Breast Cancer Care Forum

Hay fever stopped as soon as I bought the meds. Of course. Still a teeny bit sneezy and phlegmy (sorry, too much info?) but the irritating cough went as soon as I took a tablet. Which is just as well: don't want that cough now I'm back at school - they'll be packing me off to get tested and quarantining the rest of my group!  School is very odd. We had just 8 of the 15 Year 6s yesterday, and 7 today, and that was the biggest group in the school! Everything is tightly timetabled so that the different groups never come into contact with each other, including the staff - although staff do pass in the corridors occasionally, and chat from a distance. It's not the same as sitting in the staffroom together (which is banned at the moment, even that's on a rota!) but it's better than never seeing them again. Did you get that ironing done, Katy? Or is it still piled up under the CBA bench? 😛 I didn't think much of The Chain either. Certainly not the most gripping read and it definitely didn't stay with me for days - other than being annoyed by it's predictability! I've started to re-read Tony Hawks' Round Ireland With A Fridge which OH bought me (ebook) for my birthday because I read it before and loved it. It is very funny, if memory serves me right. I hope I'm not disappointed reading it again.  It is soooo dry here. The "lawns" are just dusty yellow weed patches. It is forecast to rain overnight and tomorrow and I really hope it does, even though school will be a bit trickier if the kids can't go outside (the mornings already feel incredibly long!) I made a cake - Victoria sponge with homemade blackcurrant jam - to put in the staffroom at school because I promised when it was my birthday. I feel we need the comfort food in these strange days. I'll put some in the Benchland shed too. Better get there quick before the spiders eat it! 😄 ... View more

Where do the weeks go? Friday again already! Get the face "naughty" seen to NOW, Katy, not "soon", that's an order! My loony head disappeared (the looniness, not the whole head! 😛 ) the next day, but I do seem to have hay-fever now. Never had it before. (Must be reaching the magic age of 40??! 😉 ) Or it could be that it's been so hot and dry for weeks now: only one day of drizzly rain since lockdown started 10 weeks ago! I bought some one a day hay-fever tabs so, hopefully, that'll sort it. I had to top up our little garden pond, again, yesterday: the tadpoles were panting! That emptied both water butts so I had to refill them with the hose from the garage tap. It's still only May!! And we had the wettest February on record! I flippin' hate putting the hose away! It's like wrestling a filthy, hyperactive snake!! (Too many exclamation marks?!!!!!!!) School was fun yesterday. Great to interact with some humans, other than OH, neighbours or shop workers! There were 6 kids in and we spent the morning doing some crazy weaving with all different yarns, fabrics and materials. They seem to enjoy it. I did. We're definitely back on Monday. Scary but exciting. 35 more get ups until the end. I wrote my resignation (with effect from August 31st) letter, when I got home yesterday, and will email it to HT on Monday. Then it will be official. Ooh er. Had to get up at crack of dawn again today because OH had arranged to get the local sawmill/wood shop to cut one of the W***** (candle strings) delivery pieces of wood cut in half because they are way too thick to make the raised bed with. We had to be there at 8:30am 😱 They were very busy! Nightmare trying to social distance from a load of builders (especially with OH who's a dozy oik at the best of times!) Need a long sit down now and a large coffee. Stay safe everyone.... oh sorry, it's stay alert now isn't it?!  ... View more

