Friday 20 May - disappointing blood counts, drains and sewing projects

I have been to the hospital three times this week for blood tests and each time my blood counts have gone down.  Thankfully today my platelets and haemoglobin had recovered slightly but my neutrophils are quite low (0.17 for those of you to whom that means anything) so I am back on the neutropenic medication and the GCSF injections.  So no Brie or lettuce, no meetings or socialising, but thankfully I feel pretty ok.  Back to the hospital next Monday, Wednesday, Friday for more blood tests...


We had an 'interesting' day yesterday to do with drains.  At 10:30am there was a ring at the door and our plumber, who was investigating a problem next door, wanted me to move my car so that we could take the lid of the chamber to find out if the pipe was blocked.  It was. Ugh. Once we had found the drain rods in the garage (lucky we had some) we were able to deal with that problem.  Since it would have become our problem next we were not at all unhappy to help.  That reminded us that we had noticed our kitchen sink drain running away slowly so we had to uncover the rodding eye and rod that drain too.  Very smelly. 

This is the sewing project I have been busy with on and off for the last few months - a quilt for some young friends who got married at the beginning of April.  I have now finished sewing the patchwork together and will be having consultancy from a friend on Monday afternoon on the kind of wadding to buy and how to put it together.  I have to say I am quite pleased with it.

Friday 13 May 2016 - pictures from home

These two young squirrels have been amusing us in the garden for a couple of weeks now.  When they first appeared they came with their parents - watching them trying to follow the parent along the back hedge/fence when they couldn't jump as far or as accurately was really funny.  There was much scrabbling and falling off things!










We now see them under the bird feeder eating the bird food...

A job done at last - putting sphagnum moss round the stem of Nessie, my monster (swiss cheese plant) so that we can reduce her in size somewhat.  It was a 3 person job at times (Eleanor, no 1 daughter was visiting on Wednesday and helped).  I have had Nessie since 1980 when she was a present from my mother. 


In other news I have been to the hospital twice this week for blood tests - counts currently on their way down.  I hope they will bounce back again next week.

Monday 9 May 2016 - That's it for the heavy chemo

I had my last chemo session of the consolidation treatment yesterday morning.  I will be in Addenbrookes for blood tests two or three times a week for the next few weeks.  Then my next consultant's appointment is 31 May and after that I should move into the maintenance phase of treatment and a beginning of a return to normality. 


Oddly, this makes me quite anxious.  On the one hand I am delighted that the 'heavy chemo' is over and that I am able to think about returning to work and other aspects of the life I was leading before last July.  On the other hand it is once again a big change and I suspect it is that which makes me anxious. 


I shall probably blog less often now - much less to talk about.  Thank you all for following my ramblings - it has been wonderful to know that people are interested and supportive.

Monday 2 May - very relaxing weekend

It has been a very relaxing weekend. 

These pictures are from Waresley Wood, a short distance from our house accessed from the road between Great Gransden and Waresley.  It is a Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve and has the most wonderful show of bluebells at this time of year.

Not only is the sight amazing, a purplish-blue haze that at times is so intense it seems to shimmer, but the smell is intoxicating as well.  Added to that, it is always quiet in the woods no matter how many people are there or how full the car park is.

We have had an entertaining time watching the birds in the garden over the weekend.  I was lucky enough to catch this sparrowhawk resting on our fence yesterday morning - not another bird in sight at this point of course.  Other amusements have been fighting pigeons and the family of jackdaws that think that the fat ball feeder is for them and either try and swing on it or cling upside down to it while frantically trying to peck at the fat balls.  I haven't managed to catch them on camera yet.  The other sight we saw but couldn't photograph was the young squirrels being encouraged along the top of our hedge and fence by their parents.  The young can't quite manage the graceful leaps of the adult squirrels so a great deal of scrabbling or hanging on by one paw and a tail was observed.  Priceless.