Digging for bone marrow & chemo conconctions

My apologies for the blogging delay but quite frankly I have felt better. In fact, this is the best I have felt in a few days and I still feel rather rubbish.

It's been two weeks since we returned from our holiday and in that time;

- the weather has been frrreeezzing! I thought the 'Seoul Transit Tour' we did in South Korea prior to flying back to London was cold enough but this is on another level of cold we are currently experiencing! It doesn't help that it is also very rainy and  I can't fly away from it but never mind. We are forecast some snow which I am looking forward to, if only for an afternoon to take some pretty photos.

- after confirmation and consent forms had been signed for this round of treatment to start, Mat and I cheered ourselves up by visiting The Art of the Brick exhibition over at the Truman Brewery.  We also indulged in a hipster lunch in a trendy pub somewhere in Shoreditch. The lobster could have been fatter and the roll it came in bigger but it was tasty nonetheless. Photos of the exhibition to follow.

- I have been catching up with family and friends. All of you remain a constant source of strength -  you know who you are.

- I had a bone marrow biopsy conducted. This is so that the medical folk can measure how 'bad' the cancer is and how 'good' I'm doing following treatment. I'm always awake whenever I've had this procedure done (I can't be doing with the palaver of a general anaesthetic) and pain levels from it are dependent on the person conducting it & how much painkiller injections they decide to give me.  I like to think I have quite a high pain threshold but when it feels like someone is screwing a mini apple corer into your hip bone, I figure its OK to shout a little.  However, the comment of; "You would never see me get this done. No chance!" from the nurse was neither useful or helpful. I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!

- After years of taking nothing stronger than a Lemsip, I received my first chemo treatment last Friday. Before my stem cell transplant, I have 4 cycles of chemo to go through with 1 cycle lasting 1 month. Fun times!  In addition to this, I have been given tablet upon tablet upon tablet upon tablet to also take. This includes steroids and all the crazy highs and lows you get with taking all this sh-t.

Just like before, I'm happy to down whatever pills and potions I'm given but it's the immense fatigue that I find the hardest. It feels like something has sucked my energy levels dry and all that is left of me is a dry husk where my spirit used to be.

I'm remaining positive and trying to keep cheerful. I'm grateful for everyone's good wishes and the fact I have the chance to get better and frankly to carry on living. 

It's just really, really hard.

F-ck you cancer.

Reality check

En route back to Manila after lovely Siquijor, Dumaguete airport, of all places, provided me with a reality check from a simple back and foot massage prior to departure.

A group of blind masseurs, male and female, work at the airport providing weary travellers with back or feet massage for 100 pesos (the equivalent of around £1.40) for half an hour. This fee is a way of earning an income for them which would not usually be available to them because of their disability.

Being a massage fiend, I opted for both a back and feet massage. I was assigned to a gentleman called Gel who promptly set to work on the knots on my shoulders.

You know me, I like a chat so obviously we got chatting and I asked Gel what he did before becoming a masseur. He told me that he never got the chance to do anything else other than school because at the age of 14 he contracted the measles virus which made him go blind.Understandably, it's something he finds difficult to accept even after all this time. He is, however, philosophical about his plight but looks forward 'to being in heaven where there is no disability according to the gospel of Isaiah'.

I'm not really one for religion but I let him speak and I also told him to be proud of his skills as not many people could do what he does as well, regardless of what else was awaiting for him on the 'other side'. He said he was glad to have met me and thanked me for my 'Christian words'.

Again, I was not trying to be religious when I spoke with Gel. I genuinely meant what I said to him and I don't feel I was being Christian in what I said to him. Just being honest and as someone who believes in telling people when they have done a good job, I did so.

What Gel also reminded me today is the importance of being resilient, of never giving up and to live a life as well as you possibly can regardless of what the universe has in store.

It's easy to forget that when you're having fun 'on holiday' but a good reminder for me as I return to my medical reality.

Thank you Gel, in more ways than one.

Siquijor - final days

Fri 9th, Sat 10th & Sun 11th Jan

For all its laid-back, island charm, inevitably easy access to luxuries such as reliable electricity becomes something that one starts hankering for when you don't have it at Siquijor. There is electricity at our particular resort but only because the owner is forward thinking and has installed an in-house generator and solar power. Internet access however has been affected. Decades of under-investment and neglect will do that. Hence the lack of blog posts.

