Sunday and the preparations for the re-piping goes on. So straight out of bed and sort out the back bedroom so that the crew can have access to the rear of the bathroom wall. A bit of a huff and a puff with some judicious piling up of stuff and the room is re-pipe ready. The perfect warm up for the regular Sunday weigh in. 95.4 Kilos, down from last week. It appears that I am losing about a kilo a month, so I may be down to 92 kilos by Christmas. If that’s the case I am back at base level and ready to get properly fit. So time to up the game and begin some strength and upper body work.
The rest of the house is almost ready just some last minute stuff to move. Time to head to the garden. Some of the hedging trees are now tall enough to tip out and begin to shape the hedge. I also reshaped the magnolia. Once that was all done I turned my attention to trying to put a low ornamental fence at the back of the garden. Seemed like a good a idea at the time. I cleared the ground line and marked it out but the panels and their spikes were not up to the job so I packed them away and will rethink the idea. I grumpily put the panels away and changed to do some time time on the exercise bike. It was a reasonable session. As I returned to the house I took some pictures of the flowers that are still bringing me pleasure relatively late in the year.
So now hot and sweaty I head for the shower and the feeling of refreshment. While tea is being prepared I start the blog and anticipate Strike at 9 o’clock this evening. What follows that will be the last preparations for the crew to turn up at 8:30 in the morning. My final act will be to ensure my 28 day injection is close to hand for the morning as I am due at the GP surgery at 8:30. I anticipate being sore for a few days as usual, more so because it is going i to the right side this month,which is always the sorer of the two.
I’m knackered. All day we have all been filling and humping boxes. we are preparing to have the heating system re-piped and that means moving everything out of the way so that the three men arriving at 8:30 on Monday morning can get on with the job as quickly as possible. We have so much stuff, it’s a mystery where is all come from, I doubt it will make it back, time to rationalise. So its been all sweat and work which in the midst of my partners mother rang to say she had ad a fall. I bit if a panic but having face timed her and found her sitting in her chair and being quite chipper and her son on the way we resumed the graft. It was lucky we had an almost empty garage.
Finally while my partner and daughter went for a walk I dived into the bath to ease my aching back. While tea cooks I write the blog and plan to have an early night. Below are the fruits of our labour.
Friday and this is the day the plumber is due to sort out our troublesome boiler so today is a day to get up and be ready for his arrival. He duly arrives and sets to work drilling holes in the wall and drinking coffee. He disappears outside and there is more drilling and the odd mutter. During this time the storage boxes I ordered from Amazon arrive, these are an essential part of the plan to move things to enable the re-pipe that starts on Monday. A few moments later another deliver arrives, this time some low fence panels to install at the end of the garden. It seems the projects are mounting up. Happily the new thermostat I put in the immersion heater yesterday seems to be working okay, so our plan B in case of boiler failure appears to be working. By lunchtime the plumber has finished and we now have a new outlet pipe and air brake in the system so that it will no longer suck water back into the boiler. Hurray, I pay the man and he leaves to be followed by myself and my partner as we head off to collect my partners mother. Todays the day we are taking her to the mobility shop to try out stair lifts. Its a sort of Alton Towers for olds.
We get to the shop and get them to open up the flat entrance as the entrance to the shop has three steps that our 92 year old cannot manage. It strikes me as madness that the access to this mobility shop is so inappropriate, it is such a poor model and insensitive to the needs of the very people it proports to serve. Any way we get in side and set about trying out the stair lifts. The whole place is full of mobility aids including rows of scooters lined up like they are ready for a old fashioned grand prix.
The technology has come on a long way and the range of available aids is now very different from even a few years ago. A woman in the shop was trying out walkers and noting their weight, height and maneuverability, and ended up unhappy that nothing quite met her needs. We were ushered to a corner so that we did not make up a crowd of larger than 6 people and then we got to try the stair lifts they had in store. Not being able to go up and down stairs or at least thinking that this is something that one is no longer capable of is a challenge, so there were the inevitable discussions about missing walking up stairs and the previous experiences and advice that had been given. However it turned out that the stair lift was easy to operate and even turned you round at the top of the stairs so you faced away from the stairs. After a couple of goes it was clear that it got easier to get on and of it. There was more conversation about the pros and cons of the lift and the practicalities of putting one in and the additional hand rails that might be needed to complete the safety of the environment. Eventually we left with my partners mother having a much clearer idea of what was in involved and with the knowledge that she could use a stair lift and that one adjusted to her in her own home would be even easier to use. We took her home and reinforced the message that it was for her to think about and to decide but she was saying by the time we left that she thought that she had not really got any alternative but to go for one. We shall see how things progress.
