The Weekend

Friday night was fun - cancer charity dinner at Urmston masonic hall. What a venue. I've never quite seen anything like it. Food was OK and they'd pureed me something for the main course which was nice of them. Raffle went on for ever and then it was dancing to Urmston's most popular wedding and bar mitzvah DJ. He had it all. Van Morrison. Status Quo. Come on Eileen (and thank you Denise for making me dance to that). Home by oneish after being sandwiched in the back of the car between a very drunk David and a very drunk Cath.

Saturday morning into Cafe Nero to meet up with everyone's favourite retirees, Mr & Mrs T. They are hale (as opposed to Hale) and hearty and speaking in Scottish tongues. Then DD & moi meme did the round of opticians picking up our new glasses topped off with cocktails in Harvey Nicks to celebrate. I had an espresso martini which was just to die for. Then to Manchester Art Gallery to see the Joe Palumbo exhibition. Bit of a waste of time that one as although he had some good ideas furniture-wise and was ahead of his time vis a vis capsule furniture he just didn't design anything that looked nice (and certainly nothing as nice as the leather chesterfield upstairs in Heals). And Burberry isn't open yet. And now its a night in followed by cleaning and dusting tomorrow. Oh and the gym I think. Night night. J x

Phew(ish)

Got to Christies at about 1000 and was seen straight away. Sean had a look at my eye and said that he could feel a "thickening" of the skin at the point of inflammation but that he didn't think it was anything to worry about. He is going to refer me to an opthalmologist (sp?) but he said more for my peace of mind than any concerns he has. He also said that he had never seen my type of cancer spread to the eye before. Charlotte and Frances (who were also there) also both said that they'd never seen my cancer spread to the eye before either (it was at this point that I burst into tears!). So I'm mightily relieved. I hadn't realised (up until I burst into tears) quite how tense I had been about the situation. I'm not celebrating yet - I'll do that when the eye doctor signs off on Sean's diagnosis but i will sleep a little easier from here on in. Thanks to everyone for the brilliant support and sympathy they've given me during this quite difficult week. J x

Caught Myself...

... walking round the flat with one eye closed tonight. Drama queen or what?

Spoke to the lovely lovely Charlotte this afternoon (Caroline's replacement, and yes she's just earned her additional "lovely") and she said I should just turn up at Christies on Thursday and she'll get me in to see someone. Much better than waiting for a referral through the GP I think.

Just out of shower after working out at the gym so feeling all warm and virtuous. J x

Not So Good News

Went to the optician to get my eyes tested today (yes I need glasses but I chose some fantastic Dior ones so you don't need to worry about me looking ugly) but the optician noticed a lump on my eyelid. He's referring me to my GP. He says he thinks its just a bit of inflammation but in view of my medical history he thinks it needs to be checked. Fingers crossed its not a return of the cancer. J x

What a Wonderful World

Had such a good day today. Saw Sean at Christies. After the usual prodding of my neck and peering down my throat he declared himself happy with the way things are looking. I asked him about the high temperature episodes and he said he thought it might have been a chest infection and that we should get an X-ray of my lungs to check they were clear. That worried me a bit but luckily I was able to get the X-ray done there and then and he and some of his colleagues looked at it and said that my lungs were clear. Which was a huge relief. He even managed to joke that "they're all clear apart from a little bit of metal...!" I also asked him about blood tests because I know my Mum used to have them and also whether I should have a scan. He explained that there isn't a blood test for my type of cancer. He had been thinking about getting a scan of my throat so that he could see how things were progressing from the inside and since I'd asked anyway he might as well go ahead and schedule one. So hopefully that will have taken place before my next appointment and those results will be all clear too. He also said that he thought that there was still room for progress on my swallowing because not everything will have settled down from the treatment yet. Phew. That was really encouraging coz I've been getting a bit depressed about that recently.

The lovely lovely Debbie wasn't there today (apparently she's at home watching her kitchen ceiling being pulled down) but the lovely Charlotte was on hand (she gets one lovely for saying I looked fantastic today - and in 32" waist Prada jeans why wouldn't I? - but she's got a way to go yet before she catches up with the lovely lovely Debbie). Also did my computer questionaire for the woman whose name I've forgotten. She comes and sees me every couple of months or so and gets me to fill in this questionaire about how I'm feeling, how much pain I'm in, what problems I'm having etc etc. She also measures how far I can open my mouth - I'm back to the standard I was after the operation but before the radiotherapy but not yet back to the pre-op stage. She asked if I'd had many problems about opening my mouth and I asked whether she was referring to my sex life - poor girl nearly died when I said that but managed to splutter that in fact she was asking about eating and drinking. So why didn't she say that in the first place?

When I got home I had a call from the nutritionist and she's going to come and see me on the same day that I see Frances next (06/03 I think). Everyone thinks I should stop losing weight now so I've been force feeding myself Ensure Pluses all day. I'll be back up to the size of a house in no time...

