Pointy Pete's poorly pericarditis predicament - thought that sounded enough of a tongue twister!! Well eventually, hubby got his appointment at the chest pain clinic on thursday. He turned up beautifully kitted out in his sports gear ready for a run on the treadmill. We stuck out like sore thumbs - everyone else was overweight and old!! This appointment came 16 days after he first went to the GP with his chest pain and strange tightness in his chest and when it was first noticed his ecg was abnormal so I'm not overally impressed.
They firstly did an ecg which was 'pointy' and so they thought he had pericarditis but wanted to do an echo. The echo showed he does have pericarditis as they could still see a pocket of fluid at the top of his heart and the pericardial (outer) layer was still inflammed but as his ecg was better than the previous ones they felt it was best to leave it and just take ibruprofen if he was in pain. He was relieved that it wasn't more serious but it is a nuisance that it has taken so long to get a proper diagnosis. At least, it sounds better than a 'viral infection'. I was surprised by my retention of knowledge as that's what I thought he had when he first mentioned it, all that time ago so obviously my cardiac course taught me something then that stayed in my brain!
otherwise, all Ok here apart form I'm getting quite a few twitches in my left shoulder from the nerve damage/irritation so upped the tablets last night and have been spaced out all day in a very sleepy way!! We did manage to go to see Arthur and the Invisibles which I enjoyed more than I thought but I didn't recognise David Bowies or Madonna's voices or Mia Farrow!! Not sure if that was my ignorance, poor sound quality or my sleepiness!!
Meant to be seeing the Hugh Grant film next week. Anybody been to see it yet?

Chinese New Year - it's been a long time since I saw a Chinese New Year celebration but having had that meal on friday night I felt quite in the mood to go and watch. Hubby and the twins cycled into the city and AJ and I took the bus. We saw 2 dragons and about 6 lions dancing. It was noisy, crowded but fun. It was very odd though seeing a man leaning out of a chinese restaurant on the first floor holding out a fishing rod with chinese leaves and a red card hanging off the end. Eventually a lion took it and then tore the leaves into little shreds and threw it into the crowds. Unfortunately, I got muddled with the buses on the way home and ended up with a rather long walk up a hill to get home so ended up in bed for the rest of the afternoon. Bring back siestas!!

Pancake Day - firstly this required a good spell of housework before the guests arrived. Hubby did a brill job of cleaning and hoovering so think he is better now just because he's got his chest pain clinic appointment tomorrow!!
I did hotdogs for the children (with help of course) and chilli and baked potatoes for the adults. We decided it was best to do the food for the children first and then we could have our dinner and panckaes peacefully(!) afterwards. There were 7 children and they ahd 3 pancakes each superbly cooked by my friends husband. He wasn't that impressed by my mixture so for the adult pancakes we did it the Delia Smith way and added melted butter to the mixture and I sieved the flour. This made the mixture extra scrummy and so a fair number of pancakes were consumed by the adults and a couple of children came back for more. He must have cooked something in the region of 40 pancakes and all looked and tasted wonderful. If you ever need a pancake maker you'll have to email me and I'll pass them on to see if he will do a special deal for you!!

Goodbye Jeremy Clarkson - in recent weeks I've gone from Poodle, to microphone head to Jeremy Clarkson (minus the bald patch) in the hairstyle looks. Today, I finally had had enough of getting odd looks and getting upset by my horrible reflection. I burst into tears at a hairdressers who thought I was upset because I'd had a bad perm!!! Anyway, she promised me she could do something with my hair if I returned later. 2 hours later I went back and she has indeed transformed me with the aid of good scissorwork and straighteners and plenty of gel and hairspray and I look more like the old me but just a darker hair version. I'm not really sure what this will look like in the morning especially if I go out in the forecasted rain ( I can see why my mum and gran always used to go out in the rain with those plastic rain hats so that their hairstyle didn't go fluffy) or whether I can wield the straighteners with the same finesse she managed but today I feel and look more like me, just with black hair rather than brown. My real concern is that as she has cut so much off the sides and back and left the top longer if I don't manage to straighten my hair I will resemble Jeremy even more but without the bald spot of course!!! Any tips on using straighteners will be greatly recieved and let's hope that the big guy himself never strays into my blog but I would like to say as a family we do like Top Gear!!

Gwen Stefani has been found!!! - not sure if I mentioned this before but I lost her in my house - the new CD that is!! I ordered it at the beginning of december for my niece's christmas present and then couldn't find it. I hoped I would find it for her birthday in January but alas she was still awol. For some very odd reason, hubby found it last week on top of the tumble dryer which is under a unit along with the book from the hospice social worker which I'd also lost. So if anybody is interested in having this CD please let me know!!!

