Grayson Perry

Our activity today has been to take the tram to the City Art Gallery to see a modern and contemporary art exhibition, that was recommended to us by Anna.  The exhibition is the life story of Tim, from his birth to his death, using tapestry.  The artist is Grayson Perry.  We are still discussing elements of the story. 

Katy is doing ok.  She ended the day with a fever, but on the whole has been reasonably well.

Edwina has helped me with a couple of "technical jobs".  She has got my DVD player to show films through my TV.  This is fantastic news!  My HMI cable was round the wrong way.  Also, she has helped me get help from BT to get BT Sport to show on my TV.  Thank you so much!

Gotta get some sleep now.
lots of love
Sarah xxx

Happy Halloween

We didn't make it to London because of Katy's tonsillitis. She is on the mend, but very up and down with it. 

My long-time friend Edwina and her daughter Mary have come to Manchester to see us.  This is great news because we have not seen each other for about 14 months.  Our ice-skating trip became trick or treating.  This is not my favourite activity, but a big hit with the girls, of course.

Here they are ready to go out...

 and on their return.

 

 

Ed and I have been catching up.

 

Gotta go

Have a good day

love

Sarah xxx

Tonsillitus cancels trip to London

Pyjama Day
We have had another pyjama day.  Katy has not got dressed at all.  Martha has been out with Dave, but Katy has had to stay home.  Martha has a new denim jacket that really suits her.

Katy was very poorly all through the night.  She was delirious several times.  She believed she could hear someone, and was very frightened.  She drank loads of water, and alternated paracetemol and ibuprofen through the night. 

Tonight, her fever is under 38 degrees and much more normal.  Her neck remains swollen, and her throat is still sore.  She remains off her food.  I have had to make the decision that we cannot go to London.  My friend Edwina, and daughter Mary, is going to come and visit us here, which is great news. 

An old friend of mine, Dave H came over to visit.  We had a good chat, until I started to keel over with tiredness. 

Letter from Doctors' surgery
I have received a letter from my GP, Dr Black.  I am upset by it, but should not be surprised by its contents.  The letter gives the appearance that my GP behaved perfectly well.  I need to digest it before deciding what to do next.  I will share more once I get my head around it.

Got to get some sleep
lots of love
Sarah xxx

Penicillin

Katy is poorly this morning.  I have the usual painful discussion with my doctors' surgery (because I do not want to see Dr Black), and in the end accept an appointment tomorrow with a locum.  We discuss whether or not we will go to cinema or not.  I agree to make the decision at 10 am.  Martha and Katy have invited three friends to join us, on cheapy tickets that I downloaded from the internet.  By 10 am, she is looking much better, so I decide to stick to the trip. 

Izzy Jones, Ella and Rosy all head off to the Printworks, on the tram, with Martha and Katy.  We go to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.  I am happy to sleep through most of it!  Katy comes to sit with me saying she doesn't feel well.  She is alright on the way home. Vicky (Ella's mum) helps me look in her throat, and we can see pussy tonsils.  When we are settled, she is showing a temperature of 39+.  Fortunately, my friend Louise has come to catch up (she is Martha's guardian), and she takes us to a NHS drop in centre, in Boots, in town.  Katy is diagnosed with tonsillitis and given penicillin.  Martha finishes her second course of antibiotics today, and Katy starts a new one.  I am exhausted!

My other news is that I have contacted my doctors' surgery, by email, to ask for my travel insurance form.  They have had it for a month, which I think is far too slow.  I receive an email from someone with poor punctuation and grammar ( eg she wrote "i" a number of times, rather than "I"; her sentence structure was illogical too).  I forward it to the Primary Care Manager, who replies to say that the form is being completed.  Basically, I am losing my temper about all of this.  When I get chance, next week, I will move to Chorlton Medical Practice. 

Bed time for me!
lots of love
Sarah xxx

Pyjama Day

We have no plans for today.  We spend most of the day dressed in our pyjamas and don't do anything of any note at all.

