It's too darn hot

I have come to the realisation that I talk about the weather A LOT. Not in general conversation I don't think, but clearly I do here. Maybe because I always think of song titles to do with the weather?! Anywho, it was horrid when we left Glasgow on Sunday and when we arrived in London it was a total heatwave! Apparently it was hotter than the Caribbean.. As you probably know, I hate the heat so hadn't really packed for this. Oh well. I also loaded up on the sunscreen (as I am doing daily, even if I don't leave the house!). It was lovely to see Daphne again and she very kindly put up with us again! The next morning we were up bright and early to see the Prof and made our way to Charing Cross. I find it strange, that even though I've not been to London for two months, it feels like I've never been away. Very odd indeed. Anyway, we were at the hospital quite early so the Prof took us in straight away and was as positive as ever. He said it is great news that my HCG has remained below 5 since November and this is a very good sign. However, we are not to become too reliant on my HCG marker, as my tumour did behave rather unusually. He said that my hearing will not improve, but I would probably not benefit from a hearing aid at the moment. His specialist nurse, Sarah, was also there and kept on saying how much she loved my short hair! Quite a few people have said that I really suit it like this and I'm not sure if people are just being kind or genuinely mean it! I do quite like it, but I miss it being long.. We chatted for a while and I then went for a Chest X Ray (just protocol apparently). I have to make another appointment with him at the end of August/beginning of September. All in all, he was incredibly positive. I really like going to see him, he always answers every question we have (which is normally a lot) and never shies away from the truth. He has always been very honest with me which I really appreciate too.

After this, Dad and I headed to the V&A Museum for a look about. I was desperate to go to the Grace Kelly Exhibition there last year but whenever we booked tickets, I was always in hospital! How annoying. At the moment, there is an exhibition on called, 'The Cult of Beauty', which focuses on the artists of The Aesthetic Movement in the late 19th century. I don't know all that much about art, but I really fancied seeing this one. Tickets were £12 (what?!) so I thought I'd chance it, and see if I could get a discount with my disabled badge.. Turns out, you get in for free with 'two carers' if your flash your badge! So Dad (my carer..) and I got in for free - that was pretty good! I really enjoyed it and noticed that in a lot of paintings, many of the girls had ginger/red hair. One quote that was all over the exhibition was that the Aesthetic Movement was, 'Art for Art's Sake' - basically art existed in order to be beautiful. So, in essence, this means Rossetti, Whistler etc considered red hair to be beautiful - hurrah! I've never really liked my red hair, but I guess I just got used to it. I have definitely missed it since being bald though! I think it's only on for a couple more weeks, but it was really good. By this point, I was feeling rather tired and my feet started to hurt (stupid flat shoes) so we would look at a few galleries, sit, look at a few more, sit, look at some sculptures, get an ice tea.. Well you get the jist. After hitting the gift shop, we decided it was about time to go to Heathrow so we had plenty time to get dinner before the flight home. I loved the V&A, I would definitely go back again and DEFINITELY wear trainers.

My energy has improved so much - I would never have been able to go around a museum two months ago. I am finding as the weeks go by, I am able to do more and more. I find this prospect rather exciting as soon I will hopefully be able to do things that I used to do all the time!

On Monday it was James' birthday (19 years old.. Scary). Poor James isn't too well and constantly in a lot of pain due to a slipped disc in his back, so he couldn't do too much. Last night we went out for dinner to Mother India's Cafe and Teenie and Mum made an amazing cake for him..

The enthusiastic cutting of the cake..

This is a rather cringey photo of myself to show how long my hair is!

I'm not doing too much today - just tidying up my room (kind of..) and listening to some music. I went on a bit of CD spree the other day so I'm mixing it up with Beyonce, Bon Iver and The Pierces.. Years ago, Clare and I went to see Albert Hammond Junior and The Pierces were supporting him - I remember really enjoying them. Clare reminded me of them again recently so I thought I'd give their album a listen, it's pretty good so far. Here is a picture of the best day of Clare's life..

