Made it - well…. Almost …… just a pup to walk, a cake to ice, and then a drop off at the Vet.

 🎺 

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 particularly want to dwell on the toilet habits of the last couple of months - but sheesh………….. something else. 

One of the doctors asked me sympathetically if I was needing to visit the loo..what? Four? Five times? I WISH! More like 30! Anyway - enough said. I managed to get through it- relatively unscathed. And alive to tell the tale!  

I’ve also struggle with tiredness……

And I have strange heat rash type itchiness in the nooks and crannies…… weird

Also memory problems (perhaps I’m using this as an excuse?). There’s been a lot of “why am I here? What am I looking for? Why is this in the fridge?” ….. lots of that sort of thing. 

It’s strange that when you’re going through something like this - on a daily basis - it’s difficult to focus on anything else. Lost interest in knitting…… wanted to start various sewing projects, but failed at the first hurdle (getting the machine out)….tried to tidy the garden (too tired)….and just about managed day to day chores like shopping and cooking the dinner - with a smattering of essential laundry thrown into the mix…… Certainly haven’t kept the house tidy - that takes a gargantuan effort!

However - I have managed to continue to sing with Surrey Opera! Performances of Mozaert’s Don Giovanni very soon - locally here in Croydon- but also - ( fanfare of trumpets )……a week of performances at the Minack Theatre in West Cornwall. That’ll be amazing. And it’s really helped me not to focus on the treatment - so glad I managed to carry on. The soloists are simply brilliant and it’ll be a great gig. Flyer enclosed for freebie advertising! 



If you like a live performance = be it theatrical, choral, orchestral, or just plain ‘a feast for the eye’, please try and come to watch - I promise it’ll be wonderful. The chorus (fortunately) don’t take up a great deal of the staging - but honestly, the story is wonderful, and the principals are fab. 






Enough of Mozart (never………) 


I’ve also had the mad pup to keep me busy too - every morning I’ve been out walking her at 9 o’clock - making sure she gets a good run before I leave her to go up to town. I had an interesting time with her yesterday though, at the dreaded vets. She’s been shaking her head and scratching her ears - and having had a frilly-knickered-eared dog before - I’m aware of the tell tale signs of ear issues. So - I took her to be seen yesterday. Well- talk about a personality change. My delightful little lovable pup turned into the beast from hell when Melania the vet tried to look inside the frilly ears. She became a ravening beast, and I had to hold her in a half Nelson, and clamp my fist around her muzzle - she was growling and snapping, and trying to bite Melania………. It was like wrestling with an Anaconda. Melania gave up before I did, however - and she’s booked to spend the day in the vets today - under sedation………. Glad I won’t be there for that! (And I haven’t told Peter what it will cost……… 💰)

So now - I must get up and get going. Give Mini a good walk before her torture session, and before I skip off to Chelsea, carefully carrying my CAKE! 🎂 

(I’ve included the picture of Minstrel having a bath last week - which sort of sums up how she’ll be feeling after today, I imagine….. This was after we’d taken her with us to the hospital last week, and walked home via Battersea Park….and she had discovered goose shit….so good for keeping ones coat gleaming…….NOT)




Happy days everyone! Especially small black spaniels with ear issues ………. 

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