The story doth continue...
Thursday morning, 7am, 10th December 2009 and I am just waking up from my slumbers as the radio alarm goes off. And then I remember, I have a breakfast meeting to go to and it starts at 8am!!!! I need to get a move on and I give T a shake and say "I've just remembered that I've got a Bank of England meeting this morning." "What time?" she asks with a stare. "8 o'clock" I reply. "You will never do it in time."
I hear this last line as I'm rushing down stairs to jump into the shower. And I know that I will probably be late as I also need to change my stoma bag this morning. Oh the joy of these little inconveniences we have as cancer patients!
It is half seven as I leave the house which is perfect timing if it wasn't rush hour! I do the first 8 miles without a problem and then I have to make a significant decision. Do I go the "tom tom" route which is slightly longer but on faster roads or go the "local" way that can be brilliant but is a real nightmare if it grinds to a halt for any reason.
I go the "tom tom" route and head down the Marlow bypass. Within 10 seconds I know that I have made the wrong decision. Bum. The traffic grinds to a halt and we start the never ending routine of going 20 yards at 10 miles n hour then stopping for three minutes. Sitting in the traffic I soon hear the radio pips telling me that it is 8 o'clock - the meeting start time.
Now these meeting are quite fun. They are held every two months and we, a panel of local business people, meet up with a representative from the bank of England to talk about the economy and business conditions for our particular sectors and in general. For some reason they also want me along! :-). These meetings are, so they say, very important to the Monetary Policy Committee as they help them decide how they will set interest rates. Now, we are not the only people to do this as they have these meetings all over the country with the results being fed into the centre. Anyway the coffee and breakfast is always good and it's very interesting to hear the stories and views of everyone else including the Bank of England themselves.
So, I was very late and arrived 30 minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start but as I sneaked into the room I could see everyone was still standing around drinking coffee and snacking on the savory croissants and danish pastries. Seems like I wasn't the only one caught in the traffic and it was another ten minutes before we got started.
Not allowed to go into too much detail about what we heard but let's just say that you shouldn't worry too much about interest rates going up in the first half of next year (but still possible) or possibly even at all next year. That is, of course dependent on the election when all bets would be off!!!
Feeling quite relaxed I got home after the meeting by late morning so I was able to keep to the doctor's rules and took it easy for the rest of the day. Did some important work but certainly didn't do more than about another hours work during the afternoon.
I quite like this working just three days a week. Not sure if I actually do about 24 hours during the week. At times it feels like I've only worked about 10 hours but it must be more as I still get the look from T when I tell her what I've done during the day. The look of "you're doing too much - you'll end up back in hospital".
And so I do try and limit what I do as I certainly don't want to end up back in there again! No, not at all.
Friday arrives and I go into the office for a meeting with a chap from the Chamber of Commerce which I am involved with. I make coffee which has to be black as I discover that the milk supply is out of date by three days (the main peril of only working part time hours) but we chat away for most of the morning as we put the world to rights.
And just as he's leaving I get a text from my friend James asking me if I'm at home this afternoon as he was going to pay a visit with his son and also bring us our tea for the evening. How could I say "no". So I pack up my bits and head for home via the local tip. Nearly forgot to do that, having filled the boot of the car up in the early morning with five bags of rubbish, it would have been stupid not to deliver them to the tip as planned. I'm certain that my brain stopped working whilst I was forced to stay in hospital, just hope it gets back to normal soon before I forget something really important!
I was home about 10 minutes before the door bell rang and James and young William came to join me for the afternoon. not quite "men who lunch" but we did go to the local village centre for a pot of tea for two and an orange squash for the little one after a walk to the local playground and a cool adventure on the swings and the roundabout :-) But it was so so cold the pot of tea was very welcome!
Joining the party at about 4.30 were James's wife Laura who was going to give me a much needed haircut and other friend Maria who was going to help us by being a model for a photoshoot we had to do for a new client. The afternoon had suddenly become busy again and I was in the chair having my locks removed when T came home to join the little party.
Hair cut and "goo'd" off we all went to the studio to take some photos made all the more fun with young William wanting to be in every shot! That boy certainly isn't camera shy.
Work done T and I say our goodbyes to our good friends and get home and put our provide tea in the over to heat up. And it tasted real good. The one big thing that I have learned since being diagnosed with cancer is that you need to accept gifts of kindness from friends. I never used to be any good at receiving but I am so much better now. And it does everybody good. Absolutely no downside and you can tell who your best friends really are. Now I must clearly state that it is not about things, it's about "being there", supporting you in the ways that really matter. Thank you all my friends and relatives out there that... help, yep that's the right word, help. You make it easier and a happier world that we live in. That phone call, that smile, that hug, that treating us as normal, that thinking how you can help, it all makes it better - thank you.
And so to Saturday ad we take a trip out to the shops to buy food for the weekend and a few other bits and pieces before it's off to the studio again for a short photoshoot using another friend as a model to showcase some crochet dresses, hats etc (!!!???) . Don't ask, we have promised the models that we wont publish the details of which website the pictures will be displayed on!
All finished within the hour it's off home for a relaxing afternoon and evening in front of a roaring real fire. Life can be very good when it is just about the simple things in life.
And Sunday was a full day of rest for me and T was successful in finishing off all she wanted to do to allow for a great Sunday roast, the open fire and the Xfactor final as she started to cut out the bridesmaid's dresses.
It had been a busy week that had started last saturday with me escaping from hospital at 6.45 in the evening feeling still pretty wacked out to a Sunday evening we me eating properly again, downing 16 antibiotics every day and working just part time.
Fingers crossed that I can now keep out of hospital for the rest of the year and let's hope that my CT scan in Feb is the time of the next visit, that will still be soon enough for me!
love to you all out there in Macmillanland
Andrew xxx
