
‘‘We need to keep having discussions around the funding model and look at options other than rates and debt,’’ Doughty said.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Tomato plants
Looking for tomato plants. I know its winter time but I just wanted to plant in our DIY greenhouse. Thanks in advance😊 please respect post.
Poll: Is it still rude to wear a hat inside?
Times have changed and perhaps so has our societal rules around taking off hats when indoors. What are your thoughts?
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75.2% Yes, take them off indoors
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23.9% No, it's not anymore
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1% Other - I'll share below
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