Bad Week

Apologies for long silence - but since Tuesday morale has been low on the Other Side. A nurse told me at the beginning of this that after the third chemo people often felt rubbish - combination of fatigue and the shock of diagnosis. I should have planned a few more 'treats' or to see people as that always helps but just didn't have the energy really. Anyway - forced myself out of the malaise at the weekend and had dinner with kids at Karen and Tim's which was really nice - particularly as France won the rugby - Luc now decided he is in fact half French.

On Sunday we had a walk around Regents Park - beautiful Autumnal day - which was good for morale but rubbish for legs which actually started trembling after about half an hour. Have resolved to walk for about an hour a day whenever I can to get some muscle strength back. Totally pathetic. Tomorrow my walk will be around John Lewis as I sadly have to take my gorgeous red towels back as they are shedding all over the house and the au pair. On Wed I have yoga followed by reflexology so that should also get the circulation going - and then - can you believe it - chemo number 4 on Thursday.

Apart from forcing myself out of the house - the other spirit lifting thing I have done is become a member of a fantastic site called Cancer Buddies Network (Thanks Tam) where you can drone on to people in a similar situation instead of offloading on long suffering spouse.

I will be sending emails instead of Xmas cards this year and donating the money saved to them as they charge nothing and are a complete life saver at times like these. I will also be holding a coffee morning at some point next year as a fundraiser so watch this space! If anyone is looking for a new charity to support this year - please bear this one in mind... You can find them at www.cancerbuddiesnetwork.org.

Other than the big C - life goes on pretty much as normal for everyone else. Emily won't stop banging on about having a mobile phone - and I made the stupid mistake of suggesting she did a straw poll to see how many of her friends actually had one. Yup - all of them. She is, in fact, the only child in her wide circle of friends not to have a bloody phone. What is the point? All I can see looming ahead is years of arguing on it and about it. It's not as if she has to travel anywhere on public transport. Francois was even more vehement on this than me but on Sat night I saw distinct cracks in his resolve when telling Karen and Tim about the 'very nice pink one' he had seen while taking Emily to the orthodontist...

Luc thrilled to receive giant package from Joe H filled with Arsenal goodies - including signed pics of Walcott and Fabregas. I could see him thinking that this cancer thing is not all bad...
Other than that he has stopped tormenting the aupair - and turned down the rantometer. Major emotional blow up last week seems to have cleared the air. It's not easy for me but it's probably harder for everyone else.

Francois busy as ever at work with new boy starting today and wine show looming - but England Vs France this weekend might (or might not) help...