In the afternoon, Martha goes to Anna's (Sasha's mum) for a short knitting lesson.  She has learned how to cast on, today.  She has updated her powerpoint presentation.  She walks home from Anna's on her own.

Katy was not well, and we decided she should stay at home with biscuits, a drink and a good dose of ibuprofen.  She has a fever. 

We have fish fingers and mummy chips for tea.

And now we are all back in bed.

Enjoy tomorrow
loads of love
Sarah xxx

Quiet day

Forgotten extra hour
At the beginning of the day, I am totally confused by the fact that the wrong programme is on the TV for the time.  I am trying to find Andrew Marr and the TV is showing MOTD.  It takes a while for me to remember that it is clock changing day.  Katy is happily watching Match of the Day.

Piano Lesson
Martha and Katy have their piano lesson this morning.  They are both sounding very confident on the piano.  We have a cheap and cheerful lunch - cheese and ham toasties.  I have aubergine pasta, made by Gee, yesterday.  Beautiful flavours.

I head up to bed, and I am delighted that Martha and Katy have learned to stay quiet while I rest.  Katy wakes me at the right time, which I am grateful for.

Homework
Revived, I turn off the TV and the computer games, and we tackle homework.  I am very short tempered, and have to calm down a bit.  Martha spent the whole afternoon on Chorlton Challenge - writing her news journal, and preparing a powerpoint presentation about how to knit.  She also has a fundraising event to plan and cost out - for Children in Need; she has a book review to write, plus numeracy, spellings, researching words with given suffixes, and multiplication tables.  I am worn out already!  Katy spent the afternoon making a leaflet about The River Nile.  She has done a good job of this.  Her next task is to practice spellings. 

Magazine Group
Katy has been given a place on the school magazine group.  She wrote an application in the style of a newsletter, and is delighted to get onto the group.

Katy goes paintballing
and Martha and I have a fish dish of Gee's.  Delightful, thank you.

Have a good week :)
love
Sarah xxx

At the Halloween Party - Gee and Sarah

Helen has made it to Everest Base Camp!

Well done Helen!  We are all sooooo proud of you :) :)   Have a good journey down again.

Halloween Part 2 - some photos

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-9RKbiSVDY&feature=youtu.be

Video of girls all (spontaneously) singing "Eye of the Tiger", after the thunderstorm.

 

 

Chris - party host

Gee - party host

 

Apple Bobbing

 

 

 

 

 

Polo mints in flour (the favourite game of the party)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Improvisation

Improvisation
You may know that Dave's brother, Paul, performs in improvisation performances.  The events are a bit like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?".  Our day is centred around going to see Paul perform at Sale Waterside Arts Centre.

Breakfast is gert lush
We have Izzy Jones on a sleep over.  Chris and Gee return to us at 9am, and Gee cooks us all the most amazing cooked breakfast.  I had eggs baked with smoked haddock and spinach.  The girls all had a traditional cooked breakfast.  Gee is an excellent cook.  He is also cooking me healthy food to keep in the freezer - fantastic :)

I sleep
I have to go back to bed.  I enjoyed the party, the day before, but I am now very tired.  While I sleep, Martine picks up Izzy and Joan arrives (Dave's mum).  Chris is playing games with Martha and Katy, and we all end up joining in with Guesstures (this is like the game Charades). 

Theatre trip
We get a taxi to the theatre (for 4pm showing), and we enjoy the show.  Paul is very talented.  His best bit was providing "sign language" to a TV programme about a hedgehog training to ride a unicycle.  We all have a great laugh!  I have a couple of glasses of wine, too!

Joan was hoping to come home with us for a Gee evening meal, while Paul was going to perform in the final, at 7 pm.  Unfortunately, Paul decided to go home, so Joan could not come and join us.  We were all disappointed.  We will do it another time!  We took this picture to say "we are missing you!".

Amazing Dinner
We have a good evening together.  Martha and Katy watch Strictly, while we eat a delicious meal.  Thank you Gee and Chris.