AHJ doesn't look very happy to be with us but I'm sure he's overjoyed on the inside.

Tonight I'm off to the theatre with Teenie and my chum Gavin so that will be great fun. I also have a 20s themed Murder Mystery Party on Friday which I am very excited about. I have a new wig for the occasion but need to get my costume sorted. On Saturday, Mum, Teenie, Ruth and I are going up to Fearn to visit Granny as she's just had her hip done. The Operation was last Tuesday and she has done remarkably well since then. I can't wait to go up and visit her, we've not been up north for so long. While we're up there, I hope we will be able to see some family and friends too.Well, I'm off to make some lunch - Happy Wednesday!

Plane plane go away

I am currently drinking berry tea and listening to Elaine Paige on Radio 2.. However, I am supposed to be getting ready to go to London for the night. I cannot be bothered AT ALL. I have an appointment with the Prof tomorrow morning - if only I could have a check up through Skype. Unfortunately not. We have a list of questions to ask but I think it is literally just to see how I'm doing. I am feeling, physically, a lot stronger and am managing to do more by myself everyday (except this morning, I couldn't move from my bed). I am trying to do more walking so I am slowly building up my strength. Some of the family came round on Thursday night and each person commented on how long my hair was - yaldi!

Anywho, I best be off - just thought I'd post a wee update!

Smooth Operator

So, my Magnesium is still pretty low. How annoying. There's debate between the doctors whether a Magnesium infusion would help or if I should just continue taking the supplements. Nobody seems to know! I had my blood tested again today so finger's crossed it's increased. Apparently dark chocolate helps increase Magnesium levels.. I LOVE Green & Black's (I think that's what it's called...) dark chocolate with cherries so I'm not too gutted about the fact I've to eat some.

I've not been up to too much recently, just meeting up with chums and the like. Big news though... I GOT THE TRAIN ON FRIDAY NIGHT. Teenie was with me but still, it's progress like! I'm hoping to go into town tomorrow so I want to try and get it myself.. This sounds so lame but this is actually a pretty big deal to me now!

Here's a picture of James and I at Waga's, you can see how much my hair has grown in! Slowly but surely..

This was a wedding cake Ruth, Stef and I saw in Edinburgh on Saturday. We went into the shop to have a nosey and they were all amazing.

Yesterday Teenie and I met Barbara and the babies at the park which was great fun! I am such a big kid.

Ok, so my internet is being really dodgy so I will leave this here for now!

PS - the song title is no relation to the blog post.. It's just in my head. No idea why.

Hat/hair...?

I feel like I have had an incredibly busy few weeks and things have now started to calm down. I didn't wake up until 11.30 this morning and even though I was rather restless, I am definitely sleeping better. I feel like my hands have picked up a lot more in these past few weeks, but my feet are still pretty tingly. I went to get my hearing tested again and it has got slightly worse since the last round of High Dose. The hearing test consists of wearing headphones and pushing a button whenever you can hear a sound. The sounds are quite high pitched and I was struggling trying to figure out what was my tinnitus, and what the sounds from the machine were. She advised that I probably wouldn't benefit from a hearing aid at the moment as it might just highlight/aggravate what I'm finding hard to hear. She also pointed out that I have narrow ear canals which doesn't help.. I have been told this before but thought it was a load of rubbish! Apparently it's an actual 'thing'.

On Friday I went for a (rather long) walk around Drumpellier Country Park with Jamie and Teenie and we also met up with Barbara and Mark to feed the ducks which was lovely! I forgot how much fun it was feeding ducks! It was such a warm day and it was the first day I went without wearing a hat.. I felt very strange not wearing a hat as I don't think my hair is at an 'acceptable length' yet.

On Friday night we went to see X Men: First Class which was GREAT. I love Superhero films and this one was ace. I would totally go and see it again. On Saturday we went to Esther's Fashion Show which was really exciting! It was also really good getting to catch up with Auntie Rosemary as we haven't seen her for ages. The show was at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Esther's designs looked so good on the catwalk. I had seen her drawings of them and I was so impressed to see the finished product. Esther is clearly one talented girl - we were all very proud of her.

