Went to have bloods done this morning - fantastic - in and out so fast I didn't have to pay for parking. Fab! Sadly one of my veins is looking a bit tired, so maybe next time I will go and get it done through the line. Don't want to lose me veins, do I?
F gone swimming with nursery today and S at Nell's. Nell had her new glasses on. Not sure why I am working today, but F is delighted to be going swimming - and to be taking a packed lunch! He chose a marmite sandwich and lots of fruit - very healthy. I have to go and get him some school trousers today because it's only a couple of weeks now. My baby!
A and S had a great day yesterday - went down to Bude, went to the pool with a wave machine - S very excited about that - and swam in the sea. Came back tired but happy...
Once I get this damn line out I will swim and swim. How long will it be before I get irritated by the never quite getting dry afterwards and the chlorine smell? Maybe I will never be irritated by it again, maybe I will always count it as a blessing! We'll see.
We are excited about expanding the orchard. I bought a couple of gooseberry bushes on Monday - additions for the fruit garden. The rhubarb seems to have died. Might see if my Dad can divide some off for us.
Read a really nice article about Jenni Murray in the Guardian on Monday. I've stolen it for here, because I found it so refreshing and so helpful after my stressy time of feeling maybe I wasn't taking it seriously enough. So this is a direct quote: "I suppose after I'd done it [told the audience], I thought I had to be careful that I don't just get drawn into being seen just as somebody who has cancer. And so I was very careful about what I wrote and who I wrote it for, because there are so many nonsenses written about it."
When people talk about women "battling" breast cancer, she gets angry, she says. Some people have cancer that will kill them, some people do not. "It's absolutely the luck of the draw which kind of cancer you get. And I thought, if I can communicate that kind of idea then I'm doing a reasonable job. And what it's like to lose your hair, how shocking it is, how you can help yourself deal with it. Then that's useful stuff and I was prepared to do that - and now I prefer to forget about it really."
So I'm just getting on with it as well as I can.
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This is about me steadily making my way through treatment for breast cancer and trying to look after my children and grow some vegetables and get to work almost on time and generally be OK
I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races
So I trust too
John Masefield
And kind things done by men with ugly faces
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races
So I trust too
John Masefield
Books I have read while I have cancer
- The Pilot's Wife and The last time they met by Anita Shreve. She's a wonderful writer, but somehow both books left me feeling cheated. They both ended too abruptly and the second one REALLY frustrated me. Is this a fantasy or a ghost story or what? You can't do all that and then end a book like that.
- The Secret life of bees - somebody Kidd - liked it very much, want to taste the food...made me have honey for breakfast
- Touch not the cat - Mary Stewart - romp
- Clayhanger - Arnold Bennett - read it in my teens and twenties, re-reading it is very satisfying. Think I am trying to reconnect with my roots...also, you feel you get to know Edwin so well, and recognise his feelings of the inside not matching the outside.
- a thousand splendid suns - can't remember who wrote it, but he also wrote the kite runner. I found this really powerful and actually stayed up late to read it... not something I do often at the moment.
- The Boleyn Inheritance - Phillipa Gregory - a good read - amazing that you can get so involved, even though you know what will happen to them all.
- Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder - bought it for S, read it myself. Hadn't realised how amazing these people were - able to turn their hands to anything.
- The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett - what a great book. And what a great ending.
- Mad Cows - Kathy Lette - actually found this quite stressful and didn't quite believe the solution. Obviously bit into my fear of losing my children...so I couln't find it funny.
- emma - jane austen - you can see her faults and still like her. Must re-read Middlemarch. I suppose the difference is that George Eliot didn't always dole out happy endings for everyone. Poor Tertius Lydgate.
- Celandine - Steven Augarde - oh, a really good read. It had reality.
- The Rose of Sebastapol - by somebody McMahon - enjoyed it, but didn't tie up all the ends
- The fountain overflows - rebecca west- read it and loved it as a student, re-read it then, but haven't read it for years. Was really worried in the first few pages that I wouldn't like it, but sank into it again. Interesting being older - felt much warmer to Cordelia, much more generous.
- Mary Swann - Carol Shields. Haven't read this for years, but she is one of the authors I have held on to.
- Wintersmith - Terry Pratchett - a really satisfying read.
- Bean trees by barbara kingsolver - loved this, a real life affirmer. I always like her stuff.
- Sovereign - by somebody Sansom - nice pageturner, atmospheric, liked it.
- american gods - neil gaiman again - what a great book. Could he write some more, please?
- The exploits of moominpappa - tove janssen - how great is this? But these are not children's books are they? I am still in love with Snufkin.
- labyrinth - kate mosse - a great page turner but a bit of an anticlimax in the end. Be nice to each other? is that all?
- Neverwhere - neil gaiman - saw him on the telly the other night talking about how this was about homelessness. How egocentri am I? I thought it was all about me getting a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness.
- Little House in the Big Woods - reading it to S, so a bit of a cheat. But it's so detailed and takes you into this world that's cosy on the inside and scary on the outside. Hope she is enjoying it as much as I am.
- Random Acts of Enduring Love - or something like that. Read it through but felt vaguely irritated by it. Then discovered it's based on a true story and felt guilty for feeling irritated by it. There you go.
About Me
- sarah
- I am 43 years old, I have 2 children aged 7 and 4. I was diagnosed with breast cancer this time last year and since then have had chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiotherapy. It's been a tough year for all of us, especially Rainbowgirl.
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