To answer your Qs: 1) They're a bit fiddly but not difficult. You don't need to be able to knit or sew or anything. It's like magic the way the fluffy wool goes into a solid shape just by stabbing it repeatedly with a barbed needle whilst you mould it - a bit like clay modelling. I might have to buy some more wool to experiment a bit more.  2) I bought Ashley Gardener's "Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume Three" 7 books in one for 99p! I've read some of the earlier ones aaages ago and enjoyed them so this book has been on my wishlist for years. I also got "The Little Big Things: The Inspirational Memoir of the Year" by Henry Fraser. He was a rugby player and he had a diving accident and broke his spine. Paralysed from neck down, yet he's taught himself to sit up and he paints amazing pictures.... with his mouth! I feel I should read his book because then I should realise I've got no reason to feel sorry for myself! I've started The Chain. Got to chapter 16 so far. Not sure I'm in the right mood for it - feeling a bit weird today - it's not as gripping as the reviews suggested.... yet, but it's OK.  3) I'm on the rota to go in on Thursday morning (it's half term here, but the Keyworker and vulnerable kids are still going in: maximum of 6, usually only 1 or 2 (none today)). IF we go back on 1st June it will be just Y6 (15 children), their teacher and me in one "family group". Y1, Reception and Nursery are being split into groups of 8 - 15 with 1 or 2 adults. Each family group will have their own classroom and there'll be no intermingling (I should think not! It's a primary school! Lol) so all the classrooms and all staff (except vulnerable) will be in use for less than half the school. Playtime, lunchtime, drop off and Collection are strictly timetabled, with military precision, to try to maintain social distancing between pupils, staff and parents. Even the use of the staffroom has been timetabled! It is strictly NOT a social space now. 😢 The children will have their own workspace and Lunch table, 2m apart, and won't share resources. It will be very alien to them. I don't know how many parents will send their kids in, especially those who have siblings in other year groups. We await Boris' announcement on 28th to see if we're returning. I can't really get my head around the possibility of being back at work (even though not as I knew it!) this time next week! Goodness only knows what we'll do when/if the rest of the pupils return, in 3 weeks time, as suggested, so they have a month before the summer!!    ... View more

 Professor Feltz  Teddy Feltz. He has his own tiny football!  ... View more

Lost a long reply in the middle of typing it last night (deleted the whole thing instead of just the picture I was attempting to add. 😡 ) CBA to start again then, so here goes now...  You do realise that different screens make colours look different, Katy? (Hehehe now she'll be worrying about the new bookcase.)  I finished Florence II and she's in nextdoor's upstairs window. Luckily her daughter didn't want one as well: I don't enjoy knitting the same thing several times in a row. I've got another baby blanket planned next because the pattern is intriguing. I'll use up some more of the donated wool.  I looked on K (start a fire) book shop and The Chain was only £2.99. I bought it so I can read it too. I also got 2 other books that have been on my wishlist for a while, each reduced to 99p. 3 books for under a fiver - Bargain! OH in a grump at the moment. He won't admit it, but I know he's stressing about me going back to work. He was bad enough, in September, when I went back after 6 weeks off; this time I'll have been at home for 10 weeks! Fingers crossed the better meds prevent us from having that nightmare again. I have found a new hobby/addiction: needle felting. OH bought me a kit, for my birthday, to make a little fox and I made him and then made a tiny teddy with the leftover wool. I only stabbed myself about a dozen times with the (very) sharp needle! I would include pictures, but that's where this post went pear-shaped last night....! It's been hot and sunny here for days now, but today is cloudy and much breezier so I'll probably be on the CBA or Reading bench. Need to rest the aching bones because I walked too far on my Thursday night "swimming walk" yesterday!  ... View more

So sad about YD's friend. Doubly tough for YD so soon after losing her grandmother. 😢 I have given up trying to persuade OH of the benefits of a chariot. He just won't have it. He still sometimes talks about getting a mobility scooter.... but I won't hold my breath.  The team meeting went ok: we were all unsure what to do and we had to restart it due to weird echoes, but it was good to see the other TA's faces and hear their voices. It's been a long time. We now know what the routine will be IF we go back on 1st June - that announcement will be made, by Boris, on 28th May. Everyone in school will stick strictly in their own little group of up to 15 children with 1 or 2 adults. The groups will be kept separate at all times. We won't be allowed within 2m of any other adult and the staffroom will not be a socialising space. There is even a rota for breaks and lunch to limit who is in there. It will be extremely odd. If anyone has symptoms they will be tested and, if positive for Covid-19, the whole group - children and adults - will be quarantined for 14 days. I am confident that it will be reasonably safe. Although next week is half term, there will still be key worker and vulnerable children in (so far no more than 6) and I am on the rota for Thursday, morning only - I don't think OH would cope if I was out all day; he's already getting anxious about me going back.  I shall probably end my career with the weirdest 7 weeks in school ever, but at least it won't have just fizzled out. I also washed my car today and did the supermarket shop at 4pm - walked straight into the store and got everything on my list, no problem. Still no flour except bread flour, but I didn't need any because I got lucky on Saturday and found some SR flour in the local shop when I went up to sort out OH's newspaper delivery (2 weeks without one and then they sent the wrong one!) So much achieved in one day - after 2 consecutive nights with hardly any sleep: I may have to lie down for the rest of the week! 😁 ... View more

