Sunday, a day of doing not a lot except for shopping for food, reading and watching a rugby match. Of course eating was in there as was the Strictly results show. My highlight was my weigh in early in the morning, this is one of my self checks, sometime ago I could do some things that would guarantee that I would lose weight. That is not the case any more due to my reduced ability to train hard and the adipose disposing of the chemotherapy I am on. I get myself on the scales and tentatively look down. To my surprise I weigh 96.7 kilos, this is a loss of 1.2 kilo, despite the indulgence in chocolate. So this is always going to be a good Sunday regard of anything else. The evening comes around very quickly as does the 2023 dubbed French file, Wingwomen. Its an experience, if you have two hours you are willing to use, its a very modern and very French film. Ultimately I take my night meds and saunter off to bed clutching my phone and Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda, my latest gift from my book friend who feeds me.
Monday starts early with my partner getting up for work and a little time later she brings me a coffee, by which time I’ve dealt with my cyber litter and I have returned to Oscar and Lucinda. I am beginning to understand that Oscar and Lucinda is a well written and crafted piece of literature but I am already sensing that this is going to be a demanding read. It is full of detail and even though it is written in short bursts I find it a challenge to read. I have breakfast and clear the kitchen as I wait for the final pieces of my shoe organisation project and water butt maintenance scheme to arrive. To while away the time I catch up with the blog and plan my week. As I do all this I listen to the Infinite Monkey Cage with Brian Cox and Robin Ince and remember the famous “blue spot” photograph of the earth, which is the most distance picture of the earth taken. It’s always been a favourite of mine and put things into perspective.
Still waiting for Amazon to arrive I do lunch and go off to the Shed to write letters. The Shed is cold but soon warms up as I get to grips with writing on smaller than usual writing paper. I am good for one letter before I flag, these dips in energy are a real pain. I lock up the Shed and make my way immediately to the post office to send my letter on its way. I linger over the chocolate aisle and pick up a paper, my intention being to settle down to a coffee and the crosswords.
Once home I make my coffee but before I can really get going on the crosswords Amazon deliver my next shoe rack and drain piping. I immediately set about putting the shoe rack together, it goes smoothly as I know what I Am doing and have the right tool and practice to do it quickly. Its not not long before I have the new rack in place, getting rid of the garden shoe chaos.
The light is beginning to fail and its starting to rain but I crack on and use the newly arrived flexible piping to drain the top two sections of the water butt in order to make sure the winter rain does not overflow the gutters. With my two chores done I return to my coffee and crosswords. I am on fire and thrash through the crosswords with no need for Google. As I am on a roll I do some more filing of the papers and photos that came from my sisters house. By the end of my efforts I have everything stowed or filed in folders. I take the one address book from the papers that I recognise as being the most up to date address book my sister had. I am hoping that I can find the addresses of the Scottish branch of the family. Recently I have been toying with the idea of writing to my cousins to get the information I need to complete the details on the family tree. I shall be interested to see if I actually do.
I am just finished with the files and boxes when tea is ready and sit and eat while catching up with the days news only to be interrupted by the arrival of the Tesco delivery. There is toting and squirreling of food in a flurry of activity before I return to the sofa to draft the blog. Tonight is quiz night on BBC 2 so there will be a period of self inflicted ignorance confirmation. From Mastermind to University Challenge then onto Only Connect, by the end my general stupidity is confirmed. I like to think I am just a bit a slow due to age, dyslexia and chemo but I have I sneaky suspicion that a combination of lack of basic education and a brain of full of pixies that are not as quick as synapses may account for my mediocre showing.
As the penultimate day of cycle 5 draws to a close I take my medication, tuck Oscar and Lucinda under my arm and go to bed for an early night. Tomorrow is the last of cycle 5 which leaves me with one more cycle to go before my next oncology review.