On Saturday night it was my friend Chloe's hen night which was so much fun. It was great being out and I managed to stay in my heels all night! Also, Chloe - you were clearly the best at the karaoke.

On Monday my friend Will managed to get tickets for the X Factor so we made our way (with Martin) to the SECC. The 'performers' were actually a lot better than I thought they would be. However, there were a MILLION covers of any Adele song which got a bit samey. It was great fun though, we had a hoot!

Now that it's getting sunnier (some days) and my hair is starting to come back, I'm starting to think about how best to protect my skin. I've been told I need to wear SPF at all times (well, when outdoors) and to cover up in the sun. I have enlisted my BFF Ruth to help me research what are the best products. There is very little information about skincare after chemo on the internet which I am surprised about. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

It's June?!

Well hello there! I have been rather busy of late so I thought I would put up a few pics of what I've been doing.. Last Wednesday it was my cousin Grace's birthday and all the Glasgow based cousins were there. It was lovely! 

I can't believe how old we are all getting! Crazy. It's nice that at the moment we're all based in Glasgow but by September, Grace and Teenie are both moving to Edinburgh - that will be WEIRD.

On Thursday night we went to Wagamama's for dinner (yum) and then Rona, Teenie, Ruth and I went to an evening organised by the Teenage Cancer Trust to find out more about the charity.

It was a really interesting evening and we found out a lot about the new centre that they are currently raising money for in Edinburgh. I had never heard of the TCT before I was diagnosed but I have been so thankful for them. Most of my treatment was carried out in the Beatson and when I was in other hospitals I really noticed a difference. It is so nice having flexible visiting hours, internet access and even a microwave (probably one of the best parts of the 'Chill Out Zone')! If you came to visit me at the Beatson, you would've seen my swanky room which was pretty ace. However, TCT are not all about Sky TV and Playstations, they offer huge support for teenagers and young adults with cancer. My specialist nurse, Julie, has been amazing and I would've been totally lost without her. In Scotland, 6 teenagers or young adults are diagnosed with cancer every week and TCT are determined to open more specialist units over the country. TCT have a twitter (which you can follow) and they also have a website if you want to find out more... http://www.teenagecancertrust.org/ My friend Lynsey wrote a blog about this recently and I am kind of just repeating what she said! Have a look here... http://photosthoughtscupcakes.blogspot.com/2011/05/teenage-cancer-trust.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook . I am really keen to get more involved with TCT and now that I'm starting to feel a bit better I hope I can!

On Friday I was on the go all day just tidying up and packing for the weekend. We were due to leave about 7ish and literally just as we were about to get in the car, I had to lie down. I had a huge wave of fatigue which hit me really suddenly. I haven't had a hit of tiredness like that for a while so it kind of threw me. I lay down for a wee while then managed to pick myself up for the drive up the road! On Saturday it was our friend Gill's wedding in St Andrews and it was such a beautiful setting. Gill and Mark got married in St Salvator's Chapel which was gorgeous. I took hardly any pictures so I will need to steal some from someone else! Gill looked amazing, her dress was stunning. It was a lovely sunny day too, only a little bit windy which wasn't good with such a flowy skirt!

Teenie, me and James before the wedding.

We spent the rest of the weekend in St Andrews and it was really nice to get away. We went to church in St Andrews on Sunday and it was a really nice service - the singing was great! On Monday Ruth came through for the day and we went to Anstruther for fish and chips.

I hadn't been to St Andrews in years and it was nice having a relaxing weekend away. I am desperate to go somewhere else now! Last night I watched The Apprentice with some chums and today I went to see my friend Dawn's new house. I now feel totally wiped! Think tonight will be a quiet one. This weekend it is my cousin Esther's fashion show and my friend Chloe's hen night - busy busy again! I had my blood checked on Tuesday and my counts are still a little bit on the low side but they're definitely picking up. Anyway, sorry for the photo heavy post. I thought I'd just write a wee update! Laters!