“To Christmas, and beyond!”

Friday 4th January 2013

So I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year’s Eve? My Christmas was lovely – a very quiet one to previous years and different spending it away from home in Birmingham. But I was with Mum & Dad and Skyped Becca & Luke and other family members, which made it a great day. Unfortunately Florence had forgotten to buy the crackers, so we were left hatless. Luckily I was able to save the day and Dad sported a furry trapper number!

To pick up where I left off, which was from my hospital bed during my second session of chemo – all went well and my body seemed to recover a lot quicker this time. I stayed in my usual side room, although was moved on the last day to a four bed ward; however I was on my own. Florence stayed overnight throughout my time in hospital – on this night she decided to undress for bed behind my curtain, instead of going to the bathroom down the corridor as usual. Getting down to her bra and grots, we heard footsteps quickly approaching the curtain. “It’s only me”, a male voice called out and to Mum’s horror speedily drew back the curtain! Being a true professional the male nurse began speaking to me and acted like he never noticed. By this time Mum had sat down on her camp bed trying to hide her modesty with her nighty. For devilment I made sure to engage her in the conversation! To this day we can’t remember what we even spoke about, but he was obviously happy and went on his merry way, leaving us chuckling!

I was sent home with my usual mixed bag of drugs including additional antibiotics to ward off any infections before they started. Into my second recovery week now and although feeling well, I still find myself tired on occasions and requiring a nap. This usually happens when Florence wants me to help her with the chores!

Whilst in hospital, Mum received a lovely phone call from a friend, Rachel Williams – her daughter, Hannah, is a friend of mine, we’ve known each other since we were six. She told us that she’s running in the London Marathon in April 13 and wanted to ask if she could raise money for a charity of my choice. I thought this was a lovely gesture and I have chosen Teenage Cancer Trust, which supports the ward I’m on at the QE Hospital. I will provide the link to the donation page as soon as it's up.

My hair has gone very thin; I’m pretty much a baldy! I’ve got some photos of the scars my head now has, along with the skin graft. In one of pictures I think my head looks like an uncooked baked potato – telling Mum she laughed and said “Ok Mrs Potato Head!” I think she’s trying to get her own back with the various nicknames I’ve given her! It might look pretty shocking to you, but the graft is actually healing up nicely and each day improving in appearance.

On New Year’s Eve the party started with an MRI scan, at the Imaging Department of the QE Hospital. I arrived early but was not even offered a drink (I’m glad to say) as last time I’d had one there it was a fluid containing dye that made me poorly! I went straight in for the scan and always one to enjoy posing for the camera; I’d made an extra special effort with my make-up. Unfortunately they were only after a lot of pictures of my liver! At least I hope that’s what the snaps were of as thinking about it they made me remove my bra! The scan lasted around 30 minutes and I hope to receive the results shortly. Upon returning to the waiting room, the party seemed to be in full swing with numerous jugs of fluid, paper cups and people! However, I decided it wasn’t the party for me and to head to another, namely the YPU ward on the 6^th floor.

I have to visit the ward to have my PICC line flushed and re-dressed on a weekly basis, to prevent blocking when it’s not in use and ensure it’s clean. I’ve taken a picture of this to show you what it looks like. I remember when I first had it in I thought I’d never get used to it, but you do, you just have to be careful with it.

2012 ended in a quiet affair, seeing in the New Year only with Florence. Actually neither of us made it to 12am and were in bed by 11.15pm, although we did enjoy Alan Carr’s show. Perhaps 2013 will be a little better and I’ll be spending it with Woody, Buzz, Rex, Hamm, Slinky and the rest of the gang and hopefully of course my Mr Potato Head!