Monday 27 April 2015

Monday 27th April

What a difference a week makes! This time last week I was in bed, recovering from the Chemo and the day spent in hospital having a blood transfusion.

Today I feel a hundred times better, managed two dog walks, an aqua aerobics class, cut and strimmed the grass, and then played some close games of badminton this evening.

I'm also very pleased that my Just Giving page for the Race for Life has not only reached the target of £750, but surpassed it- excellent news indeed, and a big thank you to all my sponsors.

https://www.justgiving.com/jillluce


We had girl power today, and Bex made me wear Jack's safety hat, as last time I did strimming I was wearing shorts/t-shirt, sandals and no protective eye wear.  The family were horrified and I got a right telling off. My sister suggested a particular  make of strimmer  was very good and forced me to buy it. What she didn't say was you need a firearms licence. The  cuttings ricochet off like bullets, and had it not been for my amazingly fast reflexes I would have been severely lacerated.....


 Bex can drive the 'mower' , (unlike me) also she has smart overalls (I don't)



 Just had to take this photo this afternoon across Bouley Bay... beautiful.



Couldn't have done the gardening if it it wasn't for LT kindly providing our supper this evening, she always manages to provide a delicious complete meal, and we thank her for it. Also popped in to see my dear friend PE , who has been very UNLUCKY of late, and has ended up in a back brace after falling down some stairs, she is now on the mend but it will take some time to be pain free again.

Thursday 23 April 2015

Thursday 23rd April

 A week on from Chemo and three days from the blood transfusion.....and I feel SO much better today! I'm even back to dog walking and managed to do a yoga class at Macmillan this afternoon.



Had a lovely walk around Queens valley this morning with three other ladies....and three dogs!



 We matched size of dog to the size of the walker.....


Thats love.....

Our walk along the cliff paths at Les Platon ....
All smiling photos today, energy levels are improving!

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Tuesday 21st April

Firstly thank you all for the positive comments, they do help. Secondly, it's Daniels birthday today! Three years ago we had a 'drop in' 21st birthday for him at home, that was three days after I had my first chemo and six weeks from my first operation. Thank goodness I was able to have all that treatment, otherwise things may have been very different.

I can't say the last three years have actually been a smooth ride, but nor have a lot of peoples (directly or indirectly), and we just have to deal with what life throws at us.

Backtracking a bit to Monday, Bex took me into hospital and stayed 'nursing' me all day. The transfusion went ok, just took the best part of six hours. I had a lovely nurse looking after me BM, who was entirely professional throughout the treatment...(he told me to say that), and we definitely did not have a mishap with the first bag that nearly split (tape, scissors and sticky-back plastic), blood spraying on pillow, machine and me. (slight exaggeration, but partly true!) It wasn't his fault of course, despite me quoting 'a bad workman' at him. It's a wonder he just didn't stab me with a sharp needle at that point but as he had already done that, there didn't seem any point.



As I was feeling incredibly tired and poorly yesterday they took bloods from me before the transfusion, in case I was neutropenic and needed to be admitted to hospital. Not top of my list of 'things to do'. Bizarrely the blood counts were the best they'd ever been, but that apparently was an artifical reading. I had given myself the injection Neulasta last Thursday and it sends the bone marrow into overdrive. Ultimately I am suffering the side effects of chemo though the results didn't show that..but at least no hospital admittance.

I managed a walk through town to grab a lift home with hubby, (much to his annoyance, as he said I shouldn't, walk that is, not get a lift), but I needed to feel the sun on my face and the warm wind in my hair after two days cocooned indoors.

A big thank you once again to LT and family, who had left a complete meal ready for everyone when we got back home. That was hugely appreciated by the boys, who were late back after having moved the Duchesse from its moorings, and consequently the speed in which they devoured the supper didn't really do it justice

I was hoping to feel  much better today, (so impatient), and was so disappointed when I realised that I was still 'wiped out', simple tasks taking all my energy. I'm struggling to eat anything of substance and my insides are like a washing machine on a 'full spin' cycle. Dan took Jess out this morning, I just knew that I was too tired to even walk her down the meadow.  I also knew there was no way I was even going to attempt a yoga class... i went back to bed.....and slept.

It was only late this afternoon that i felt a little better, and felt well enough to water the vegetable garden, and pot a few plants. P&E has been in Alderney all day and arrived home at six, closely followed by the discovery of a stray dog turning up in the yard. A big black labrador, who had a certain penchant for Jessie.... without going into too much detail, he made himself at home for a few hours before being reunited with his owners (who lived a fair distance away). As Papa said "Never a dull moment in this house!"
 

"Boyce".....


Lastly tonight a photo of AA's birthday cake...brought around this evening, (also thanks to Becky who had kindly made Dan a chocolate cake earlier)...

Even has the Seafaris boat on top!


Sunday 19 April 2015

Sunday 19th April

Tricky post to write tonight, would like to be upbeat and positive, but feel absolutely terrible. Started going downhill on Saturday (expected after the chemo), but so tired and feeling sick. Went to bed early last night, and slept reasonably well, but this morning woke up and was sick.

Managed to hold down an anti-sickness tablet, and eat a small bit of toast, but then spent the day in bed, mostly sleeping. I haven't felt so incredibly tired for a long time, its an effort walking around the house. I am presuming its the chemo plus my red blood count has probably fallen through the floor.

And my sister and brother-in-law have gone back to the UK...

Fortunately I am not on my own, the family have been brilliant, offering up advice, jokes (not funny) and trying to keep me sane, (not easy). Big thanks to SE who shopped for supper tonight and then cooked with Bex ( I can't even smell food at the moment).


So a few photos to cheer me up, and remember happy times.

Always chatting...


We needed a coffee at Bouley Bay


 The village tea room



A lovely walk in St Catherine's woods...


Billy kept me company today...


I am booked in for a blood transfusion tomorrow morning at 9am, the thought of sitting in a chair for four to six hours tomorrow feeling as rough as I do is not a pleasant proposition. Luckily Bex can take me in, and  I have offers to bring me home. I'm sure I will feel so much better by this time tomorrow.... fingers crossed. 

Wednesday 15 April 2015

15th April

As my Jack said, a day of two extremes, the highs and lows of "A day in the Life"...

My sister (AS)and bro-in-law (UJ) arrived yesterday afternoon to our beautiful sunny Island, they said people were getting changed from their 'winter 12 degree' North of England' clothes into lightweight summer 23 degree clothes in the airport toilets!!



I took them around the woods and beach for a short dog walk in the evening. Jessie was only allowed a short walk as on Monday afternoon I had to take her to the vet. She would not put weight on her hind leg, although she had had a manic weekend 'working' in the meadow for two full days and seemed fine on Sunday. The vet thought that she may have suffered a 'rat' bite to her paw, (no visible evidence), but it was a bit swollen, and consequently gave her four days worth of antibiotics in one shot and some anti-inflammatories. He also added "if she's not better in 48 hours come back and we'll do some x-rays". She's better....



Another short dog walk this morning, and then we headed off to the Fresh Fish Company and bought not only our lunch but supper too. Three different types of bread, various fillings, fresh veg, eggs, new potatoes and a huge Jersey caught cod for supper, (and whilst I'm on the subject of food a very big thank you to LT for providing a delicious meal for us on Monday night!!)

We got down to St Catherines slip nice and early for the Ecrehous trip on Jersey Seafaris, (I managed to get my chemo delayed until 3:30pm!)
SOOOOOO BRILLLLLIANT.... Dan was skippering and TN was crew, and very professional they were too, also surprisingly knowledgeable.


We saw dolphins too!

Back on the Island we just had time for a cup of tea, before heading off to hospital, sister in tow, and UJ sent off to town with a 'list'!!

My sister was fortunate to meet the lovely Dr H, who was so pleased to see me actually get my last cycle of chemo done (pleased to see the back of me?) He did tell us that in his entire 24 years of being in Oncology that he has only ever had one case of someone like me, with a very suppressed bone marrow that cannot take Chemo, (Carboplatin) is the 'nicest' of the drugs, but even with that I'm getting only 75% of the drug. We also talked about booking in my CT scan in the next three weeks.

Finish off with a photo gallery of the last 24 hours ..

Vicky left the head on.... I didn't like it!

 Our evening beach walk... crazy hair!

Crew! 

Lunch time on the Ecrehous 
 Awesome boys
 Sisters..
 Dolphins... fishing , not playing today


   

Chemo time
 Chemo hair?

 Sorry about the mixed up out of sequence pics, trying to multi-task while writing, and not succeeding.

Sunday 12 April 2015

Sunday 12th April

Cant believe another week has flown by, and the good weather has continued. Thank you for your comments on the previous blog, its always good to get feedback... 

In brief, I had my blood test on Friday and it seems as if I'm good to go re Chemo this week! My platelets are up to 139, my white cells and also  up, and my neutrophils are borderline. My Hb level is still level, hovering around 8.7, so whilst I am not able to 'get my puff' on the hills and cliff paths I don't feel as if its impacting too much on my day to day life.

However, the chemo will probably wipe me out, and as a preventive they are going to give me a transfusion. I have struck a deal with (them), and as I don't want to spend a whole day in hospital while my sister and brother-in-law are over I am booked in at 9am on Monday 20th. 

Chemo is booked for 12noon on Wednesday, but I may try and change that, as there is a Seafaris trip to the Ecrehous at lunchtime, and it seems a shame to miss it, the nurses are lovely, and I know if they can squeeze me in later they will.

Once again I've packed quite a lot into this week, swimming (pool, not sea!), racquetball, tennis (three times), yoga (twice) pilates and circuit training. Badminton on Wednesday night was excellent, with some really great matches.
We were out for supper on Friday night, and on Saturday evening we had a lovely time at a  friends dinner party. 

Today has been dog walk, a fun aerobics class and lots of gardening jobs, remember my sister is arriving on Tuesday.... and she'll be pleased to know that I have made her a small list of 'jobs' already.

Gorgeous bouquet of flowers arrived from J and J.....





Jess and I on the cliff path.

Tuesday 7 April 2015

Tuesday 7th April

What amazing weather, so lovely (unless you're  already  sunburnt, then its not so good) That of course is not me, because I am sensible it's  always the men of the household. They all think it's too manly to put on suntan cream (or they just don't think) and end up with burnt heads, necks and noses, and then moan about it, like its my fault!!!

Anyway whilst I'm on the subject of men....my eldest in the presence of his father, asked me this question "Mum, how many forks and spades did you have?" As you can see all in the past tense. I had already thrown all my teddies out of the pram last week when I walked into the greenhouse expecting to pick up a fork/spade and there was none. These tools are mine, I bought them and I keep them where I know how to find them, if they do get borrowed then they must be RETURNED after use. And while I'm on my soap box, this rule does not just apply to garden implements.

So, back to the question. Before i had even asked 'Why?" the pair of them burst into hysterical laughter, thinking it highly amusing that they had not only stolen my forks/spades they had managed to break them in the process. Apparently they weren't "up to the job", to which I proclaimed loudly that they were small sized implements just right for me and my needs, not for them to go shovelling entire gorse bushes onto trailers!

To top it all they had the dog down the meadow, which she loves, however she always comes back having eaten something she shouldn't, a chew on a dead rabbit ( It may have been alive just before it was dead, but I don't want to dwell on that), and the other day it was a vole, which judging by the way she was skulking around the kitchen with her tail between her legs didn't agree with her digestion.



You know when I walk into the hospital and march briskly along the corridors, I appear to all intents and purposes carefree. Visiting the hospital pre February 2012, I would look upon others who seemingly did not look so well, with a degree of pity, feeling fortunate that I was 'well" and not in need of any 'treatment'. Sometimes I visited friends who had had babies, and that was always a good experience , but still a certain amount of relief that I could get outside into the fresh air post visit.
Now I hate (maybe too strong a word) intensely dislike hospitals, don't get me wrong, the staff are WONDERFUL, and particularly in Oncology where I have spent a great deal of time , but despite my air of lightheartedness and my quick step, it masks an underlying dread that it's never really going to be 'good news'. I'm never going to hear, "You're cured!" "No more blood tests/chemo/transfusions...EVER".
Blood test today. Hb dropped down to 8.4, and I was told that I was 'two short' or it could have been 'too short'.... ( I don't often get told that) with my platelet count sitting at 98. My white cells and neutrophils are just about holding their own. A discussion followed about a transfusion, it was brief and went something like this "When do you want to come in?" "I dont"! We compromised, and I go back Friday for another blood test with a view (if Hb hasn't picked up) to have a transfusion next week, and chemo afterwards


Please don't think I am writing this as I am 'depressed', It's just fact, it's the way it is, and although I keep 'going on' about it, other folk are far worse off than me.
Today has been very good (other than the hospital visit) I've walked the dog, done a yoga class and played two hours of tennis with some very good friends. I have come home to a beautiful house, with  a family and husband  that loves me. You can't put a price on that, I am unbelievably 'lucky'.

There is a particular quote that I like , and as I have actually been and seen this Church in Norwich I thought I would fill you in with a bit of background, plus my mum was a Norfolk girl.

