A little bit of fun

Katy with a tomato in both cheeks.  Martine Jones behind - great to see you :)

 

beautiful flowers arrive from staff at school - thank you so much

I don't know if you can see the detail in this bouquet of flowers.  They are a beautiful range of fragrant blooms.  Truly beautiful to look at and to smell.  Thanks to my work colleagues - I will enjoy them.   I love you all.  The flowers are Kenut, Calendula, Cauflower, Azzum Rewsts, Acconuths, Panifolia, Ecaliptus.  

Thanks also to Stuart and Jacky for these beauties too.  You are such good neighbours.

Martha's questions ...

Here is Martha, enjoying one of the cup cakes that Sally and Alan sent.  She is in our back garden.  Dave cooked us a barbecue.  It was a very pleasant outdoor evening in the sun.

I retire to my bed, and Dave takes Katy on her bike to cubs.  They are doing a cycling badge.  Dave is on his bike too.  I realise, after she has left that she had no helmet on.   Oops!

Martha joins me in my bed and is finishing her numeracy homework.  It is very tricky because she is getting upset about not being able to write her conclusion to a problem solving question.  If you add up the numbers of three adjacent houses, does the sum divide by three?   Can you do it?  Martha can do it, but then struggles to write down her final summary.  We end up putting it aside, and I ask Martha what she would like me to do.

Martha wants me to come downstairs and sit with her on the sofa while she watches TV.  This is very Martha, and of course, something of a pre-tumour routine.  I would sit on sofa with her and watch TV.  I agree to do this.  We find ourselves watching a recording of Johnny English, which I found very funny (in a steroid kind-of-way).  Martha finds me funny too.

Katy arrives home at the end of the film, which is perfect timing.

Martha asks me if I will read to her.  Again, this is part of our pre-tumour routine.  I say that I will but that I will have to sit on a chair in her bedroom.  She suggests that I read to her in my bed, which of course works very well for me.  She gets a new book - Cinder - and I begin reading it.  The words are in very small type, so I ask Martha to find my reading glasses.  They have a prism added to them (lots of lines across a clear piece of tape), which I happily remove.  I no longer have double vision.  My double vision was removed with Shirley.  I read to her.  When I finish, we talk about the book and she says that she doesn't get it yet, and neither do I!  We agree that we will continue and see what we learn.  Cinder is a robot and talented mechanic who has met a crown prince ...

Martha then asks me, when will I be better? "How many days, weeks, months or years?"  Wow, what a question!  I say that I am waiting to find out when I have an appointment at the hospital.  At this appointment they will tell me what they found inside my head, and we will talk about how to make it better.  I do not know yet what the treatment will be, but that I expect to be told that the tumour is malignant (cancer) and that I will need radiotherapy and chemotherapy.  I say that I think I will be ill for the next 6 months.   She asks how long have I been ill already, and I answer 3 months; Martha says, so you will be better in 3 months.  Of course, I have to say no.

When Anna came to see me recently she suggested that we have a worry box.  This is a little box that Katy and Martha can put any worries in, any questions in; they can put anything in it at any time, as I can.  I bring up this idea for Martha.

Martha really likes the idea.  She calls it an "ask it basket", which I believe they use in  school for PSHE questions.  She begins describing to me how we will use it.  We can have a time when we look in the basket to see if there are any questions.  Questions are anonymous.  We can take it in turns looking and seeing if we can answer the questions ourselves.  These are all great answers for me.  While I talked with Katy she is very happy to have an ask it basket too.  Returning to Martha, she has made a lid for the box.  The box was given to her by my sister.  It is a small wooden box with a lid that lifts up.  The lid is now decorated with "worries:  ASK IT BASKET".

Martha and Katy, I love you both.

Mummy xxxx

Gifts arrive from Sally and Alan, and from my NCT friends. Thank you

Thank you so much for these lovely gifts.  The flowers are from my friends in the National Childbirth Trust.  We all had our babies together.  We supported eachother through caesareans along the way, and believe me a C-section is worse than the removal of a brain tumour!!!

My mum has taken the picture of me with the cake.  These are from old uni friend Sally Bailey, and her husband Alan.  Alan is a best friend of another uni friend (Helen) who taught English in Japan.  Helen introduces Sally to Alan, and they make the perfect couple.   

 I am not keen on the size of my belly!!!!!  But guess what, I am going to enjoy the cakes, and I will get an even bigger belly.  Martha and Katy and Dave will be very excited later - we are having a little BBQ - followed by cakes.  The cakes are truly delicious. 

Thank you so much. 

Sarah xxxx  

The digging and the squeaky bed has become ticking and squeaking

Hi there!
My head experiences are changing.   The digging sound has now changed into a ticking.  It sounds like a clock is ticking inside my head.  Tick, tick, tick, tick ...  It is not happening all the time, but the sound has changed.  It is quieter too.
Occasionally the squeaky bed kicks in.  This remains loud.  I am convinced that everyone must be able to hear it, but it is only me.
My pain has definitely diminished.  At the end of a round of paracetemol, as my pain levels grow, I would describe the pain as mild to moderate.  The paracetemol then kill the pain completely.
Arms and legs remain jellified, but my mood remains on top form.

love you all

Sarah xxx

The Brain Tumour Charity

Martha and Katy returned from the festival yesterday with a red balloon.  It was printed with "The brain tumour charity".  They were very excited by it, which was lovely.  I will have to look it up...

This is the link.  It is not of interest to me, but here if you want to have a look.

http://www.nationalbrainappeal.org/?gclid=CLzg8PuAoLgCFfMbtAodcVcAzA

Fab visit by Colin and Grace

Colin is Dave's brother, my "brother in law".  He came over yesterday with Grace, his daughter.  Martha and Katy and Grace are excellent friends, aged 11 (or 12?), 10 and nearly 9.  Colin is in excellent spirits.  He is clearly delighted with my progress, as I am.  Arriving during the tennis, there is no surprise to our choice of activity.  My laugh with him is that I believe it is part of my story, that Andy Murray will with 2013 Wimbledon.  He does not believe that Andy will do it, and that Djocovic will take the title. 
Colin has some fun challenging by life goals.  Climbing a live volcano is apparently the most dangerous thing that anyone can do.  I have wanted to do this, prior to my diagnosis.  Researching where to go and who with is a challenge for me to begin.  I have not started looking yet.  South America is where I will begin to look first. 
Martha, Katy and Grace have been out to the festival again.  When they come in, they have been on a ride together.  Grace gave me some chocolates, that Martha ate (there were dark chocolates, which she loves), and a beautiful candle.
Colin and Katy play the guitar together too.  I am impressed by Colin's guitar skills (he has been learning since a "big birthday"), and I vow to learn to play myself.  I would love to be able to play chords and strum.  I could then take the guitars camping.
Colin, Grace and Margi - I love you all.
Seeya soon
Sarah xxx

Chrysalis

Thank you, Max.