An extra hour
I have woken the next morning, totally confused by my clocks, and I have now realised that the clocks have gone back an hour.  I am glad I didn't have an appointment anywhere, because I would have got there an hour early!!

Have a good extra hour
lots of love
Sarah x

Halloween day part 1

Halloween Dress Up
Martha and Katy excitedly get ready for Halloween Dress Up day at school.  Here are a couple of snaps of them.

Rosy, Ella and Katy looking pretty gruesome.

Martha having a dance in Wake up Shake Up

 

Wellies next time!

I head out for my meadow walk.  It is very wet.  I must remember to wear my wellies next time I head out after a rain storm.  I spend lots of time negotiating path width puddles.

 

Rest and sleep

At home I am focused on resting, to prepare myself for Halloween Party.  Martine bobs round to collect a few things, and we have a cuppa.   I make pumpkin soup and go to bed.  I am woken by my alarm at 3pm, so head off to pick up the party girls from school.  I will put photos of the party on tomorrow.  They are spread over my camera, my phone and Katy's IPOD touch.  We all had a good time.

 

Hello Chris and Gee :)

My friends Chris and Gee have come to stay for the weekend.  They were brilliant party hosts, thank you!

 

 

Have a good weekend

lots of love

Sarah xxx

Looking forward to half term :)

Morning shopping
Martine kindly took me to Aldi this morning, so that I could do a good shop.  We had a good morning together, ending on a long cuppa.

I then get to sleep - I am really struggling to wake up.  I want to stay in bed, but I am having to make myself get up.  I have a puffy eye, and I feel like I am moving through soup.  Everything is a harder effort than it is usually.

Halloween dress up day
I make bolognaise sauce for tea.  I then head up to the fabric shop to buy elastic for Martha's Halloween mask.  It is Halloween dress up day at school tomorrow.  Martha and Katy are very excited about it.

My non-walk
My plan was to walk to Unicorn to buy some washing powder, and to continue to school, to collect Martha from comedy club.  Katy was at a football tournament.  She is playing in goal again, because she did so well, last week. 

I bumped into two of my neighbours - Pete from across the road, who is recovering from a broken rib after an accident on the tram.  Then I met my new neighbour, Jenny.  I have agreed that we will cat sit from Saturday to Thursday.  Martha and Katy will be delighted, when I tell them.  I am going to have to bare the burden of requests for us to get a pet cat: the answer will be NO!  By now, I have used up most of my walking time, so I walk down Beech Road towards the school.  Here, I meet another neighbour, Paul, and we have a chat too.  I get to school in time to leave half term biscuits in the staff room, and collect Martha on time.

Martha and Izzy on good form
Martha asks me to invite her friend Izzy round tomorrow night.  This is great news, because they had both fallen out, and I am delighted that they have recovered their friendship. 

Martine drops round to return Martha's pyjamas, and Izzy and Martha still look a little awkward.  It does not take long for them to get back to their usual giggling selves.  I am so relieved for them both.

Chorlton High School pals
Nafeesa and Laura, friends from Chorlton High come round for a catch up.  It is great to see them.  It sounds like all is going well in school.  They then left for teeth whitening!  Ha ha.

Football tournament
Katy comes home from football tournament.  The Chorlton CE team remains unbeaten.  They drew two and won three matches, I think.  Katy is very happy with her performance in goal.  She is very balanced about each goal. 

Bed for me now
Have a good Friday!
lots of love
Sarah xxx

Forgot to take Steroid yesterday ...

Steroid
This is very easy to do, when you are celebrating not having to take loads of drugs to a timetable.  I completely forgot to take my steroid yesterday, so my steroid low is probably even lower!

I have had a lethargic day.  My plans had been to go shopping with Martine.  However, I forgot to take my phone to school, and only discovered on my return, that she couldn't go.  The rain was absolutely pouring down, so I did not go out and take my walk.  I struggled to stay awake, but made myself wait until late morning to go to sleep.

I made some soup for a very late lunch, and got changed. 

