Bright morning

It’s one of those fabulous winter mornings. The sky is bright icy blue. Very clear & luminous. The lawns & roofs are covered with crisp white frost. The thermometer reckons it’s -9˚C today. It certainly feels cold enough. But despite the cold, this is the sort of morning that makes you feel good to be alive.

Having been stunned by the view from the window, I’ve duly set down to the task of preparing the dinner. We’re having that old British classic, Cottage Pie. The idea of such warming comforting food is just the thing on a day like this. It’s now already in the oven ready to switch on this evening. A nice easy meal for once.

Maybe part of my lightness of heart is that we had a phone call last night from the Breast Clinic, letting me know I can now drive once more & checking how I’m doing more generally. I confessed to being worried, not so much about me & my health, but rather the effect of all this stress is having on the Fox. He’s now regularly tingling down the side he had his stroke on & is also tending to limp again. He’s not sleeping well. I’m beginning to fear if he doesn’t find some way to relax a bit he will be heading for another stroke, the last thing we need at this point in time. The nurse said she would refer us to the CancerCare place nearby. Possibly a talking therapy, a massage or something else might help. As the carer of a cancer patient such services are on offer to the Fox as well as me. If nothing suits we can always say no.

A bit of a breather

At this week’s hospital trip, I gave them my decision concerning chemo – no for the more invasive FEC-T variety but yes for bone strengthening. I was duly sent off for some blood-letting – the first stage. My next hospital appointment will mean getting the intravenous chemical. I gather I will be attached to a drip for about 15 minutes but that is it. I will have one session every six months for the next three years.

I was told before I could have the treatment I had to have my teeth checked at the dentist. I had brought forward my check-up date to next week. But then on Sunday a filling dropped out so Monday afternoon was spent at the dentist having that refilled. As I had told the dentist about the chemo & the need for a prompt check-up, he kindly checked all my teeth there & then, even X-raying them to make sure there was nothing invisible hiding there. According to the dentist the chemical that I’m having over the course of the next 3 years, means that I will have to go to hospital if I need any teeth taking out. That will not be able to be done at the dentist’s surgery.

The chemo doctor is also forwarding me onto radiotherapy. I should have an appointment there within a fortnight.

So now we have 2 weeks before my next hospital appointment. We contemplated having a weekend break somewhere. However, it is almost impossible to arrange such a break abroad so quickly when you have to sort out wheelchair access. We contemplated staying in Britain but the weather has been so miserable & gloomy of late there is very little attraction. Even if we went somewhere with indoor attractions, e.g. London, you still have to get to & from the gallery/museum. At the end of the day we’ve decided it would be good just to have a couple of weeks at home trying to do normal things – our regular routine is shot to pieces - & maybe try to catch up on some sleep in the comfort of our own bed.

I half-suspect I will find I'm off to see the radiotherapy specialist next week, just to upset any thoughts of getting into some sort of normality.

A day off

Yesterday we decided to pop over to Carnforth. We had a few odd items to buy from Booth’s supermarket.

Afterwards we stopped at the Canal Turn, a pub set beside the canal. I’ve mentioned the place before as it’s a wonderful place to go in summer & watch the ducks on the canal or the colourful canal boats pootling along.

It’s a while since we’ve been. It had become rather grotty but it’s under new management now. We discovered there’d been a few building changes. The conservatory had gone but the bar had been extended out a bit.

We soon discovered the living flame gas fire & huddled around it to get warm again. In the process we met another couple up from the Rochdale/Oldham area. They’ve apparently got a caravan at Capenwray, not far away.

They were enjoying the area. It has come as wonderful surprise to them to discover what a lovely spot this area of South Cumbria/North Lancashire is. There’s so much variety within a very small area. It’s also within easy travelling distance to more well-known areas such as the Yorkshire Dales & the Cumbrian Fells – they’re walkers so that’s important.

What also really impresses them is how friendly the people are who live here. They seem to regard it as a rather obsolete old-fashioned attribute. Here you go into a pub a stranger & leave with friends to chat to another time.

Certainly we enjoyed their company for a while. It made a change to meet new people & talk about something other than cancer. That seems to dominate our conversation at the moment as friends want to know how I’m doing. Still it’s good to know they all care enough to ask & are willing me on to do well.