A cloudy eclipse & cautioned by the fun police

This blog post was written yesterday afternoon but due to inefficient wifi connection & the fact we met up with friends after in one of our favourite pubs delayed publication until now :-)

I'm currently in hospital for my continued treatment staring at the bright sunshine thinking why wasn't it like this for the solar eclipse earlier in the morning?! There I was in the garden, wearing my dressing gown (obviously a true astronomer's outfit) clutching my safety glass so as not to blind myself and ..... there was absolutely bugger all to see here in Surrey!! Gah! Frustrating!! Talk about cloudy with a chance of meatballs weather. Cloud cover was so thick, it was like soup.

It made me reminisce about the August 1999 eclipse. Back then, when show time came I was in central London and me and my work colleagues were out in Hyde Park armed with pin hole cameras and eclipse glasses. It was also cloudy then but not as bad as earlier so we saw 'something' with the most memorable part for me noticing how quiet the birds went when it got gloomy. Very eerie.
It was also an opportunity for me to get to know my new work colleagues better. Now, I'm in the middle of cancer treatment. How times change. I'm just hoping I'll still be around to see another eclipse!?!

Anyway, Mat hand-delivered a falafel wrap from the falafel stand man at Waterloo for lunch and so we were able to eat these in the hospital garden sunshine which was nice. I don't usually have company for treatment as most people are at work so this was lovely.

Replenished for treatment, I got told off during it! Or rather some of the nurses did! As has always been the case, I treat the medical team that care for me like friends and try to remain upbeat whenever I'm in hospital with them. We try and have a laugh and I like to say hello to all of them if they are around.

Today, apparently there was far too much laughter coming from my cubicle and it wasn't fair that one patient was getting so much attention as all patients are only supposed to have one nurse....

I'm not sure if it was another patient (I think so) or 'management' but I have no words other than the fun police are clearly everywhere & watching you... Don't laugh too much now!

PS: F*ck cancer, ignore the haters and laugh like you've never laughed before.

I'm back, I'm still here, I never went away

Yes, I know I look like a duck & my hair needs a brush but it's a look okay?!

First and foremost my sincere apologies for the delay in posting this brand new blog post and for generally not being around in all aspects - blogging, emails, etc.  I'm pretty sure you are bored of looking at my flower pictures posted from last month and are due for an update.

Well, the flowers are now a lovely distant memory and the Valentine's cards have been sent and received.....and I have been rather unwell.  Yes, I know this is a bit odd to say given I'm going through cancer treatment but I was rather unwell in addition to the cancer treatment. Fun times!

In a nutshell, during the latter part of February I felt really terrible and I initially put this down to the chemo side effects.  When I actually felt like I was going to die (a little dramatic but I genuinely felt like I was going to!) we called the hospital and they asked me to come in immediately for tests.  

After an eye wateringly expensive taxi ride into central London via the strangest route in, I filled several test tubes with blood for various tests to find out what was wrong with me. The medical team did consider keeping me in hospital but fortunately I was able to go home once they had done their jiggery-pokery. 

The nasty that was making me so ill turned out to be the Influenza B virus which according to Wikipedia, so it must be true.... only humans and SEALS can catch!!!! I know my memory has gone all Scooby-Doo at the moment but I don't recall snogging a seal, so I can only put this down to catching it from the dirty cow who sneezed without covering her mouth at Waterloo Station and I was within droplet distance of her. To be fair, I could have caught it from anywhere but YUK!!!!! The hospital even made me wear that mask above for my repeat visit so I didn't infect other patients.  I was rather glad it was 'just' a flu virus and not another nasty such as meningitis, pneumonia and god knows what else they were testing for. 

To help fix me, on top of all my numerous cancer drugs was added four antivirals, an antibiotic, two bags of saline drips, fever, aches, pains and lots of tears of self-pity and frustration but I think I was allowed this. I had lots of good things planned with friends during this time and I was too unwell to do any of them.

I was pretty low. More so than my usual lows. Cancer really f-cking sucks anyway and to be ill with something else is just a bit too much for anyone in my opinion.

Thank you all for your messages, kindness, your friendship and your support. I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to email some of you but it was just impossible at times. I will do so.  A big thank you to Dave and Milla for my lovely Meg Rivers Clementine & Almond Cake - courier delivered in a beautiful tin too! Wonderful sustenance!

Finally, I try and tell him everyday but I just want to say to Mat, my amazing husband, thank you. I know it must be frustrating being with me at times as I can be pretty off the scale in every way (believe it or not!!) but I appreciate everything you do for me.  I'm looking forward to the day I actually don't have any fatigue and we can climb together again one day but just know that being with you doing absolutely nothing means absolutely everything to me.