Coming out of the ‘snotty cold’ fog just in time to prepare for the FEC3 fog Oh! joy!
Glad you’re nearly there Jen. This time next week I’ll be past half way!
Wig feeling better cos I put a tuck in it! Now it fits but not sure if my pic is showing. I can’t see it. iPad issue I think.
ST hope sleep fairy is kind.
x MMM
Wig looks lovely MMM! Nearly halfway through chemo. I thought of it all as a steep hill, you’ll start the downward slope to the end soon!
Jen, am glad chemo over for you. I had FEC right through and my SEs have gone now. Rads much easier to do, SEs are after it is finished. I am sore and peely on my underarm, no problem on my breast.
have a great break Revcat. ST - thinking of you.
katyc, bet your hair is fabulous! Oh to have a hair style…
JCJ , did chuckle about your ‘wound’
grumpy, loved the name Eric for he pup.
hoping for warmth too FF.
blinkin car needed a new clutch this week, when they took to bits also needs a new flywheel! £1200! Big sigh.
good weekend all
kay x
MMM your wig truly looks natural/normal. Mine must have been something similar, I went back to work nearly 8 months after diagnosis, wearing my wig (decided that stubble would worry patients!) On various wards nurses said “haven’t seen you for AGES”… ‘no… been off for a few months - I’ve had breast cancer’… “goodness, your hair’s grown back quickly!”…‘I’ll take it off if you like!’ “That’s not a wig? It looks fabulous!” I lost count of those sorts of conversations. I think we are much more aware of wigs and wigginness than others, because we WANT OUR HAIR BACK NOW!
Rads… make sure you slap on moisturiser more times a day than they tell you! You can’t have too much I don’t think. Aloe Vera 99% is great for taking the heat out immediately… yes, the se’s continue for a few weeks after treatment has finished, but it is SO much more do-able than chemo. People talk about fatigue, and I know we all vary, but I didn’t feel any more tired after rads than before… I felt pretty pooped anyway! It just took me so long to get the chemo out of the system… it was months and months after I expected to feel normal that I began to do so… so be gentle… and read “the spoon theory”…
Hugs to all… I’m migrating to the JM for a bacon buttie…
Jane xx
It’s very quiet in Benchland today! Has everyone been out enjoying the sunshine and slightly warmer weather?
I’ve had a lovely day with ES and YD as they’re both here. YD come for the Christening tomorrow (my Great Nephew, her ??? cousin’s baby - no idea what relation that is? 2nd cousin?) ES split from his GF so he’s been moving stuff back here (again!) but assures us it is only until he finds a flat for himself nearer to work (97 mile commute EACH WAY from here!) He’s spent all day rearranging furniture and tools and several desktop computers in ‘his’ room, so it’s starting to look like more than a temporary situation! 
He says he plans to stay at a travelodge or similar near to work during the week and stay with us at weekends until he’s found a place.
ES & YD get on really well together, so we’ve had a good laugh today. Last time they were here at the same time was Christmas!
I hope everyone is feeling OK and coping with work/treatments/SEs etc. xx
Hi all. Your comments bout wigs reminded me of when we went into M&S for a coffee recently. I had gone to get a seat whilst OH paid. He was chuckling when he came to the table and said, the lady behind the counter loves the colour of your hair!
thought I might pop back in a few weeks and ask her if she would like it!
more sun tomorrow I hope!
trying to resist peeling nasty grey skin from under my arm - know my mum would have said ‘you’ll make it sore!’
have fun all x
doesn’t Benchland look great in the sunshine? Keep resisting the peeling Kay!!! I wonder what “voices in the head” our offspring will have/do have from us?
off to work now… see you all later…
Jane x
No sunshine here but in Benchland it’s spectacular!!
Just dropped a half cup of tea on the floor grrrrrrrrrrr so much liquid…
Been a quiet week, had a funny tummy, no doubt another bug, why does everything last so long nowadays???
Have been reading a lot and actually am enjoying books again…found it very difficult to concentrate, maybe just have good books that capture my imagination.
Next week have my GD, we have made a plan of “what we’re going to do each day”, she has to take it home and colour it in bring it back to mine then we’ll put it up on the wall and cross off each day. So will be on the “childhood” bench for a while.
Lovely you had your children home JCJ, as long as your daughter is not moving back too hee hee 
!!
