My first week completed!

Just sharing a photo of my eldest son doing what he loved best a few weeks before his awful accident which left him with disabilities. We still have him with us thank the Good Lord, he has a wonderful wife and two beautiful girls who fought so hard along with the medical staff to help his recovery.

I hope you're all well and life is treating you well.
I'm pleased to say my first week of radiotherapy is now complete, just 2 more weeks to go. Looking at all the appointments when they first gave me the list was a bit daunting but I'm pleased to say it feels like its gone so quickly. I think it helps having the weekends treatment free, one lovely lady we sat talking to had to rely on hospital transport, she lives over an hr away from Sheffield in the opposite direction to us. Bless her heart she's also w/chair bound waited for the ambulance who were 2 hrs late picking her up. The machine I'd been on the day before had broken down so she had to wait another 2 hrs for treatment. She left the area about 90mins before we did when we got to the entrance she was still waiting for them to pick her up!
She looked so tired, thankfully they turned up as we were talking to her.

One of my dislikes may seem trivial to some but whilst having treatment I can't wear deodorant on that side and am paranoid about not smelling nice. I have to clean the area with mild perfume free soap however I was told after drying I can use a very small amount of corn flour mixed with bicarbonate of soda and this will help and it does lol.
They were a bit concerned today because Dolly Parton as I've named her was swollen, hot and an angry red looking, I thought it was due to the treatment. They decided to go ahead today because I'm not having any treatment for two days plus I have an appointment with the oncologist on Monday before my treatment. If it doesn't settle down they may have to suspend treatment again, I'm keeping everything crossed they don't or it will mean my appointments will run into Christmas.

Going there is tiring, it takes a very big chunk out of my day, I've not had the chance to do any sewing but meeting the other patients keeps me aware of the fact I could be one heck of a lot worse off.

I upgraded my iPhone recently to the iPhone 5, not sure what's wrong with it but the camera isn't working! We called into the Apple store at Meadowhall on Wednesday but have got to take it back next week for the tech boys to sort it out. Apparently its a common fault with the iPhone 5, I don't know if its the same with the 5s or 5c, I didn't have to pay for the upgrade due to being on contract but I know they're not cheap to buy. If I had bought it I'd be pretty miffed it has developed a problem so soon.

Due to having to rest I've been getting my sewing fix from the blogs I love to visit without feeling guilty being on the commi. Oh my goodness there has been some wonderful work produced out there, beautiful quilts, samplers and other goodies. It's also given next the chance to watch tutorials on various needle crafts. Thank you ladies for the pleasure I've had looking at your work.

I also visited some thrifting and gardening blogs which has provided a lot of new recipes especially when using squash. I really enjoy them roasted, thanks to the farm near our bolt hole we are enjoying the fruits of their labour along with delicious pumpkins and unusual squash I've never seen before. We've got purée'd and roasted ready for using stored in the freezer, also our local Lydl store have been selling different ones.

I came home today to roast pork with all the trimmings for dinner, all the dirty clothes washed and dried. The dusting done and floors washed, no I didn't have a visit from the housework fairy it was all done by Mr B bless him. I thought he may enjoy an evening with his climbing friends but he says he's to tired ;0).

I hope you all have a great weekend

Hugs

Peg xx



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Beautiful Autumn and a tiring day

Although I love to see the vast variety of colours through the summer, my favourite being the pansies, I absolutely love autumn. The uncountable variations of gold, the warmth of the deeper earthy colours, there's nothing like it.
The above isn't my photo I found it on google search, as I did this one



This is so warm and inviting, like a dish of warm, soft caramel ready to dive into.

We have rain and cooler weather forecast for our region, thankfully we'll avoid the snow I think that's forecast for Scotland. As we'll be travelling the 2hr round trip to the hospital every week day for the next 3 weeks I'm hoping the snow keeps at bay here. I love it if I can hibernate inside:) I have a 4 x 4 that can handle the snow but my daughter who'll be driving isn't keen on ice or snow.

It's been a very tiring day, my treatment was cancelled for 2 weeks due to me having a severe infection. I've had it for over a month with two courses of strong antibiotics doing very little. Last Thursday saw us back at the hospital again, this time they did an ultrasound that revealed a lot of fluid that wasn't helping so that was drained off. Slowly over the past few days it's eased so it was fingers crossed that they wouldn't delay me starting my treatment again.

