Hi Jules, a but sneaky of your colleagues to rearrange most of the department about so you hardly recognised it on your return but at least you got to "hide" in the stock room today! As you said, not many of us get paid to do the things we love do we? While I was studying I worked in an off licence and can remember (even though it was rather more than a few years ago!) having to cart heavy boxes about and change the displays on a daily basis. Mind you, it did kept me fit.

Great news of your grandson, that must  be such a relief, and hope you hear the same about your daughter once all the tests are completed.

Peace and quiet has broken out again here, yippee! Yes, my yappy neighbour has gone on her travels again. About three years ago I made the mistake of going round to ask her to turn her music down as it had been blaring out for a couple of hours early one evening. Once I managed to get her to hear my knocks on the door, she flung it open with what I can only describe as a bitter lemon look on her face. I very politely asked her if she could turn down the volume and was treated to  a barrage of abuse (some of which even I had never heard before!) then she screamed "and it's not even 9 o'clock yet" before quite literally slamming the door in my face. I later learned that most of the previous owners of my house plus various other neighours had complained about the noise and at one point she had received a restraining order barring her from playing music after 9.00pm, hence the reference to the time. I am told that she has mellowed considerably compared to how she used to act so I guess I should be thankful for small mercies. When I win the lottery (!) my plan is to move either to an isolated cottage  in the cotswolds, if such a thing still exists, or to another country with a warmer climate - we can all dream can't we?!

Talking of dreams, I am flagging a bit now so will bid you good night and hope your next day at work is a little easier for you and that you soon work out where everything now is!  Take care  Sue x

Hi Sue,

Sounds like  your neighbour and dog deserve each other - just a shame it's next door to you!  Am sure when that lottery win transpires (have been chasing one for a good few years myself ha ha) you could arrange to have built your own country retreat and then rejoice in total solitude is you wanted to.  Of course a move to warmer climate might tickle your fancy more when that all important notification happens.  Life is full of dreams - my lottery win would help  my kids achieve theirs whatever they may be!

Busy day today' weekly shop, gym, haircut, dropped off some papers to my daughter (her printer no working so helped out) and then went with her to pick up grandson from school.  Was going to treat the boys to their Friday ice cream cone treat but van not there so they have money for their box instead. Walked home and got washing in and then, finally, dropped into chair and wondered why I felt so hungry -........ completely forgot to grab lunch (even though I remembered to buy a drink!!!!). Snack at 4.30 to keep me going and ravioli for dinner (a little later I think).

Going to mow the lawn tomorrow and that will be my lot as plan on conserving enegy for work next week.Once the department is straight (they will be working nights over the weekend) will give myself another guided tour so I can help the customers!!

Hope, if you have weekend plans, they all go well and weather permitting you may be able to read in peace for a change.  Enjoy. Take care  Jules x

Hi Jules, 

Have just got back from one of my regular cancer meetings and bought myself some chips on my way back home. Love what your grandson told his mum about the mri. He is obviously a son/grandson to be proud of. Hope your daughters scan went okay this morning. I believe the results normally take about two weeks Jules, at least mine did.

Brother in law is still in the hospice and also has to have an mri scan on Tuesday as the mass has now spread to his throat and sister in law is worried as he is hardly eating at all. They saw his consultant last Thursday and he told then he think the cancer in his gullet/throat has turned agressive. Not good news. Alldepending on the results of the mri, he may be offered radiotherapy but only if they think it may help. The hospice is managing to ease the pain of his perforated ulcer thank goodness.

When I left home this morning at 9.15, it was thick fog but once I got over the downs, it was bright sunshine. I have also been to visit one of my woodclub members who is in hospital seriously ill. He went in for a knee operation, caught an infection and had a cardiac arrest and has now been in for about ten weeks. His wife told me beforhand he might not know me as the drugs and infection cause him to halucinate. However he did recognise me and was so pleased to see me. When I left, he grabbed hold of my hand and he didnt want to let go.  Years ago, just like I have done with several people, He came to my garage and I showed him a few tips on turning. I have to say, he went on to become one of our best bowl/vase turners and often used to outsell the rest of us. He was so low as he has always been an active person so to be reduced to lying in bed for ten weeks must be so hard for him.

Just read about THE AMEX STADIUM where Brighton footbal club play are planning to build a big hotel complex adjacent to the stadioum with a cancer centre in the basement, complete with an mri scanner and proton radiotherapy machien. Just what is needed and they hope to start work next year. .

Hope you are having a relaxing weekend and are enjoying the sunshine. The owl bowl you bought sounds nice. Have managed to plant my strawberry plant runners in another big plastic box and have noticed there are several strawberries which have grown quite big , we just need them to turn red. MrS B has her eye on them ha ha. Sorry, correction, both eyes.