Back home I intended to train but never made it as the plumber had left the extension cable he borrowed in such a mess it took me ages to sort it, by which time there was no time to train. So I took the time to dress up to go out, shirt, trousers and a blazer and even aftershave. We go to Softly’s and enjoy a good meal in a socially distanced (sort of) restaurant. The nice thing was that at the end of the meal we did not have to pay for it, or more precisely it was paid for by the Burton Groups gift voucher that they gave us a civil partnership gift back in January. We managed more by luck than design to eat the entire value of the gift including a £5 tip. It was a really nice feeling to have had such a nice meal as a gift from friends.
Home, coffee, blog and the final drugs of the day.
Yesterday (Wednesday) was a strange and bitty day. I found my contactless bank card had lost its powers like a Hero at a full eclipse. Apparently I can make it revive by chip and pining something, so at some point I shall be off to the shops. Apart from a quick trip to the local coop I popped into the chemist to pick up my new dosage of one of my drugs and Mondays injection, yep its that time of month again. No one turned up to the open forum at lunchtime so I chatted to the co host and talked about how we move on from this situation. The afternoon was spent in a zoom meeting discussing contract types and tax status, I came away with home work to do. The evening was a quiet one with yet more Heroes to watch and then a boiler cupboard to clear out for the plumber in the morning.
Today started with a coffee and an unexpected phone call from a friend asking how I am. A man turned up to tell us what we need to move in order for us to have the antiquated heating system to be re-piped. We walked around the house with me making notes about what we will need to move in order for them to do the work. By the time we finished the walk I had pages of notes and my back ached at the thought of all the stuff we were going to have to move. It is going to be a challenging weekend moving all the stuff. During the walk of Sisyphus, I got a phone call from the plumber desperate to rearrange our work till tomorrow as he had an emergency call from a woman who had water pouring through her ceiling. No other choice than to agree to a rearranged appointment for tomorrow morning. We waved Sisyphus off and returned to our disappointment about the plumber not turning up. I returned to my chores which included replacing the thermostat in the immersion heater. That was an interesting experience, as I think I found that the last plumber who installed the new tank and heater miss installed the thermostat, which accounted for why it kept tripping out. Anyway, I go the new thermostat installed in time to host my open forum session in to the afternoon. An interesting session, but shorter than normal as our participant had to leave early. I returned to finish off the thermostat job. Then it was the shed for me and a long exercise bike ride. I needed to spend some energy and work he knots in my muscles out. The ride made he shower afterwards all the more appreciated. I cooked dinner and settled down to writ the blog. I have a lot of Marshal McLuhan to read and Heroes to watch.
All this seems mundane and prosaic butit is how life is at the moment as we get set to make the house comfortable for the winter. I sense that people all over the country are doing the same. It is a form of hibernation to avoid the perils of COVID. Winter is coming and its not the dragon and winter walker type of winter that’s coming.
Today is all fairies and surprises. Today we headed off to Trentham Gardens to walk the fairy walk and to see what it had to offer. What it had to offer was a day of lovely gardens, exquisite woods and colourful hedgerows. Situated just outside Stoke on Trent it took about 90 minutes to drive their and found a well organised set of shops as a lead into the entrance of the gardens. I remember that I once or twice ran the Stoke marathon and finished in Trentham Gardens. We enter and see our first fairy:
We headed for the space sign posted to a place to lose yourself and we found a designed “grass stream” winding through some sculptured landscaping. Of course we found more fairies.
I was taken aback by both the surprise of the sculptures made of wire and the prominence of the dandelions. Those that read the blog know that I have for sometime been using the dandelion clock as my metaphor for the time I have to live. My time is dependant on the way the various winds of cancer blow and the dandelion clock diminishes. So it was an interesting experience to be confronted with the symbol so starkly and beautifully crafted.
The gardens contain a huge lake which can be walked round. Around its edge are dotted interesting objects, a few of which are below.
However the fairies were the special things that caught the eye along with the beautiful hedgerows.
We wandered around the various attractions and spaces stopping to take pictures and a restorative ice cream. I’ve not really done the gardens justice so I would recommend a visit, the landscaping and the variety of things to see is really worth it.
We drove home via a strange and circuitous route that my satnav made up including the fun of a toll motorway. Once home there was a coffee to have before changing into my training gear and wandering down to the shed to climb up onto the exercise bike for 50 minutes. A late dinner and time to look at the days photos an to write the blog. Amidst the days main activity I also managed to reset the immersion heater, sort out some meeting times and contact the re-pipe man, and keep track of bits and pieces of work. What I’ve not got to is the growing pile of books that I need to read to prepare for a future conference presentation.
Preparation reading waiting patiently for me to get to it.
I wonder sometimes how I manage to survive, noting that I have two copies of the same book and managed to confuse 45mm with 60mm size blades. A busy life tends to do that.
