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Good morning :o)

Well the sleeping pills kept me asleep till 5am, so that was a bonus, its usually about 2.30 that I wake up :o) Doggies gone for a very wet and misty walk, I dare say ahe will come back full of the joys but filthy…she is so enjoying her walkies, she sits waiting for David by the back door now, she’s not daft!!! Shes losing a bit of poundage too which can only be good for her old bones.

Talking of which…I had a shock today as I got on the scales…normally I would be around 12 stone and a size 14. Now my waist, if you can find it is 48 inches…gross and solid, its where my liver is growing not fluid, or it wasn’t last time I was looked at. and I weigh a massive 14 and a half stone…stomach + elephant legs =big fat heffalump!!! no wonder its hard for me to walk around…

Well I did warn Vera, who I am seeing for lunch how ‘different’ I looked since the last time I saw her but she just said, your still here and beating the odds so who cares :o)

I’d just love to be out in the garden today, I envy all your new purchases and plans. You were lucky with your peony, I hope it flowers as if you don’t replant it to the exact same depth it wont, they are very temprimental. XOH bought a tree peony on impulse the other day, which has a few lovely buds on, I look forward to seeing it flower. Its funny thinking that I am still here. I enjoy masterchef, bbc1 and I remember sitting thinking when the first episode was on, whether I would get to see the final or not and whether I would make my six week chack up with oncologist which is next Tuesday…all these things have run through my mind and make me have a secret smile to myself. My next true goal and I do have doubts about it coming off, the way I am getting so tired. Is Aislings birthday, Its a month tomorrow in April…fingers crossed x

Lulu if your garden is a mess a quick tip…cut the grass and chop the edges clean, it lifts the effect immediately :o) so at first glance it looks neat and tidy, then work on ur borders at ur leisure with no pressure.

I know what you mean Libby, about hair growing back with a vengence where you don’t want it!! you can tell a man invented chemo…The jigsaw is a boating landscape, a bit dull but easier than the lion one XOH bought. Luckily we haven’t a cat so it sit in the conservatory untouched till the whim takes me to do some.

The cherry tree sound lovely Julie, I’m sure your mum will be pleased with it, I love the shape of them and if kept in check, take very little room up.

Off to plant my seeds before I go out to lunch. I am driving as Vear is a little erratic and she makes me nervous when sh has driven me, so i said i would never get into or out of her car, so I would drive. The amount of times i have taken that car to the body repair centre is a best kept secret but i need two hands to count them…

Have a lovely day today Ladies, I hope it brightens up for everyone, although we have been spoilt the last few days.

Clare xxx

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Clare, you are so funny! I love reading your posts, it’s like I was sitting at the kitchen table listening to you speaking.

Do you think we should think about doing lunch at the beginning of April at the pub down the road? We had mentioned the idea as something Twinks might be able to get to. Up to you, but I propose Monday 2nd April.

I am very impressed with all the gardening that’s going on. I’ll see your peonies and raise you some bindweed and dandelions. I’ve never liked gardening, though I think nice gardens are very pretty, so my poor garden is a bit of a rubbish tip. Even though I have cooking apples in my garden, I still didn’t get round to using them at all last autumn, and now they’re just sitting on the ground waiting for me to make apple puree with the lawn mower.

Clare, you must NOT go anywhere near the scales. You are officially banned from them. There, that’s told you! And I love Vera’s response to you looking very different. Totally agree - you’re beating the odds so who cares.

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Hello…sitting in the patient lounge in the chemo unit waiting to go down to x ray where they will inject blood into my port & see why I have shoulder ache & also not giving blood out through the port! Might be here a while…

Hoping the sun will come out later, still very foggy outside. I desperately need to do lots of work on the garden although not keen now my shoulder area is sore. Felt quite embarrassed when my parents were in the garden yesterday. It’s a mess!

Got up with hubby this morning to make him a packed lunch & some breakfast. Have some social activities planned whilst he’s away. Just hope that I have enough spoons & that this shoulder/ port problem doesn’t throw a spanner in the works.

Hugs ( gentle ones) to everyone

Twinky x

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Hi Clare, I hope you enjoyed your lunch with Vera and that you are now resting those naughty legs.

Twinky, glad that there is no infection affecting your portacath. I feel I need one, but that would be accepting my secondary diagnosis. I am not sure that I have.
Sweet dreams everyone

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Hi there,

Had a lovely meal out and good company, Vera is a not the usual old lady who has a gardener, she is a very, very clever woman, an MBE, no less for accountancy. She is laways such good company, we became good friends while I worked for her and she has been very loyal since. I even slept an hour before I went so I would have enough energy.

I seem, totally sapped of energy tonight. Don’t know why, I even dozed through a bit of masterchef, which is the programme I really wanted to see. I’m off to bed now…Glad you got our portacath sorted Twinky :o)

Night night all

Clare xxx

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Anybody up for a trip to Oxfordshire next Tuesday?

