Forty

Sunday, 30 December 2012

I stayed in bed for a full week. Didn't even attempt to get up. I took on Downton Abbey as a full time job and watched every episode including the Christmas specials, all downloaded onto my ipad.  I missed Daughter 1's end of term dance off and crawled out of bed to wish my Mother a happy 60th birthday downstairs in the sitting room. Just as I emerged from my bed around the 18th Dec the kids started to get ill. By the 20th they both had a temperature of 40+ which lasted for four days, one with never ending nose bleeds and the other with never ending diarrhea. My Husband was up four times a night to check on them and administer pain killers. I was confined to my room or out of the house unless wearing a surgical mask. It was not the nicest lead up to Christmas.

By the 23rd my Mother was also confined to her bed and getting worse. Husband took her to the doctors on Christmas eve and she was sent straight to hospital with suspected pneumonia, by this time Dad was in bed too. Things were not shaping up well. Mother in law had also been in bed for days but had risen and was on the mend. 

While all this was happening here, My Father in law was in Turkey with his newly fianced lady friend, celebrating life, when he blacked out and was sent home with a suspected stroke. He has since found out that he had suffered some sort of temporary amnesia. 

Mother was xrayed and prodded and poked and eventually they decided she had a chest infection but no pneumonia, Husband had to take her home and settle her back in her own bed before returning to look after the rest of his family. Both the kids had to visit the Cottage Hospital during the weekend and when daughter 1 started to improve, daughter 2 got worse. We managed to squeeze in a visit to the GP on Christmas eve and were told she had the worst ear infection ever seen (they always say things like that). She then slept through the whole of Christmas eve, waking on Christmas morning with a day of antibiotics under her belt and a smile on her little face - things were looking up.

Poor Mum and Dad didn't make it out of bed for Christmas. Mum has only surfaced in the last 24hours (it's now the 30th) and Dad is still in bed, he now has a nasty chest infection which will take a while to clear. He has smoked for nearly 50 years and last year had a bad car crash, breaking ribs and damaging his chest. That, with a broken back 8 years ago, conspire to make him vulnerable to such infections.

Even with all that, we did manage to have a lovely day. My sister, her man and their little chap arrived late on Christmas eve. Father Christmas visited all the children. We were joined on Christmas day by my Brother, my Husband's brother and his family, Mother in law and her man. All our siblings were in rude health and radiated through the house. My husband cooked the most delicious turkey and his brother cooked two hams. We feasted on food and presents all day and ended with a disco for all the kids and plenty of Cheer for the grown ups. My sister and I drove between parents delivering meals on wheels, medicine and presents.

On Boxing day I finally got out for my first walk. My sister did the meals on wheels. I took back my kitchen and made a turkey and ham pie. My brother joined us for the afternoon with his beautiful girlfriend. We continued to over-eat and the kids felt better.

On the 27^th I had to go to Guys for my pre chemo bloods and check up. Before I went we had brunch with my God-daughter and her parents. I decided to go alone this time and the rest of them all decamped to an old friend's.

The Genetics department have finally offered me full BRACA screening. This is great news. I had to collect a vial from them get filled when I had my blood tests. Then I went to Oncology. I had a really long meeting with the oncologist. Everything is going as expected but at some point over the Christmas period someone has messed up some of my appointments. This has snowballed and rendered the existing ones useless due to the order things have to be done in.

I am a huge fan of the NHS (obviously as they are saving my life) so I won't complain. BUT this latest mess up now puts me back more than a week. My heart scan is at 9am on the 2^nd – annoying because the pre10am train is twice the price. My herceptin is booked for the 8^th and chemo the 9^th.

The kids were all booked in at their Granny's, Husband hadn't any work booked, Sister had arranged her life and we were all ready for the chemo on the 2^nd. These new dates mess with all of that, plus I have a special day booked on the 13^th which has been arranged for me by a wonderful charity called the Willow Foundation. I won't be able for that If I have chemo on the 9^th and have been looking forward to it for months. As you can tell I'm displeased with the whole situation and have written to my doctors to tell them. I am waiting for confirmation on my dates, hopefully something can be switched round. Quite apart from the inconvenience, I am concerned that the long break between treatments will make them less effective.