Good to see you back, Katy. There's a roast beef dinner with raspberry and apple crumble and either ice cream or custard - or both - in the shed.  I've put extra supplies of chocolate, cake, tea and tissues by the CBA, CSL and FF benches just in case you need them. Throw any guilt in that lake. We need to fatten up the alligators ready to celebrate when lockdown ends (although I am having to remind myself not to get too excited about that: OH will still have PD, so we won't be getting back to full freedom!) We went, in the car, to a canal-side pub nearby. It wasn't open, of course, but we took the wheelchair and walked through the woodland by the canal. OH didn't ride in the chair - just sat in it whenever he needed to. It was good to be somewhere else for a change. I knitted a little nurse doll, "Florence Knittinggale", and put her in my kitchen window so people can see her as they walk by. My neighbour saw it and I've had to knit one for her too.  Next Tuesday, we are going to have a virtual staff meeting using Microsoft Teams. I'm already on the anxious bench about that. I struggle to handle WhatsApp video calls with YD, never mind 20 of us!    ... View more

So, we're definitely back in school on 1st June. Probably. Email from HT today outlining how the school will run to try to enable social distancing. I don't envy the senior leadership team: they have had a right mare trying to organise everything and everyone following - ever-changing - government guidelines! It's all a bit scary, but thank goodness I can drive to work and don't have to use crowded public transport! And, however weird it will be, I know it is only for 7 weeks until I finish for good (unless we have to have kids in school through the summer holiday like at Easter and half-term, in which case it could possibly be 13 weeks!) Who knows. Watch this space. But from a safe distance, obviously.    ... View more

Oooh! It seems to have stopped flipping the page upside down even when it's signed me out. Hurrah! The coffee cake has coffee butter icing in the middle but just a dusting of icing sugar on top - we don't like it too sweet. You're welcome.  Had an email this morning to say someone has bought the safari mobile in my Etsy shop. At last! That's the first thing to sell since I put loads in there before Christmas! So I had to parcel that up and get it to the post office today. Also had to visit the paper shop (opposite direction from my house) to see why OH's paper, that I ordered, 2 weeks ago, to be delivered every Saturday, still hasn't appeared. The lovely guy in the shop doesn't speak very good English so we struggled to understand each other. Hopefully, the situation is resolved and OH will get his paper next week. But I won't hold my breath!! It's been HOT today. Like mid summer! I don't know if it was the weather, people expecting restrictions to be lifted in BJ's announcement tomorrow, or, as YD suggests: the VE Day celebrations have made people think this war is over, but nobody seemed to bother with social distancing in the village today. It made me look like a complete mad woman dodging about trying to avoid groups of people walking straight at me! Grrrr!  We had bacon, egg and mushroom sandwiches for lunch. Yum. Can't remember the last time I had that. Needed some comfort food: I'm so fed up with being at, or within walking distance of, home!  ... View more

Mmmmmm delicious tea, thank you Katy. I've shared our sausage, mash and onion gravy with everyone too. 😊 Memory is rubbish - but I'm very good at updating my calendar, keep it on the back of the kitchen door, and look at it every day. Also have reminders set up on my phone! I made a coffee cake for OH today - belated birthday cake, as we had my sherry birthday cake to eat first. I was very messily scraping the bowl clean and licking the spatula when I looked up and saw one of the workmen, who are digging up the road outside our house to install a new water main, standing on our drive looking straight at me with a big grin on his face. So embarrassed. (wipes coffee cake batter off nose, eyebrows and chin)  Definitely a good idea to wait for the perfect bookcase at the right price. I was sooo annoyed to be grossly overcharged for DIL's birthday pressie. I saw she'd put a (used) CD she wanted on her (big river) wishlist. It was £15.95 + £1.95 postage. A bit pricey for a CD, but if it's what she wants, I don't mind paying it. So I ordered it. It arrived today and the seller hadn't even bothered to take off the original £9.99 price sticker OR the charity shop £1 sticker. What??!! That's really taking the ****. So angry.   ... View more

