Month: February 2016

The last couple of weeks have been great, I almost feel normal again!

I have accepted that I have to pace myself and make sure that I don’t expect too much from myself… staying true to the motto “under promise and over deliver”.

This acceptance means that I feel much more satisfied with what I have achieved even when it is much less than I’d really like. Being content, as you all know, makes everything seem more positive.

As does catching up with friends.

Last week I got most of my IT issues sorted out and managed to catch up with a couple of work friends whilst doing my first couple of half days working from home. A couple of times, when random emails were dropping into my mail box I felt a little out of control and had a flutter of panic but generally it felt good to be getting back into things.

This week I caught the train up to Chesterfield to spend a few days with Mum and Richie. It’s just the fourth time I have been away from home (and Phil) in almost a year. I can’t really believe that I used to be away every other week. I had a really lovely time and I was glad to get home and see Phil and the boys again. Despite booking myself on a different train from the one I told everyone I was travelling on (I really can’t explain that!) the travel was relatively stress free and straightforward.

As well as spending time with Mum and Richie, I managed to catch up with several of my Derbyshire based friends. We lived just outside Matlock for about 13 years before relocating to Norfolk and don’t get to catch up with our friends as often as we’d like so to be able to spend some quality time with some of my old friends was brilliant. I lived in Derbyshire from my early twenties to mid thirties so as you can imagine, we have some great (read great as funny, sad, happy, embarrassing, exciting…) memories together. As always, conversation flowed easily and as most of them read my blog, we didn’t spend too much time talking about me and the current situation which was lovely ?. The weather was also beautiful, frosty sunny mornings in the Derbyshire hills are just one of the most beautiful things to behold.

I thought you might like to see a few of the pictures I took.

Talk to you soon

Lots of love Mand xxx

Today was a big occasion.  I went to the hairdressers ?

I felt more normal than I have for a long time.

We celebrated the occasion by going into Norwich early to have lunch out before we went to see Melissa (my hairdresser).  As you know, I love the decadence of eating out at lunch time. We went to Pizza Express which we love, you may remember that we celebrated my last chemo session there.

I did have a flash of sadness when looking at an older couple enjoying each other’s company, the chances of that being Phil and me in 20 years time are slim and that does make me sad.  But then I think how would I behave differently in 20 yrs?! I realise that there is no value in dwelling on the what ifs and could haves.  What was really important was the fact that we were there together at that moment in time, enjoying good food, a cheery atmosphere and each other’s company ☺️

Then to the hairdressers. It was great, quick chat about how fabulous Melissa looks in her pregnancy, how lovely and thick my hair is, the fact that we loved the curls but could see that the ‘dome’ beginning to form on the top of my head had to be sorted and that we needed to hide the fact that the fringe isn’t growing as quickly as the rest and style it up a bit!!!  A pampering hair wash, restyle and blow dry later I was done.  I actually have a hairstyle, a new ‘do’, the only down side is that now I don’t have an excuse to just rub it with a towel ?

This is what it looked like when I had my hair cut at the end of February last year:

And this is what it looks like this afternoon:

This week I have also set up my work space and got my laptop up and running and connected to the work network (and deleted a few thousand emails) so I’m all ready to get going – eek!

Talk to you soon

Lots of love Mand xxx

We have had a tense couple of weeks with Munchie.

As you know he has diabetes which we have been ‘controlling’ for over two years now.  One of the vets once said to us that you never really control it in cats, they can even get better, just like that!  Anyway, Munch had a hypo where he becomes weak and wobbly and vacant over Christmas and we brought him out of it in the usual way by rubbing golden syrup into his gums.  Then a couple of weeks ago he had another but we couldn’t get him out of it as quickly as we usually do, it took a few minutes during which time I spoke to one of the vets and they said we could take him in.  Then he jumped up and went to his food bowl and continued eating his breakfast!   Within an hour he went wobbly again so we took him straight to the vet. He had to stay in for a couple of days to be monitored and it turns out he was having a hyper which is the opposite, his blood sugar was too high so the sugar was never going to help.  Unfortunately, the symptoms are virtually the same ? Nightmare!

The final diagnosis is pancreatitis, on top of his diabetes… We are now giving him pain killer in his breakfast and testing Munchie’s blood sugar levels by pricking his ear and using a glucose meter to keep track of his levels and adjust his insulin dose.  Poor little man!  I am pleased to report that he is much better and back to his old self pretty much… including far too accurate deployment of his lethal weapons!  He had a checkup yesterday and the vet is happy with his progress.

Here’s Munchie ‘hiding’ under the dining table!

We have also put together a plan for my phased return to work which starts next week and eases me back in.  I’m really looking forward to it.  If I think about it too much it becomes terrifying but I am so lucky to have a great boss (and I’m not just saying that because he reads my blog!!) I know that I won’t be put under pressure, at least until I’m ready for it ? We’re in the process of getting my laptop unlocked and I’m good to get going.  Thank goodness BT got its act together and brought fibre optics to Hardwick and we now have our ‘faster’ broadband which means I’ll be able to work from home whilst I get back into things.

There is another advantage of our new speedy connection to the cyber universe, we have now experienced the wonder that is Netflix.  Oh my goodness, how awesome is that?!!  We signed up for a free month to see what it is all about and definitely got our money’s worth, all 5 seasons of Breaking Bad devoured in a month!  No wonder I haven’t had much time to blog ?

This Monday I had a bone treatment.  It was fine, no side effects other than feeling exhausted again but that still seems to be a side effect of any activity!  It’s weirdly comforting that I know so many of the nurses now and the welcome gets warmer every time.  Tiah was my nurse, I have seen her there but not had my treatment from her before, she was lovely.  As I think I’ve mentioned before, this is less social than the FEC chemo and once I’m plugged in I’m left to my own devices.  This time though Sharon was administering FEC to the lady next to me so we all had a lovely chat and the time passed quickly.

The other breaking news is that I have made an appointment to see Melissa my hairdresser! Whoop whoop! I don’t expect it will take long but I’m looking forward to being pampered.

Talk to you soon

Lots of love Mand xxx

P.S. The lack of winter is encouraging unseasonal behaviour from the local wildlife, I caught our pin-up boy doing this today!!