Kick that Uterus into Touch

 I thought that it was about time that I wrote another blog. I’ve been musing lately on time…… watching the kids go back to school always puts me in mind of cyclical things………. My dear friend Ali (I have a few friends called Ali, as I’ve mentioned before- but on this occasion, I’m talking about the one who’s been my friend for the longest time - two weeks older than me, and my friend from our first day at Teacher Training college in September 1974….. good Lord - 49 years ago, almost to the day!)…… anyway….Ali, when visiting me here in London with Sue (of the same vintage - we are the Mad Hatters when a threesome) pointed out to me that I’m a sucker for a subscription. I scoffed at the time, but I’ve been considering it ever since.  Yes. I do love a subscription! I guess it began in Covid in earnest but I’ve had subscriber tendencies for years. You know when you really like something? You don’t want to run out, and then struggle to find more? Subscriptions change all that. You ...

 I’ve been pondering lately upon the cyclical nature of everything. Absolutely everything.  Einstein maybe didn’t realise how emotive his Relativity Theory would be: as an adult, and as a teacher, I recognise that “the above equation”  basically means that “stuff moves because of its relationship with other stuff……” Physicists are not generally remembered for their holistic empathy. I don’t profess to understand physics - never could get my head around it. All those amazing physical manifestations to me are simply magic on an everyday level. I remember sometime around 1970 saying to my physics teacher “BUT WHY?” (I think we were studying a Vandergraff Generatorat the time) and when she tried to explain in mathematical terms, I reached the startling realisation that it was simply magic - plain and simple. I always veered towards the arty side of things. I could ‘do’ maths, but only because it was essentially puzzle solving! I went to a fabulous school which provided me wit...

 My last blog was written as I finished radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden, which took almost 8 weeks.  Since then, the fabulous summer has continued, I went down to the Minack in Porthcurno, Cornwall with Surrey Opera and we had a wonderful week performing Don Giovanni.  It was really really tiring, now I look back at it. (And we threw in a couple of weeks of grandparent duty in Somerset as well.) But actually, I got through it, and didn’t give myself a chance to dwell on the treatment. On the time off that we had, Peter and Minstrel and I walked lots, and discovered some incredible beaches that we haven’t explored before - one of which has made it into the top ten beaches in the World list! Pedn Vounder is a glorious little cove normally only populated by naturists and jellyfish. Peter discovered it on the day after we arrived in Porthcurno, whilst I was at the theatre all day, doing a tech run and a dress rehearsal. He told me that he’d found this beach, but that he did...

 🎺  Tarantarararararara!  Today’s the day - the last of my scheduled radiotherapy sessions😄. Number 33. It’s been a long old 8 weeks. Travelling up to the Chelsea Royal Marsden every day (apart from weekends and Bank Holidays - and of course, we’ve had extra of those thanks to our Queenie!) And here we are. The last session. I’ve made a cake to take into the department for them to share around.  A Red Velvet Special. Got to get it there in one piece though - there’ll be no running for buses today! I can’t  quite believe this day has arrived. It certainly has been a long old haul. With the immunotherapy, I could forget about being a cancer patient for most of the time - just once a month for the treatment and it didn’t really impact me too much at all - some fatigue, some itchy skin…. Not really much else to report. Very lucky really. With this radiotherapy lark though????? Gosh - I’ll take more notice of people going through this in the future. I don’t particu...

 When I say “we”, I am of course talking about ME. 23 treatments down, and only (yes….. ONLY) 10 to go. (That’s unless they hit me with a couple more that haven’t as yet been put up on the system……..) A couple of days ago, I asked the doctor if the last two weeks of the “zapping” speciality radiation had been sorted - and she was surprised that I hadn’t been given the appointments. I trotted off to the desk where the lovely receptionist (Debra) greeted me……. ( I always remember her because she was starting at the Marsden on the day I first turned up for my brachytherapy appointment in early 2019 - she was terribly nervous (as was I) , and we had a lot of “…..please bear with me, it’s my first day”….. You wouldn’t recognise that anxious little lady now when you see her confidently marshalling patients (and doctors and radiographers) all over the department, reassuring smiles abounding……) I shall interject here…. I was determined when I started this gig that I was going to confidentl...

 “This Too Shall Pass” - this has become my mantra over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps a T-shirt bearing this meme emblazoned on the front? Yup. For the first time since my diagnosis of cancer in 2018, I haven’t felt well on some days.  I’m 13 down, and after today’s treatment I’ll be half way through the five week generalised pelvic radiation which has been designed for me. Then I’ll only have ten of the specific blasting sessions left. (Please recognise that this description is my own personal use of words….. not the official terminology at all!)  The dreaded diarrhoea kicked in the first weekend after I’d had four treatments. It came out of the blue, and was mean….really mean.  ******************** 💩 If you’re squeamish about discussing poo, stop right here 💩  ******************** So, that first weekend - as I said, it came out of the blue. About three hours after eating an orange, of all things.  I had been feeling quite parched, and there was this...