Don't know if you still visit Benchland, FoxyFeret, but Happy Birthday! I've been thinking of you a lot lately and hoping you're staying well shielded from the proxy virus. Hugsxx ... View more

I. Have. Fixed. The. Shower! It was really simple after all my anxious fretting and OH's catastrophising. I talked myself in and out of that job so many times, but feel really proud of myself that I found out what the problem was and fixed it. The part cost £11 including postage, so I've probably saved about £100 by not getting a plumber in! (You watch, the *****y thing will probably break again next time I use it!)  It was OH's birthday yesterday, so we ordered in Indian takeaway from a shop 5 minutes walk from our house. That felt so wrong; so decadent. Of course, we had Friday chippies today as well, so that's 3 takeaways in 5 days. Goodness! That's a record for us! The chippy collection wasn't so dramatic tonight: I went down at about half past 4, without bothering to pre-order, and only had to queue for a few minutes. The pension advisor rang me yesterday, but after all my stressing about the video call, it was just a normal call. This was fortunate because when I answered it, I panicked (the first call I've taken on the new phone) and automatically put the phone to my ear. That would have been a weird video call? My inner ear! 😛 The guy was really helpful though and advised me to ring LGPS and talked me through what I need to ask them for. I'll probably do that next week. Hurrah for YD's super good news (I'm all agog!) and I'm glad that Mum is doing OK. Fingers crossed that ED stays safe. Might she be going in to your mum's care home? That would be good! I thought you were going to paint that bookcase yellow? However a new, ready assembled one sound good - but would they be able to deliver it into your room? I hope Joey is on the mend.... and staying out of trouble!   PS. I deny it all. I know nothing about the rude words burnt onto the shed roof with sparklers, or the fact that the alligators appear to be wearing tiaras. Hic!  ... View more

I had great intentions to fix the shower today. I googled it diagnosed the problem and ordered the part. The YouTube video looks simple enough. The part arrived on Monday, but I was starting to chicken out of it, especially as OH was not very supportive or confident in my ability to do it! After speaking to YD on phone last night - she basically told me to stop being such a wuss and just do it - so that was the plan for today.... BUT the new sim card for my phone and its case arrived this morning, so obviously I've had to spend most of the day sorting the phone out. It's a S******* (boy's 3-letter name - he was singing) G***** (stars, planets etc.... or chocolate!) A40. It's fairly basic, not too huge, as modern phones go, but a bit bigger than my old one. It will let me do more... Like access Wi-Fi in hotels and use banking apps which my old phone wouldn't do any more. I was in the middle of transferring everything - including my number - from one phone to another when I had an email from my pension advisor asking if we could have a video call! What? I've not brushed my hair properly for days! (In fact, I had serious bed hair when I set up the face recognition on the new phone!) I've put him off til tomorrow - said it might take 24 hours for phone transfer (which wasn't a lie!) What podcasts do you listen to? I like No Such Thing as a fish Susan Calman's Brightside and Off Menu. Sometimes when I'm knitting or making cards it's easier to listen to a podcast than watch tele. Oh no! Joey in the wars! I hope he mends soon. ... View more

