A new week and a new month, so now we have December, Radiotherapy month begins. On Monday my lovely friend Jan came to visit, she brought a bunch of daffodils, a little promise of spring to cheer a gloomy December day.

 

We told her all about our adventures over the last week or so, we probably bored her silly! The rest of the day was uneventful, ah, but I am forgetting, our oven decided that it had been limping along for long enough. And now, just before Christmas might be a good time to throw a wobbly and switch off the gas to the main oven in a thoroughly unpredictable manner, as we discovered when Liza and Josh took their pizza out to find that it hadn’t been properly cooked. That explains why yesterday’s roast Pork wasn’t ready when it should have been.

Later, in the afternoon John, the vicar at Ray’s church came to visit, he is such a calm cheerful person, a welcome gift of peacefulness after a stressful week. 

Tuesday, we received our first Christmas card!! Thank you Sarah 🙂 Ray and I took Shadow for a gentle walk to the park, then home to think about the cooker issue. Ray knew that the problem was a malfunctioning thermostatic valve, so we went to the two electrical appliance shops in town to ask about getting it repaired, but both said that it wasn’t worth the expense and it would be more cost effective to replace it.

After having a chat about it Ray and I decided that some money we have been saving for a nice holiday we would instead use some of it to buy a new cooker. And as our rather aged 11+ years old washing machine is also whining and complaining to such an extent that it aborts on the spin cycle and beeps out an error message, we will replace it at the same time.

So Ray spent the afternoon researching possible replacements on-line and we chose which cooker and machine to order.

Wednesday we were due to go back to Wycombe Hospital for Ray to have the ‘Full Darth Vader Mask’ MRI Scan with full IV sedation, but Dr Aubrietia phoned to say that Dr Burns (Stroke Specialist) and Dr Jackson (Neurologist) had been looking more closely at the scan images they already had, and were sure that they could see where the problem was. So Ray did not need to have another MRI Scan, the plan is that both Doctors will take the scan images with them to show to another more senior specialist at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford next week. If he agrees with their opinion then they will be able to decide on a treatment plan. So now we wait, but at least we are saved the stress of getting Ray in to the ‘Darth Vader’ Scanner mask again, for the time being….

Thursday, another quiet day beginning with a walk with Shadow. I have noticed over the last few days that I have had pain in my right shoulder and that my upper arms are feeling tense. So I have been making more of an effort to do my exercises to help ease the muscles and tendons. I got out of the habit of doing my twice daily routine after all the trauma and rushing about last week. Hopefully I will be able to loosen everything up and build up to the recommended three times each day ready for Radiotherapy next week.

I have noticed that my right breast and shoulder area have been giving me trouble intermittently, and to a lesser extent, have had discomfort in my left breast. I find that it strikes after I have lifted anything with some weight to it, carrying milk from the supermarket trolley to the car and then in to the kitchen is a common culprit. I am still taking Co-Codamol before bed as this is when I get the most pain in my right shoulder and aching breasts, during the day I am managing with Ibuprofen as and when required. It amazes me how many everyday actions use chest muscles, even yawning can pull on my chest. I’ve been getting a lot of pain in my legs, my thigh bones are hurting when I get up off the couch and the pain when I get in to bed keeps me awake. I have no idea what this is all about, perhaps it is just to do with getting older.

But I am otherwise healthy, have the best husband in the world, and a loving family and friends who are all there for me, without them things would be very different. I have so much to be grateful for, there are so many things money can’t buy, like a good laugh with Ray over our sex life – sadly on hold, as well as the ‘breast’ issue, I’m worried about raising Ray’s blood pressure and pulse rate, I don’t want him collapsing on me!! And Bear hugs are still off the menu, however, we can manage a cuddle, a snuggle, and a smooch, under the present circumstances, who could ask for more than that?