We got to the hospital about 12.45pm, my appointment was for 1.10pm but I like to be there in plenty of time. Two hours later I finally got to see the consultant who was happy for them to start my treatment. We had a meeting with a radiographer who explained again what would be happening over the next 3wks, he gave me a new set of appointments then cheered me up making me aware of the side effects I could expect. Also what I could and could not do and the importance of resting and pacing myself especially with the travelling putting 2hrs on the day.
I went to sit in the area to wait for my treatment, during the next 20 mins 3 inpatients joined me plus a few out patients. Another hour went by, I had no problem with the inpatients going first, but got a little frustrated when the outpatient numbers started dwindling and I'm still sat there.
I received several apologies throughout the afternoon but eventually went in for my first treatment. It wasn't as scary as I imagined or to long, I'd already had the tattoo marks put on when I went on the 4th November so just over 6 hrs after leaving home we were back. I was and still am shattered, I came to bed before 11pm which is a first for me.
Tomorrow should be better and not take as long thank goodness. Now I'm putting my ipad down, turning out the light and seeing if I can get some sleep I'm up early tomorrow because my appt tomorrow is at 11.10am.

I hope you enjoy your day:0)

Hugs

Peg xx

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Close down time

Hello lovely people, well it's that time of year again, we've said goodbye to our bolt hole for the next 3.1/2 months. This picture is from the wonderful, warm, heady days of summer, yesterday was a beautiful sunny autumnal day but rather chilly.
My daughter and I drove over early morning to Mablethorpe, the lovely small seaside town in Lincolnshire where our bolt hole is situated. Although like most on the site ours is habitable during winter because of central heating and double glazing, the site closes from mid November until mid March. Everything valuable has to be removed, the duvets, pillows, sofa covers, curtains etc are brought home for cleaning so they're nice and fresh for next year. Due to my recovering from surgery I got to be the forewoman with my daughter bless her doing 98% of the work.

It's always a sad day when we leave for the winter, we enjoy it so much being there and apart from one couple, who sadly don't mix with anyone, everyone is really lovely, friendly and chatty. Each morning rain or shine John, one of the older neighbours walks past to the lake for his day of fishing, he always stops for a couple of minutes to chat. Lunchtime sees his wife taking his lunch and a flask, last season a sorry excuse for a human being stole all his fishing tackle. He was heartbroken some of it was over 50yrs old, the culprit was not found but there had been some chaps on the site a few evenings before giving out leaflets to an event. Nothing like this had happened before, everyone knew where he kept his gear, it's been in the same place for almost 20yrs with no problems.
It hit John hard, nothing like this had happened before, all the fellow fishermen grouped together to kit him out with new gear so he could carry on doing what he loves best.

I have a lot more visits to the hospital ahead of me so we wouldn't have been able to go. I was supposed to start 3 wks of daily treatment today but because of a very painful infection they're not happy for me to start treatment until it's cleared up. I've had 2 courses of strong antibiotics but nothing seems to be moving it. I'm back at my local hospital tomorrow to see the specialist who performed the operation, I'm hoping something can be done to ease it. I'm going on Monday 18th November to see the oncologist for him to decide if everything's settled enough for me to start treatment that day. If I do my last treatment visit will be on my birthday.

On the good news front one of my grandsons rang today to say he'd past an exam he'd taken for work which will mean further qualifications, promotion and a very substantial raise in salary. Another grandson, his younger brother has a place at a training college and is really enjoying it. Our eldest grandson and his partner have had the go ahead from the hospital to start trying for a baby after his partners health is now good.
Of our other two grandsons, the elder has also got good results from uni and his younger brother is settling well at senior school.

Of our 3 granddaughters the eldest has had great results at uni, the middle one is back home after working abroad and the youngest is enjoying being at college.
Life sometimes throws very painful bricks at you but there is also an awful lot to feel grateful for.

On the crafting front not a lot has been happening with not being to well but I hope to get back to it soon fingers crossed.

Take care and enjoy the blessings that come your way.

Hugs
Peg xx




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