One day to go

Hi everyone,

Do I sound excited??? I never look forward to chemo but in this case I feel like I want to "bring it on" now!!! I am so looking forward to getting healthy again and being able to get back to doing all the things I enjoy without the continued grind of fronting up for those heavy duty drugs and all the related anxiety about reactions and side effects and IV lines etc.

I have been enjoying myself this last fortnight and basking in the glow of almost being finished. I have demolished a few good blood curdling crime novels. Nothing like an escaped psychopath to keep my mind off the nausea (The Sleeping Doll by Jeoffrey Drever in case your interested).

I am always in a good mood when the Saints are winning (they slumped when I was sick and are now coming into good form like myself!!) I fell asleep listening to the game last Saturday and thought that we had lost by 4 points. I felt quite deflated and kept trying to get an update throughout the night ..... to no avail. I was very pleased to hear in the morning that it was a bad dream and we had won by 17 points!) All that wasted angst for nought.

My lovely neighbour Anna, and fellow dog walker, introduced me to a very secret path in the Darebin Parklands that leads to a lovely sheltered natural rocky area next to the creek and is a real sun trap on these winter days. It was meant to be on the proviso that I did not tell a soul. Sorry Anna! No body goes down there and you feel like you are all alone out in the bush with lots of sun and birds and the water and best of all no snakes because it winter. I took Danny and Bridget down there yesterday on their Curriculum free day and they loved it ... Danny was having a little Tom Sawyer moment by the rushing creek (we are reading the Adventures of Tom Sawyer at the moment and he's right into it !!! I think it makes him feel less naughty and rather superior as naughty Tom and Huck creep out of houses at midnight, go to cemeteries with dead cats and pull hair in church etc etc!!)

I also received a fabulous "present" from the Mercy 8 (Julie C. Julie T. Katrina, Jan, Chris, Catherine, Denise and Lisa ) who have given me and the family a 2 week holiday on Queensland, return air fare and enough cash to splash to ensure every theme park and restaurant on the Gold Coast is well frequented. I was the guest of honor at a wonderful dinner and heard all about their Movie night and Camber well market stall. Whilst they made it sound like they had a ball I know it was an enormous amount of work. So thank you once again. Mercy people are very special ( that includes ex Mercy!!)

We are going to have a ball and I have a picture of the beach that I look at in the kitchen when I'm cooking. They gave me a shoe box full of money and Danny's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he opened it. Needless to say the money was solemnly "counted" about a hundred times by Danny and I am pleased to say he resisted the urge to pinch a little along the way (see I told you he was better than Tom and Huck!!) He was very disappointed when I took it to the bank for safe keeping.

I have to go now and check if Miss Bridget is in bed. She was last seen "straightening " her hair by the heater in the bathroom because it was crinkly after being in plaits!! She thinks I am very mean because I wouldn't let her watch Neighbours tonight. We have a TV free policy on school nights. Then on Monday Bridget smiled beautifully and said "Excuse me mum do you think I could possibly watch Neighbours just this once please because there is going to be a wedding tonight ... " How could I resist? Then the next night. "Excuse me mum after the wedding there was a terrible car crash on the way home and we find out tonight if they are alive or dead..... and so it goes on and on and on!!I can remember HATING my mum for brief periods when she didn't let me watch whatever show I was addicted to at the time. The injustice of it all.

When I speak to you next time I will be in my next phase ..... living each day and remembering how lucky I am to be alive to enjoy it .

I thank all of you for your support and love during this time ... I have felt very connected and that has made it much easier to get through. My world is full of very kind people and I am very lucky.

Regards
Pauline