If we haven't been lazing by the pool, we have spent the last three days exploring the island further on the scooter. Not doing anything too special - just enjoying pootling about. Much to the dismay of my poor back! The only time the electricity directly became an issue for us was when we weren't able to eat at a recommended restaurant. It's the locals I feel sorry for and the inevitable wastage of food from fridges and freezers.

Aside from championing reliable energy sources, stand-outs from the last three days have been;

- the scarey, OCD waitress we met at one restaurant.
- the butterfly sanctuary that was literally someone's garden.
- the small friendly villages of the mountain region
- Cantabon cave and me turning back as it was too perilous for me. A wise move according to Mat as he found it quite challenging.
- The lovely staff at our resort.

Thank you Siquijor, you've been seductive with your charm and all round general niceness!

Siquijor - firefly fanatics

Thurs 8th Jan

When Spanish sailors first landed on Siquijor, they were astounded by what they thought were flames in the night sky and so named Siquijor 'Isla del Fuego' (Island of Fire). They were obviously not flames but actually thousands of fireflies.

Having never seen fireflies in action until this evening, I would probably have told said Spanish sailors to get a grip but when you get a group of fireflies darting up and down at speed, they ARE like sparks from a fire!!!

Seeing the fireflies flying about this evening was genuinely one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen. I could have sat by that tree and watched them for hours. Coupled with a clear sky and no light pollution, the stars were twinkling away as their backdrop. It was so magical.

Even more remarkable is where we saw them - essentially someone's garden! The 'firefly sanctuary' came about because the lady who bought the land noticed them while planning her garden ans so she has created a habitat to encourage their growth as a labour of love. She was SUCH a wonderful and interesting person to talk to we are going back in the daytime to a). see the amazing garden in daylight b). see her face properly as it was really dark when we were talking to her!

Aside from the excitement of the fireflies, today has been pretty low key. Mat went for a couple of dives in the morning and I had the best all body massage of the trip so far for the princely sum of £7 at today's exchange rate.

We scooted off to Siquijor town in the afternoon for a 'merienda' snack of 'halo halo'. Mat also got a hair cut and shave where I was pretty sure one of the ladies sat on the bench with me waiting was being rude about me. They speak Visaya in Siquijor instead of Tagalog so I really didn't have a clue as to what she was going on about. Maybe she could see me throwing disdainful looks at her son who was being a brat playing on the barber's chair being a H&S risk and she wasn't telling him off. I was too busy looking out for Mat who had a cut-throat blade being used on him and a brat not playing nicely 2ft away from the barber...

It also full on rained today! It's still hot hot hot but it was like being back in England for a split second!

And finally, athough the food at our resort is very good, we thought that we would venture out somewhere different for dinner. And different we got. Mat got served his dinner..... in a shoe!! It was very tasty but we're still bemused as to why Mat had to eat his rice around a stillettoe .....

Siquijor - scootering around

Wed 7th Jan

Siquijor is supposedly the island of mountainous witch doctors & enchantments which, while sat by the pool, is quite hard to believe. The beach just outside is called 'Voodoo Beach' and there is some kind of 'offering' installation to a sea creature on a large piece of rock just beyond this - see photo below. While it looks the part, it's all abit bullshit really. Or is it...?? Woooooo....

Anyway, to explore the island abit more we have hired a small motorbike *cough* Honda scooter. The safety helmets we have been given however are full on motorbike ones which is quite funny as it would appear Mat and I are the only ones wearing them on the island. There are all manner of things on two wheels here ranging from small babies to animals but helmets don't seem to be one of them!

I was a little nervous at first but soon got into it. The fact that there are hardly any cars here helped also. It was lovely riding around seeing all the small villages and people waving and just generally being very nice towards us. Siquijor seems so untouched by the 21st century. Rice fields, nipa houses, chicken farms...

Our first stop on our first scooter outing was to 'The Old Enchanted Balete Tree', a 400 year old gnarly tree that looks like it could eat children. There were hundreds of tiny loach fish underneath it for a 'natural foot spa' which we tried. Having experienced a fish pedicure in Thailand we were prepared for the ticklish nibbling but it was still a shock to the system!

From there we made our way to a town called Lazi which has got a river called Poo running through it.  Obviously Lazi is pronounced 'Lah-zee' and Poo 'Po-Oh' but the 12 year old in us just thought this was hilarious. I know, I know.

