If you're name's not down....

Frozen

After consuming lots of red wine and a lovely homemade pizza on Friday night after our hospital trip, Saturday saw a visit from my brother and niece, Scarlett.

It's the first time I've seen Dan since my re-diagnosis and it was lovely to see him.  He's finally had a haircut!!  Scarlett cooked dinner for us (lamb kebabs and a tomato dipping sauce), it was yummy...

Rolling the kebabs

Yum

The evening then turned into a karaoke fest while we YouTubed loads of songs and sang along to them....I've got to share this with you...it's priceless...Well done Timmy B

A lot more red wine was consumed.  Not great for the hot flushes.

Speaking of which, mum's friend Carolyn bought me a 'cool' pillow which is filled with gel and it's great on my neck at night when I've got a sweat on!!

Guestlist?

Monday saw the monthly trip to the hospital for my jabs.  My appointment was at 12.30pm and I was hoping I'd be done by about 1pm (as the jabs only take 10 mins'ish) so I was planning on going back to work afterwards.

Mum and dad came to pick me up from work at 12pm and we arrived up at the Rowan Suite about 12.20pm.  I went straight through to the treatment waiting room and told one of the nurses I was there (you sort of have to 'check in' with any of the nurses that are wandering around the oncology treatment ward).  She said, 'that's fine Kate, take a seat'.

I'd told mum and dad to bring their lunch (I had mine) in case we had a bit of a wait...it was a good job we did!

It soon ticked around to about 12.45pm and I decided to have my sandwiches (I was really hungry)... by 1.15pm (and after lots of other people going through to treatment) I thought I'd better find out what was going on... I caught one of the nurses while she was back and forth and said, 'ooo, my appointment was due at 12.30pm, just wanted to know if things were running behind today', to which she replied 'yes, there's a bit of wait' and looked a bit impatient, so that was the end of that.

During this time I got chatting to an old man opposite, one of the nurses had been in to take our obs (blood pressure, pulse, temperature and weight) and we were both looking at the weight conversion chart on the wall.  He was on his own.  He lost his wife three years ago but still sees his two sons and daughter in laws.  It was such a shame that he was at the hospital on his own though.  He was due to be seen at 12.30pm too. At about 1.45pm, he got called through.  I was still waiting.

Finally, about 2.10pm the same nurse I'd checked in with came to see me and said 'sorry about the wait Kate, do you want to come through'.  She then told me that they'd missed me off the list!!

Apparently, she ticked off that I'd arrived, then the person who was after me had called to cancel their appointment, so their name was crossed out, then my nurse had gone on her lunch break and the others thought they were working down the list 'after' the person who's name was crossed off and hadn't realised that I hadn't been seen!  Jeez.... It's a good job my nurse came back after her lunch break as who knows what might have happened.

Anyway, I was meant to go through to my usual room, but as I walked by there was someone in there (who had looked quite poorly in the waiting room), so we just had to stand in the middle of the chemo room while the nurse printed out my blood forms for my next appointment, which felt a bit awkward.

We then walked off the ward and into one of the consultation rooms, in fact, that one in which Tim and I had met with Dr P last week!  Mum came in with me and the nurse looked at my obs and then the second nurse came in to confirm everything.  They have to double check the dosages and what I'm being given and I'm asked to confirm my name and date of birth.

She asked me which one I wanted first and I asked for the Zoladex implant.  That was fine, but I was convinced she was going in on a side angle - it was all a bit weird.  Then the Denosumab. Ouch, that really does sting.

Ooo, forgot to mention, before the second nurse came in, I had to go through a list of questions, one of which was about my throat and I did tell her that this past week I'd had a similar feeling in my throat to that when I'd had the radiotherapy, that is feels like I can't swallow properly, but mainly when I'm drinking hot drinks. Weird! She then said, it might be thrush! Er, what?!  How lovely... She said it is a symptom of all the drugs I'm taking....great!!  So, after my jabs she managed to speak to Dr P in between his appointments and he prescribed something for the 'thrush' and also my Zoladex for next month (as I won't be seeing him before I have my jabs).

The nurse then said, 'I'm not sure if you're interested or not, but there is a breast cancer care weekend for women under 45 with secondary cancer in May'.  Hmmm... She explained that it's up in Manchester and they pay for the hotel and food and everything and there are group sessions and break out sessions you can attend e.g. relationships and communication, wellbeing sessions, intimacy, palliative care, and, the one that really struck me: 'Adjusting/adapting to a life limiting illness'.

