Song of the day (LH): I'm not the only - Sam Smith
Song of the day (VW): Running up that hill - Kate Bush
A lazy bank holiday Monday. Nice! Though I had tell tale signs of a cold, so called the Marsden to check in, as it could be the start of an infection, which of course would have been unwanted. After been passed through a few different people, I was told that it wasn't a surprise I had a cold as the weather was so chilly and it seemed that colds were doing the rounds. So the advise was to take it easy and treat it like a normal head cold and only worry if my temperature spiked...okey dokey! Two minute phone calls such as this really do offer the reassurance you need when you're just not sure. Coming off of the treatment treadmill, I'll go back to knowing a simple cold is a just a cold and nothing more sinister but I'm just not there yet. I've also been on red watch alert...any signs of redness on the new boob could mean the start of rejection so all eyes are on this. There has been a bit of redness but it's hard as this could just be dry skin etc. So I'm lucky to have DW as my boob monitor!!!
A bank holiday Monday evening, is the same as a Sunday evening for me, in that I have to prepare a good offering at dinner time! This week we both wanted something comforting and more importantly easy to make. So it's a repeat customer this week...
Photo no.531 - Roasted fennel, tomato, lemon and parsley with salmon - served with boiled new potatoes.
Tuesday 26th August
Song of the day (LH): At night - Shakedown
Song of the day (VW): Let's get it on - Marvin Gaye
Writing this a few weeks ahead of the event, I can see how low my energy levels had dipped and transformed into complete lethargy. Today, I once again had a lazy morning, not getting ready until lunchtime. Is it a case of exhausted doing nothing or this is really my body being busy regenerating itself? I think it's the latter at the moment but it's important not to let it tilt into the former!
The one significant event that happened today was cashing in my prescription of Tamoxifen. This is the longest part of the treatment programme. A small tablet that I need to take for the next 10 years. It's another insurance programme but a daily reminder of what's happened. Perhaps this is not such a bad thing, to ensure that life is focussed on being happy and having fun...not getting bogged down with any mundaneness and making the everyday special.
Aside from some green gunk first thing, yep you needed to know (!), my cold seemed to be improving. Breast wise things were improving each day in terms of ease of movement. The redness was being counted as skin rash rather than anything more sinister. Tiredness...you are my nemesis at the moment...so lets focus on getting rid of you!
I seem to be getting into some food routines for weekday dinners. This salad seems to be on the hit list at the moment, served with smoked mackerel...it looks so good and tastes it too! Here's the recipe...include or exclude feta cheese depending on your mood!
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3298/beetroot-feta-and-asparagus-salad
Photo no.532 - beetroot & asparagus salad
Wednesday 27th August
Song of the day (LH): Hey brother - Avicii
Song of the day (VW): Reach out, I'll be there - The Four Tops
Sooooo tired...but good to be up! I decided to go to my local surgery to have a scar check done. I met Nurse Patsy (a real nurse!) this morning who was fantastic and thought my scars were amongst the best she's seen! High praise indeed and good to know that all was on track. Armed with my granny trolley I went and did some food shopping...clearly exercise key is getting my energy levels up! Note this VW!!!
Photo no.533 - something to make you smile! : ))
This afternoon I had a couple of visitors. Nurse Lars was coming to stay for a couple of days for business and a very pregnant Amy Lovell was heading down the M4 for a cup of tea! Amy was a bit late, which wasn't an issue but I was concerned that she might be on the hard shoulder in labour....thankfully she arrived without said incident and Charlie was born the following week! Huge congrats! xxx
Photo no.534 - some lovely blooms from Val and Morris!x
Ladies only....during teenage years I think most girls read Are you there God? It's me, Margaret by Judy Blume. Unlike the title it's nothing to do with religion more to do with a girl going through the changes that teenage years bring. The most famous quote from it is probably, 'I must, I must increase my bust'! Well, I'm not looking to do that but I am applying the same sentiment to 'I must, I must snap these cords'...not the same rhythm but they blimin well need to snap as I know there will be much relief if they do!
Thursday 28th August
Song of the day (LH): Love X Love - George Benson
Song of the day (VW): Won't look back - Duke Dumont
Sleep, sleep, sleep...sh*t! It's 10am and I need to be at PMH by 11am.....up and at them! This morning I was seeing the Janes to reveal my new boob to them as they hadn't seen me since surgery. My mum was my chauffeur this morning, so we also decided to go and see Regina! It was so lovely to go and chat with her and Jill...plus sing some gospel once more. : ) I know for some people once treatment has finished they wish to cut ties with this department as it's a chapter they want to full close. For me, these ladies along with the chemo dream team made my treatment days pass as pleasantly as possible, so it's nice to see them. It was also great to see theirs and Jane's reaction to my new boob! So a very positive morning!