At Lazi we visited the San Antonio de Padua Church built in 1857 which was great to see still standing especially as older structures in the Philippines were bombed/burned to smithereens during the many wars in Asia over the years. Across the road is supposedly the oldest convent in the Philippines which looked pretty run down. I didn't see any nuns and there was a school attached to it so we didn't go in.

We then went to Cambughay Falls which is a set of beautiful waterfalls that I'm guessing flow into the Poo River. It was absolutely beautiful and you could swim in the waters pretending you were in a romantic hair advert with the waterfall rinsing your hair... In reality it was more me being ungainly and trying not to drown as I avoided the sharp rocks under the water and Mat wanting to jump off the waterfall into the lake below because our guide said 'it was OK' and me shouting at him not to do it in case he hurt his back on the boulders underneath. He didn't do it thank goodness.

We then thought it would be a good idea to visit a butterfly sanctuary up in the mountains except at this point we were running low on gasoline (meaning 'empty') so turned round and then spent another 20mins trying to find somewhere to load up on fuel.

There are no usual petrol stations in the small villages. Instead litre bottles of gasoline are sold in 'sari sari' stores so the one we stopped at to refill resulted in a small crowd and a kind young man to help us as we didn't actually know what type of fuel our scooter took!

By the time we got back to the resort Mat and I were both saddle sore and my poor back bones were in agony. We were glad to be back for some TLC.

The only strange thing from today that stuck in my mind was the sight of four women in one of the villages we went through standing around a candle, waving their hands around it chanting incantations. Voodoo Beach indeed...

Siquijor - finally!

Tues 6th Jan

After today's transport shenanigans, I feel like that Oleta Adams (was it her?) song; "you can reach me by railway, cross a bridge and open road..."

I'm a little exhausted as we've had a lonnngggg day of travelling and its late but we finally made it to Siquijor and it is gorgeous here. It helps that the resort we are in is simply stunning but wow all the same.

Call me a sad transport geek but in order of transport mode used today: speedboat, minibus, aeroplane, on foot (around the airport), another aeroplane, minivan taxi, ferry boat and then another minivan taxi. I actually felt motion sickness on the ferry along with some of the other passengers but luckily I didn't actually up chuck!!

Anyway, my cold has now moved to my throat so I sound like Barry White (heyyy baby!) but being sick in Siquijor right now isn't so bad as I think it's going to be great here!

Siquijor pronounced See-kee-hor or just 'sicky whore' - no laughing at the back! This is never going to stop being funny. By Vanessa age 12.

Coron cold

Mon 5th Jan

Even though it's 28+° temperatures here, I have picked up a cold! I woke up feeling rubbish and glad I had packed some Lemsip. My glands are swollen and I'm blaming one of the other guests here for infecting me. My sunburn where the sun don't shine is also still really sore.

While Mat did some more wreck diving, I stayed in bed feeling sorry for myself. I had a full body massage arranged in the afternoon which was lovely although a little disconcerting to be lying on a Disney blanket during it!?! My masseuse was very sweet and as it turned out was also one of the ladies I had befriended earlier this week. She took us on a guided tour of 'staff quarters' which was a real eye opener and we got to see an iguana. Apparently the monkeys only come out in the mornings so we missed out on this but validated my insistence yesterday to Mat that we were being 'watched' during our jungle walk.

Although I'm still not feeling 100%, dinner was great and we got a chance to say our goodbyes to the lovely staff.

So it's another plane for another island and reality can be put to one side until at least next week.

See you in Siquijor tomorrow.

Coron - Stop! It's Hammock Time

Sat 3rd & Sun 4th Jan

This whole area was over-run by the Japanese during WW2 and as a consequence of American bombings, there are several shipwrecks in the sea now covered in coral & other marine life, therefore a big draw for divers. Mat came back from one such dive having ticked off a diving wish & was raving about having seen a huge tanker/frigate/HMS Belfast size ship thingy under the sea.

While this was going on, I was busy making friends with the hammock & with the staff specifically the cleaners. I tried helping them 'walis' (sweep) our deck area but they told me off for doing 'their job' and through broken English/Tagalog we somehow communicated. For some reason, they think I'm Japanese! I think there IS Japanese in my heritage, possibly even Chinese but in the end it was just easier to agree rather than going through my family history via Essex. We stuck to conversations about hair as this was far simpler in terms of words.