Reading that hit me like a ton of bricks to be fair.  What a horrible thought, but, in reality, I suppose that's what I need to do! It goes on....'This session aims to provide a safe environment for you to discuss the impact your diagnosis had had on your plans and ambitions for the future and how this has affected you and your relationships.' Sigh.....

I'm not sure if I want to go or not, am keeping an open mind, but I'm verging more on 'no' at the moment.

After all that I finally left the hospital at 2.36pm!  Crikey... I was so emotionally drained that I didn't go back to work!

Nearly time for holibobs

For those of you that nagged me, I have bought travel insurance with all the medical cover required - it cost us £66 for the week!  Although one quote I had was over £500 which is more than our flights and accommodation cost combined!

But I'm looking forward to Timmy and I spending some time together away from the realities of what we're dealing with and drinking lots of white wine... Expect to see pictures like this:

Viva Espana

Dressing up

Wednesday eve, Susie, Helen, Jen and I all got to model at the Stripes  fashion show.  We had such a laugh quaffing pink fizz before hand, getting all dressed up and having our make up done.  It's always so nerve-wracking when people are staring at you, but after the first two outfits and walk down the catwalk I got into the swing of it.  It was lots of fun.

I loved a couple of my outfits (er, and I may have been back into Stripes today to buy them! #heybigspender).  The girls that work there are so lovely and always look after us well, and Stripes are huge supporters of Breast Unit Events and undertook a raffle on the eve (which mum helped sell tickets for) to raise money for the Unit.

The birds

Rocking the jeans and jacket look

Jumpers a go go

Radana and Demi from Stripes and H

Can I ever be serious?

Yep, loved it, bought it

What a pair of knobs

Yep, bought this too!

Besties in pink

All the 'models' in our first outfit

Back in our normal togs

Mo Money, Mo Problems....

Thursday morning before work, I went to visit the a financial adviser to talk about pensions.  I've got a fair whack in my various pensions and wanted to know if I can draw it out as, sadly, I'm unlikely to reach pension age! (sad face).

I explained the situation and, as always happens when you tell someone you have incurable cancer, their face drops!

Anyway, the answer is basically 'no'. Boo, The earliest I can claim my pension is 55, so that's my new challenge to myself - try and live until 55!!! hahahaha.  He also explained some stuff about changes to the pension rules and what Tim, or whoever I nominate in my pensions, can do with them etc... It's always so flippin' complicated.  I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent human being, but when it comes to pensions, it's a complicated business!

However, I can take money out of my ISA's whenever I want, and I've got a fair chunk squirreled away in those too.... Don't worry, I'm not gonna go crazy and buy a Porsche (hmmm, or maybe I will, I've always loved the Porsche Boxster - ding dong)

What dreams are made of....

....but I think I will use some for some cracking holidays while I'm well enough and we can go away.  I'd love to go with my family and take Scarlett to Disneyworld too so fingers crossed we can do that as well.

As mentioned above, I have already started some spending and purchased several items of clothing today - and I don't really 'do' clothes - I've never really understood fashion, and most of my clothes come from H&M, Oasis and Warehouse (although I've always loved a fancy jeans and have numerous pairs...yipppeee), but I fancied treating myself.

So enough inane rambling for now and I'll see you on the other side of our trip to Spain....

Living La Vida Loca baby.... WHOOP. xx

BOOM!! What a week....

Stable

Double jab

Last Wednesday I was called to go for a CT scan on Thursday eve at 6pm.  Only Timmy knew. That's because it's the scan to try and determine if my hormone treatment is currently working. Yowzers. I didn't want to worry anyone else with it.

I was expecting an appointment through the post but, as my oncologist said 'give my secretary a call if you've not received it in two weeks', I called her.  She said she had been chasing the appointment but said it would be a good idea if I called the scan team too.  I did that and was told there was nothing available until after my next monthly appointment with Dr P on 20 Mar.  Hmmmmm, not that useful then.  So I called the Dr P's secretary back and told her.  About an hour later I get a call from the hospital asking me to go in the following eve at 6pm.

Luckily neither Tim nor I had anything planned on Thursday eve so we didn't have to cancel anything or make any excuses.  We decided to walk up to the hospital from Tesco (for a bit of exercise) and also for me to get my blood pumping through my veins to try and make it easy for them to insert the cannula in my arm.