Kay NO PICKING!!! NO NO NO xx
Have just seen a “mummy” duck and her six babies…must be Spring xx
Have a fun week with GD Katy. We have our 2 grandsons Weds and Thurs. hoping to take them to the seaside on Wednesday and off to see Peter Pan on stage on Thursday.
perhapswe should do some book recommendations ? I have just finished the Gods Lions series by John Lyman. Found the first book whilst wandering through Kindle reads. I has hooked after the first one and read the other two in quick succession. Another one on its way later in the year - cant wait!
another series of books I enjoyed was The Bones of Odin sdries.
i do find I try different books with the Kindle, i didn’t browse as widely when I was reading actual books. I know other people prefer books but I LOVE my Kindle. I have the apps on my iPad and smartphone so I can read my books anywhere.
off into hospital tomorrow to have this Hickman line removed, finally. Whoo hoo! Have to be in the day ward for 7.30am, even though its only a local anaesthetic. No actual appointment time so you have to be prepared to be there all day. Nobody is allowed to stay with me - think I will need my Kindle!
have a good day all, off to the JM for a muggalatte and a bacon sandwich, after which I have to go and do some sewing!
kay x
Good luck tomorrow Kay, you’ll be so pleased to get rid 
!
Pondered over a kindle for a long time…but am sticking to books in the meantime, when I struggled to concentrate 
thought it wouldn’t be a good idea and a bit of a waste. Am lucky as have a library around 15mins away and a town full of charity shops with books at bargain prices so haven’t bought a book full price for a long time !
Just read Gillian Flynn Gone Girl and her other 2 books Sharp Objects and Dark Places, Nicci French Secret Smile, Linwood Barclay Trust Your Eyes, Alice LaPlante Turn of Mind and am reading Peter Robinson Before the Poison at the moment.
Thrillers, murders, mystery etc my favourites hence the Lake Murder/Mystery earlier in the year, tee hee!!
Did someone say there was a secondhand book shop in Morecambe???
It’s pouring with rain here yugh! xx
Katytc, I think FF mentioned it. There is the Old Pier Bookshop in Morecambe - I just googled it! I love reading - my son’s girlfriend gave me a Kindle so I could read whilst in hospital having the treatments, which was very nice of her. It’s easy to use when you can’t move one arm due to the drip! Chemo really affects your concentration though, so I’ve only been reading short bits 'n pieces and poems at the moment.
I love my kindle and other iPad ap… my oh bought me one whilst I was having chemo because the steroids affected my eyesight, and you can increase the font size, which was a boon. I read Alexander McCall smith books during chemo - nothing too taxing! And Donna Leon - detective set in Venice, and discovered a couple of medieval detective writers - Candace Robb and Margaret Frazer… One week away I managed the whole of Victoria Hyslops. “The Island” - good read… And someone lent me “the Help” which was great.
Why haven’t we had a reading bench before??? Make room…
I was doubtful about whether I’d get on with a Kindle. YD bought me a Kindle 3G-wifi-keyboard one (2nd hand) for Christmas. I love it. I’ve already read 7 books on it (and none of them over £2 - most of them FREE! I’ve just read Wilkie Collins Woman in White. There went 2 days when I didn’t do anything else. So much for housework! ooops!
I’ve discovered R. Austin Freeman - he wrote detective, murder mysteries set in London in the horse and cart era. Very readable and out of copyright now so all free! 
“Calibre” is a good bit of software that lets you search for free and cheap books and convert them to kindle format if necessary. I’ve found loads of books through there. I really resent paying more for a an ebook that for the printed version - especially as I never bought books before - only had them from the library! Our local library does ebooks but not ones that are compatible with UK Kindle (only US ones… WHY???).
Great nephew’s Christening today. Lovely to see the members of the family that could make it (short notice!). I was pleased to see I’d not lost my old touch! Niece (in law?) passing baby around for photos with rellies and he was getting tired and fractious by the time he got to me. He started to nod off and N said “I’ll love you forever if you can get him to sleep before he gets all grumpy”. 5 minutes later he’s spark out in my arms (unfortunately the surgery side, so I was worried about straining it if I sat too long and risking Lyn Foe-demon - on the plus side though it left my right arm free to eat the delicious buffet dinner that they fetched for me while I was keeping the baby quiet! :)) I was glad that the new parents got to eat their meal in peace. After 40 mins, I could hand him back when he woke up.
Just got to pop to the shop to get milk for staffroom at work (can’t have teachers deprived of tea and coffee - the world might end! :p) then I’m joining you on the reading bench with a cuppa so shove up!