Performance parts
Martha's part in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, is Grandad Joe - Charlie's Grandad.  She is delighted with this part.  She has started trying to walk like an old man...

Katy has a good part in her class assembly, too.  She is Carter, the architect who discovers Tutankhamen's tomb.  We have ordered her a top hat.

Parents' evening
Parents' evening went very well. Dave joined us. No surprise, that both Martha and Katy are both well behaved and working hard. 

Tea at Croma
Margi (sister in law) and Grace (niece) came over for tea; we went to Croma after parents' evening.
We had a good evening, lots of good conversation and some silly fun (like the cup song!).

lots of love
Sarah xxx

Still low

I am not feeling well at all.  I know it will pass, but it is still here with me.  I feel lethargic, tired, my eye is swollen,  I also have abdominal cramping.  I know it is my steroid low, and that I have to ride this out.  It won't be long before I start feeling better again...

I went for my walk in the pouring rain, and had my appointment with my Macmillan nurse, which was good.

Martha was sent home from school.  I was asleep with my phone switched off, so I did not get the calls or texts until I awoke.  The first I read was from Dave, asking if I had seen the messages, to which I replied "no".  I then found the messages, and went straight to the school.  She had been waiting a couple of hours.

The good thing is, that I called the doctors and was able to get an emergency appointment.  Martha has an ear infection, and another course of antibiotics.  I don't know if she will go to school tomorrow; I will make that decision in the morning.

Around all of this was drama club.  I picked up Anya from school thinking that Anna could pick her up on the way, but it turned out that Sasha isn't well either.  In the end (after a lot of texting) Anya's Dad picked her up from the doctors' surgery.  Katy still went swimming as normal with Ann-Marie.

I made an easy meal for their tea.

Bed time now.
Have a good day
love
Sarah xxxx

chemo good :), steroid low:(

Steroid low
I struggled to get up this morning, and we barely left on time for school.  On the way to school, I bumped into my hairdresser, and realised that I did not have my scarf.  I return home for my scarf, and bump into Sarah McCall, where I fall into tears.  This has been the feature of my day.  Later, on my walk (in the pouring rain) I bump into Claire (Charlie's mum) and I burst into tears again.  I am crying on and off all day, for no apparent reason.  I recognise how I feel, as part of my steroid withdrawal.  The good thing is that I know that this will pass.  In a couple of days, my body will adjust and start producing the correct amount of steroids. 

Chemotherapy goes well
I manage my chemo drugs well.  I want to go to sleep, but stay awake long enough to take my chemo drugs, so that when I wake, I can eat my lunch.  I have a long sleep, and wash up while my lunch cooked.   Trying to feel better, I run a bath.  It doesn't help much, but it is always good to feel clean and fragrant!

Hospital appointment - Salford Royal
Dave takes me to the appointment.  I tell him that I have not been well today, and he says that he had already noticed. 

Before I went to France, a friend of Dave's taught Martha and Katy (and me) French.  At outpatients we are served by his mum.  My appointment was exactly on time - great news.

At the appointment we discuss the problem that I have with my jaw - that I cannot open it properly, and that it is painful.  I now know that this is a very common problem after the surgery.  When the operate within the skull, they cut the tendon (?) above the mandible, and many patients suffer with jaw pain after the operation.  It can clear up within a few weeks, or take much longer.  I have been assured that it will clear up in its own time, so I do not need to worry about it. 

Back Home
Katy is at Charlie's for tea and to go to cubs, so I have an evening with Martha, on her own.  She makes really good use of her time.  She finished knitting the second side of her bag, and learns to cast off.  After Wolfblood, we retire to the kitchen where she starts catching up on her news journal.  She is really optimistic that she will finish this piece of work before the end of this week.  I am relieved!  After The Simpsons, and a little of Come Dine With Me (whilst Martha is eating chocolate cake), she retires to bed and finishes Kenzuke's Kingdom.  What a productive evening! 

Katy comes home and we read a chapter of her book Sky Hawke, and have a good chat in bed.

