Hi Mary I just wanted to say "Happy Christmas"  and to wish you all the very best on your recovery and for the new year ahead , as Jolamine said we think about you often wondering how you are doing ,Best Wishes to you and your husband  

Jenny xxx

Thank you. I was told that, although the operation (7 hours) was successful, there were complications afterwards. I was in clinical care twice with dialysis the second time for a while. Was there for five and a half weeks. Back home now, full recovery 3 - 4 months. I had no idea how weak and tired I would be. Thank God for good surgeons! 

So pleased for you Mary. Continue to get stronger and enjoy life again. Very best wishes to you

Thank you very much and for sharing my journey.

Thank you. I have been trying to do gentle gardening but sometimes forget. Thank you for being with me on my journey.

Thank you for being with me along my journey. You, Jenny and others have been reading and posting and watching and waiting. It has meant so much to me.

Thank you very much for your support.

Hi Mary its so lovely to hear from you , it seems like a life time away from when I first saw your posts but I'm really glad I was able to follow your story from beginning to end ,its strange how you just click with some people and realise you would like to know how certain people get on and keep wishing  them the best and after all the waiting and ups and downs you ended up with the Top Surgeon in the Country and he did you and himself proud ,I'm so glad it was a good outcome for you despite the long long recovery and I hope you are still getting stronger every week Mary and are able to do a few more things by now ,keep pushing ahead and I hope you stay as well as you possibly can ,take care Best Wishes and please stay in touch I love hearing you are doing well x

Hi Mary,

You are always in my thoughts. I know just how difficult it is to keep up with your mail, when you're not feeling 100%, which is why I try not to pester you too often.

You have had a long and difficult journey, but It sounds as if you are recuperating well. I am delighted to hear that you are managing to do some gentle gardening, but do be careful not to overdo things!

Please continue to keep in touch and remember that I am always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you. Yes, I am so, so lucky that I was referred to that top surgeon. I had my routine blood test today, for my one kidney. The poor nurse couldn't get enough blood and had to have a try in three different places!
I tire more than I realise I will, then rest until I feel like standing up again :-)

Thank you. I try to listen to my body and not overdo things, but my body doesn't always tell me when it's had enough! I think I am being more sensible and not trying to jump before I can walk.

I planted two little white geraniums the other day, ones that Chris had grown in the greenhouse. That was enough. There are five more to be planted, in due course. One day at a time.

Hi Mary,

You sound like I was - desperate to do things, but I’m glad to hear that you are listening to your body - or at least trying to! 

It’s always a joy to plant flowers which have been home grown and I’m sure that you will both enjoy the end result. Your geraniums should thrive in this good weather. As for the other five plants - tomorrow is another day. 

l’m glad to hear that the nurse eventually found some blood and hope that the results are good. I have to have all of my bloods taken from my foot, as a result of my bilateral lymphoedema. It’s unusual for the nurses to get any blood until they’ve had 4 or 5 attempts - I’ve even had to return on another day, when they’ve failed to get any blood at all the first time - it can be a sore and frustrating experience!

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Mary,

You sound like I was - desperate to do things, but I’m glad to hear that you are listening to your body - or at least trying to! 

It’s always a joy to plant flowers which have been home grown and I’m sure that you will both enjoy the end result. Your geraniums should thrive in this good weather. As for the other five plants - tomorrow is another day. 

l’m glad to hear that the nurse eventually found some blood and hope that the results are good. I have to have all of my bloods taken from my foot, as a result of my bilateral lymphoedema. It’s unusual for the nurses to get any blood until they’ve had 4 or 5 attempts - I’ve even had to return on another day, when they’ve failed to get any blood at all the first time - it can be a sore and frustrating experience!

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

I did just a little, little weeding today. Then stopped. It's lovely weather this week. Hope you are okay?

Hi Mary,

It is truly heartening to hear that your recovery is still going well and I have no doubt at all, that your story is uplifting for many, so please do keep posting when you can. It was indeed a lovely day today and there was quite a warmth in the sun. I hope that you managed to stop your weeding, before you exhausted yourself this time? We are looking forward to celebrating our golden wedding at the beginning of next month, so I am selfishly hoping that the better weather will stay with us until then.

What do you normally do for Christmas? With moving house and my husband's recent skin cancer diagnosis, our Christmas will be very different this year too. Still, all we can do is to make the most of it!

I am doing fine thank you, not so able to get around now, but I still manage with the aid of a mobility scooter. I want to hold on to my independence at all costs!

Take care.

Jolamine xx

I did only just a very little weeding - that was enough :-)

Golden wedding - congratulations in advance.

I'm sorry about your husband's skin cancer and hope he will be okay.

Independence is very important, I'd like to see you on your scooter.

Christmas is just the two of us. Last year I was far away.

I had a CT scan on my chest recently to check the nodules.

I wanted to send a message saying thank you for your ongoing support but couldn't find a way to do it.

Hi Mary,

I'm glad to hear that you're learning not to overdo the weeding and hope that you were happy with the result of the CT scan you recently had on your chest. 

We are really looking forward to spending our Golden Wedding Anniversary with our family. It's not often that we all manage to get together, so this will be a rare treat. My poor hubby has so many medical problems, that his skin cancer is just one more to add to a long list. However, we're certainly hoping that he will be ok. As far as we can see, there's not much to recommend this ageing process!

My scooter really is an absolute boon to my independence. Hubby has one too. We managed to get to a weekly meeting this afternoon and the theatre tonight. This morning, I used the car, as we had an appointment at the hospital.

As I 've said before Mary, you always have my support and I sincerely hope that you'll still have it for a long time to come.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Have you had your anniversary? Hope you are both okay?

The chest CT showed no change in the nodules so that was a relief!

My husband said I was brave yesterday because I cooked liver and bacon :-)

Hi Mary,

I am delighted to hear that no changes were shown on your chest CT and I'm sure that this was a great relief for you. I hope that you both enjoyed your liver and bacon - that is one of my husband's favourite meals.

We celebrated our golden wedding anniversary on Saturday and had a really lovely day with all of the family. We were extremely fortunate with the weather too, as it remained dry all day and only started to rain shortly after we arrived home, after our evening meal - I don't think that it has stopped since!

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

I am so glad that your anniversary celebrations went so well. How is your husband?

During my operation a vein was nicked which caused the blood to flow the wrong way in the liver. Luckily it righted itself. So, looking at the liver in the frying pan - hmm :-) Also, bacon I am supposed to either cut down on or not eat it at all, so I ate just a little of both the liver and the bacon.

My birthday next month, that will be so different from last year's in hospital.

Hi Mary,

We had a really special day from start to finish. We coped with the day by letting the younger family members head off on a country walk for a few hours, while hubby and I had a rest. He's not been great this week, but I suspect that this is just the after effect of our celebrations. He's got a CT scan this week and is having further blood tests, so we'll see what these show. 

I now understand why you looked  at your liver in the pan askew and hope that you enjoyed your little bit  you had - a little of what you fancy does you good! I am sure that your birthday next month will be considerably better than it was last year, when you were in hospital.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

How is your husband now?

Hi Mary,

I'm so sorry that I haven't replied to you sooner. I have just come across your post and I don't believe that I got an notification of this. Neither hubby nor I have been great for the past 3 months. We have both had recurrent respiratory infections, then my Diabetic blood glucose levels went haywire. Fortunately, additional medication seems to be helping, so we hope that we are picking up. Hubby has a lot of co-morbidities and we know that time is limited, so we try to make the most of the time we have left.

How are you keeping? I hope that all is well with you and that you are enjoying the start of the better weather this week.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx