Hi Sam,

Glad to hear you are doing ok.  I am in awe of you going through all the extra surgery after everything else. I can totally relate to your tiredness, I slept for almost 8 hours last night and still dozed off this morning. If I'm not actually doing something physical, I just fall asleep, that's whether watching Tv, which seems to be particularly soporific during lockdown, or trying to read. I have deleted the News app off all my devices, as I used to spend all day reading about stupid stuff I hated. Once Trump had gone, I thought that would be the last I heard of him but NO!  They were still writing about him every day, so that was it. No reading my phone, find something else to do.  The trouble is, once I've done the essentials, such as cooking, cleaning, dog walking, I have no inclination to do anything else. To be honest I don't do much of the first two. Yesterday I lived on granola bars, fruit and liquorice. I didn't feel hungry so didn't bother with anything else. I drink my coffee with loads of milk, so I'm getting nourishment. Some days I go mad and cook for a family of four, and I do get fed up of the same meal by the fourth day!

My daughter puts ithe sleepiness down to the Amitryptaline I'm taking for my painful knee but there's no way I'm giving it up, I love sleeping all night, it's quite a novelty still. The knee used to have fun by spiking at three am, waking me up, never to sleep again. I put the sleepiness down to boredom.  I haven't even been inspired to paint since Christmas.

I hope the immunotherapy works for your father. I read daily blogs on here from someone whose husband is doing quite well on it. Making an honest woman of his partner at last eh?  Good on them!

I go for my vaccination tomorrow.  It is so exciting to be going out somewhere - anywhere!  I actually took the car out for petrol last week, it was running really low, not having been filled for months. I decided to take it to Sainsbury's at the end of the motorway- much to my daughter's dismay, but it needed a run and I wanted to be sure I could remember how to drive. I had to promise to wear disposable gloves, pay at the pump and come straight home, without speaking to anyone. Tyrant!  She knows that I will pop in the supermarket tomorrow as I have to pass right by it, so I'm under orders to wear a mask and a see through face covering. A friend who has already had her jab said they give you a mask as you sign in, so I don't know how much armour I'll be wearing in the end.

I think it has stopped raining so I will soon be going out to feed the birds, they are fighting over the crumbs. It was too slippery under foot yesterday, after yet more snow, to refill the feeders before they were completely empty and they are literally fighting over the remnants. The fact that every other garden on the street has bird feeders seems to have gone unnoticed.

Dont go mad with your exercise, your body needs time to recover from the thrashing it's had. Keep the boyfriend busy, you need the rest and recouperation. 

Take care, 

love

Christine xx

Hi Caroline, hope you are ok, too. xxx

Hi Ladies,

Have to say I felt a slight pang of anxiety when I saw one of you had written something - almost as though I was expected bad news so was very thankful to hear you are both doing well. Although Christine, you do sound quite low at the moment :neutral. 
I think we are all struggling a lot more this lockdown than the other 2. It just feels as thought it is never going to end, doesn't it. 
I have had my vaccine, a few weeks ago. I had the Pfizer one, through work. No side effects other than a sore arm. 
Work is very busy and I am helping out a lot more, with the bereavement team.

We have also gained a family member as my niece has come to live with us. She is 18 and lives up in County Durham but had a falling out with dad and his partner back in Dec. She's been staying in someone's spare room but has been struggling with her mental health, so we drove up to Darlington, to pick her up the other week. She has good and bad days but seems to be getting more good than bad as time goes on. Her mum was my sister, who died of breast cancer at the age of 32. My niece was only 2 years old so doesn't remember her mum but has always craved a mother figure but her dad seems to have a way of picking the most unmaternal females going. My sister left 3 children behind and they have had a tough life, which breaks my heart but hopefully I can try and makes things a bit better for my youngest niece. 
Well, I am off to go and do a 30 min fitness online class, in my utility room - i am missing going to the gym!! 
Take care, both of you. And Christine, sort that diet out!! Try to do some new types of cooking/meals or bake a cake - nothing beats a crap day more than a cuppa and piece of cake. I hope your mojo comes back soon.

Caroline xx

Hi Caroline, 

Thank you for caring, but I don't believe the odd day of eating rubbish will kill me.  I am usually a very healthy eater but my stocks were low because I didn't order online groceries as I planned to shop personally today. I did, too! So now my fridge is full, my cupboard is stocked up and the poor little freezer is groaning it's so full.   I'll still cook too much, never got out of the habit of cooking for four. Chicken and vegetable stir fry tonight (and tomorrow and tomorrow etc) 

I am sure your niece will thrive now she's in your care.  She's a lucky girl to have an aunt who cares.  I'm sorry to hear about your sister. I can only imagine how you felt when you also got breast cancer! 

I had the Oxford vaccine, which I was quite happy with, despite the rumours about it not working on over 65's.  I watched the programme on TV about the making of it and was impressed. There had been reports of three hour queues at my vaccination centre so I was a bit worried about standing around in the cold, so I wore lots of  layers and my warmest coat and then the flipping queues were minimal. The whole process was very well organised, and there seemed to be more volunteers than recipients.  I had divested myself of coat and top fleece even before I reached the bay for my jab as I was roasting! On the way out I wasn't alone in struggling to get into my big coat before going back out in the cold. Then, joy of joys I went to the supermarket and stocked up on all the things I forget when ordering food online!

I will get my mojo back as soon as it's warm enough to do things out of doors again and the news becomes less boring.  I stopped enjoying snow the first year we came back to live in UK from Saudi Arabia and got snowed in for a week.  There have been some days when even Archie hasn't wanted to go out, and others when it wasn't safe to do so. I believe it is forecast again later in the week .  :(  

In the meantime I shall continue to watch rubbish telly and fall asleep while trying to read a book!

It could be worse! As the lamented and amazing Captain Sir Tom said " Tomorrow will be a good day,!"

Enjoy getting to know what 18 year old girls do, these days, I wonder,  have the boys changed in any way since being at such close quarters with a young female. I had an Ex, once, whose taste in women was totally influenced by his slightly older girl cousin, who stayed with his family for a summer when he was obviously at an impressionable age!  Of course I didn't find this out until I met said cousin many years later and saw she could have been my twin! He was already an Ex by then!

Dont work too hard, 

Love

Christine xxx

Hi Christine,

I glad to hear your fridge and freezer are full. I'm one to talk as if I lived on my own I would just live on tinned soup and toast!!!

The boys have been really good accepting my niece. She's not a typical 18 yr old girl. She is a very big girl, who is gay and dresses in boys clothes most of the time. She did have lovely long hair for years but shaved it all off a few years ago and often gets mistaken for a boy.

Good to hear you've had your vaccine. My mum and dad have now both had theirs too, which is a relief. Hopefully I well get to see them this year. They have very high expectations of this year getting back to normal and have booked a cruise for July! I did ask if they are covered in case it doesn't happen. They said they needed something to look forward to, which I can appreciate.

Weve only had a little snow down here, which is a downside of living in the south as I love it. Just lots of rain, which makes for wet and muddy dog walks.

Take care. Sending hugs.

Caroline xx
 

Oh dear,  That poor girl!  I'm so glad she has you to help her through this awful time. Being 18 is bad enough for our emotional health, everything is so extreme with the old hormones running riot, without having extra problems associated with her sad childhood. Bless her, I hope she blossoms under your loving care and finds a lovely girlfriend to boost her confidence.

Christine. xxx

Hi ladies
Hope we're all doing well, I am now but was absolutely pants last week after my covid shot..odd as I had side effects mild on cancer treatment but I'm so glad have obviously never had covid as what I had was quite unwelcome! All the parents have now had first jab which is good.

I have to say Caroline your niece sounds like a young version of my sister, she's somewhere in the LTBQ arena (not 100% sure myself to be honest!) and is a big girl.  She was so small and scrawny growing up (meaning I could always beat her in a fight) and then mid teens suddenly grew upwards and outwards- I'm 5'6 on a good day and she's over 6 feet, she's also quite wide leading the lovely blunt Taiwanese to regularly ask her 'why are you so fat?"!! She also had ridiculously long hair (down past her bum) and once managed to smuggle builders nails on board a plane as they were holding up her bun (thankfully she decided against taking over the aircraft!). She's very happy over there though and I hope your niece also finds her place in the world, she's lucky to have your family to support her when needed and hope its bringing a bit of change and joy to your life too.

Christine - I hope you've been managing to get out ok a bit more now the weather has improved.  My mother down south had her shot Monday and has promised to actually leave the house and go for walks - she hadn't left the house apart from to put bins out for months!  And she had a new hip not so long ago and they don't benefit from doing nothing.  I hope your vaccination was an 'occassion', I did consider really dressing up for it but then couldn't be bothered as it was raining so much!  Wellies & dress not the look I was aiming for.

I hope you're both enjoying seeing the lovely spring bulbs coming up, think I spied a dwarf iris in the front garden (they're my favourite) and will be out later post shower to examine further, daffs next I reckon.

Did you have pancakes last week?  I love them but its just too much faff for one so had gnocchi instead (sort of smaller, potato pancakes mmm?).  My family sent round their pictures just to rub it in my face, well apart from the Taiwan contingent who are still celebrating New Year (seems to go on for months - that's what you get for no Christmas I guess!) - and are sooo physically lose to one another, lucky them.