It was actually quite 'pleasant' being in the hospital at that time of the day as it is really quiet in the corridors.  The CT and MRI area was still pretty busy though.  It's open until 8pm.

We were quite early, we'd arrived at 5.40pm, we sat down and the nurse came out and asked me to drink four cups of water over a 20 minute period.  My ace friend Liz had bought me a copy of the Puzzler (she loves it) and we sat and did a word search while we were waiting and I was drinking - I think it gave the other patients something to giggle about as we battled between us to find the next word!

It took a while to get called through to the second waiting area where the machines are...I think it was about 6.30.  Soon after I was called through to have my cannula put in.  I was dreading it as my veins haven't been behaving recently. And yep, you guessed it.  She tried to get the needle in and then shoved it - it really hurt and it didn't work. Not again!!  She said she wouldn't try again and would wait until I was called through for the scan to get cannulated.

Tim hadn't been into the CT area before so I was explaining what was happening.  All of a sudden, even outside of the scanning room, you hear 'breathe in, and hold your breath', and then 'breathe normally'.  It's a recording and is played while you're being scanned.  Holding your breath helps give clearer images.

Two people went in before me and then it was my turn.  The radiographer was the lovely lady that had held my hand during my biopsy.  Thank goodness it didn't hurt nearly as much when I had to lie on the 'couch' (as they call it) as it did when I had my biopsy.

Next came the cannula.  She took a look at the crook of my arm and told me the previous radiographer had made a right mess of it - great.  It was still bleeding and she had to put a lot of pressure on it to stop it bruising and it hurt quite a lot.  Then the fun started.  They were prodding around in the crook of my arm again (I hate that) and nothing was happening so she started looking at my wrist and hand and then moved the tourniquet down to my forearm, while the second radiographer also held my forearm really tight to keep the vein up, and then the needle was prodded into my wrist - that hurt!! But she did manage to get it in.  I told myself off for being such a wuss, but they were really lovely about it and said, 'well at least you didn't kick us' which apparently has happened before.

So I had to put my hands over my head (easier said then done when your cannula is attached to a tube) and they left the room and the scan started.  They warn you when they insert the imaging dye (aka 'contrast') through the cannula and when I had it before it was fine, but this time it stung very badly and I flinched and did a little squeal!!  They told me afterwards it was because the vein is small.  Once it was done I had to sign the form saying I wasn't pregnant (oops, I was meant to do that before the scan), and then had to go back to the waiting area so they can check that I don't react to the contrast.  As I sat down by Tim again I was shaking like a leaf in pure panic mode and had to take some deep breaths.  Ten mins later the nurse called me through to remove the cannula (which was fine) and we were free to go. It was 8pm. We treated ourselves to a chippy tea!!

Still bruised one week after the cannula!

Another first at 40

On Friday, I had my hair dyed for the first time in my life!!!

Even when I was a teenager and everyone else was trying those temporary wash in, wash out dyes, I never went for it.  However, recently the grey strands, particularly on the right side of my head , are getting really visible, so it was time!  My mum's hairdresser, Karen, did the honours for me.  She had patch tested me before Christmas and I was originally going for the dye in Jan, but at that time I didn't know what my treatment plan was so I didn't want to have it done in case my hair would be falling out any time soon.

Anyway, I had a set of foils done and the aim wasn't to completely cover all the grey (as I don't want to look too fake) but to dye quite a bit of it.  I'm really pleased as no one has noticed that I've had my hair coloured, which is exactly what I wanted.  I've been dreading it as it seems such a signifier to me as I'm admitting I'm getting older and also that it wouldn't be 'me' anymore as my natural colour won't be there, but most women I know have been dyeing their hair for years!

Foils in mum's kitchen....so glamorous

A totally ace weekend

Friday night Tim and I went with Susie and Chris to Corinna and Jim's house for dinner.  Such a brilliant night.  We met Corinna last year just as she was about to finish her treatment for breast cancer and we got on really well.  Corinna and Jim came to the Snow Ball in December where Susie and I only met Jim briefly, so Corinna wanted to get us all together.  We had such a great night at their gorgeous house.  Starting off with champagne (oooo) and then far too much prosecco as well as a very tasty lasagne and home made cheesecake (yum) - did I mention I also ate shed loads of crisps and nibbles beforehand too (lent can do one this year - bring on the crisps!!).