School Valentine Disco - This was the first time that Woody had ever shown an interest in going to the disco. I realised he actually had no decent trousers to wear!! He has lots of day to day sports wear stuff but nothing suitable for a dress up night. In the end I managed to buy a pair of black jeans for £4 which he liked and fitted reasonably well as long as he kept his belt fastened up!! Laura looked amazing - I put some eyeshadow on her and with her little disco skirt and high heels she looked much older than 9 - well nearly 10. we actually managed to do the 'green' thing and shared lifts up to the school and on the return journey. It does seem ludicrous for 4 parents to take a child up to the school when we could share lifts!! it did also mean that hubby could go out on his morris minor night and AJ could go to sleep at a decent time.
Friday night - was Beaver sleepover. You would not believe how much stuff 2 boys had to take for 1 night. By the time I'd packed 2 sleeping bags, 2 fleecy blankets, 2 small pillows, welly boots and clothes they had an astonishing 5 bags!! It seemed a bit of a waste of time packing any clothes as AJ 'forgot' to take his underpants off so wore them for 48 hours and Woody couldn't 'find' his pyjamas so slept in his cub uniform!! The toothbrushes came back dry, the soap still in its wrapper and the flannels and towels unused!! Wonder what will happen when Woody goes for a week long camp in july. Last time on the school trip which lasted 4 nights and 5 days he only managed to wear 2 pairs of underpants and 2 T shirts!!
While hubby was organising the boys at the camp, I was busy putting on my party clothes for a chinese meal with my old work colleagues. It was a fantastic place and the food was first class and really brilliant value for money. It was £17.88 for 4 courses. It was also full of chinese students so presumably that meant it was a good place to eat. The only problem when I got home I couldn't sleep as I was too full so went to bed after midnight!!

One of the highlights of my week, sadly enough was that on the third attempt, we got 2 of our policies ratified at work. It still fell down on missing some full stops at the end of a sentence in a box but hey it was a huge success!!! I wanted to hug everyone in the room and celebrate with champagne. Instead, in the refined Great British tradition, I just said 'thank you'. I did recieve a 20 page document called 'Policy on Policies' which I haven't read yet - I might find I've done something wrong so think I will save that for a day when life really doesn't feel like living!!
Valentine's day was a total non-event - hubby poorly and me poorly and we jhad to collect Laura home from school at lunch time as her tummy pain was so bad. We just didn't do anything to celebrate which was very odd really but it didn't bother us!! We did have a lovely dinner cooked for us by a friend so that made up for things and we didn't buy into any commercialism!!!
Results day - my appointment was at 1045 and we were seen about 15 minutes after that time so a huge improvement!! We did nab the woman from pALS on the way into the unit as I felt I should have recieved my letter back from the chief executive after my meeting. Apparently, it is being circulated for the relevant parties opinions before it is sent to me. It will be interesting to see if it reflects what we felt happened!!
We saw the lovely female registrar who said they were amazing results from vineralbine as it shows that my bony secondaries are smaller and are showing signs of healing and that my liver one has shrunk from 12mm to 4mm and the one under my arm has gone from 25mm to 11mm. The ones in my lungs have shrunk as well. We knew they would be good as I'm so much better than I was in September when I could only walk about 110yds and not even climb my stairs in one go. However, it was scary to think that the one under my arm measured about 1cm at the beginning of august but had increased to over 2.5 cms in 4 weeks. That is some speed of growth. they have always said my cancer was very aggressive and now you can see how aggresive it is.
The odd thing was that neither myself nor hubby could get very excited about the results as we'd been there before. It definately is a rollercoaster ride with cancer.
We eventually left the unit about 4pm after the herceptin and zaledronic acid. I'm so pleased to have drawn that arm of the trial to recieve the zaledronic acid - I think that has really helped my bones to heal and no side effects. I even like the calcium and vitamin D tablets I chew daily - lovely lemony flavour.

What a week - Hubby has been getting odd palpitations and strange chest pains all week and so he saw the GP who did an ECG which found something abnormal (tented T waves if you are interested!!!) so was sent off for blood tests. He was very worried about how much blood they would take and if he could get home afterwards alright!!!) They all came back fine but the next ECG was even more odd so now has an appointment with the chest pain clinic next week!!
I've got a chest infection and the antibiotics are helping my chest pain and the breathing - I was beginning to panic that I was going downhill quick but am feeling better now. That was a struggle to get to see the GP - I had to pull the cancer secondary string to get an appointment but came out with strong antibiotics so I was right. I hate being disbelieved!!!
Poor Laura has developed the same tummy pains she had at the exact time as last year so hubby took her to casualty sunday night about 1030pm and by 0245 there were still 11 people in front of her and as she had been plied with so many painkillers she felt better so they came home. She wasn't too bad yesterday but bad again today so will have to chase doctor tomorrow for referral for paediatric assessment.
All in all - not a happy family are we!!