Love my kindle, and I get all the free and cheap books!!! Also I use it for games, sudoku and crosswords, and for emails and googling. So “the office” can live in the spare room and I don’t sit surrounded by papers all the time…
Been on the Creamcrackered bench for two days, hoping to see God daughter and wee Eric later this week, so there may be a new photo next week!!!
Hugs to all with treatments this week
grumpy
Ooh this reading bench is quite long. I like the reclining part best (knees don’t bend so well to curl up) and whose idea was it to have these insulated mug holders attached to all the arms? Genius!
checking out all your book suggestions - ill probably ge through half a dozen books waiting for my friend Hick to be removed tomorrow!
have a magic Monday!
kay x
I have the kindle app on my ipad and I’m getting through so many books on my " feeling s+¥" chemo days! It’s so appealing to inhabit someone else’s life when SE’s are bringing me down. So I will be joining you on reading bench from Wednesday onwards this week.
I wonder if we could have a book club - and “critique” a chosen book ?
Night all. Hope plenty of sleep fairies available tonight.
Tup x
I have just started reading bleak house don’t know if I will finish it seemed appropriate somehow
JUST FEEDING THE ALLIGATORS!
Have been down in the doldrums… one week post rads and skin breaking down underneath… and sore and angry looking underarm AND if thats not enough my nipple area is red and peeling too. I feel so bl**dy ugly and old and am so fed up with it all - and dont even get me started on the nausea and aching hips! Am slapping on the Aqueous cream everywhere except weepy bits and the Trimovate on the weepy bits. Am so hoping it’ll clear up SOON. Sorry for the grumble but am getting fed up of hearing how rads is ‘a walk in the park’ - anyway just needed to get that rant over and feed the alligators!
And breathe…
Ooh Kindles… budge up so I can squeeze myself in I love reading and have only just been able to concentrate enough to take in several pages without having to go back and reread cos I’d forgotten what I was reading!! I tend to use my iPad Kindle app as I find it friendlier on my eyes compared to my kindle. Am currently rereading ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ - amazing book. I’d lent the book to a colleague a year ago… and had a sudden desire to reread it again so bought it on kindle. I have had quite a spending spree recently as I’d asked for an amazon voucher for mothers day… so had great fun choosing and it lifted my spirits for a little while at least Retail therapy is wonderful - especially at this time of night when everyone else is sleeping!!
Sendng you squishy hugs Pammy and to everyone else who wants some.
Lozza xx
Sorry you are having such a tough time with rads SEs, Lozza. For most people, compared to chemo, rads is easy. But everyone has their low moments and you seem to have been unlucky with SEs too. In a few weeks time, when your skin has recovered and you’re getting over the fatigue you should start to feel better. Gentle hugs and calorie-free cake and beverages of choice coming your way.
YD’s GF bought me an Amazon voucher for Christmas and I enjoyed spending that on a case for the kindle and loads of bargainous books.
Really must go to bed now. got to get up for work. Will have the rude awakening by the alarm at silly o’Clock for first time in 2 weeks! 
Welcome to Benchland pammy !!
Virtual library now installed near “book” bench, love the comfy chairs! Just need cakes and choc and we’re ready to go! Table at the ready for “Book Club”.
Mmmmmmmmmm everyone seems to love their kindle perhaps a rethink on my part, I do love my books and my bookcases…
Well body decided that I have not been practising enough sychronised flushing, soooooooooo at 20 to five this morning I was flushing for Scotland, no forget that the whole of Britain! Why sleep when you can mega flush?? And the longer the flush lasts, the better?? ! The flush waves seem to be the best (NOT) and as for sleep afterwards just forget it…practise, practise, practise.
Hope skin gets better quickly Lozza, do use lots and lots of aqueous cream and if you are worried speak to your team. xx
Loving this reading bench! Downloaded Calibre last night, but my Kindle is too old to be recognised, and I haven’t yet managed to read all the “destructions” on how to use it. I also tried looking for the (free) London Detective stories - on Kindle they’re not free, so I tried Calibre and am confused… do you know if I can download books from Calibre on to either my kindle or ipad? (easy instructions needed!)
I too love books and bookshelves - this isn’t either/or for me! Got real books waiting to be read and I’m half way through a paper version of “call the midwife” which I’m really enjoying.
Katy - those flushes are rotten. I was awake in sympathy with you last night…
Lozza - I ditched the acqueous cream and used baby moisturiser… how VERY irritating to hear the “walk int he park” comments when you are NOT having a walk in the park… I just found it so much easier than chemo. We all come undone at different times though…
welcome Pammy…
work calleth… I’ll see you on the reading bench when I get back…
love Jane