I had to say something to Corinna at one point as I think she is incredibly courageous in allowing me to remain in her life.  Let me explain.....

When I was diagnosed and throughout treatment, I had Susie in my life, which was (and still is) amazing, however, Susie knew of a few other women who were at secondary stage, and I just didn't want to hear about it, I wasn't ready to contemplate that possibility and it scared me, so, in general, with the exception of my beautiful friend and fellow calendar girl, Cherry, I kept my distance from those with secondary cancer.  I just couldn't handle it.  I didn't want to think about the possibility or even know people who were going to die (which is stupid 'cos we're all gonna die, but you get my drift!!).  So I said this to Corinna and I thanked her for allowing me to still be a part of her life as she is still in a fragile state of 'recovery', and as I got teary, she said 'we're all in this together'.  What a wonderful thing to say and what a wonderful woman she is.

Needless to say, we all drank far too much (including a lot of Jim's homemade damson gin for the boys) and had a bloody ace night.

Saturday we had our fab friends Emma and Ellie to stay.  We met them three years ago on our South American adventure and we spent three weeks together in Peru.  It's amazing how close you can become when you spend 24 hours a day with others in a strange environment, and you bond over whether you've had a solid bowel movement or not! (believe me, a solid bowel movement is a momentous thing after spending 11 weeks in South America!). Anyway, we went walking along the canal which was lovely and proceeded to eat my homemade bakewell tart, crisps, drink gin and head out into Worcester for some food and a night in Heroes! Awesome.

Sunday, Susie and I then spent back at the Bank House hotel for our spa day and night away.  It was our treat to ourselves after all the hard work we put in for the Snow Ball.  We were the only ones in there on Sunday which meant we had the pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room all to ourselves.

And relax....

A vino and a view of the Malverns

Seriously, how much make up do I need for one night out???!!!

A few vinos, a three course dinner and then treatments (after a full English the following morning). This is where the Big C got in the way.  I knew that I wasn't supposed to have massage due to lymphatic drainage but I was really looking forward to the facial I had booked, but, I was then told I couldn't have it! ARGHHHH.  They weren't insured to treat cancer patients. Bloody hell.  They offered me a manicure though and gave me a voucher to use when I 'finish my cancer treatment' - what I didn't tell them is that will be never!! Sigh.... Nevertheless, we had a lovely break together.

Proud

Tuesday night saw the annual Worcestershire Breast Unit Haven certificate presentation where those who have raised money for the charity over the previous year are invited for a tour of the Unit and then presented with their certificate of thanks.  It is customary for people to say a few words as to how they have raised the money.  It is always an immensely humbling evening with fundraisers from 8 to 80 (er and my nan who is 93!!).  Mum, nan and I all collected certificates this time, for our tea and cakes, open garden, and SnowBall (with Susie) fundraising in 2016.  Mum and nan did themselves proud with their speeches and mum got teary (and set me off) when she thanked everyone else there for raising money for the Unit.

A family affair at the certificate presentation

Juney giving her speech

Nanny giving her speech

 Usually both Susie and I give it a go with a speech for BUE, but I didn't want to this year, so Susie did us proud and there was a gasp around the room when we told them we'd raised £22k.  What was even more of a surprise was a special mention for us both from Mr T and a bouquet of flowers each for everything we've done since the beginning of the original Campaign to build the breast unit and now for the new charity too.  In all, we've helped to raise over £100,000.  Whoop.

Being presented with the flowers

The amazing Mr T

So proud

And they're off

Wednesday lunchtime saw a trip to the Anchor Inn over in Diglis run by Kathryn (my oldest friend from school - we've known each other since we were five) and her husband Nic.  They were putting on a ladies day lunch in aid of the Breast Unit Haven with Anja Potze, one of Worcester's jewelers (check out her diamonds...bling bling).  Three of my other friends from school were there too, including the fabulous Lizzy Lodge.

Mum, me and the lovely Lexi (the charity's fundraising manager)

Log, Michelle and Esther - Droitwich High revisited

Kathryn and Liz. xx

It was absolutely wonderful - the food was gorgeous, the weather was fab and there was free flowing pink champers.  All in the name of fundraising too.  Ace.

Stable

So what I hadn't told anyone is that today I had my scan results appointment with Dr P.

My appointment had been brought forward from 20 March.  First off I had to go and get my blood tests done ready for my monthly jabs (which are still on Monday).  I was dreading it as jabs haven't been great recently.  I arrived at the hospital and was seen pretty much straight away in the Clover Suite (where they do 'walk in' blood tests) and it was absolutely fine!! I  told the nurse I loved her. I think she thought I was nuts.  I'm amazed as the crook of my arm is still bruised from the CT scan jab.

Then I had some time to kill before Timmy arrived and we went to see Dr P, so I walked up to the Countryside Centre and back for some fresh air.  I was getting very, very anxious and nervous under the armpits (hence why I wore an old T-shirt as this is what always happens in these situations!!). #sweatybetty

Timmy arrived and we checked into Rowan Suite....the appointment was at 1pm but we were still waiting at 1.15pm so out came the Puzzler and we started doing an Arrow-word puzzle this time.  Crazy I tell you!!!!  Anyway, five minutes later Dr P calls my name and we make our way down the corridor.  The door closed behind us.

'The scan results are highly re-assuring' Dr P says..... 'Oh thank god,' I say and Tim and I both look at each other and breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Apparently there is no worsening of the cancer, in fact, my spine is showing signs of thickening and there is an indication that one of my liver tumours has reduced ever so slightly...GET IN!!!!

WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP

You get the picture.....

He asked me how the pain was and I explained the pain in my sides - he said it's possibly radial pain but there might be some nerve damage due to my collapsed spine so I'm to keep an eye on the pain and let him know if it worsens.  Obviously if I start getting numbness or heavy legs I need to call someone pretty quickly as it could indicate spinal cord issues, however, he said this is unlikely due to the MRI scan results showing no cord involvement.

He also said that Mr T had mentioned my lumpy back and so he examined my spine.  He said, my spine is now out of alignment and there is a slight protruding of my vertebrae due to the collapse and tissue has likely to have grown over it as a result of the radiotherapy.  He wasn't worried about it and was glad that Mr T had done the ultrasound on it.

I asked him whether I need to worry about osteoporosis as I had read about that in a Breast Cancer Care leaflet about secondary breast cancer in the bone.  He said he's not worried about that in me at the moment so I said I would try and get back on my bike and see how I get on (also I hope it means I can ride the coasters with Scarlett at Blackpool again this year!).

I asked about the massages and facials - he said it's absolutely fine to have them (so next time I'll have to not mention my cancer so I can get a facial....naughty!). That's great news too!!

He then said that I won't need another scan for another three months and he'll see me in two months time to see how I'm getting on with the pain.

We were so unbelievably relieved when we left that we were squeezing each other tight as we walked back to the car park.

I headed to Tescos and treated myself to a custard slice (my favourite) before sharing the news with Juney and Gords, and Timmy headed back to work.

On the way home I was listening to my Calvin Harris CD, this awesome tune came on and I just had a huge smile on my face.

A few wines tonight methinks....

Have a lovely weekend everyone. xx

Quasimodo

Pain relief relief

About three weeks ago I stopped taking my morphine and I'm pleased to say that I am now able to manage my pain just with the Naproxen.  I still have a pain in my ribs on the left side, where I was previously spasming and it hurts when I roll over at night quite a lot.  They had thought that might be a trapped nerve but I'm going to check again with Dr P at my next appointment.

The good thing though is that I can now laugh hysterically, cough and sneeze again with much lower pain levels.  I have been preventing all of these happening too much since Christmas because the pain was horrendous, so I'm hoping this means that the radiotherapy has started working on my bones. Fingers crossed!

That's it, period

So my periods now seem to have stopped (well, either that, or ironically I'm pregnant after two failed IVFs and being told it would be a miracle if I conceived naturally due to my blocked tubes!!)...Anyway, I'm not sure how I feel about it.  On one hand, it's great (any woman will understand that), but in others ways it signifies so much more, menopause, getting older, illness, blah blah.... Hmmm.

Google

Earlier this week I went to the Drs.  I'd decided that I wanted to come off my antidepressants as I really haven't felt any different on them.  Also, as regular blog readers will know, the reason I went on them in the first place is not there any more as they thought my chest pain could be stress related, but as we know, it was something else entirely. Anyway, I didn't feel much impact when I first went on them, and I'm still getting my normal panic attacks (albeit less frequently over the last 12 months or so) and I'm taking that to mean that Citalopram doesn't work for me.