Being an Aquarian - I don't think I've read my horoscope for many years now but somehow have retained some memories of traits etc of certain star signs. I can not remember if Aquarius is a 'water' sign but I know the image is always of some person pouring water out of some container so I associate it as a 'wet' sign. Wet environments do seem to attract themselves to me and I have to say to 2 of my relatives (names withheld to spare their embarassment but I might be tempted so beware.........) and their recent watery experiences who also happen to be Aquarians. One of them fell into a stream recently and the other manged to break their washing machine and flooded their flat and the one below. Last night as I came into the house from being at a friends and having a couple of glasses of wine, I heard the sound of running water as I entered the house. I turned the light on in the kitchen and saw that the tap was on and the sinks had plugs in and were full of bleachy water. The water was overflowing down the front of the cupboard and onto the floor. As I was wearing fairly decent clothes I jsut turned the tap off and got dressed in clothes that didn't matter if they got ruined by bleach. I set to work at clearing up - it was by this time 11.45pm and I wanted my bed!! I found not only had this bleachy water dripped and run all over the kitchen floor but it had also gone through the back seal of the sink and flooded the cupboard so I had to empty the cupboard of playdough, paint, soap powder, shoe cleaning stuff and other very odd things and mop up. Oh well, it was one way of getting the floor cleaned.
That started me thinking of other watery problems I'd encountered.

• the flat in Willesden Green that got flooded in a flash summer downpour. The water came in through the back door and flooded the bathroom, kitchen and lounge. The landlord's contribution to the smelly carpets the flood caused was to give us a bottle of 'shake and vac'
• the flat in Putney which had an upside down arrangement so the bedrooms were downstairs and level with next doors garden even though when you entered at the top you were on the ground level!! Here my bedroom was tiny and had a tiny fanlight window. I went away over christmas and came back to a bedroom full of water because the overflow pipe had been placed at such an angle that water instead of dripping out the end of it, trickled back along it and into my window. That flat also had a flat roof and one day water came through the centre light!!
• a holiday chalet on Hayling Island where we'd left my niece in the care of the babysitting service and gone to the night club to come back to discover water pouring through the bathroom roof and through the lightswitches. We got moved pretty smartish despite it being midnight!!
• the house in south croydon which looked beautifully decorated when we moved in but came apparent very quickly that there was a big damp problem and when it got cold all the pipes froze so we couldn't use the loo or bath until it thawed - bit awkward that
• my house in Ashford where the hot water tank suddenly started to leak and I had to leave it on all the time to keep the pipes expanded so that water wouldn't weep out for 3 days until the plumber could come.
• Our house now - when we moved in we discovered that there was a fault in the valve so that the heating came on whenever you put the hot water on. As it was summer, it was rather hot until we could get that sorted out and no plumber has ever sorted out all the strange pipework the previous owner put in
• blocked sewers here - hubby's favourite job
• AJ - flooding our stairwell when we went out for the afternoon!!! He had put the plug in the sink after washing his hands but left the tap running so it overflowed, all through the bathroom and down through the ceiling and into downstairs

As an Aquarian, I remember that I'm supposed to get on with Librans (luckily my Hubby is one) and Geminis (my sister) and clash with Taureans. That is a bit unfortunate since all 3 children are born under a taurean sky - explains a lot I suppose.

I'm sure Aquarians are supposed to be eccentric - no comments please - but I was very tempted to wear my new bright green shoes with my wonderful deep red skirt today!!!

Actually, I've now googled Aquarian traits and this is what it says - Traditional Aquarian Traits
Friendly and humanitarian. Honest and loyal. Original and inventive. Independent and intellectual ummm - I would like to think this is all true - please don't disillusion me!!

On the dark side....Intractable and contrary. Perverse and unpredictable. Unemotional and detached - ask my nearest and dearest what they think. Unemotional - would tend to say the opposite but I know I am in certain situations. Me - contrary, pereverse and unpredictable - never!!!

Just found another bit from this site and apparently Aquarians
LIKE
Fighting for Causes
Dreaming and Planning for the Future
Thinking of the Past
Good Companions
Having Fun

Yep - I fight for causes - need to tell you about my PALS meeting. Dreaming and planning for the future - well that's changed. Good comapnion - sounds like I'm a pet. Having fun - would like to think so but not always able to do this

DISLIKES
Full of Air Promises
Excessive Loneliness
The Ordinary
Imitations
Idealistic

Probably but I'm not against imitations

and even more!!!

Possible Health Concerns...As Aquarius is said to govern the legs from knees to ankles and the circulation of blood, its natives are susceptible to ailments particularly in the legs and ankles, such as cramps, and are also liable to spasmodic and nervous complaints, as well as wind, catarrh, diarrhea, dropsy, goiter and delirium tremens - so that the avoidance of alcohol is important for those Aquarians who have a taste for it. Hmphhh - now think this is a load of ****** Avoiding alcohol - no chance. As for wind, dropsy and delirium tremors - no comment. Knees to ankles - I always thought they were better part of me!!!

Oh well - good job I don't take this too seriously then. Quick - find me a glass of wine so I can be perverse, fun and a good companion who will think of the past and dream of the future!! Then suffer with wind, dropsy and bad ankles.