So, if you follow my blog in order then a couple of things..... 1 - you weirdo! 2 - I'm sorry! 3 - you'll know I was heading out last night. If you don't follow my blog and have just come across it.... 1 - Run away! 2 - I went out last night. lol
It's the first time out since my latest RAI, which I'm still suffering from. Naps are once again the majority of my life, and everything I want to do around the house - or out of it - needs to be planned and prepared for and spaced out. Need to put on a load of clothes? That's going to be a trip up the stairs, to gather clothes and throw them down the stairs. Then down the stairs I go, gather up the clothes, bend to put them in the washing machine, bend to get the tabs and softener, bend to put them into the machine, then a seat. Then hanging them up to dry is an extended bend to pull them out, with bobbing up and down to then pick them up individually and put them over my shoulder. Then it's a wander around the house to hang them on doors, or a trip into the garden to hang them up - and then a seat and a nap to recover. Before I was diagnosed with cancer, you never ever had to think of tasks broken up like that, nor did you have to plan meticulously to do them. You needed to wash your clothes, you did and then went on with your day. Now? Not so much. That's a major part of your day.
So knowing I'd be out last night, Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing nothing at all, to try and store up as much energy as possible, as well as to create as little extra pain in my back. Because Friday was going to be a big one. So, up in the morning, go to the loo, back to bed for half an hour, then back to the loo again, then come downstairs, and take my first lot of tablets. My bowels need a half hour to wake up after I'm awake, so as soon as I wake up I need a wee, but 30 mins later I know I'll need a poo. So no way am I going to come downstairs for 30 mins only to have to go back up them again, and then come down them again. Not happening as I need all the energy I can get! So now I'm downstairs and recovering from the waking up, and 30mins to an hour later I take my second lot of pills. I've turned down the going to my friend's house before the theatre, as her seats aren't the comfiest and she has two large dogs who love me so very much that they like to jump and walk on me. They're lovely dogs, just, not exactly ideal behaviour in my current situation. So it means that rather than having to be ready by 1pm, I don't have to be ready until 6:30pm. Excellent. Time.
I've already planned in my head what I'm going to wear, and I know where it all is. So that's one job down, but I need to eat and I need to shower, and then I need to get ready and go. Chill out for now though I think and let the pills do their thing. 3 hours later, more pills and then lunch. You know what type of day it is? It's a cheese toastie day! Bit more prep than would probably be ideal, but I've been thinking about one for a couple of days now, and so why the heck not. I have the BEST toastie machine in the world. I don't care how good you think yours is, how amazing you think the toasties it makes are, mine is better! It was a wedding present, given to my Granny on her wedding day. Now, she celebrated her Diamond wedding anniversary at least 5 years ago - so this thing is a good 60 plus years old! It's wire is fraying a bit, and it is minging, but I love it and the day it dies I think a part of me will too. Anyways, stand there and turn it on, then gather the Stork and the bread and the cheese and a knife and a plate - NONE of these things are in the same place as one another, so it's an entire lap of the kitchen required. Out comes the bread from the packet and two slices are buttered, and cheese is placed between them in the unbuttered crevice. Toastie machine is opened, and a cloud of smoke appears, and the 'raw toastie' is placed within to a satisfying sizzle. Shut the top down and then butter and cheese two more pieces of bread. As soon as that is done, I can hear the sizzle of cheese on the hot plates, so I know the first is made, so open and remove and replace and close. Second one is in and first is sliced in half. 2 mins later, max, the second is removed and the machine switched off. I grab some water and head through to gorge myself on melted cheese and fried bread - gosh that's good!
It's now between 1 and 2 in the afternoon, so I figured I should go and shower to remove the BO from the pits that was beginning to form and the cheese juice that has dripped on my chest and around my mouth. Still worth it though! Seriously guys, you will never know the struggle of keeping tops stain free around your chest. Something drips for you, it's generally going to fall straight down from your mouth and land on your plate or at worst your lap. For us women, there are two lumps of varying shapes and sizes in the way of the free falling food. It's like a base jumper jumping off a cliff and going straight down, or one who picks the wrong side of the ravine and ends up smacking off the boulders on the way down. The number of tops I've ruined from the wrong sort of drip hitting the wrong colour of top, right on my chest..... I've lost count!
So up the stairs I go, put the shower on, fetch towels, strip off, clamber into the bath and stand under the shower. Lots of bending and stretching to reach and scrub everything and everywhere, including two extended 'arms over the head' moments as I wash and condition my hair, and then rinse the conditioner out a few minutes later. Out of the bath I climb and wrap myself in the towels - one for the body and one for the hair, and then downstairs I come - exhausted. Sit down in my chair - stuff the neighbours, if they want to nose in my windows rudely, then they can see my betowelled form and be horrified! - and promptly fall asleep, exhausted.