Went to the gym this afternoon with Denise and had a really good workout so I'm just all round feeling fine and dandy. Back to work tomorrow though so I suppose it'll be back down to earth with a bang. Never mind, I've had a bloody good day today and since they're few and far between lets just celebrate that fact. Night all. J x

Busy Busy Busy

R & G Are Dead at the Library Theatre on Monday night. Strange but good. Wouldn't mind seeing it again just to see if I got it all. Gym last night with Denise (supposed to go again tonight but she wimped out). All this whilst holding down a full time job! Day off tomorrow to go and see Young Sean. that'll be nice. Not seen him for ages. Have acquired Moon Tiger (and started reading it) as I intend attending the next book club meet. Not seen most of them since before the op. They'll have no idea who I am... J x

Mrs T Rocks

Had a fantastic weekend with the T. She had brought her white gloves but confined herself to her impressions of Michael Jackson rather than Kim and Aggie. She's looking well and enjoying life North of civilisation (boo). She joined us during the darts match (I was out first round) and Dave and Wayne ended up winning. Wayne will now be (even more) insufferable for the rest of the year...

The Vortex was very good in a Noel Coward sort of way. Will Young was impressive and very very pretty. Although he does have rather large hips. Went to Chez Gerrard for a drink afterwards. Saturday was even more glamorous as we went to Lakeland Plastics for lunch followed by John Lewis and Sainsburys. Then watched World Trade Centre (very good) and Acorn Antiques (hysterical) on DVD. I have to say though that I think I preferred the version of AA that I saw on the stage. It seemed more coherent somehow (and obviously not as long). The DVD version was a bit too "West End" if anything can be said to be that.

Had a high temperaturs again on Saturday (3rd time now). May be something to do with the long day I had on Friday where I may have overdone things but I'm seeing Sean on Thursday so I'll check things out with him. Hopefully its not a sign of returning cancer...

Tried to book for Patrick Stewart in The Tempest in London but the dates agreed with Donna and Sarah have all sold out. Boo. There is a version coming to the Royal Exchange in Manchester so might go and see that instead. J x

Great Film

Judy Dench is stunning in this film. As is Cate Blanchett. And the schoolboy is dead horny (and before you have a go at me for being pervy, Jane fancied him too). Went to Chez Gerrard (again) before the film and had soup and ice cream (again). Will have to try another restaurant for soup and ice cream whilst Mrs T is here. If anyone knows of any restaurants that do particularly nice (and not too solid) soups and/or (although preferably and) nice ice cream can they please recommend them here. Ta.

Busy day tomorrow. Work in the am, darts tournament in the pm and The Vortex with the lovely (and over the age of consent) Will Young in the evening. All this and keeping the flat up to those exhausting T standards. Phew, I'm exhausted just reading about it. Must dash as I've forgotten to dust the tops of the doors... J x

Seven and Three Quarters

That's how many hours I worked today. The longest ever. Whoo hoo. Isn't full time work a pain in the arse? All that and then I have to come home and start cleaning ready for the arrival of Madame La T and her deadly white dust gloves of shame on Friday. Oooh, I can feel her cotton clad finger running along my cornices as I type... It'll be nice to see her though. J x

Wise Words Of Willie Nelson

"Before you say something bad about someone, you should first walk a mile in their shoes. That way, if they get pissed off, you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes". And who can say fairer than that?

Jane, will try the lasagne on Wednesday but don't worry starters and ice cream are fine anyway.

Fig, I should have phoned and thanked you, a thousand apologies. Have received DVD but not yet watched it. Will probably watch it this weekend in company of Mrs T. J x

Hello Campers

I've had to reconfigure the blog so that I sign in through Google (or something like that, I'm not too sure) so I apologise if anyone has any problems accessing it from now on. Actually this might be a good point to discuss whether or not I keep up with the blog at all. As I'm sure you've all noticed I don't post as much as I used to and this is mainly because there isn't as much news as there used to be. Perhaps we should have a discussion about closing the blog down - the anniversery of it starting might be the appropriate moment.

Anyway, what have I been up to recently? Well I'll be back at work full time from Monday. This isn't because I particularly feel up to it but I really can't face filling out any more of the ridiculous forms that HR demand of me. I think the forms are one of their "incentives" to get people back on full time. That and paying people's annual leave at sick leave rates. Don't even get me started....

Went out for a meal last night. A HUGE step. Unfortunately it wasn't as successful as I'd hoped. I managed the starter (french onion soup) and the deseert (ice cream) but just couldn't manage the main course (penne arrabiata) because even though the kitchens had overcooked the pasta at my request it was just too big to swallow. The pasta I'm cooking myself at home is really tiny and even that causes me problems sometimes. I'm just going to have to find something with a lot of sauce so that I can at least manage the sauce if nothing else. The lasagne at Chez Gerrard looked like it might fit the bill. We'll see. Denise and I then went to Opus One for a drink before heading off home in the sub-zero temperatures.

During yesterday afternoon Denise and I had trawled round the Northern Quarter for books and curtains before a coffee at ILVA before Denise headed off for the match. Was supposed to be going for a walk with Denise this faternoon in Heaton Park but had an attack of dizziness and high temperature during the night and so don't want to take any chances today. It was exactly the same as the time before so I'll have to try and work out what's triggering it. Maybe its just if I try to do too much in one day. Will also mention it to Sean next time I see him just in case its anything significant. Can't see that my blood pressure (the dizziness) would be affected by cancer though...

Mrs T arriving next Friday for a couple of nights. We're off to The Vortex (with that lovely Will Young chap) after darts at Wayne's tournament (I'm expecting to be out first round as I was once beaten in a dart's match by someone who was registered blind). Before that I'm off to the cinema on Wednesday to see Notes on a Scandal with Jane & Bill which looks very good. Heard from Lizzy this week, she's just got a job as head of HR at The Dorchester in London so she'll be off to pastures new soon. I'll miss her.

So let me know whather you want me to keep up with this site albeit on a less frequent basis... J x