from the hospital

Cannula trauma
The doctor has put my cannula needle on the UNDERSIDE of my left wrist.. which means I cannot bend it at all....
tricky..

Car Trauma - my gear box has exploded. New gears, casing and clutch now required .. hey ho - it's only money!!!!!!

Photos





































This is me enjoying my web n walk internet access (also modelling the handcuffs they tie me down with in here!)

And here is Nurse Connie - modelling the fairy wings we crafted this week - Dr A was highly amused to see us at work on these - never seen him laugh so much:

Note the two layers of wing and excess of dangly bits on these!

web n walk

thanks to the kindness and generosity of one my lovely friends I now have a T mobile web n walk USB thingy which means I can access the internet on my laptop in hospital -- all being well!

I can send txt using it too - which is so much easier when typing rather than fiddling with that silly phone-key pad and it's all included in the price. It was so easy to set up - in fact you don't have to do anything! Technology, eh!

So going back in tomorrow is very much brightened by the potential to use my messageboards etc ... I've got a grin like a Cheshire cat ...

And a new hair do -- well ,old style just re-done and it looks better than usual too!

Sunny Sunday

Sunny day out at Biddulph Grange - feeling loads better - I can hire out this camera to anyone who needs a flattering picture taken - I'm sure I don't look this smooth in real life!





















It was very busy there, so we had to skip the tea shop treats - but in the shop they sell VERY nice cookies with raspberry in which almost qualifies them as a health food .. it does in my book anyrate! *yum*

Anecdote:
Earlier this week I was stressing cos my hands felt really numb and my feet had been extra sore which is a regular side effect of my chemo ( you DO read some dire experiences of this "peripheral neuropathy side-effect) .. so I was getting a bit depressed cos it was getting worse .... I then started wondering "why is it getting WORSE just now? It's a while since the chemo finished. " thus embarking on one of those worse case scenarios: "Is the cancer growing in my spine?" ( the sort of reckless thinking that cancer patients are famous for!)

Later I was talking to my faithful sister about one of my antibiotics - flagyl - which you're advised not to drink with. I mentioned this prohibition and she said that she thought this was cos it magnifies the effect of the booze (and that's a BAD thing!?!?! ) .. On the other hand my dentist had previously told me that the booze ban is cos it can make you sick ....

so I toddled off to netdoctor to get to the bottom of this puzzler ...

Sad to report the drink-ban with flagyl thing is about nausea so I decided to let the cocktail habit rest ~ but I also read that peripheral neuropathy is one of flagyl's main side effects .. YAY
it might be a nuisance but at least I can stop worrying about a tumour in my spine!

news flash 2

home again
this latest infection wasn't as scarey this time as last time, and if I told you all about it you'd all cry out "too much information" - just trust me it was yucky ..... but hopefully on the mend now.

Sadly we've had to cancel the Wales trip, but will enjoy the sun and our own garden.

Thanks to all who sent messages etc etc ..

News Flash

Temperatrue is rising -back to hospital

B's mobile will not be available tomorrow cos she's switching providers

xxxxx

Weekend

Hi - we had a weekend in MANCHESTER.
Busy!

Woolfie picked me up in the afternoon and took me to James' ... (B was at football with her dad and didn't feel too bad that Stoke beat Charlton!) She joined us in the cocktail bar later.. It's a really groovy place, called ROOM: http://www.roomrestaurants.com/restaurants/

We stayed with James that night and then he made us an enormous lunch, inviting a couple of the bois who were out with us the night before help us eat the mountain of food he'd made!

After that B went to the International Hockey which gave her a second chance to hook up with her dad and a rare opportuity to see her brother. http://www.eurohockeymanchester2007.com/

Meanwhile I spent a few hours with Manda and Pete but I ended up feeling really over-tired and had to come home to crash. None the less, a very sociable weekend, and a happy time.

Working Girl

For two days running I've been into work!



















If you enlarge this one ^ you can see our lovely new pot and its fuschias on the wall!




