Feeling so much better overall and ready for the start of proper abdominal exercises soon - the return of the 6 pack! Yeah right....aim for a 1 pack maybe!  And happy to report have not fallen off the new bike yet.
Hope you're both happy with what Boris had to say, I am as it fits in with my plans! normal service at my gym is priority to give the poor woods near me a much needed rest (the paths are too well trodden and muddy).  Did I mention am doing a McMillan Mighty Hike early July in Yorkshire dales with 5 other idiots (team 'Impressive T1ts' - not that the others in the team had any choice in the name!!), I need some hills in my life for practice - its very flat where I am.   After the hike am dog-sitting near Halifax for the northern mother so seeing lots of pals up there and as the walk is near my father's will be seeing him too (he finds out of immunotherapy is an option this week to prolong his time). Getting quite tired of the same scenery here...done all the walks/bike rides in the locality and am looking forward to going further afield (maybe the next but one county!!)
My challenge for this week is to track down a brand of letrozole that I haven't tried yet as the current brand has now stopped being produced (great!) so hopefully will be able to find another that only has mild side effects - the first 2 I tried were less than ideal.
Right better get on and get ready to do some work!
XX

 

Hi Sam, (and Caroline)

I am really glad to hear from you - it seems a while and I was beginning to wonder if you were ok, as you have had a lot going on.  I smiled when I read about your reaction to the Covid jab, as when I wrote about having my jab, it was only a few hours after I'd had it and I felt fine, didn't feel the needle, not a mark on my arm,  certainly no pain in my arm. That was mid afternoon, when I wrote that. At 8.30 that evening, exactly ten hours to the minute from getting the jab I started reacting. It was hell for the next 18 hours, then as fast as it came, it stopped. I felt like I'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson and my temp spiked at 102, accompanied by uncontrollable shivering, pounding headache and aches in every muscle. Does that sound familiar? Thank goodness it only lasted 18 hours for me. My next door neighbour had her jab in the late afternoon so she didn't start feeling ill until the next day and she felt bad for two whole days. It's good that our immune systems were ready for the fight, but I'm not looking forward to the second dose.

I'm still having to fight my daughter if I want to go out shopping. I needed milk, she gave me three litres so I stayed home. When that was gone I said I needed to go out and she argued with me for half an hour, threatening to text her brother. For some reason she thinks I take more notice of him. I won, in the end, but had to promise to go only to one store for essentials. I was telling my son today and he said she did text him but he didn't know what he could do from 200 miles away so he ignored it. Then he started asking why I couldn't just get everything delivered, as I said I needed to go and get some things personally.  When he pushed it I played my ace card and embarrassed him by saying there are some intimate things I was not going to talk to him about. Perfect!  He soon backed off! Victory for me! Unfortunately I can't get away with that with my daughter!

It is lovely to see the signs of Spring. We had one day last week that was so pleasant that I actually went into the front garden to clear away some of the winter debris that I should have cleared before the winter set in. It was lovely to find new growth peeping up from under the dead stems and leaves of my summer perennials. I cleared all the beds in the back garden months ago and planted a big bag of daffodils in troughs and pots. I found some polystyrene sheets that I wrapped round the largest trough to keep them warm and they are now twice as tall as the others. If I can remember, I'll get some fleece for all of them next year as I feel guilty that the others got so cold that their growth has been stunted! 

I did make pancakes last week! It's easy Peasy. I just whisked an egg with some melted butter, a slurp of milk and a couple of spoonful of flour. I got four quite large pancakes out of that, just added sugar and lemon and that was tea!  They were good, too.  I know the cookbooks say you should rest the batter for hours etc but there's no need. 

I laughed at your description of those tiny Taiwanese fat shaming your sister. I had a similar experience in Singapore, I was shopping for clothes and saw something I liked and asked if there was one in my size. The midget assistant looked me up and down and said 'No largee largee!" I was young and slim then, too. 5ft 7in and size 12!  

I also thought Boris seems to have finally got it right this time. I feel the five week intervals between steps to freedom is wise. My daughter is desperate for the swimming pool on her street to open again. She had really got into her early morning swims and she was doing so well, health wise. Since the latest lockdown she seems to be developing more symptoms of her ME and she has been quite poorly. She got the ME after getting glandular fever about eight years ago, so I imagine that those people suffering from long Covid must be suffering similar symptoms. It was just called post viral fatigue when she first started with it then when it went on and on she was tested for everything under the sun until they came up with ME!  
I'm glad to hear you haven't broken your bike, and I'm most impressed by your mighty hike plans. There's no shortage of hills round here, you would be able to practice to your heart's content. Archie turns his nose up at them if he thinks they are too steep for his little legs. 
What side effects are you getting from the Letrozole? I just get what the pharmacy sends, I noticed the last lot were a different make from previously but they didn't seem to cause more or less side effects. After all the fuss I made in the beginning, I'm ashamed to say that they don't bother me much. I get hot flushes a few times a day but they don't last long and if they are causing more aches and pains I don't notice because I have succumbed to a regime of taking pain killers for my knee. 

