Tuesday 15 December 2009

It's Chriiiistmaaaassss! (in the style of Mr N Holder)

Hello All!
Well, all is set for the Allo in the New Year. I'm due to go in on Friday 15th Jan, with the actual transplant to take place on the 20th. The two weeks before I go in are a mental round of appointments in Brighton and at the Marsden, for various tests and not forgetting, of course, the lovely Hickman line insertion. Mmmm...can't wait for that one! I just love having cables hanging out of my chest! It's a bit like having "Hey everyone! I've got cancer!" tattooed across your forehead. Oh well, gotta be done, I suppose. The upside of the utter bunfight of those two weeks is that they'll be such a collosal pain in the arse, that I'll be glad to get into hopsital for a bleedin' rest! At least I know a bit of what to expect this time - I know I'm not having the same treatment as last time, but I know more about ward routines, etc. Scant comfort - can you hear that strange sound? It's straws being clutched at!
I intend to blog regularly after Christmas, during the lead up to going in to hospital and also once I'm there, but (unless something really worth telling happens!) this will be my last post for 2009. I'm planning to spend Christmas in a haze of alcohol, seafood and lightly-cooked eggs (and all the other things that will be verboten, post-allo) - can't wait!
Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas and I'll be bothering you all again in the New Year.
With love and snogs under the mistletoe,
Amanda xxx

Sunday 6 December 2009

Dresses and stresses...

Wotcha, me muckers,
Another busy week - what am I like? Stupid, I hear you cry!
Went to my friend/sister-in-law Juliet's 40th birthday party last Friday. She held it at a lovely venue - Highley Manor. It's an old manor house that's been converted into a small hotel. Really fab place. Had a terrible time deciding what to wear tho! I'm crap at the whole getting "dressed up" thing. I'm rarely out of sweatshirt and jeans, so party dresses fill me with horror at the best of times - even worse when steroid-bloated with a mental patient's haircut. I'd bought 4 dresses by the morning of the party and said to myself, "Fuck it. I don't like any of them!" So I went shopping again! There's nothing like leaving it til the last minute! Concentrates the mind - found a great dress in about 10 minutes flat. And it was all of £18! I do love a bargain - hurrah for New Look! Anyhoo, the party went with a bang - Juliet was v nervous that no one would turn up! Silly moo - loads of bods and more or less all gussied-up to the nines. Everyone looked great and Em and I had a fab time. We'd decided to stay over - seemed like a good idea; better than fucking around with taxis and far better than not drinking! We had a lovely room, but unfortunately it was right over the disco, so even though we wimped out at about 11.45, we didn't get any sleep til the disco ended, at about 1.30. Bit wiped the next day, to say the least.

Went to see Eddie Izzard on Monday night with my friend Alison. Man, he is one funny dude! Lucky I'd had a caesarean (sp?) and kept my passages honeymoon-fresh, or I might have had an urgent need for some Tena Lady! Brilliant stuff. Rather less brilliant was every fucker and his wife wanting to leave the carpark at the same time! Still, it was worth it.

Em and I went to see "Nativity!" today - really silly and funny; if you like Christmas films, go see it. The kids in it are brilliant, really natural and one or two are hilarious.

Now for the serious bit. Had an e-mail from the Marsden, outlining the protocol for my transplant in January. Oh fuck! Makes it all seem a bit real now. Since getting it, I keep finding myself with a clenched jaw and my shoulders up around my ears - not that I'm consciously thinking about it constantly, it's like a background tension all the time. It'd better bloody tail off - I can't keep this up for the next 6 weeks. I'll have a sodding heart attack before I get the chance to go in for the transplant if I keep feeling like this! I think the only way to deal with it is to not deal with it, if you know what I mean. Spend a few weeks with my fingers in my ears, going "la la la not thinking about it la la la" very loudly indeed.

Think that's all for now.
Will post again soon with more crapola,
A xxx