Monday and its the first day of my partners holiday and a weeks leave for me. While my partner goes to the shop I sort out my drugs with the GP. I had had a letter from the doctor I had talked to earlier the previous week. It was a good call but the letter was less well received given it designated the wrong leg as having had the DVT. Cannot win them all I guess. So a breakfast of bacon bagels and we set of for Barnsdale Gardens, all 38 of them. A unique collection of gardens, all with a specific theme or function.
We started at the café with coffee and hot chocolate and toasted tea cakes to fortify us for the walk round the gardens. I found my debt card would not play the contactless game, which is a pain I will have to sort out. We wandered round the gardens and fell into the trap of stating “we’ve got that in our garden”. Each garden had a helpful board giving the rationale for it and some history in some cases.
We walked around and picked our favourites keeping our distance from the other strollers. My favourite was the gentleman’s garden, which combined three areas of flowers, herbs and vegetables complete with hive and greenhouse. It was very neat and efficient. We got round all the gardens and decide to return the café for lunch. They did a good ploughman’s bite, which I washed down with ginger beer. Once we had paid, my card still did not work, we wandered round the nursery which is adjacent to the gardens. Nothing tempted us and it was the same in the shop. The drive home past Rutland Water was pleasant.
Home and I head for the shed in my cycle gear to get an hours exercise in before tea. Hard work at the end of the day. So back in the house it is time to read an e letter I got today and write the blog.
Saturday and the expectation of hosting friends for a meal for the first time in almost 6 months. First though is to get out into the open air for a walk and some exercise. We have a good breakfast and get ready to go out. We drive to Beacon Hill and after a couple of circuits of the surrounding roads we get into the lower car park by the café. We had thought that we had missed the sculpture trail but found it was still there to be seen. Its not exactly YSP but it is the work of a local sculptor and an interesting initiative. There is certainly scope for a sculpture site in this setting.
We walked the trail and then discovered that there was a tree walk featuring the 27 British native trees. So we strolled our way round endeavouring to spot the indicated trees. mostly obvious but there one or two that were a mystery.
Some of the trees are a bit of a mystery
Having walked the tree trail we retreated to the café for a coffee and toasted tea cake. We sat at an outdoor bench and watched the families that were picnicking around the area. Social distancing was well in evidence and everyone seemed to be doing the right things. I am reliably informed that the Leicestershire park car parks had made more money in the last two months than they usually do in an entire year. More proof that people have retreated to the open air as a safe space in these COVID days. We drive home and begin to get ready to entertain our guests despite our boiler failing. We prepare our dishes and lay the table with our best crockery and tidy up to be guestable. Our evening is full of food and conversation was a delight. It was so nice to be able to cook for friends again and to sit in the comfort of home and catch up. Alas the evening came to an end and we waved our friends off in to the night and then we headed for the kitchen to clear the debris of the evening.
Sunday and we wake up with a “food hangover”, we had not eaten so much for a long time. A four course meal had left its mark on us, so we were rather slow to get up and start the day. I finally got up and performed my weekly weigh in. 95.8, a loss of 0.1 Kilos, not a lot but despite my feasting I have manage to hold my own in weight terms. I need to put in a good weeks training and careful food management if I am to keep my weight going down.
So after a frugal breakfast I set about exploring why the immersion heater in the bathroom linen cupboard was not working. Fuse was okay in the switch so it was down to getting the top cover off and seeing if the reset button was working.
The immersion heater thermostat
Hurray the button clicked and it made the slight hissing noise it should do when it starts up. What was disconcerting was the slight spark that appeared when I adjusted the temperature setting. I left the heater to get on with its work and googled a replacement thermostat. So I new one is on its way and if necessary I will replace the existing one. Success the heater worked and so we maybe without a boiler but we have hot water to see us through till the boiler is repaired this week. I replace the towels and feel a sense of pleasure at the newly folded and stacked towels.
My obsessive pleasure in sorting out the towel storage.
I was on a roll so while I was at it I re-fixed the towel holders, using my tricks of collecting drilling dust and measuring the drill depth required for the rawplugs. The outcome; secure, non wobbly towel holders. Go me!
After a brief lunch we went for a walk in our local park to feed the ducks and get some fresh air. Once again everyone seemed to be doing the social distancing well. When home I settle to watch the end of the cricket before tea after which I settle down to catch up with the blog before watching Strike at 9 o’clock.
Gas fire serviced, lawns mown (not by me), and a trip to Sainsburys. A ghost shop with plastic boxes and an empty car park.
Sainsbury’s a ghost shop with cubicles.
So I spent my afternoon cooking beetroot and hard boiling quails eggs before marbling them. Once that was sorted there was time to whip up lemon mousses for the meal we are cooking friends tomorrow. However there was a moment to wander the garden and bump into my resident bee busily about his business.
Oh brave new world that has such creatures in it. Any way I now have a fridge full of goodies and an evening well spent.
