Who could ask for more?

Mission 4 accomplished!
Chemo administered on Thursday.
The oncologist, the lovely Spanish Martini, is pleased. She hugs & kisses both Gary & me - just her way! My white blood cell count pretty good,  thanks to the self injecting bone marrow booster I now have. Red blood cell count dropping - not so good. Causing breathlessness (thought I was becoming an unfit lazy madam - sitting down for three months!), tiredness, anaemia, pale skin etc. Will be monitored but a blood transfusion on the cards  Hopefully before Christmas - to give me a perky pick me up. Two thirds of the way through. 66.6% of chemo course now whizzing round my whole body - seeking out & zapping naughty stray cancer cells.
The bottom of the mountain is definitely in sight.
Next round scheduled for Dec 29th. It's good timing, because the last week before chemo I do feel pretty good & that covers (hopefully this time!) the main Christmas days.
Aunty Jean - who many of you know, is arriving on Wed 21st Dec. Last minute Christmas shopping Friday. Lily is Mary at the church Nativity on Christmas Eve. An invite for mulled wine & mince pies follows at some great friends who have been having Lily for tea every week since my chemo started (Big Thanks!x).
And then - Santa's coming! Yippee!

I am incredibly lucky you know....
I have fairy godmothers/fathers..aka Mum & Dad. I happen to mention that, due to the chemo, the skin on my hands is splitting. Covered in plasters - look like I have shaken hands with Edward Scissorhands! They turn up, a few hours later with two types of hand cream, some soft white cotton gloves for bedtime, and two pairs of Marigolds for daytime! Cool! Dad also produces, hand-reared home cured bacon, home-made scotch eggs, homemade bakewell tarts.(But no goat!) Mum sets about the ironing. How blessed am I? Thank you x.
I have a VBF who give me a virtual slap when I'm being daft or maudlin. Who gives me brilliant pep talks. Who sends me love in bucket loads. She should be a life coach. Love you.
Another friend wanted to travel 200 miles by train, to take me for lunch & travel 200 miles back again in one day. I had to pass - not quite up to it - but a brilliant idea - and I'm truly lucky. Thanks mate. Love you x
I have other special friends who do things for me without me asking - particularly with Lily. New friendships have been formed because of the daft predicament I'm in. And I'm grateful.
Then there's the Hospice - who have come up trumps. Our local hospice is sort of in two parts. Of course there is the place where folks go to have a peaceful, loving, pain free end and then there is a section for folks like me. Life-threatening illness, undergoing treatment, needing some external support. I had a great counselling session last week. I went in. Blubbed for an hour solid. Spent 90% time talking about Gary - whom I knew I was worried about, but didn't realise quite how much. Got a few things straight in my head.
On Monday I went there again for a Reiki massage. Now I'm not going to be rude about it (!) - when you are in my position - you'll take anything on offer! But lets say it wasn't the Hamam, hot Turkish bath, slap & rough rub, massage I've had several times in Turkey. Nor was it the two beautiful big black mamas massage we had in St Lucia - who got rid of every knot or tight muscle that ever existed. Nor was it the tiny four foot nothing, weighing 5 stone Thai girls, who gave us a true Thai massage on a fabulous holiday in Thailand, while we were wearing cotton pyjamas. Now they did tie us in knots - literally - I know I'm double-jointed in places - Lily inherited it from me - but good heavens - I saw places on my body I'd never seen before! No. This was having a chat about specific worries. My urgent one of Christmas. Lying on a bed. The room smells nice. There's twinkly Japanese music in the back ground. The Reiki master places her very warm hands on my feet. Then moves up my body. Gently. No massage. Through the use of this technique, practitioners believe that they are transferring universal energy (reiki) in the form of ki (a living thing) through the palms that allows for self-healing and a state of equilibrium. Not normally for me. A bit hocus-pocus. I probably wouldn't ordinarily sign up for it. But you know what - I lay down, in comfort, relaxed, told myself to stop fretting about Christmas, somebody was taking care of me. It was nice. Did I feel energy? No not really. But I'll do it again. Why not? And I'm grateful. I feel lucky to have that service, free of charge, to be offered to humble old me.
So yes. I'm incredibly lucky.
A wonderfully supportive extended family.
A whole network of friends, old and new.
Huge groups of folks I don't know round the world, praying for me.
Fantastic local NHS hospital/GP service, sorting at speed, my diagnosis and treatment.
A Charity run hospice filling in the gaps of counselling and complimentary therapy.
And Gary.
And Lily.
Who could ask for more?
Not me.
No.
Not me. x