Bed for me now.  I am expecting a similar day tomorrow, and then to see some improvement.  My Macmillan nurse comes tomorrow, which is good timing for me.

Have a good day tomorrow :)
love
Sarah xxxxxx

chemo day 4 - still in good shape :)

Pancakes
I have an awake night with Martha, who has diarrhoea in the night. I wake up and it is light (with Martha next to me).  I try to go back to sleep, but have to get up.  Katy joins me, and we make pancakes with strawberries and cream.  The soft fruit sweet flavour of the strawberries was delicious.  Martha joins us and enjoys the pancakes too.  Katy has finished her homework - she has copied a skeleton from the internet, as a skeletal Egyptian tomb raider, I think.  Martha still has loads of homework to complete. 

We put a film on the TV, and I have to go back to bed.  I have managed my tablets well, and take Ondanstron when I get in bed, and take chemo tablets when I awake.  Katy wakes me to help her write an application to join the school magazine group.  This is the topic for Martha's homework, so we end up doing it all together.  Hooray! One topic is completed. 

Longford Park
I make ham and cheese toasties for lunch, on the understanding that I don't start cooking until both girls are dressed for an outing to the park.  I have a spinach and avocado salad.  We go to Longford Park - Martha and Katy are on their skates; I am happy to be walking. 

 

Martha climber

They do have shoes with them as well, and they spend a lot of time climbing trees.  Martha climbed down a piece of climbing wall, that I did not think she would be able to do.  She is quite an impressive climber!  There were overhangs that she had to negotiate, and I was underneath her wondering what I would do if she fell off!  I would love to be able to take her to a climbing club, but this is simply not possible without a car.

 

More homework

Back at home, Martha starts to tackle her news journal.  Katy is happily entertaining herself learning the words to Les Miserables songs.  Martha is very disgruntled to be behind with her journal.  We managed a little catching up, but she has a long way to go.

 

Swimming

Dave comes to take the girls swimming.  Martha is feeling poorly again, and I agree to go with her.  From swimming, I check both girls for nits.  Martha is with me, in my bed now.

 

Have a good week :)

lots of love

Sarah xxx



Chemo day 3 - good again :)

Morning activity
Morning activity has been creating Halloween costumes for a dress up day at school on Friday.  Martha is going to be the Devil's wife (I think).  Katy will be a dead school boy.

We also dug out our Halloween decorations, which we will put up next week.

Chemotherapy
I struggled to stick to my times today.  It is easier to do it properly while Martha and Katy are at school!  I ended up starving hungry, waiting to eat my lunch that was late, because I had forgotten to take a tablet.  Martha and Katy ate properly at the correct time!

I feel OK. I do not feel ill, just tired.

Afternoon trip to Chorlton
We go to Quality Save for a few Halloween bits, and then to the knitting shop.  What a fantastic shop this is - in Chorlton Precinct - it sells everything for sewing, knitting, stamping, sticking ...  We buy wool and needles for Katy to make a purse, and for me to make a woolly hat.  Back at home, we then spend the afternoon knitting!  Katy has learned to purl confidently.  Martha is systematically creating her second side to her bag.

Hairy biker Dave - tikka misalla
I continue to use my Hairy biker cook book, and create a delicious tikka misalla.  Martha helped me cook, and Martha and Katy both loved it :)  It was very healthy and low fat.

Homework - please save me!!!
I am finding homework an incredible burden.  It is taking forever...  I would not let Martha or Katy watch Strictly Come Dancing tonight, until another piece of homework had been completed.  I was very short tempered and irritable.  Partly because I was tired, I know.  We watched most of Strictly in the end.  Come on Hairy Biker Dave!

Bedtime now
Good night - gotta get some sleep :)
Sarah xxxxx

Chemo day 2 - still good :)

Catch up with headteacher
I have taken my new sick note to my school head teacher.  It is for 3 months.  When I am sleeping less in the day, I am hoping that I will be able to pick up some work for school, but only when I am ready.  I have offered to help with making costumes for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - this is something that I can do at home when I have "pottering" time.  I enjoyed our chat.

