thoughts from the frontline - 6

So, the weekend has come and gone and I'm on my countdown to my big op. And what a strange weekend it was too. The tale of poles apart visitors and "devastated" friends. Saturday was back to a normal start to a weekend with a trip into town to buy me a new pair of sunglasses (non prescription due to eyes now working better - don't ask me how, must be due to my better blood count!!). The new sunglasses being needed as I lost my other good pair on a beach in Barbados when I thought I could beat the incoming waves, I couldn't, I didn't, I lost and my sunglasses were taken off my head by the waves with a "don't fool with us" crash on the beach. But that's another story... So I wanted cheap sunglasses. Enter Superdrug - all yukk. Enter Boots - one ok pair, bought on the spot. Oh how us men like shopping :-) And then back into Waitrose for the shopping. We'll only need a basket says T. We'll take a trolley says I. Not that we needed one as we only had a couple of things to buy but us men like to push them round the supermarket, we can pretend they're formula 1 trollies and we're Jenson Button. It's all about taking the right line round the corners and positioning for overtaking so that we "command the line". Come on men, you know what I mean!! 20 mins later we queued up at the till with a trolley full of things we needed. having received a full Tesco delivery on Friday I am so proud that we found so many things that we hadn't realised that we needed. We all have to do our bit to help end the recession :-) Back home and just time to have a quick tidy up before some friends come round for a visit. Why do we need to tidy up for our friends to visit? But it's slightly better than when we tidy up before the cleaner arrives. Now I have to stop you there. We don't have a mansion, two cooks, a gardener, scullery maid and cleaner. She comes in for two hours on a Friday to do a quick clean for us prior to the weekend as we both work full time and extended hours, or we did until the big C arrived and we started to resort our priorities out... Anyway, yes we do have a cleaner and yes we do watch BBC2, ok we have moved away from our working class routes from when we lived in a matchbox in the middle of the road... must keep taking the tablets, it's what my special invisible friend keeps telling me :-) So the sun was out and two friends came round so we sat out in the garden. Wine for the girls and Guinness for the boys - all medicinal of course, good for the blood. And bless our friends, not only had they brought flowers but also some homemade asparagus soup and homemade eccles cakes!! And that was because I'd mentioned in passing when they came to visit me last week in hospital that I loved them!! More chat, more laughter and more Guinness - the ideal Saturday afternoon in the sun. Saturday evening, time for a quiet evening for just the two of us. Stir fry and a first attempt at tofu. Fail. Evil stuff. Devil food. Never again - would rather eat my own feet than have to eat tofu. You have been warned, tofu - this food contains pooh. Luckily, stir fry prawns just take about a minute so meal saved and good evening was had by all. Oops forgot, we had a "lie in" on Saturday morning - need to check exactly where the stoma will come out, might get in the way... So we had now arrived at Sunday and a busy day was planned and off we went to T's dad's house as it was Jilly's birthday and flowers and card had to be delivered before they went off to church. A bit tearful but for all good reasons. Then off into town for a bit of shopping. Well not actually shopping as we just needed to visit a jewelry shop to get T's ring finger size sorted so that we could order the engagement ring. Fingers crossed we get it in time for the party on the 9th August or it will be the brass curtain ring with a sugar cube glued to the top as a replacement. But the shop didn't open until 11 so we had to stroll around then stop off at Starbucks for a coffee and watch the world go by. Now Starbucks was full of women with their young children. What are they doing there?!?!? They have all week to do that whilst we go to work, Sunday mornings they should be at home cooking dinner or something or feeding the kids to the animals in the zoo. But with a quick sprint I beat the buggy lady (that's a lady with a buggy not a lady who looks like a bug, but then again...) and grab a table and two chairs. Ahh, peace, a skiny decaf latte and screaming kids!!! A quick look round the other shops and we managed to go home without buying anything - result! It can be done :-) And as we came to the afternoon the rain started just before another set of friends arrived. Now these friends have a small one that carries the latest lurgs but we were pleased when they left him in their car. Did I really just say that? Well, mandatory handwash gel for these visitors before they could get past the front door. I'm not having my op delayed by picking up some swine flu or something! Tea made and we sit for a chat in the living room. Now a bit of the back story for this couple - last week when we met them I was told not to worry about my cancer because "it would be alright" and when I asked "how do you know" we were met with silence then "well it will be". Friends in denial and I wasn't in the mood for taking prisoners. Well this time one of the first things said was "I'm going to buy that book you mentioned". Now this book was "What can I do to help - 75 ideas for friends from the cancer frontline" by Deborah Hutton which I would recommend to everyone whether your a patient, family of friend. We had a result. Friends who could have been a nightmare would now probably crossover into that wonderful camp of "bestest" who know just what to do or say. After a good chat they were on their way and we were free again to poodle about, have an afternoon nap before I made us a Sunday roast and then settle down in front of the TV to end the weekend. A good weekend had been had. Not too many visitors and none that required feeding! Shopping trips, normality and a Sunday roast. Oh that every day could be like this... ;-) Andrew xx