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Sorry CM i didn’t get back to you, I fell asleep…Perhaps do a different venue as I am seeing my onc that day with my mum. so won’t be able to come i’m afraid.

Clare xxx

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Maybe a different day. Let us know when’s good for you.

Off to bed now.

Night all

CM
x

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Annie is it just me or are you upside down!!!
Nicky the raised beds sound fantastic. I wanted some last year then got this blasted diagnosis. So it will be this year and all fingers crossed to eat the results of my labours.
Clare I went to two garden Centres with mum today. They had lovely primulas and pansies but not a lot more really I suppose it was a couple of weeks too early for tomato and aubergine pants. I did get some decorative cabbage because they are good and hardy. You are bound to be tired because you are living life to the full and long may it continue. You will feel tired because of the steroids. They weaken the muscles over a long period of taking them , but the benefits outweigh that though. Scales are banned other than the ones they had in the Wild Woods which weighed backwards.
Jane a close friends dog ate rat bait yesterday , like your box it also was up on a table!!! Luckily it was noticed and their daughter is a Vet . One dog on observation overnight and Vit K injections. Sleep well Clare and everybody that haunts the night postings. I wonder if Lulu will sleep tonight. She is so often awake .
Cackles

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Today wasn’t a good day as I received some unpleasant news concerning a friend. Consequently I’ve done very little. I received emails from a cousin and a couple of friends which was nice and cheered me up. And had a phone call from a very close friend, also had a visit from my younger dau this evening and a phone call from elder dau, so my day wasn’t all bad.

Clare, great to hear your lunch date went well, Vera sounds an interesting lady.

I watched Masterchef, we always do as OH is a chef so very interested.

Sleep well Clare, and I’ll catch up with you later. x

Hugs to all

Libby x

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Hmmmmmmm sleeping tablets working well :o) I think I will have to try another type again to see if they work better. I shal lurk for an hour and then go back to bed. The only bonus for being up this late is that I get to play a few games of poker with my american friends…

I hope you are all nicely tucked up in bed

Clare xxx

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Clare don’t up that Anti too much. Enjoy your game!
Lots if hugs
Cackles

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Oops Cackles - on my laptop I’m the right way up on my iPhone or iPad - I’m upside down - time for a change!!!

Claire - I hope you had some good games. I found Words with Friends a saviour when I was recovering from my ops in the summer - I now have cyber-friends all over the world!

Twinky - I hope you got on ok yesterday?

I’m off to get the kitchen ready for the oven cleaning man to come …, it was neglected last year… can’t face doing it myself and not fair to get OH to do it!

Hugs to everyone

Axx

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Lol…Annie you’re in Australia on my iPhone too!

Slept well last night. Bunny alarm clock bounced on the bed at 7:20 this morning! I’ve just demolished a bug bowl of unhealthy crunchy nut cornflakes & thoroughly enjoyed them. Trying to have a lazy day today so that i have enough energy to go see a gig tonight in Birmingham. Still got the sore shoulder & port area but at least I know it’s nothing to worry about. I have some Guiness chilling in the fridge. The hospital told me to drink some…so will do as I’m told for once!

Hugs

Twinky x

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It’s lovely reading all the descriptions of spring springing and gardeners gardening. I am a lazy person, living in a gorgeous third floor flat, so no gardens to do, but I love peeping over fences and hedges at those I pass each day walking to work. And squiggles (squirrels) in abundance in the parks and gardens. We have urban foxes too, very lovely to look at - one lives near the cancer hospital and was my harbinger of hope as I began my treatment, way back when, and then popped up again the day they set me free after rads.

Hope you manage to arrange an Oxon meet soon, and Clare that you have some good days with your various family and friends.

LibSue, sorry you are in a painful place just now, gentle hug.

Twinky your bunnies are kinder alarm clocks than my cat - 4 am? 4 am?!

Annie likes being upside down I think - right way up on my laptop though. Maybe she has a Hogwarts photo that moves?

CM thinking of you, and admiring your determination.

All other Claredrops, seen and unseen, hope you are well

Oh yes, guess what, it’s grey in Glasgow for a change this morning :smiley: Presumably that means sun in abundance for the rest of the UK!!

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Just to reassure you Revcat that you aren’t missing out, it’s a very foggy grey day here in Warwickshire! I should have words with your feline alarm clock. 4am is way too early!