I explained this to the Dr.  She seemed concerned about me wanting to reduce dosage after not being on them for that long, but then, she really shocked me and checked Google!  Er, I totally could have done that myself.  My anti-depressant is a really common one so I was surprised that she didn't know how to 'deal with it', also, she couldn't find a prescriptive answer on how to reduce my dosage, so we agreed (because I said I wanted to) to halve each tablet, even though that is 50% less each day.  to be honest,  I might as well have just done it and not bothered going to the Dr.  Anyway, I've been doing it for three days and can't tell any difference yet (let's hope it's not famous last words!!!)

I also asked about flying with my tablets.  Yes, the flights and accommodation are now booked and we're heading back to Alicante where we went for the first time last year and loved it.  As we're only taking hand luggage, and I would carry all my tablets in the cabin with me even if I had hold luggage, I wondered if I needed a 'special note' as it might look a bit dodgy going through security with a shed load of tablets. The Dr printed me a list of my medication and also suggested I check with the airline, so that's something I need to do.

Another thing I'll need to sort out is travel insurance.  That might be a bit tricky.  Previously I have always declared my breast cancer condition as we usually bought an annual policy and it cost about £80 more than a standard policy.  However, I don't think we'll be doing that in future.

The main reason travel companies ask about cancer is the risk of cancellation and therefore paying out if you can't travel before you're due to go, but now we are unlikely to book any trips without checking with my health team first and will book them fairly last minute, so the likelihood of cancellation is low, which is why I'm just going to look for a standard policy without declaring the cancer as the cost will be extortionate.  The only reason Tim and I want insurance is if our luggage gets lost, we get ill and need to use a hospital when we're away, or we are injured in some way, it's not to cover for cancellation or to cover for cancer related stuff either.

Bum

While I'm thinking about it, and for those that are wondering, bowel movements are better, thank you!  Hopefully coming off the Citalopram should help with that too.

Fatty

A couple of weeks ago when I got out of the shower I noticed a lump on my back, to the left of my spine, near the cancer site.  I showed Tim and he agreed there was a lump.  Now, this was an interesting one as I didn't know who to contact.  I thought, there was no point going to the Drs as they are not cancer specialists and it would end up delaying things.  Then I thought it's not really an oncologist discussion either as he is there to come up with the cancer treatment plan.  There is currently no secondary breast cancer nurse at Worcester as the previous one had left and hasn't yet been replaced.  I wasn't sure what to do, so I contacted Mr T's office.  I explained the situation. I was sent an appointment.

I popped along to see him on my own as I felt ok.  I got there and waited for the appointment then was called through to a treatment room to put on a gorgeous purple gown,  These gowns are different to the normal hospital ones which are cotton and have lots of random straps which don't seem to tie up properly, these do-up at the front and feel a bit polyester-ish.  The only trouble is, when you suffer with hot sweats, you really go for it in a polyester number.  Sweaty underboob anyone?

Still crap at taking selfies!

I started to get really nervous as I sat there waiting to see Mr T.  Then I hear a knock at the door and in he pops with Tracy, the breast care nurse.  I explain the situation and he asks to see it.  'Oh, now that's interesting', well, that's not quite what I'd say.  So, he went to the get the ultrasound machine from the other room and asked me to stand up facing away from him.  He puts on some cold gel and then puts the ultrasound on my back.  It went very quiet for what seemed like a long time and he moved the ultrasound over it.  I started to get a pit of the stomach feeling again.  Then, he said again, 'now that is interesting, it looks like fatty tissue to me'.  Well that's charming, I know I've not been doing much exercise recently but I'd hardly say I was #jabba  hahahaha

You're the one for me fatty

The reason he said it was interesting is because he only normally gets to see breasts and doesn't normally see patients once they are in secondary cancer territory so he found it fascinating.  Anyway, he said he would do some research and chat to some people about it. So I'm left looking like Quasimodo at the moment with what we think is a fatty mass, until I hear any more...

The bells, the bells....

Girl of a Kind

I want to finish this blog off on a lovely note.  About a month ago, Susie very kindly nominated me for Boux Avenue's 'girl of a kind' competition and wrote about my situation, our relationship and fundraising.  Well, out of 400 entries I was narrowed down to the top 25 finalists and, although not the outright winner, won £50 worth of vouchers.  What a lovely thing to do.  I'm looking forward to buying some new pants!!

Love to all. xx