Pizza, wedges, garlic and barbecue dips, coleslaw and chocolate cherry ice cream (from that pizza shop that could be confused with a pub game) in the shed. Firework display starting soon. Sparkly boots, ballgowns, tiaras and sparklers at the ready. 🎶 Happy Birthday to me 🎶 It's the big one. But I won't be ordering my senior railcard, as planned - or renewing OH's - just yet, seeing as how we can't go anywhere anytime soon!    The pizza delivery was hilarious. Back track to Friday's chippies: At about 5:30pm, I ordered and paid online, as suggested on a sign in the shop window. Message popped up saying my order would be ready in 1 hour and 26 minutes. What?! It's fish and chips. Are they out catching the fish? OH couldn't wait that long so he made an egg on toast snack to keep him going. Meanwhile, Phone call from chippy: please collect order at 7:10pm from the back door of the shop. How clandestine? Is it fish and chips or illegal substances?! Ah well, must be carefully arranged so people aren't queuing. I duly arrived at exactly 10 past 7 to find a long queue, people spaced at 2m intervals, at both front and back doors! FORTY MINUTES later, I was in possession of the deep fried comestibles and scurried home, resisting the temptation to stuff them all in my face on the way. Fast forward to today: I'm not waiting until midnight to have my pizza, so I decided to order it at 12:30 and ask them to deliver at 5:30 to 6pm. Got to checkout: no pre-order available, so I paid anyway thinking, if it arrived a bit early, we could easily re-heat it. A bit early? Half an hour later, (bearing in mind the shop is at least a 10 minute drive away) while we were eating fish finger sandwiches for lunch, the doorbell went and there was my pizza delivery on the path outside and the driver hovering further down the path. Hey ho. The joys of takeaway ordering during lockdown?!   It was all delicious when reheated later (except the ice cream, which was kept in the freezer :p)  so no complaints. There are a couple of slices of pizza left for snacking tomorrow. 😄   YD bought me a phone because I was whinging about all the things my old one wouldn't do, but when I went to set it up, (after waiting for her WhatsApp video call with GD - didn't want to be "between phones" for that!) I realised new phone requires nano sim and old phone has a standard. It looked like I could clip out the middle part of the sim, but that's scary because if it didn't work, I'd have neither phone. I tried it anyway. Still too big. Oh no! Fortunately, though, it still works in the old phone. New sim ordered and I should be able to transfer my number when it arrives. Shiny new phone back in its box and I will have to be patient.  ... View more

Super quick, Katy? There's energetic! 🙂 Woohoo Scooby Doo, Hurrah! Yippee! Our chippy is open again. No cooking for me tomorrow. Yeah!  The blanket is finished and I've put it up for sale. Now I'm knitting a nurse doll because a colleague sent me the link for the free pattern. Currently reading "Running in the Dark" by Sam Reaves. It's good.  ... View more

Mmmmm! Chippies. 😁 Don't stand still or Katy will paint you bright yellow! Hehehe Not officially retired yet, I don't think. I shall hand my notice in to finish at the end of August (Yes I know school finishes in July: it's a salary thing!) but who knows whether we'll get back to school before then? YD's toothache was improving and under control with ibuprofen, last time I spoke to her. She says it's her wisdom teeth trying to come through - it's happened before, several times, but this time was worse (probably exacerbated by the worry of the impossibility of social distancing whilst seeing a dentist!?) I have advised her to find a dentist, when the current crisis is over, if it is still a problem, because I, and most of my family, have had to have our wisdom teeth removed as there was no room for them to come through. (Clearly we were all wise enough not to need them?! :D)   I won't bother reading the Hunting Party if none of the characters are likeable. However, I've just finished The Retreat by Mark Edwards. That was good. Likeable characters and lots of twists!   Bras and jeans arrived this morning. Woohoo! I had an email to say the parcel would arrive today and I left instructions for it to be put in the porch. When I heard the outer front door close, I dashed to the front window to wave a thank you but there was nobody in sight! No van. No person. Parcel was in the porch but the delivery driver had completely vanished! Weird. He must have sprinted down the drive and raced away in a getaway car! 🤔 Bras fit - I knew they would: they're the same as I always get, and the jeans are fab so win, win.   Ordered OH's prescription online and persuaded Dr to issue the repeat for the items that aren't due for another 2 weeks as well. Collected it all from the chemist today. Hurrah! Now I only have to go once a month for him. (until someone introduces another drug to the daily cocktail?!) ... View more