So, a little bit of history from Norfolk, actually all about St Julian Of Norwich
Very little is known about Julian's life. Even her name is unknown; the name "Julian" simply derives from the fact that her anchoress's cell was built onto the wall of the Church of St Julian in Norwich. Her writings indicate that she was probably born around 1342 and died around 1416.[2][3][4] She may have been from a privileged family that lived in Norwich, or nearby. Norwich was at the time the second largest city in England. Plague epidemics were rampant during the 14th century and, according to some scholars, Julian may have become an anchoress whilst still unmarried or, having lost her family in the Plague, as a widow.[5] Becoming an anchoress may have served as a way to quarantine her from the rest of the population. There is scholarly debate as to whether Julian was a nun in a nearby convent or even a laywoman.[5]

Image of the original Church of St Julian, Norwich
When she was 30 and living at home, Julian suffered from a severe illness. Whilst apparently on her deathbed, Julian had a series of intense visions of Jesus Christ, which ended by the time she recovered from her illness on 13 May 1373.[6] Julian wrote about her visions immediately after they had happened (although the text may not have been finished for some years), in a version of the Revelations of Divine Love now known as the Short Text; this narrative of 25 chapters is about 11,000 words long.[7] It is believed to be the earliest surviving book written in the English language by a woman.[8]


“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.” 
― Julian of Norwich



Lastly a picture of two girls, both of whom are 'amazing' (unquote) so they tell me.....




Monday 6 April 2015

Monday April 6th - Bank Holiday!

It has been a few days since the last posting, and as usual lots has happened. My niece and partner have been over since Good Friday staying in an apartment in town, and trying to see as much of our beautiful Island as well as chilling out.

Other than the rain when they arrived, it's been dry and the weather today relatively warm and sunny.
We managed to get both sides of the family here last night for supper, a full table of 14, (glad my sis-in-law made the puddings)

It's been a bit annoying that I've been suffering from sinusitis and feeling quite tired, in fact I've got a very similar feeling that I've had previously, struggling to breathe a bit... doesn't bode well for the blood test tomorrow morning, hey ho.

We had a real treat tonight and  were so lucky to zip out from St Catherines to the Ecrehous this evening at 5ish, absolutely brilliant on the new Seafaris boat, and then get taken into Rozel for a pub tea. A perfect finish to a super Easter weekend.

 Fancy staying in the hut overnight?

 JN and JS riding the waves.... Bex on 'health and safety' and Steve on dolphin watch..


Me, and the grockels.....

Motley crew..

Took this photo early on Saturday morning down at Grouville....

Cant get the other photos to upload so will have to leave it there, stories of 'dog eating vole', and missing garden implements will have to wait until next time.....(unconnected in case you were wondering, sounds like it could be from "The curious incident of the dog in the night-time" )

Wednesday 1 April 2015

April 1st....

Very accomplished prankster this morning, managed to get Steve (unimpressed, raised eyebrows) Jack, (sad woman) Dan, (bit unfair as he was asleep, and is still poorly but i wasn't going to let that trifling matter stop me) and Bex, ( very annoyed and very grumpy, she was in bed too....feigning sleep). No doubt I'll get my comeuppance next month. Sadly I can't play actual 'tricks' on them any more they always 'know' now, but in their youth,well, that was a another matter entirely!!!

I had a lovely game of tennis this morning.... and whilst I was running about the court trying to win Becky was in the kitchen making a Pavlova with AH! Sadly the latter has injured her knee (too much tennis??) and is 'resting' which means she isn't exactly resting....and out of the kindness of her heart gave Bex a cooking lesson making meringue and home-made lemon curd ( ready for Easter Pops!!)
Plus, she already rustled up a traditional Jersey Bean Crock for supper , which has continued to simmer away in my oven all afternoon. So I do think that Bex and I certainly had the better deal of the morning, but I also hope that AH can play a bit of tennis next week, otherwise she'll go stir crazy!!

Took the bull by the horns this morning, and sent Dan to the doctor...underneath his right eye is very swollen, red and sore. Sure enough he has an infection, not entirely sure what type but prescribed two lots of antibiotics. Guess his immune system has been low, and what with the tummy bug (now resolved thank goodness, except he is not eating to his usual capacity, and as I fear for his own well being  he isn't risking the bean crock this evening.....( tasty though it may be)!

You've heard the song 'Feed the birds, tuppence a bag?" well the bag lady of Grouville has been spotted feeding dogs.... Jessie is licking her lips in anticipation!!





First tulip out in the tubs, lots in the garden!

Amazingly early posting today, off to badminton tonight, I feel the need to smash a shuttle or two....
Watch out!!


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