Results Day
It was great to be in college "as usual" on results day, especially since the dept has sustained our excellent record on results and provided a brilliant service to our students! I really pleased.

It was also good to go in when the focus wasn't on "me" cos everyone is so busy with their own stuff on results day. None the less I chatted to a lot of people and got hugged many times, so I hope I've not picked up any bugs *eek* .

Everyone keeps saying how well I look. I keep saying "Estee Lauder" - lets face it, I was still putting on my lippy to go for the sixth week of the radiation treatment; it is a good disguise! It's good psychology for me, anyrate, to look as normal as possible (.....good job my sister is away and not able to insert cheeky comments at this!)

Interview Day
On Friday we were interviewing for the temporary teachers to cover for Matt and me. It was interesting and engaging. I got a real buzz from talking about what we do in the Department.

One of the interviewees asked me if the college is a happy place to work, and I said yes, particularly because the teachers in the English Dept are very committed to what we do .. e.g. there were four of us there, yesterday, all strictly speaking on holiday! It was lovely to chat with "my" team again and it reminded me of the banter and comraderie that I have been missing this year.

Sukhraj and Celia were both wearing high-heeled, red shoes, so I can report that standards are being maintained at all levels!

Domestic Bliss

Warning - Instrument of Torture Images enclosed ..



Well that's what my sister (bless her) exclaimed when she saw this appliance fixed up in my study the other day ..



So here is B modelling her domesticity and also her new jamas that her dad got for her ..


It's actually a Charlton thing - with no red on it ... strange but true!



















And yes, this is me, hoovering the patio today!





















I don't look all that ill, do I!?!?!?!?!

Frog itself

I dont have any recent pics of the oldest frog -which is now a GIANT - due to eating all the slugs in our garden .. but here is one of it that I took a couple of years ago -- the two new ones are more this size now

Home 9

Ninth set of chemo over and done.

I felt pretty rough while I was in .. but feel immediately better once I get home .. YAY!

Brigid's been busy planning how our life will be when I am back at work ... cos I am expecting to be part-time she's got my list of chores well mapped out .. getting her breakfast, preparing her lunches, doing all the food shopping ...

She tells me I "can't" put this on the blog --- face facts - domestic goddessing seems to be my future.

xxxxx

frog spotting

My brother, Tracy and Luke were here over the weekend, and then Julie joined us on Sunday and she stayed here with me for three days ... which was lovely. Also, gave B a break to go off and visit her own family members in London and Kent. I'm back in hospital again tomorrow ...

These shots show the main highlight of my garden - frog spotting, well there's no frogs in the shot, just the family looking at the spot where the frogs are. We've had a big frog for many years, and now there are two new ones, much smaller and very happy in this damp undergrowth and tiny tiny pond!

Holiday Snaps

Here are a couple of shots of the "typical " scenery around Pembrokshire:

































































This was the view from our hotel balconey in Saundersfoot.
When the tide was out we walked for miles across these sands.














This is part of the Bishop's Palace in St David's. Yes the sky really WAS that colour - not filled in by Photo-shop!

Creoso Cymru

We had a great WEEK away - courtesy of Dr A (my oncologist) having a holiday ~ I can't have treatment while he's away so I've had more time off!

We couldn't believe how lucky we dropped with the weather .. which has been glorious in Wales and it seems most other places too -- how great is that for us all!!??

We had three nights in Saundersfoot in a really marvellous hotel with stunning views out ~ and we did loads of beach walks there ~ which were great ... then we went to St Davids but the hotel was a right let-down ~ more up-graded YHA than the luxury spot it billed itself, so only one night there for the discerning tourist

Then two nights in another swish place up on a hillside in Barmouth ~ I surprised myself this morning by doing an impression of a mountain goat up the hills behind the hotel

We came home via Portmerion cos B's never seen it .. and just got home an hour or so ago and now we're both planning family stuff .. me with my brother and sister doing a rota of visiting me here, and B off to see her family in London, Canterbury etc, partly in the company of the one and only Mr K!