Take care Jules and hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend, Brian.

Hi Jules, hope you stuck to your plan to relax today after your busy week and day yesterday. Knowing you, once the lawn was tidy you sneaked in some more pottering too? Glald to hear you got your priorites right yesterday though by forgetting lunch, but not the drink!

Have had another sleep marathon myself. After a hectic week I had almost eleven hours of zzzs last night and have just had another four this afternoon, so sadly missed most of what was clearly a lovely day. Seems sad to waste the day away but I obviously needed to recharge the batteries!

Off to my parents for dinner shortly so had better dive into the shower and make myself vaguely presentable... take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Sue x

Hi Brian

Sounds as though life is pretty difficult for your brother and sister in law just now. It brings a little comfort that his pain relief is better managed in the hospice and I hope that the MRI scan brings better news than is feared.  A worrying time for you all.

My daughter had her MRI on Saturday morning and now has a few weeks to wait for her EEG.  Her consultant neurologist has told her that they will wait for all results to come in and talked of an appointment in three months time when matters will be discussed.  She also had her 24hr heart monitoring at the end of last week and a follow up with heart consultant is booked for December.  It's a concern, of course, but she currently has had no return of the symptoms that began this extensive round of hospital visits so apart from being 'taken off the road' she is just getting on with it.  On Saturday she returned to being a Body Shop at Home  rep and will work up until Christmas (she did this when eldest son was little and then took a break when she had Zack).

No fog in my neck of the woods over the weekend and following a chilly start two beautiful days to enjoy being outside.  Saturday I mowed the lawn and then had a couple of hours (including my lunch) sitting reading and finally finished another book. At dusk I had a little visitor to my rockery area - a hedgehog - dashed inside to grab camera but only manage a back-end view as he was busy in the undergrowth!!

 On Sunday I followed my visit to the gym with a lovely stroll, taking in the farmer's market en route (treated myself to some organic bread and had a chat and taster session with my 'cheese man'  so two new varieties bought).  Came home and worked in the garden for three hours. Very pleased to have trimmed back miniature conifer hedging (front garden) and completed weeded beneath it (first time in ages) = this should give the lily of the valley a bit more spreading room!! In the back garden I have trimmed back the ivy which covers a large part of the 6ft fence  the neighbours put up several years ago. At the end of the garden it has grown up and over to join the branches of the quince and I have shaped it to form an arch . For the first time the ivy is flowering!!   With unsettled weather forecast for next few days it was good to get things tidied and the 'green waste' collection bags are waiting at front gate.

Back to the grind of work today and no doubt a few conversations about the introduction of the 5p bag charge.  Today I will have another member of staff working with me as the workload is pretty heavy just now.

Take care and best regards to you,Mrs B and the family.  Jules x

Hi Sue,

Hope the sleep-athon made you feel better - your body obviously needed it!  Bet you enjoyed dinner with your parents and a nice way to round of the relaxing day.

Spent quite a bit of time outside over the whole weekend (as I had heard the forthcoming forecast and did not want to regret leaving it to another day!!). Also packed away the 'summer toys' that the grandchildren play with when they visit.  I suppose I will  have to turn my attention to inside jobs to keep me out of mischief now!!  Seems strange to still be able to sit outside and also still cutting roses to bring inside and the fuschia is still in full flower so nice to still have some colour other than green in the gardens.

Leaving for work shortly and probably facing disgruntled customer comments re the new 5p single use bag charges (they did not like our 1p charge beforehand!!).  Never mind I have a colleague on shift with me today as we have a heavy workload and manager is trying to make use of a little increase in working budget for the next week. Some staff are doing work after we close /nights but they are hoping to keep that to a minimum as we do not have a lot of staff to play with and means a reduction available during the day (not easy when we manage with low staff anyway).

Saw both children and grandchildren on Saturday evening and lovely to have some social downtime with them.

Oops, time is swiftly moving on so must wash up and get off to catch the tube.  Take care of yourself and chat soon. Best reagrds Jules x

Hi Jules, unfortunately the big sleep hasn't really helped and I am just as sore and tired as I was on Friday. Have booked a call with my nurse for Wednesday just to make sure that the ongoing symptoms are normal and still to be expected. I haven't spoken to her for a couple of months and had really hoped things would have started to settle down a bit by now... Ho hum..

Good to hear you had fun with the family over the weekend and that you got out in the garden too. I agree about the blooms, mine are also doing well. Every time I think that's it, they start again which is lovely. Have some pink and yellow roses now and three different types of fuschia all happily flowering. Clearly the secret in my case is to leave well alone and let them get on with it!