In the afternoon, I started to look through some old photos. On 12th September, we will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. We're following the traditional gifts, this year it's wood. I had planned the gift back in July as I had to get it shipped from America. Going through the photos I suddenly thought it would be good to create a collage/ montage (montage always reminds me of a song from Team America) of all of these memories. Digital photography means you have thousands of photos but they remain digital, so time to pull something together. A couple of hours later, I had pulled out 5 years of memories...ok photobox upload....and crash! Argh!!!!
Thankfully, anger management was brought by the door bell ringing a smiley Rosie Church standing there! Oh photobox you've been saved from a barrage of abuse!!! Instead Rosie and I had a cuppa in the sunshine, which was far more preferable! Thanks for coming over Rosie, it was great to see you as always! xxx
After dinner I managed to salvage the photo situation and upload the files....so the next stage is what to do with them when they arrive! A dilemma for another day. Time for much needed sleep...I am a sleep bore! Good night.
Friday 29th August
Song of the day (LH): Livin on a prayer - Bon Jovi
Song of the day (VW): Addicted to love - Robert Palmer
I'm not a fan of Mr Bon Jovi....I'm probably in a minority so no more need to be said.
What a surprise...I needed to drag myself out of bed. Perhaps going back to work next week isn't so achievable afterall.
As it's Friday it's boob check morning with Gwynedd and some physio with Kate for good measure! Chauffeur Lars kindly dropped me at Heathrow so that I could have an easy journey to South Ken. Thankfully, both appointments went well so lets keep going onwards and upwards! The only other painful part of physio, is that my skin is pretty sensitive on the boob and arm so it means a physio massage is not as pleasant as it might sound. Still no pain, no gain!!!
I had a bit of time, as my legendary chauffeur offered to pick me up from Chelsea. So I decided to try somewhere that I've heard a lot about but never been too... Photo no.535 - The Hummingbird Bakery
Photo no.536 - carrot cake cupcake!
Despite having eaten a lot of sweet treats over the past few months, I've not had any carrot cake. I think it's probably one of my favourite cakes...so take note bakers!!! ; ))
Something that I've failed to tell you about, is that my hair has started to make a come back....it seems it's growing fairly fast in places where it really needn't come back and fairly slowly in the places I want it to grow back.....patience my dear....!
Saturday 30th August
Song of the day (LH): Sweet Freedom - Michael McDonald
Song of the day (VW): Venus as a boy - Björk
No alarms and no surprises please!
A lovely afternoon and evening with DW...a long walk along the Thames followed by going to the cinema at Norden Farm to see The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared...catchy title! It's based on the book by Jonas Jonasson. I'd read the book and liked it. It was a nice read but nothing more than that. The film, however was fantastic and lough out loud funny...definitely worth watching as long you don't mind a subtitled film, as it's in swedish...or brush up on your svenska!
It seems wherever I go at the moment there are cancer ads everywhere. I know I should be grateful for everything that these charities offer but sometimes it would be nice to escape it...
Before bed today I felt a bit teary...no reason really for it, as we had had a wonderful day. I think it's more to do with the treatment treadmill slowing down and going back into the real world and stepping out of wonderland. Of course this is a positive move but nonetheless it feels on occasion stepping into a brave new world.
Sunday 31st August
Song of the day (LH): Problem - Ariana Grande feat Iggy Azalea
Song of the day (VW): Riptide - Vance Joy
After a jolly good sleep, you'd expect nothing less, it was time to head over to West Norwood for an afternoon with the Deutsch clan! A fabulous afternoon!
Photo no.537 - pizza shaped by DW's fair hand!
Photo no.538 - my beautiful rose!
Photo no.539 - playground time....swings are always fun...though a larger seat would have made it slightly less painful on one's rear!
Photo no.540 - seesaw!
Photo no.541 - look no hands!
As you can tell...it was so much fun spending an afternoon with the delightful Deutsch family! We got to meet Lana for the first time and despite not having spent much time with Abi, we were firm friends even after an accident on the slide....note to self you are much heavier than a 2 year old so holding hands in the air coming down the slide is not, repeat not a good idea! Thankfully, I was soon forgiven...I felt especially bad as everyone seemed more concerned for me than poor teary Abi...in fact it may have snapped some cords for me but still slide safety card to be read in future!!! Thanks Laura and Ally for hosting a fab lunch, looking forward to another West Norwood rendezvous soon! xxx
Despite being full from the amazing homemade pizza, I had to provide some sort of Sunday supper...emphasis on the word supper this week....
Photo no.542 - cheesy mushrooms with lemon and garlic
So tales of surgery week 3, we've made progress. Arm movement is progressively getting better, the numbness in my foot is seemingly reducing, so just the tiredness front to be worked on. It seems however much I sleep it's not enough so body I'm listening, you just need more time. Ok, that's allowed! Mentally, more time is required to let things sink in...it seems easier for those around me to take in the incredible results...I guess I'm still experiencing the physical side effects so until these diminish it's difficult to take everything in and move on up! Lets see what next week brings! xxx
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