Turn On The Tap

The 1984 ‘Spinal Tap’ mockumentary is now safely back on our shelves. How we’ve missed it, with lines such as ” I’m tired of sticking up for his intelligence”. Long before Ricky Gervais et al were making their mirth, this was setting the standard. So here we are then, now stacked with plenty of other DVDs which have been generously lent to us. We’re gradually getting through them. Thank you.

Nicola’s strength has returned and she seems alright, good spirited and cheery. She still gets tired early in the evening though (or is that just of me?). I once again attended ‘Jam Night’, sat on my backside to observe and made no effort to get up and play. It was amusing to see Steve play all those Country Blues tracks – so you old boy. I made my excuses and left. Apart from that we’ve kept ourselves to ourselves this week. Nic has made a just a handful of trips in the valley. Once again, thank you for all the glorious food everyone has provided, it’s all been magnificent. Our only incident was a poorly girl on Wednesday and Thursday so she had to stay at home which put us under a little bit of strain but she’s back to her ‘ever-challenging’ self now.

WSC & Goes

Our false sense of security was short lived. Nicola wasn’t well on Saturday, she didn’t look good. The side effects of the chemo were quite punishing on the poor girl. Luckily, she was left in peace and quiet at home. Es went with a mass of friends to see the stage musical version of Beauty and the Beast (Note: not Arsenal vs. Porto) Thanks to Anne & Dom for doing the honours. Also thanks to Sam for organising the whole thing. Rube, myself and Hugh had a boys afternoon at Carters Steam Fair (thanks Hugh, a great suggestion). On Sunday, Nic seemed and looked much better. It was Archie’s 2nd birthday bash, so again we managed to leave Nic to rest for most of the afternoon. Thanks to Ross, Kathryn and Archie for having us.

We were also overwhelmed by the support and generosity from Helen and Tony. Thank you for everything it is so so kind. We owe you in spades. Thanks to Charlotte too of course – you are a star!

Carters Steam Fair

Friday’s Sleepover

So who cracked? Who gave in? Who turned on their central heating then? Was it the husband who was reluctant? Nicola snoozed most of the day under a mound of duvet and blanket on our vintage sofa. After last night this is a good sign as the sickness aspect may well be over this time around. Having said that, she has to endure fatigue and her skin not feeling like her own. She must have been bad as she watched no engineering progs on the National Geographic channel all day. Katy G was a godsend (as ever), especially listening to me drone on (no change there then) and for coping with RSE, too much of which gives you RSI. Good luck with your lie ins everyone.

Dead Funny Books

Here’s a selection of cheery covers and titles from the Cancer Unit bookshelf. Unsurprisingly, Nicola isn’t too well today. We had a restless night as she was quite ill. We’d like the opportunity to thank ‘The Gannet’ for supplying yesterday’s feast. I like the pseudonym, I believe it’s a great challenge to many a celebrity chef’s empire.

Chemotherapy Pt2

As Paula Abdul (5′ 2″) once sang ‘Two steps forward and one step back’ and it felt a little like that yesterday. It was hardly a gravy train of consequence. The lateness (beyond our control) of Tuesday’s appointment had a knock on effect which meant they weren’t ready for Nicola’s chemo at 11 am Wednesday. Come in at 2:30 they said, have a few laughs, let’s party like it’s 1999. After sitting around for 45 mins (which gave us to opportunity to study their patients library of novels (see previous post re: Tarby on Golf)), we were told to come back at 3:45 and eventually got treated at 4:45pm! Phew. We were finished by 5:30pm. That side of things went smoothly. The amount of liquid that goes into Nic’s body raises an eyebrow. I’ve attached an image found via Google for reference. There are three of those red ones, plus four clear ones – that enough for you?. Post this second dose Nic seems ok so far but it’ll be very different over the weekend. Thanks to Anne and Catherine for helping to manage the brood. I’ll post some pictures of our book finds soon. NB: I spotted Matt’s brother yesterday. He greatly resembles Matt but looks slightly more intelligent.

Well worth the wait

After sitting in a waiting room for an hour and a half we finally got to see a consultant. I believe this is done deliberately to strengthen your mental stamina. You can push yourself further by browsing (reading is too stronger word) comics like Take A Break or Chat. The latter had a nice double spread on a man who organised his own Viking funeral pyre in his own diy fashion. The pictures were poor quality- a shame but was a good effort nonetheless. I plumbed for an old copy of Grafik I had in my bag. It’s a pretentious graphics mag which tries to excite with mention of fluoro inks and words like ‘infuse’. I’m sucked in, well for a few minutes anyway. This was a routine appointment just to see if Nicola felt alright and if she had any questions. It was over in moments – with a yes and a no. Nic also had a blood sample taken to ensure her white blood cell count was ok for chemo tomorrow. Back tomorrow and not an easy task. Here’s a pic of a man who knows about FEC. For some he’s aspirational.

Gone Tomorrow

Nicola now has no hair. It’s all disappeared in under a week. She remains well spirited though. As Mr O’Riley says in Fawlty Towels ‘I do like a woman with spirit!’. A perfect day for a hat though. We have an appointment with the consultant this afternoon. It was only a few days ago we were running around Cliveden. Here’s another picture to remind (or confirm) it was just so. Thanks to Catherine yesterday for sporting the wedding hat, a brilliant ploy. We loved it.

Hair Today

We’ve enjoyed our weekend which was mainly boosted by the weather. However, Nicola is now rapidly losing hair. This was predicted, and something we need to accept. It is still a very strange experience though. The week ahead will be a tough one which is why we made the most of the last few days. I believe the ‘Sex In The City’ evening on Friday went well, I haven’t asked and don’t intend to. There’s a tale about Jane pouring drink from a shoe which we’ll not mention. On Saturday, Nic’s parents treated us to a pub lunch and on Sunday we spent the afternoon at Cliveden with the usual suspects. The main debate at the picnic area revolved around whether homemade muesli or cake was best for breakfast.

Nic’s next FEC chemotherapy session is this Wednesday. She still feels fine. I’m amazed. Let’s hope she isn’t too ill this time either.

A Cut Above

There are many highly original names for hairdressing salons such as ‘Wavelengths’, ‘Headlines’, ‘Crowning Glory’, ‘Curl Up & Dye’, ‘Mane Attraction’, ‘Talking Heads’, ‘Shear Success’, ‘Way Ahead’. Nic has had a radical haircut as unfortunately we face the inevitable. In this final week, before the next chemo session, Nic is keeping busy. Tonight she ventures out to the flix to see ‘Then She Found Me’. The reviews are quite positive, take this from The Times ‘…After some laboured attempts at Nora Ephron-style comedy, the film bottoms out as a schmaltzy tale of one woman’s stoicism. Making this all the harder to take is a jarring cameo from Salman Rushdie.’ Good luck girls.

Batman Double Bill

We missed out on the party but loved the pic. When Katy said she had a model husband, I looked up the word model in the dictionary. It said ‘a representation, generally in miniature, to show the appearance of something’. How right they were!