Fine but busy

Just a quick note to let you know that everything is fine and we've been really busy doing fun stuff which I'll write about in due course.

Chemo tomorrow.
Hugs Jill

Monday 21st April

Monday 21^st April
Did a flying visit to Dad in the afternoon and then our friend Val came over for dinner. We had lured her into the trip with the promise that Phil would cook her egg and chips which he did. Actually we have had several visitors since we bought the deep fat fryer as proper home made chips seem to be quite a draw.

We took Val for a little bit a a walk in our Bluebell Woods after dinner, we haven’t walked there in the evening twilight yet this year and it had a completely different type of beauty.

Sunday 20^th April
Silly of me but today was a bit disappointing; as I’d been so much better than usual on Friday I was sort of expecting Sunday to be really good too. It wasn’t actually any worse than usual but having got my hopes up it was a bit downheartening. Still we watched some West Wing in bed which was fun and felt deliciously naughty!

Just in case you are wondering we haven’t been reading much in the last couple of months cos we are wolfing our way through the whole West Wing series (we bought it and watched it a few years ago and it’s just as good the second time around).

Saturday 19^th April
Felt much better than I usually do on the Saturday so we went off to visit Dad . Phil’s brother Richie was there too so we got a chance to see him too and hear about his holiday (I was just a little bit green and envious I must admit)

Wednesday 16^th through Friday 18^th April
Pretty much as normal, we did some short local walks and Wednesday and Thursday. One of the nice things about spring is that even though Phil was working in London on Thursday there was still enough light to go for a little walk in the early evening.

Friday was pretty grotty as normal; we had intended to go and see Dad but I didn’t feel well enough.

Tuesday 15th April 2008

Tuesday 15^th April
I had chemo okay at the hospital, all my bloods were fine.

Monday 14^th April
This was my last day before the next round of chemo so I was at my best. Actually this round of chemo had been one of the easiest for ages it may be a combination of factors; I had the 2 week break, the thyroxin is starting to kick in so I have more energy, I had lots of visitors so I was too busy to feel sorry for myself, the weather has been better so we can go out for walks.

The other possibility is that I stopped using normal milk and moved to a lactose free version this cycle (one of the books I read said that chemo can make you lactose intolerant) Anyway I’ll see if it helps with the diarrhoea again next cycle.

We took avantage of the weather and my health to go off and check out Epping Forest which we haven’t been to before. We went for a walk near the visitor centre (BTW there seem to be lots of wheelchair friend paths there if anyone of interested) then we had and excellent lunch the the nearby pub.

Sunday 13^th April
30 min walk in the woods which are still getting more and more bluebells and look more beautiful by the day.

Sat 12^th April
Spent the afternoon with Dad as we hadn’t been to see him for a little while. We did manage a short walk too though.

Friday 11^th April
Friday was great fun too; Phil was home and our friends Gaynor and Paul came over. We went to Southend which Paul used to visit with his family as a child but Gaye had never seen.

We walked along the front and had Rossi’s ice cream which I think is maybe the best ice cream in the world. Ice cream is one of my favs but I can’t have it too soon after the chemo as I have to avoid anything cold for a few days so I tend to try to schedule ice cream for my ‘good’ week. When we started to get cold we had chips in paper which always taste better at the seaside.

Originally we had intended to walk the length of the pier then get the train back but it started to rain very heavily as we had our chips so instead we went home for supper. (Actually I was quite glad cos I was starting to get cold and tired by that time)

All in all it was a brilliant day, we even managed to enjoy the rain cos it’s what you you are supposed to have happen at an English seaside.

Wed 9^th and Thursday 10^th April
Phil was working these two days but my friend Julie can over for a visit on Wednesday and we had a 40 minute walk in the woods admiring the bluebells and then had a nice lunch.

It was Julie’s birthday on the Thursday and as she had the day off she came over again we had a walk in the meadows this time and then she took me to Waitrose so we could get some cream cakes to celebrate. Any excuse for cream cakes is good enough for me!

Sun 6^th to Tuesday 8^th April
Still had diarrhoea and feeling tired and grotty but not quite so bad as Saturday and getting a little better each day. The weather has been better so we’ve been managing a short walk each day in the local woods.

The woods are full of bluebells and look very splendid at the moment.

Sat 5^th April
Diarrhoea very bad but my friend Sam come over for a visit with chips and a Chinese takeaway which was great fun.

Thurs 3^rd and Fri 4^th April
I was still feeling okay on Thursday so we took advantage and went to do some shopping at Lakeside, then we did Costco and our final stop was Borders bookshop for a late lunch and some magazine/book shopping. Mostly it worked out but the last bit was maybe a bit ambitious cos I started to feel a bit ill in the 5 minute drive from Costco to Borders; it wasn’t anything to worry about just the start of my diarrhoea side effects but I didn’t enjoy the last part of the trip as much as I would have done.

Friday was a grotty day as is usual so I didn’t do much except sit around.

Apology

Everything is fine, in fact I'm feeling really good at the moment but we've been very busy seeing friends and stuff so I haven't had time to update my Blog.

Should be having Chemo again on Tuesday if the bloods are okay so we are trying to fit as much into the 'good' days as we can.

I'll do a proper update soon.

Jill

Wednesday 2nd April 2008

Wednesday 2^nd April
Slept quite badly again but I always do because of the effects of the steroids.

Phil went to the doctor this morning because he just hasn’t been able to shake of the effects of that flu bug he had weeks ago. As we expected antibiotics won’t help because it was a virus, the doc thinks it’s mostly that he’s run down because of stress but has organised some blood tests just to make sure there are no underlying problems.

He’s out in London at a business meeting this afternoon so I’m taking the opportunity to write up this weblog.

Talk to you again soon.
Yours Jill

Tuesday 1^st April
The poor staff at the Marsden we completely run off their feet! They had a really full day and a combination of staff on leave and various people off sick. As always they did a fantastic job and were as friendly and helpful as ever but I did feel very sorry for them.

Anyway my bloods and everything were fine so I had my chemo which was a great relief. Due to my drugs coming down late from pharmacy we didn’t get away until 7.15 which was a very long day for us both. It’s a mixed blessing though; because although we get home later the traffic is much better that late so we do have a quicker journey.

Monday 31st March
Feeling pretty good at the end of my chemo break.

We needed to go and see Phil’s Dad so decided to go for a walk in Hockley woods for a change on the way to his house. We hadn’t anticipated just how muddy it would be and didn’t take our stout boots so we had to cut the walk short after 20 mins. It was probably just as well because it’s much steeper and hillier than our usual walks and we got knackered quite quickly.

After Dads we did a quick pack had some supper and then went over to stay with my friend Gaye who lives over near the Marsden. This was because Phil had a training session he was doing in London. He’s stopped booking anything for Tuesdays but still has some booking that people made last year; with companies who produce brochures and publicity material he sometimes gets booked up to a year in advance.