This morning dawned bright and sunny again with C yet again awake before me and bringing the tea/coffee up. I just can't seem to wake up early any more, and even a shove from C and being trodden on by Sidney doesn't stir me that much. I'd arranged to meet up with my lovely ex-colleague Mr Cane this morning -
Mr Cane
Now here's a story...we texted and arranged to meet at 10am for a catch up as we haven't seen each other in a while (he's the guy I used to share an office with, and we had such a great time at work in those days). I got ready and got Monty the Land Rover out and off I went; I duly arrive, knock on the door, no answer, so I ring him assuming he can't hear me. The conversation goes like this:Me - "Let me in."
Him - "The door code's ****"
Me - "What door code?" I say as I'm searching his front door for a keypad or something, thinking he's gone security crazy.
Him - "The front door code, so you can let yourself in." At which point the penny drops - he's in Newport at work, thinking I'm outside his office door, when in actual fact I'm outside the front door to his house, in Ventnor. Doh! I guess my brain really is well and truly addled right now and yet again I've managed to firmly grasp the wrong end of the proverbial stick!! We didn't manage to meet today, so have arranged to try again tomorrow, when hopefully I will get all the arrangements correct and be in the right place, at the right time!
Also had an impromptu visit from our friend Deb this morning - she rang me and said "Are you at home?" which I confirmed, and she asked if she could pop in. "Of course" says I, "See you in a while." A minute later she's at the back door, having parked outside the house and rung from there to see who was about!! C and I have known Deb and her husband Robin for a few years now, after C and Robin got talking in the local pub one night. What none of us realised at the time was that Deb and I worked in the same building (as we still do) but didn't know each other to speak to, only by sight. It took the hubbies and a couple of pints to bring us together..and together we've been ever since.
Deb and Robin at Rom's 18th in June 2010
It's always lovely to see Deb - she has the ability to bring sunshine into the room with her, and whatever's going on, however bad, she always manages to make us smile. Today was no exception, and even though she's going through some pretty tough times of her own, she is still an amazing source of support and a great friend to both of us. Even Romilly, who calls Deb "Mummy 2". I therefore don't begrudge making her endless cups of milkless tea and providing her with lunch!! C had the phone call we'd been waiting for from Mr Hodgson (whose first name is Dominic, which suits him, although I still think of him as Knobbly Knees - I don't know what to call him for the purposes of this blog now; Mr H perhaps, akin to Mr O?) So Mr H said he'd had a meeting with whoever he needed to speak to this morning (the radiographer?) and the outcome was that they are fairly certain that the tumour in the kidney is actually attached to the liver - they are going to have a meeting with the liver surgeon from Southampton tomorrow morning to discuss whether they feel they can remove the kidney. It seems that surgeons nowadays specialise in types of surgery and areas of the body, they don't do the whole kit and caboodle any more, so if they are going to attempt to remove the kidney they need the liver guy there as well to sort out where it's attached - best really as it would be slightly annoying to try to get it out and realise they can't because the chap in the right hat isn't there. So another 24 hours or so wait until that meeting has taken place and someone contacts us - or we contact them - to find out what happened. If they decide not to remove the kidney at this stage it means that C will go and start chemotherapy, which thankfully is on the Island. That will be for a few weeks to see if they can reduce the size of the tumour to give a better margin around it for removal.
At this point I think I'd better make it clear that I am not blogging all this willy-nilly - there are people who need to know this kind of thing first hand, namely the kids and C's sister, before it goes 'public'. We make sure this happens before we tell you lot - I'm sure you'll all understand why.
One other thing I also need to say, which I probably don't say enough, even though I think and feel it - I haven't heaped anything like enough praise on my husband for the way he is dealing with this situation. I see him every day, see him laugh, worry, get angry, get frustrated, cry, shake with fear, and yet through all of it he is doing his utmost to stay positive - unless you know C really well you won't be aware of how hard he finds this. He's had some hard knocks in his life, and has always tended to look on the 'glass half empty' side of things (which he readily admits). He thinks this started when he was 7 years old and his father died. He was encouraged, at that young age, to be a 'big boy' and look after his mum, which he unfailingly did for the rest of her life; but clearly he's taken that responsibility of looking after people to every close relationship and has always therefore put wives and children before himself, and it has always felt natural and right to him to do that. So you can understand how difficult it is for him to put himself first, and how much of a struggle that is going to be for him.
So for the record I just want to say how supremely and totally proud I am of C - he's always been our rock, and I hope he manages at some point to let us be his and take some of the worry off his shoulders. Time to rest on your laurels for a while mate, and let us look after you. X
L to R: Chris Jr (No2), Romilly (No 3), me, Bren (No 1)
No comments:
Post a Comment