I wake up, and it's now 5:30 - phew, not late! But damn, where did the day go?! - and I'm still all towelled up. Only reason I'm not cold is because the three cats have decided to become a large fluffy blanket for me..... thanks guys! Groggily, I get into action and head upstairs once more. All the cracks and crevices that were still damp are dried off, anti-persperant/deoderant is applied, clothes are sought and put on, and then downstairs once more, and another sit down for a few moments. Then hair dryer is retreived from its home, and it's plugged in. Hair is dried and styled, and shoes are found and fitted to my feet. Flagging again, but it's 6:30. So time to call a taxi, and then time for a quick seat, before it's off I go, after some more pills.
Taxi driver is nice and we chat amicably, before he drops me round the corner from where I need to be -as where I need to be is pedestrianised. Oh dear. Forgot about that. So I'm walking then? Great. Up the hill I go, round the corner, down the street, round a corner, up a hill, and there's the pub I'm meeting my friends in........... and the gin! Double G+T thank you very much, and this one comes with cucumber! Weird, but we'll give it a go - and yes! New favourite thing! If you like G+T, try it with cucumber in instead of lime or lemon or whatever else. You'll thank me for it! Then it's a short walk to the theatre, up in the lift, and a short walk to the seats. Lots of leg room - ie my knees aren't touching the barrier in front, but the angle and back are as uncomfortable as expected.
The show is very funny - Dillie Keane from Fascinating Aïda fame - and wonderfully filthy. When you've got a 65 year old woman singing about Tinder, wishing she was a lesbian, and one night stands, you know it's a good night. However, I can't fully enjoy the first act as I can't get comfortable and the pain that's radiating out into my left shoulder is seriously doing my head in! Interval comes and more gin is applied, as well as an ice cream, and I move seats to some down the side. They are slightly higher off the floor, there's no-one beside me, and I can freely lean on the wall of the circle in front of me, to ease that blasted back pain. Perfect! Second half is much more comfortable, and so is enjoyed a lot more..... then it's back to the pub. Seat is kinda comfortable, made more so when I discover that sticking my left elbow out to rest on the back of the seat beside me all but removes the pain in the shoulder, and causes minimal pain in the small of my back. More gin! This is now my third double, and finally the pain is starting to b*gger off. Good chat and lots of laughs, and 2 more doubles are consumed, and then it's chucking out time. So another taxi home.....
However, this taxi drivers chat isn't as good as the first. He asks what I do for a living and I explain that I don't work as I'm currently going through cancer treatment and am unable to work because of the pain etc. And you know what? He's a medical expert! Who knew! Apparently the doctors are lying to me about my cancer, and bananas have caused it....... So I need to stop eating bananas and instead eat red/black grapes as they will reverse the damage done by the cancer causing bananas...... Oh! And the doctors are lying to me too, about my inability to work, so I should ignore them and just go to work. Ummm..... ok crazy man. Can I get out now? Ta very much!
So I'm home, I watch a bit of TV, and I head to bed after a very enjoyable evening that was well worth the effort it took to get out of the house.
Then the morning arrives, which is where we find me now. And ow! My body is punishing me for the night out, and for suppressing the pain with alcohol so I could relax. It's not a hangover, I'm very fortunate in that I don't get drunk enough to cause them, and even when I do get a little more than tipsy, a hangover isn't usually on the cards. Instead, it's the movements I made and the seats I sat in last night, all those positions that would have caused me pain at the time, but didn't because of the pain killing effect of the alcohol, coming back to haunt me. I feel like someone has grabbed my spine and twisted it, like they are wringing out a cloth, then have pegged it up - as the stabbing feeling in my left shoulder assures me. And someone has taken a blunt knife, and tried to saw me in half down around the lower back. Fun eh?! *Eyes time* Can't take the pain pills yet though, thyroxine is still trying to be absorbed, and then I need to take the stomach protector, and THEN I can take the pain pills.
So there's all the pay offs. You need to do something? Well, then you need time to rest and nap. You want to have a fun night out? Well, the next day you're going to suffer for it!
But!
Knowing it's going to happen means you can prepare for it - or be prepared for your friend/family member to go through it. It means that you can weigh up whether or not it's worth doing, because you know what's going to happen before and after you do whatever it is. And if the doing is worth the pain and effort and exhaustion - then go for it and don't be afraid! DoI regret last night because of all I went through to get out, and then all I'm going to go through today? Absolutely not! I had a fabulous time last night with two amazing people and a couple of the best friends you could ask for. It was worth every nap, every ache, and every pain. And I look forward to doing it again!