Love

Twinky x

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Don’t worry Rev, it’s foggy as far down south as Hampshire :frowning:
Hi to all Claredrops (I like that name, well done for grouping us) Hope the day gets brighter in all ways for you especially if struggling at the moment.
Clare, although I’d also say ban the scales, I do know that fluid retention adds all those pounds on so if you can get some help today with the lymph nurse maybe you’ll shed some of them? Having had pre eclampsia with my eldest I lost pretty much all my ‘baby’ weight in a few days as I pee’d it away lol Thanks for the tip about my peonies, there was I feeling so clever. I’ll see if they bloom but I hope I’ve got the depth right. I do have this problem with a peony tree/bush that someone planted out for me, it’s always had loads of leaves but never flowered, this reminds me to repot it and try again.
Good luck with getting your raised beds this year Cackles, I really enjoyed them last year, once I’d convinced the cat that they weren’t giant litter trays for her. Although we have plenty of room to have a real veg patch our soil is like a brick graveyard, wherever we dig we strike some sort of rubbish. I don’t think my spuds would have stood a chance last year in it whereas they did really well in the lovely soft compost I gave them :slight_smile:
Nicky xx

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Good morning :o)

On top form this morning, not sure what was going on last night, just tiredness I guess that just overwhelmed me…

Sorry to be a popper for next Tuesday CM I am busy on that day and have an 11.30 appointment with BCN on thursday the 22nd (my sisters birthday ), all the other days are free, so far.

Its grey here too REV so don’t despair, we have unsunny days too, just like to keep you company for a while, not too long I hope.

I am hoping Nicky to have shed a few pounds after a visit to the lymphodema clinic, I do hope they don’t try and fob me off ( I will get bolshy Clare out) as it will make such a difference to my life if something can be done regulaly.

Wet soggy doggy has appeared and needs a good rub down if she wants to come in…so I will luv you and leave you and hopefully you will find me tonight, a stone lighter, chilled from massage and clean from my bubble bath, after a bit of garden club…I’m quite looking forward to my hspice visit afterall :o)

Have a lovely day everyone.

Clare xxx

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Crumbs - trying to wean myself off my addiction to the forums is not working as I now have many pages to read to catch up!

Glad you had a good time with your Mum and Jane Clare, sorry the portions were a bit stingy- you’ll just have to do it again! The redcurrant jelly sounds great. Re wheelchairs etc do you know you can get special attachments that keep your legs up ie straight out. If you were being wheeled around a garden centre, or sitting outside it might be worth thinking about. You could also sit sideways to a table for a coffee or tea- just take a bib with you :slight_smile: Enjoy being spoilt at the hospice Clare they may be able to give you info re w/chairs too. All the best for the infusion today and thank you for reminding me about sweetpeas. I love them but have never tried to grow them and I think now might be a time to try. Loved Masterchef can’t decide who I want to win - maybe Shelina but then I feel sorry for Andrew and Tom. Enjoy St Patrick"s Day I’ll be thinking of you.

Twinky -belated birthday wishes, for the 12th I think it was, and pleased you got the portacath sorted.

Cackles- you’re making me hungry - and tired too, cooking for the hoards of young men!

CM -glad things have settled a bit hope for no more flare ups. Did you get the red wine out of the carpet?

Libsue and Donnad- have you been to Kew where the records are kept- it’s a lovely spot and now I just need to work out how to get the best out of it. Have only got back to mid 1800’s for English side. With the Welsh it’s hopeless, trying to establish accuracy when they are all Jones Evans Thomas and Davies and mostly with the same first names!

It’s really sunny here at the moment so my solar panels are generating electricity for me and my meter is running backwards- the meter is reading the same as it did on the 18th of February so since then it has cost me nothing. And the government is paying me to generate it! Can’t be bad. Don’t like the drought though must have brought it with me- very familiar with hosepipe bans and economical use of water. Funny because at the moment the Sydney dams are much fuller and there has been a lot of rain.

Enough rambling- Spoons to all!

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Evening all,

I had a good day , mostly, just very dissapointed on how it went at the lymphodema clinic, I thought I would start some kind of treatment straight away. I got measured for some stockings, full length, really sexy ones…they will take up to 10 days though and I don’t have my first appointment with her till the 28th March, another 2 weeks wait… She did give me a gadget to get my stockings on easier but that was that. She says I have about 6-8 litres of fluid in my legs, no wonder the scales were scary!!! So its a waiting game again, not sure I have another 2 weeks in me, feeling as I do.

The massage was nice, just hands and arms but it was very soothing. I am frightened to have my back done as it dislocates so easily around my shoulders and 1 arm when I stretch it out, so it mayb asking for trouble to have it done.

I have booked in a whole day with them next Wednesday so I can stay and do some sessions, if I am feeling like it.

Sorry I am a bit down tonight, I had a blast at Jamie about growoing some ‘balls’ his driving man has just put him off again after him waiting 3 weeks… and he waits till work tells him he has overtime instead of organising his life around his contracted shifts. This is his reasoning as to why he can’t do driving for a few weeks…Grrrrrrrrr He needs to toughen up!!!

So all in all I am going to bed with a very dark cloud over me as I can’t see the end of being so bloddy uncomfortable and useless.

My friend Di is coming tomorrow, I was hoping to get her to open up a bit , as she is slipping into depression again but I’m not going to be a great deal of use to her if I’m not feeling great. Hopefully a good sleep will do the trick and I should be gratful I don’t have any proper pain…

Luv to all

Clare xxx