Happy Birthday Everyone!

It’s a while since I last did a blog entry so I will start off with work. Once our smoking machine was shipped and everyone was happy I only had a limited amount of work to do. It was the following week that I was given my notice as they are waiting for order confirmations. This is fine by me as I hate having nothing to do anyway; especially as I have a kitchen to fit at Coldecote. I spent most of my time in my final notice week messing around with their new 3D printer. The timing wasn’t perfect for me as I would have preferred another month of work which would have given me a couple of weeks to finish off the kitchen while I completed my radio therapy. I have 37 days of treatment so we can’t really go away for a holiday until it’s finished anyway, so I may as well be earning money while I’m stuck here. Well, we are managing to get away for a weekend break next weekend as I have booked a quick trip to Majorca for Claire’s Birthday. I like it when it’s Claire’s birthday as it means that I get a holiday too. I have the first appointment this Friday at 8am and then we fly from Luton. We return on Monday lunchtime and my appointment is at 4.30pm so it should leave time to get there. We are trying another all inclusive as it was only £20 more each than bed and breakfast so I expect that we will be getting value for money for that last £20 each. On the down side, the transfers were £25 each but they had such bad reviews that we opted for a taxi instead; especially as not expecting to get there until early evening. It turned out to be around £137 for a return taxi which is ridiculous so we opted for a hire car at £65 for 3 days. It’s the cheapest hire car option but I don’t mind as we should have a smart car. Looking forward to that as I always wanted to have a go in one of those. I can just imagine Claire driving one of those little smart sports cars.

 

Getting back to my treatment; it’s a bit of a pain having to drive to Northampton every work day especially as the parking is so unpredictable. Also you never know when there will be a delay and you have to attend with a full bladder and empty bowel as Claire has mentioned before. I’m usually bursting by the time we arrive but try and hold it until my treatment is over then rush to relieve myself. One day they said that there was no delay but I was waiting for an hour before finally being seen as Claire complained that I was nearly passing out. Friday was the reverse; we arrived to see that we had an hour delay so I decided to visit the loo and start drinking again for the next hour. By the time I had come out of the toilet the hour delay was erased from the board which we didn’t understand. No sooner had I sat down as I was called through for the treatment, bizarre.

As the external beam gamma rays are so energetic and travel through your whole body, they split the treatment into 3, shining the beam at different angles which collect on my prostate (hopefully), so as to minimise the damage to normal tissue. The main trouble is the middle beam that shines just under my bellybutton but exits via my arse. So it appears that the sun really does shine out my arse. I have just started to notice certain places getting a little sore, especially by the Friday. Its so nice having the weekend to recover, but they seem to go even quicker than when I was working. As it’s a little like sunburn where the entry and exit points of the beams are you can only use certain products to wash with. There must be no metal particles in the soap or shampoo otherwise they will reflect the beam and your radiation dose won’t be as intended and the particles heat up intensely. They recommend Johnston’s baby shampoo and baby or simple soap which I use all the time now. I also have an aqueous cream that I have to apply to all the entry and exit points on my skin; it’s called “liquid paraffin” which smells terrible. I even have to put it up my bum which is horrible as it squelches when I walk; takes some getting used to I can tell you.

Having not been to the Newport Pagnell Carnival for 12 years we decided to have a walk there on Saturday but had only got as far as the Giffard when it began to rain. Claire was starving and I had the beginning of a cold so we snicked in for lunch and walked back home along the canal when we had finished. We had barely settled in when Steve and Jan popped around to deliver Claire’s birthday card and present for today, Monday. They also had a voucher for the Black Horse where if you bought a bottle of champagne at discounted price you received a free mezze for 4 so they invited us along with them for an early dinner as it was Steve’s birthday on Sunday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE, hope you had a good one!

The mezze was a disappointment but we had a great evening as we had such good company.Last weekend I took Georgina over to Melton Mowbray to visit my parents for her last time before her travels to find that they had been having a clear out ready for their move to Milton Keynes. They had found my “Blue Tent” in their attic. I thought that I had better erect it for the first time since the 1979 Reading Festival. To my surprise, it’s still in reasonable condition; it just stinks a bit. Georgina’s off to Shrewsbury today for 3 weeks work but she will no doubt enjoy herself as last time she was there she paid to go. She also managed to get a days pay at her old school only the week after she had left when the teachers went on strike. As luck would have it, this was the school sports day so another easy days pay.

All last week I have been around the Coldecote flat fitting the kitchen but I won’t dwell on that as Claire has been covering it in her entries. However I will pad out this entry with some photos so that you can see our progress which is a little slower than normal as I have been finishing at lunch time. No point rushing as my treatment doesn’t finish for 5 weeks. Once 1pm comes, I pack up and clean up with a nice steam and shower at DW before coming home to pick up Claire for my daily treatment in Northampton. This pattern continued on Saturday except earlier as we were going to the carnival, which was a big mistake as it was packed out. I got there around 10.45 just as all the kids were pilling into the pool for swimming lessons. Nightmare! Of course, these weren’t normal kids; they were the kids of hairy arsed, tattooed Bletchley body builders. By the time I wanted a shower, so did all the kids and their Dads so all the showers were full up with a couple of blokes waiting so I decided to use the communal showers. Another big mistake, especially as I was using my, “No more tears” Johnson’s baby shampoo and my Asda “Little Angels” baby wash. I got some funny looks, I can tell you. To make things worse my usual black towel had been replaced by Claire’s pink one. One fellow seemed to take an instant dislike to me. It might have been when I bent over and asked him to have a look if I’d got all the soap out my bum. I opted not to spread my Aqueous cream up my bum until I got home, barely escaping with my life.

Sunday arrives and it’s another quick visit to the flat for some final touches to the kitchen, fitting the doors, handles and slow close mechanisms before being joined by Claire for DW again. I went home to watch the recording of the British GP qualifying while Claire went shopping and picked up Sue who is staying with us Sunday and Monday nights. She is generously paying for herself and Claire to visit Wittlebury hall for a girlies spa day today. Claire has wanted to go there for years as most of her friends have been several times. This is also my birthday present as it saves me taking her, thanx Sue!

Once Claire had arrived with Sue, we all walked down to the Ship Ashore for Sunday lunch before returning home to watch the recording of the British GP. What a race; probably one of the most boring qualifying sessions but one of the most exciting GP’s I have ever watched; just a shame about the result. Another cock up by the FIA resulting in yet more controversy. Anyway we had a great evening but consumed a little more wine than necessary for a good time resulting in a slow start to the week around the Coldecote flat. I had to be here for 7am as we have the morning slot for the delivery of our new fridge freezer and washing machine. Claire also asked me to do the blog entry today as she is having a well deserved day off to celebrate her birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE! Have a good one.

I have written this blog around the flat prior to starting work but at least it’s an easy start to the day while I eat my sandwiches and fruit. However, I have no internet connection so wont be able to publish until I get home.

While we are on birthdays, Claire’s twin sisters also share their birthday with Claire but are 1 year younger. This almost makes them triplets. They are like the bus company of sisters; you have to wait all year for a birthday, and then 3 come all at once. The 11th July is celebrated almost as much as Christmas day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOUISE AND JULIA! Have a great one!
If there is anybody else reading this that shares their birthday today?
Happy Birthday Everyone!