I'm surprised that I have written so much as I feel I have nothing to say with lockdown, no news, no gossip, just boredom. I must start painting again. I haven't done any since Christmas and I've just received my Christmas present from my sister in California- wishing me a happy birthday (New Year's Eve) if the parcel didn't get here for Christmas!  I thought it had been lost in the post but no,  it was posted on February 18th by her son, who found it in his garage after his parents had finally gone to their retirement home in Belize! 

I hope all is well at yours, Caroline and you are not working too hard. 

Stay safe, 

Lots of love 

Christine xxx
 

Hey ladies, 

lovely to hear how well you are both doing. All going ok here. Niece has settled ok. Now on antidepressants which seem to be working but we still have up and down days. I've also got her a volunteer job 3 days a week in a local primary school. Hopefully it will give her a purpose, get her out meeting people and means she isn't home alone all week while we are all at work. It's been hard work and I find it exhausting. 
Healthwise - been absolutely fine. Didn't really think about cancer at all until the last week or so. Had a couple of patients at work who had breast cancer that had come back after many years and then I noticed a pain in my ribs and started fretting about it as couldn't think of anything I'd done to make my ribs hurt.  Brain went into overdrive. Called the breast nurse on Thursday and she called me back yesterday. I told her it was probably nothing and just me worrying over nothing - I was probably making them sore as I keep poking them to see if they are sore!! Anyway she has booked me an appointment to see the breast cancer nurse specialist on the 1st April. I am thinking that I may cancel if my sore ribs have improved as I will feel like a fraud!! I've probably pulled something with my utility room exercise classes!! I thought I'd parked this so feel annoyed with myself for worrying over something that is more than likely nothing.

But other than that, everything is ticking along. Work is changing as the Covid cases drop. I have my second jab on the 31st March. Puppy is now nearly 8 months old and just had a 'welfare' haircut due to it being so long it was affecting his sight but he wouldn't allow us to do it. Looks like a different dog! We've been doing some dog training over Zoom and he's proved he's a quick learner when treats are involved! I have got my hair appointment booked in for the 13th. Having short hair that needs cutting every 5 weeks hasn't proved a positive during lockdown!! I look like a shaggy sheep!!! 
I have also decided to grow some plants!! I bought some packets of seeds and am attempting to grow them. I'm really not green fingered so will see how it goes!!

Anyway, hope you are both doing well and hopefully life will improve as the time moves on!!

Caroline xx

Hi Girls!

Something spooky just happened. I'm writing this on my old iPad that I sometimes used until it died. Just for curiosity I charged it up, today, and blow me! It is working. Even spookier it opened on this site!  The reason this is spooky is that I had just told my daughter that I was going to catch up with you both as it had been a while. Anyway, I have enjoyed rereading all our messages since Christmas and remembered there have been happenings in your lives recently.  Caroline, did you see the breast cancer nurse and get your fears discounted? Sam have you had the next step in your plastic surgery?

i decided to call the doctor a couple of weeks ago because I was feeling so blah!  Not feeling ill but so tired and lethargic, not eating properly and forgetting things.  I asked for blood tests in case I had stressed my liver by taking more medication than I ever had in my whole life. I had the blood taken  last Thursday and on Friday morning a practice nurse rang to say they had arranged for a delivery of folic acid from the pharmacy. No explanation of why so I looked it up and the list of symptoms of a deficiency was identical to the list of symptoms I had written down to tell the doctor but forgot to read it to her, right down to the tinnitus that has been driving me mad, lately.  I have high hopes of this new tablet. I have had to work out the best time to take it because it can be affected by some of the other meds.  I think the Amitriptyline is causing problems with acid reflux, so my Lansoprazole prescription has been doubled but the Lansoprazole can stop the folic acid being absorbed so I have about five reminders on my phone telling me when to take which tablets!!! And this is the person who wouldn't take a painkiller in years gone by!

I go for my second jab next Friday. We're not planning to go pubbing yet, although my daughter is dreaming of a cider in the beer garden of our local. She has nearly killed herself this week, by going swimming every morning and instead of easing in to it, she did a mile for each of the first three days, but had to give up after half a mile on the fourth. Since then she's been in agony with a doozy of a migraine. Fortunately she was still on holiday, so she's been able to give in and rest in a dark room.  

There is nothing else to report, I hope you are ok and everything is going well with you.

Agh!!!! The iPad is on the blink again, it just went black and took lots of fiddling with buttons to get back to this, so I'd better sign off before my typing all goes into the ether.

lots of love to you both

Christine xx

Archie sends a woof to Eddie