Glad to see in your reply to Brian that your daughter does not have any current symptoms which bodes well but it is good that they are doing all the tests nevertheless. Fingers crosssed for Decembers results.

Hope you didn't have too many stroppy customers over the new 5p charge and at least you had a colleague with you to help keep them in order! Don't work too hard, take care,  Sue xx

Hi Sue

It must be very frustrating for you to still be suffering from your treatment with fatigue and soreness but hope the chat with your specialist nurse tomorrow can settle your mind in that this is a normal process.  When my good friend had her breast op/chemo/radiotherapy she said the fatigue was the worst she had ever experienced and it took her the good part of a year after treatment finished before she was able to be  what she considered 'fully functional'.  At the time she was Mum of three young children and trying to work from home but gave up the work side of things for six months and set up a rota of friends to help as she needed to have naps in the afternoon. Her husband went part time for a while too.  When she had her op, she had reconstruction at the same time and I do remember her being on painkillers for quite a while.  I am sure everyone's body reacts differently in the healing process and do hope things improve for you soon.

Your roses and fuschias sound lovely.  Following last night's heavy rain the garden is refreshed  and I am glad to have got the chores out of the way at the weekend  (and I wont need to water the containers!!).  Its very mild here this morning but still showery so it will be a soggy walk to see my Mum this morning but amazing to think that as yet I have not needed any heating on.

  Depending on Mum's mood I usually stay between 30mins to an hour (mostly one sided conversation and she often drops off when I am there so its best to keep visits short).  There is a relative's meeting next week which I will attend.  There has been a change of management this year and various changes are taking place but they hold regular update meetings and its important for me to attend when possible (they vary the timings of these meetings).  Of course I am fairly lucky that I live close by. some of the residents rarely have visitors and the relatives meetings (they also hold residents meetings for those who are able to understand what's going on) are held at variable times to try an accommodate as many as possible. Its a small residential home with just 36 places.

Work was okay yesterday and went pretty quickly as always plenty to do even when not serving. So far the new 5p charge seems to have helped a great deal and it was only day one.  Think it will help in that its countrywide and charging is now government led.  We are currently supporting The Woodland Trust as a company (this happened when they introduced the 1p bag charge initially). In the end I was on the department on my own for most of my shift as  other staff needed on the lower floor - hey ho, it was good whilst the company lasted!!

Take care of yourself Sue and have a good day.  Jules x

Hi Jules, thank you for kind words and I now feel such a wimp for moaning! Having had such gruelling treatment on top of family responsibilites, your friend clearly had a really tough time and there's me whinging about a bit of pain. It just seems so blooming relentless but I guess more patience is required (I really must try and find some from somewhere, even if I have to pay an extra 5p now for a bag to put it in!)

I hope the visit to your Mum went well today and that you are happy with the changes the new management are making, nothing too radical I hope? It's good that they keep everyone informed though and that you can see how any changes affect your Mum and the other residents.

Have only had my heating on a couple of hours so far. Being stone, my cottage doesn't retain the heat well but it's a great excuse to light the fire in the wintertime. I can sit for ages staring at the flames and as my bedroom is above the stting room it's nice and toasty come bedtime too. Not that I'm wishing for the cold weather just yet of course.

Take care  Sue xx

Dear Sue,

You are no wimp and dealing with constant soreness and fatigue is worth every bit of a good moan and the forum is a great place to off-load it. I can only begin to imagine the frustration that goes with your recovery process when you are managing day to day.  Really hope the chat with your specialist nurse today goes well and she can settle your thoughts a little.  In the meantime carry on listening to  your body and rest when you need it; good to see  your sense of  humour is intact, though think a 'treasure chest' would be a better value storage than that plastic bag!!

Had a bit of 'expensive fun' when I returned to from the gym yesterday.  Problem with the front door locks  nearly found me 'loclked out'. Managed to get in but really did not want a repeat performance so had to a call out a locksmith. New top lock plus re-alignment on second lock required but brilliant service ( had thought I would need two new locks but as lower mechanism was still good he was able to re-fit it which saved some money for me).

Visit to Mum was much the same as usual though apparently the day before she had taken it into her head to go for a wander with her frame (she is unsteady and should wait for staff to be with her!) - they were more than a little surprised at the sudden show of independence ha ha.  When I asked her about it she just shrugged her shoulders and said she was tired today. I then was treated to two of the other residents having a verbal slanging match over whether the radio should be on or off - the delights of old age (here I come ha ha).  As neither of them could reach the offending article  a stony silence resumed!!

Think I  must be a 'heating' cheat!!  I live in mid terrace and suspect the central heating either side of me (I do not have it!) helps though I do not like heated bedroom and always have the window open whatever the weather (hormones may still be playing a part too!!).

Hope your day goes well, take care. Jules xx