I hope Joey behaved himself and didn't disgrace you in the vet's carpark! Dresses, Katy? There's posh. I placed an order for bras yesterday (famous underwear shop) because it took me ages to find a style I like and I'm panicking the store might go the way of many others (eg Debenhams) and die a death in these uncertain times. While I was there I ordered some jeans too. Just trying to keep them in business. That's my excuse!   OH has bought me some blackcurrant bushes for the garden, so I can still make jam even though we've not got the allotment any more. He wants to make a raised bed for them but that requires timber and topsoil. I investigated online and found a DIY store that will deliver (burning part of candles). Ooh great! Started to put an order together last night but one of items out of stock and OH already asleep. Went to complete the order this morning and was put in a queue for 15 minutes To Get Onto The Website!! What?? The world has gone completely mad. Finished order. Need to book a delivery. Soonest delivery is 12th May. Nearly 4 weeks away. Oh well. We're not going anywhere!    Sitting in bed typing this wearing freshly laundered night wear and it's making me constantly feel like I need to cough it smells so strong. Couldn't get either of my preferred washing powders in that disaster S********'s shop just before lockdown and had to settle for newfangled pods (money container and ledge under a window) Dreading washing the actual bedding - it'll be like holiday bedding that I always complain about the owners using over scented products.    I hope your ED stays safe. Scary times. DIL should have ended her maternity leave this week and started her new job (with the same charity) as a Safeguarding and Sign Along trainer. Obviously, this can't happen (and GD can't start nursery) but they've discovered she's still got 36 hours holiday owing so she'll have that on her old salary and then be furloughed for 3 to 12 weeks on 80% of the new salary. So that's a weight off her mind.    YD has been struggling with toothache - probably wisdom teeth - and, as she says, what a time to need a dentist for the first time in 30 years!! (She went for check ups regularly, every 6 months, as a child, but never needed anything doing). At the moment ibuprofen is keeping it at bay. Fingers crossed.    Heard nothing about my new glasses. Don't want to pester them as it's not exactly urgent, but I hope they've not got lost amidst the current madness!    ... View more

Hahahaha I just had to share this with you.  I was messaging with YD about my new role as trainee Freecycle moderator: I told her I just had to reject a post, due to lockdown, because it wasn't "an essential item". YD offered to give me some practice by posting ridiculous items. She suggested a diamanté camel!! 😄 I said Benchland would LOVE that! Definitely an essential item. Post accepted. Lol.  ... View more

Mine signs me out after a few minutes and flips the latest page upside down so the posts are about a week old. Signing in puts it right and I've set my tablet to remember me so I don't have to put in my password (just as well: not sure I even know what it is! 😋 ) Still annoying though.   I am knitting a baby blanket, for charity, using wool a colleague gave me. I still haven't sold the other stuff (on Etsy, JCJUK) despite dropping the price - twice - and changing the charity to something better known. Originally, the money was going to The Parkinson's Trust (for obvious reasons) now it is for NSPCC as they are working especially hard at the moment with families stuck at home together.   I have just read "A Kestrel for a Knave" (sob) which I got in a Kindle (other....) sale. We read it in school when I was in about Y7 or 8. It is better than I remembered. Now I'm reading "The Heat of the Moment" by Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton. It's about the psychology of firefighting and is fascinating. She is an expert in psychology, has worked her way up through the fire service and is now responsible for co-ordinating the response to emergencies that require more than 11 fire engines and, by her own account, an incredible woman! Still warm and sunny here. I'm in the garden and I've had to move into the shade.  ... View more

Enjoy your Lakeland gorgeousness untrammelled by the madding crowds, grumpy. It must be a unique experience up there: Easter weekend, sunshine and quiet! Enjoy. I've spent most of the day reading and knitting in the garden, trying really hard not to have a double tantrum. We should have gone on holiday today AND I had to cook our fish and chips myself. 😠 Ah well, this will come to an end.... eventually and we can look forward to our little treats. At least OH is coping reasonably well with the restrictions, (largely because it's not made THAT much difference to him?!)  ... View more