I woke up today with the instant thought of “Fuck it the boiler needs sorting”. Reluctant to get up I got dressed and went down stairs in to the office where my partner was already looking at a full diary page. I retried to activate the boiler more in hope then expectation. No joy, its still fucked. I make coffee and breakfast egg noodles, then text the boiler man, who says he will come in the afternoon. I move a car off the drive to give him access and bring in the garden waste bin. So chores done for the moment I go on e-bay and look for Marshall McLuhan books so that I can research a debate that I am going to do at a conference in November. There is something about acquiring packets of knowledge and I am excited about their arrival. They will have to live in the shed with me. More coffee and I take my drugs before getting ready to trudge through the pouring rain to the shed to amuse myself till its time to host my open forum. I spent sometime playing with a craft kit with Christmas in mind, until it was time to get ready for todays open forum.
I have been hosting this forum for 22 weeks now and I still have moments when I wonder what I am doing on this impossible media. The participants are an interesting group and they seem to get a lot from one another and I get an insight into what is going on in the world of Enabling Environments in the criminal justice world. There is a part of society that lives in our communities that are attempting re-entry to the normal world. At this time re-entering society in its COVID state is a severe challenge to those trying to. I am full of admiration for those people who work through everything to try and provide the support that these people need. I finish the forum and before I write up my weekly notes I divert myself by updating the Tesco order due for delivery tomorrow. We are going to entertain for the first time in almost six months so there are some additional goodies to get. I miss cooking for friends, I like to see people enjoy fresh food that I have cooked, there is something primal and right about it. I guess sharing food is the most ancient of ways of expressing caring and acknowledging the interdependency of the species.
Tonight is my favourite meal of the week, tuna pasta, which will be followed by more Heros, I suspect, but of all of this is dependant on the boiler man turning up and doing his magic. So I wait with anticipation and a nervous lower half of my wallet.
Its a year today that I begun to write a blog of my cancer experience I started the blog in order that family, friends and interested others could keep track of my progress. The idea was to save everyone the hassle of having to ask me how I was or what was going on. I thought it would be easier for everyone to do it this way. Of course it did not mean that people could not ask and many did for which I than you. It means a lot for people to feel able to ask and it should not be underestimated how being asked helps to reduce the sense of being on your own with cancer.
This day a year ago I attended my pre chemo induction at which I found out I was going to start chemo the following day. I bit of a surprise at the time. It was a strange day especially as it was sprung on me that I needed to start feeding myself steroids. The steroids that ended up piling the weight on me that I am now still trying to loose. I started out at just under 92 Kilos and end up 102 kilos. So now I’m beginning to slide down the scales at half a kilo at a time. Down to 95.9 kilos, at least another 4 or 5 kilos to go. The joys of medicine eh!
It was a day I began to explore what was possible in writing a blog. I had to find out how to get a site, and email to match and sort out a look for the site. I guess it was quite crude to start with. However it seems to have done the job.
It was a day that has recently come back to me as I become aware of the anniversaries of my illness and treatment. It was not a pleasant experience the first time round and it is not being much fun the second time. Although my mantra is that yesterday is done and today is what needs focusing on I find it difficult to push the memories back. So today has been a bit of “heads down and get on with it” day.
For those interested in the that very first day of steroids and blog the following link will take you there. https://prost8kancerman.co.uk/induction-day/ As you will see it was a bland, imageless and colourless attempt of a first blog. I’ve learnt a lot, in many different ways since that first try.
Fortunately today has been a busy one with work and entertainment to keep me occupied. Soon after breakfast the Hippo van rocked up to tack their bag containing our old fence away. A brief but strangely interesting activity.
Farewell to our dead fence.
So after the excitement it was down to work and making calls to services and following up the work from them. By the time this was done it was time to down a bacon bagel and get ready for the days Open Forum. Another interesting hour past with some acute perceptions and observations of what is happening at the moment in prison Therapeutic Communities. After the forum I wrote an abstract for a presentation to be submitted to a conference organising group. A colleague and I have agreed to rerun the debate we did at a annual forum earlier in lockdown, only this time we will refine and extend it. I sent the abstract to my colleague and I changed into my training gear. I my search for weight loss with some strength building I decide to use my weights vest and wrist weights. I had forgotten how heavy the weights vest is fully loaded but managed to get it on the right way round on the second go. I pedalled away for 45 minutes, ten of which I wheezed through using my altitude training mask. It was a long 45 minutes as I listened to the rain spatter on the shed roof. I kept going by playing the Leggo “everything is awesome” anthem. I was well tired by the end of the session as I trotted through the rain to the house.
I changed and found my desire for a bath thwarted by our boiler continuing to play up. So I settled down to begin the blog. Tonight we will east dinner and watch some more Heroes, it is quite addictive, and leads to fantasies of having “powers”. I quite fancy the one where I could heal and regenerate my body. Not surprising really.