In the afternoon, we went kayaking. The last time Mat & I did this was about 5yrs ago in Thailand and the bloody thing capsized because there was a crack in it! Persuaded by a much newer kayak and the fact it matched my life vest (it's the little tjings) off we paddled.

We didn't capsize and we did reach our destination but I did get scared! It was all very well paddling further out to get a better view of the sunset (beautiful) but there was the small matter of the open ocean and its strong currents which I had a problem with so we didn't stay out for as long as Mat would have preferred.

It's bloody hard work controlling a kayak and the whole left/right opposite rowing action to steer, gave us a full arms and abs workout.  I would post pics but wifi signal is very rubbish so I'm likely to break it for other guests if I did this so will post when we return.

It's very easy to forget reality here. The hardest thing that's happened is sunburn after snorkelling in an area where the sun doesn't usually shine. I'm genuinely now in search of a 'burkini' to prevent my arse area from future burnings.  We get to see the most amazing sunsets and play as little or as hard as we want here.

The beautiful surroundings encourage you to forget all your troubles or how hard your struggles may be. If only real life were that easy.

Coron ron-ron, Palawan

Thurs 1st & Fri 2nd Jan 2015

Most of our New Year's Day was spent travelling to Palawan specifically Coron. We fell in love with Palawan the last time we were here over at El Nido and this time round we thought we would venture further up north to Coron and its bay.

Wow! What a contrast to Manila with its hustle and bustle, noise and general big Asian city madness. Everything is so laid back here with its pristine beaches and easy living. Everything here is just on a different pace - slow. I think the only thing similar that our resort has with the Shangri-La hotel is the fact that there are Filipino workers. It's lovely here but there is definitely no pillow menu on offer!

Mat has already done a couple of dives and I have done my version of snorkelling resplendent in my lime green life vest bobbing about on the ocean blue. It's never been a style statement but I get to see lots of marine life while wearing it safe in the knowledge that should I feel nervous, all Mat needs to do is haul me in. Bit like Moby Dick!?!

The clientele here is mostly European and I have yet to see signs of botox or plastic surgery. Everyone seems to keep it real & people are friendly. Lots of local ladies in mini sarongs and I get a hint of misogony but that's a whole different blog post. Hmmm. 

Otherwise, we have done bugger all!
Rest & relaxation is the order of the day for us.

New Year's Eve, Manila

New Year's Eve in Manila was interesting to say the least. After having my photo taken in the Shangri-La gingerbread house, we headed off to MOA (Mall of Asia) by Subic Bay for some food & fireworks and judging from the crowds so did half of Manila. It was crazy! Very much like the taxi driver who took us there. Christ on a bike he was weaving in and out of traffic so fast we might as well have been filming another 'Fast and the Furious'. It was terrifying! I think Mat secretly enjoyed it although for me, a little bit of wee did come out!

At MOA, there were revellers of all variety ranging from whole families with babies and grandparents, teenagers, wannabes & tourists all taking advantage of the New Year entertainment. There was a stage for Filipino celebrities to sing and dance on as well as a fun fair, mini Segway track & zip wire. There was lots of 'One Direction' levels screaming going on but all the good looking talent on stage was lost on us. We didn't have a clue who they were!

We managed to get a table at a Thai restaurant with a verandah overlooking the bay for the fireworks. We did venture down into the crowds by the bay but I found it all to be a little overwhelming. There were quite a few families just sitting down amongst the crowds so it made walking difficult. At times, I wasn't quite sure whether I was treading on someone's head or not, so it was all a little tricksy!

We headed back to the balcony area where it was a little calmer. The fireworks when they came were spectacular. They even had a couple of giant remote controlled planes covered in lights 'flying' amongst them for interest. It was all very cool! We had the perfect view as we were on the balcony directly opposite.

The return back to the hotel could have been a lot worse given the number of people all wanting a taxi home. Some of the taxi drivers were being a tad wanky by either not stopping or pushing their prices sky high knowing that desperate people will pay whatever to get home.

We were lucky enough to find a 'taxi' although I'm pretty sure he wasn't an official one as his taxi sign was of the Blue Peter variety and he took us to the other Shangri-La before taking us back to this one! He was very friendly however and clearly out to make hay while the crowds shone so we weren't too annoyed with him.

We didn't do anything too crazy after this as we had an early-ish flight to Palawan for some fun in the sun.

Happy New Year 2015 ...

... from Manila, EDSA Shangri-La.