Walk through the meadows
I changed my route today.  The acorns have all fallen from the oak trees.  The red berries were bright.  The field next to the football club has been cleared and flattened;  I do not know what the plans are.  I tried to find out when the bonfire party takes place at the football club.  I really hope it is on the 2nd November, and not the 9th, because we are in London on 9th for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Chemotherapy
I have taken all my tablets at the correct time today.  I have not felt nauseous at all, and outside of sleeping, I have felt quite well.  I did have a little bit of dizziness this morning, but it passed quickly.

My sleep is getting later
I am not sleeping until later in the afternoon - 1.30 ish until 3 ish.   I don't know if this represents any change, or if it because I am so focused on taking my tablets in the correct order during the morning.  However, I have noticed a change.  Dr McBain said that the tiredness will start to pass within the next couple of weeks.  It is a side effect of the radio therapy, which usually clears after six weeks.  My waking at night for the loo will hopefully pass when I stop taking the steroids.  I have some time to go with this (at least 6 weeks).  I am still celebrating my whole night's sleep from two nights ago :)

Knitting
Martha and Katy have continued knitting.  Katy has finished the knitting part of her phone cover.  We have to tidy up all the connections between the colours, and sew it up tomorrow.  Martha has finished one side of the bag that she is making.  I cast off for her.  Next, she makes the opposite side - repeating exactly what she has knitted already.

I am going to knit a hat.  How things have changed with you tube!  I learned today how to create stitches from a you tube video.  My hat pattern is free - I have printed it off - and there is a video to show me how to knit it.  It is very different from when I was knitting in my early twenties.

Coronation Street
As you know, I don't watch much TV and I am not up to date with the soaps.  We watched Coronation Street tonight (whilst knitting) and there is a big cancer theme in Hayley's story line.  Katy was talking to me about my cancer, and saying that my cancer was different because it was in my brain.  Very tricky!  I can't remember what I said at all. 

Have a good weekend
loads of love
Sarah xxxx

First day of chemo - good

So far so good ...

Full night's sleep
For the first time since my diagnosis, I slept through the whole night.  I woke up at 6.45 am - fantastic!

Morning walk

Martha and Katy are both knitting before we leave for school.  They are both really enjoying it.  After school drop off, I head off for a walk down the meadows, with Mike - one of the dads.  The sun is shining brightly, and we can see the mist floating up from the nettles along the brook.  I am not sure you can get the experience from a still photograph.  The mist was rising up in little clouds all along the river bank.

Shopping

I then head to the shops to collect groceries.  I have bought a Hairy Biker Dave cook book in the book club at school - it was £5, and full of recipes that are suitable for my diet.  Katy chose a main course and a pudding, so I stocked up on the ingredients and cooked the meal with her at tea time.  We had enchiladas followed by apple and raspberry crumble (with cornflakes in the crumble).  Martha will choose our next cook book meal, next week.

 

Chemotherapy

I have followed my schedule.  I have been very careful to eat the correct balance of fresh food today, to help me avoid getting "bunged up" by anti-sickness tablets.  I have only taken one anti-sickness tablet too, hoping that this is all I will need.  I will take more if I start to get nauseous.  I have had no side effects so far.    :)

 

 

After lunch, I sleep until 3pm. 

 

Football Tournament

I then get picked up to go to watch Katy play football.  Her friend Rosy is not there because she is poorly, so Katy became the goalie.  It is a painful experience watching your daughter play football.  Every time she made a save, I thought I was going to have a heart attack!  She did very well.  They won 2-0, 1-0 and drew 1-1 (to a team with an extra player - I was told this on the way home.  How I wish that I had noticed - I would have gone and told the referee.  I can't help but be totally competitive on a sports pitch; I would not have been able to let this go.)  Here is Katy in goal.

 

 

At home, Martha and Katy start knitting again ...

 

 

To conclude - day 1 of chemo has passed without any consequences so far.

 

 

Have a good Friday :)

 

lots of love

Sarah xxx