Lots of old blogs migrated - getting the hang of it now! 2018 - what fun that was! Blogs are all in the wrong order chronologically........

What happens when.....

you’ve been diagnosed with cancer - everybody gets in touch regardless of how busy they are!

Just had the best time with my baby cousin Ruthie..... my namesake (middle name) and my familial doppelgänger.

South Bank beautiful in the Autumn sunshine...... pizza Express delicious, glass of Pinot Grigio went down a treat too.

Thank you London - for being beautiful!

APPOINTMENT

So impressed with this rapidity!

Appointment at the Chelsea Marsden next Tuesday?

Yay for the NHS!!!!

INSOMNIA!

3rd night in a row.......

Thank goodness for iPlayer, all4 and generalised catch up..... ooh and books, and social media......

And a comfy bed.....

Why do brains work multiple times faster at night? I certainly didn’t notice this when I was rostered to work at night - or on call for home Births.

Bizarre things......brains.

Ok. Bake Off 😊

A lazy day

Today I worked out how to write a blog (I think) and spent a morning doing it.

I also managed a spot of filling and rubbing down in my soon to be created craft room......

I am overwhelmed with wonderful wishes from my nearest and dearest , friends who live in far flung places (including a video of good wishes from toddlers - thanks to Rob Breskall), and wonderful messages from people I love and who I’ve known for many decades - or some of my students who I’ve met in recent years.

I’ve had such lovely messages from old friends, from my boys’ old friends, from wonderful supportive colleagues and from mums who I’ve got to know and live through work. Phone calls from my cousins too. Always uplifting.

Thank you all.

Feeling happy and positive - so much so that I’ve treated us to a Zafran takeaway and a large Cobra this evening!!!

A few funny thoughts about the MRI

The lovely young, tiny, bank radiographer who cannulated me asked me if I might still be breastfeeding.... or pregnant......

The chief radiographer (South Asian) was confused when I asked for music through my headphones - he assumed I wanted classical but when I asked for the Eagles, he YouTubed, and played all sorts of random tracks through the head phones (not great quality - two cotton wool pads on a headband)

Imagine :

“CLUNK CLUNK welcome to the hotel CLUNK - I-fornia.... CLINK CLUNK - such a lovely place....... (you get the picture)”

When he asked me if I was ok afterwards, I said “hmmm. Not something I want to repeat in a hurry ...” to which he replied “BUT WE DID NOT HURRY, Ma’am”..... so I said “No. It’s just that I felt very vulnerable ....” which he didn’t understand, so I tried to explain “It’s quite noisy, and I don’t want to do that again soon”, he responded with “well. You’ll have to tell your GP.”

I ended up saying :

“No. It was fine. All fine. Thank you very much”

But I really don’t want to do it again any time soon

THE ENEMY WITHIN

A first time for everything. Writing a blog at 62.

I am a midwife, a partner, a mother, a grandmother, a teacher, a musician, a comic (well... I think so) and a pragmatist......

I did not vote for Brexit.

I love life.

I love laughing until it hurts.

I love the West Country.

I love crafts and creating stuff.

I love cooking.

I love dogs and cats (although currently owning none)

I love the sunshine and beautiful autumn colours.

I love the Bake-off but the Great British Sewing Bee is even better!

I love loads of things!

I hate people who are unkind and who drop litter......... and I hate bullies.

Apologies now to any readers of my blog who are medical - I’m going to simplify everything so that my non-medical friends can understand.

The lowest common denominator - always the best place to start......

Yesterday I was diagnosed with Endometrioid Adenocarcinoma (womb cancer to the uninitiated)........ I have learnt so much about this condition since last Wednesday when the nice registrar told me that my uterus looked “polypy”....... and to be honest, by the time I heard the news, I was relieved, because there are other more scary types of womb cancer.

It’s been a swift course since I had a little amount of postmenopausal bleeding (blood in knickers when unprepared) three weeks ago - quite impressive for our NHS which is criticised very publicly.

I’ve had a GP appointment, a TVS (transvaginal scan), a hysteroscopy (camera up the Noonoo), a biopsy (bit cut away) an MRI (noisy machine shaped like an enormous doughnut and feared by claustrophics which uses magnets apparently) and then yesterday, the appointment with my consultant who gave me the news....... every single individual along the way has been lovely......

I am now waiting for an appointment at the Royal Marsden when the planned course of therapy will be outlined to me. I imagine this will involve a radical hysterectomy followed by adjuvant therapy if deemed necessary (cut away all the lady bits I no longer require...see picture of enormous offspring..... and then blitz and poison any traces of the cancer which might be lurking)

Yesterday evening, I posted on facebook that I had been diagnosed with cancer and I wanted to write a blog. I’ve had a lovely response from loads of people so here I am trying to get to grips with this very 21st Century communication system!

My boys have reacted true to form:

Josh (sensitive and loving) “I am crying at all the responses to Facebook Mum.... my fucking phone keeps vibrating...”

Rupert (solid and dependable) - arrived to see us (me) with extra puddings.....

Ned (youngest and most indulged) - shared my post with this added on his own Facebook page “My amazing mother is going to write a blog about her experience being diagnosed and treated for uterine cancer. If anyone has any advice for good places to write a blog let us know.

Apart from the fact that she is almost entirely responsible for every positive character trait I have (sorry dad), she is also the only person in the world I am scared of, so I don't think much of cancer's chances.”

No idea how this is going to go, so I’ll post this now and see what happens next!

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