Cocktails and Cupcakes!

I've fallen behind again!

A couple of weekends ago my sister was staying over as she'd taken me to my Mistletoe appointment on the Friday, so we took the opportunity to have a bit of a girly day out on the Saturday.

First we headed off to Simply Create to see what the lovely and talented Kath was up to on her demo day. Sadly, we missed the morning demo and we couldn't stay for the afternoon one, but we did see all the beautiful cards Kath had made. I forgot to take my camera out of the car, but there are plenty of photos here and here. Pauline also handed in her first DT card. She used her Slice machine to cut the candy canes, but it was playing up so she said she wasted practically a whole sheet of 12x12 paper just to get two usable ones, by which time she'd had enough and gave up! Never mind!



Quick spend on some gorgeous new BoBunny purple christmas papers then we headed off into Aberdeen to Silly Bears who were having their 3rd Anniversary Cocktail and Cupcake reception!

My other passion apart from crafts is Teddy Bears - when I was a baby I was given a Wendy Boston bear by one of my Dad's workmates and I always preferred that to any dolls. I still have Cuddly and over the years he's gained a few friends!

My first visit to Silly Bears was earlier in the year when I went to a workshop run by bear artist Beatrix Harries. My place had been booked for about a year, and although I wasn't feeling my best, I was determined to go. It was hard work and I was absolutely exhaused by the end of the day, but I left with Sprout (as in Beansprout... Chinese... Panda... geddit? Oh never mind!), so it was well worth the time and effort.



It's a lovely shop and the bears are displayed beautifully but I daren't go in too often as there's always one that picks me out and demands to be taken home. This time it was Jack (by Linda Willets) with his little mittens threaded through his hoodie...



... there were so many others to choose from, but there's only ever one little face that tugs at your heart!







Here he is with Rhyvita (back, by Beatrix Harries) and Maisie (by Lynne Farmer) - also purchases from Silly Bears. Sad I know, but they make me happy!



We stayed long enough to partake of the cocktails and cupcakes then headed off for a bit of a browse round the shops - don't get out much, so have to take the opportunity when I can!

Short Break

We managed a bit of an escape this weekend, down to Stirling in the caravan with some friends who have just bought their own one, after a break of a few years. It was soooo good to get away for a couple of nights - we've not been away from the house since our last caravan trip in April, but as my friend is a nurse, she said she'd be willing to do my dressings, which made it possible for me to go. I'm just so grateful.

As it turned out, it was a glorious weekend. We went to Witches Craig caravan site, which lies just outside Stirling, under the Ochil Hills and not far from the Wallace Monument, so beautiful views and a beautifully kept site too, with HUGE pitches!

Here are the new caravanners with their beautiful brand new van - had a bit of van envy going on! We hadn't dared to hope that it would be nice enough to sit outside!



On Saturday we decided to do the tourist bit as none of us had ever been to Stirling Castle. It was well worth a visit... The views from the walls are amazing, and even better because the sun shone all day. This is the Wallace Monument and Ochil Hills taken from just outside the castle.



A rare photo of my fiancee (hee, hee) and I together!



At the moment, the castle's Renaissance Palace is closed for refurbishment, which is a pity, but as part of the project a series of medieval tapestries is being recreated, both on site and at a weaving studio in Sussex. Now this really IS my thing! The original tapestries - The Hunt of the Unicorn - are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and once complete the new tapestries will hang in the Renaissance Palace. Four of them have already been completed and currently hang in the chapel. My photos don't do them justice at all, the colours are so vivid and there is just so much detail to take in. It was really interesting to see how the tapestries are worked - with so many colour changes (there are over 100 colours used), three weavers take a section each and weave the yarn in and out by hand. They each work 7 hours a day and have to have completed a 10cm square each day in order to remain on schedule. At this pace, each tapestry takes between 2½ and 4 years to complete! If you're at all interested in this sort of thing, it's definitely well worth a visit at the moment to see the weavers at work, and it'll certainly be worthwhile going back to see all seven in their new home sometime in 2013.





Sunday was as glorious a day as Saturday, but sadly we had to head home again. Had a really nice time though...

Crafty Stuff

Have finally managed to get going with some crafty stuff at last! Great excitement when my sister collected our first Simply Create Design Team kit, but it's taken me more than a week to bring myself to actually cut the paper!

Once I'd got going I managed to make a simple card and scrapbook layout, which has used about half the paper. The rest I've passed on to my sister to see what she can come up with!





Surprisingly for someone who takes hundreds of photos, I don't have that many Christmassy ones, but I've been sorting through some old photos and came across one of two of my nieces taken at our old house in 1996. Soooo cute in their wee matching dresses! Now they're older they'll probably hate this photo - still, girls, it's not the worst one I could have used!

Also made a card a few weeks ago for a friend's little boy's first birthday. I'd had a bit of a play day with another friend when she brought out her Sizzix Embossing Machine, so used up some of the samples we'd made on the card. I can feel a spend coming on...

Simply Create Design Team

Oh My God!!! My sister and I have been chosen to be on the Simply Create design team!



Thank you so much Jacqui and congratulations to the rest of the team! We weren't sure that we should enter - neither of us thinks that we're worthy as we've never done anything like this before, so it's been a huge boost to our confidence.

It's just the kick up the bum I need to get started back on the crafty stuff again, so can't wait to get going and see what our team-mates produce. Looking through their blogs we can see that we're going to have a lot to live up to!

Carol
Elizabeth
Jane
Judy
Kat
Kath
Katy
Kirsti
Sarah
Shelly
Sonja
Tina

Happy, happy, happy!!!

So, What's Been Happening???

I have, it has to be said, been neglecting my blog, so perhaps it's time for a bit of a catch-up on all the nasty stuff, so that I can start concentrating on some of the nice things again...

Back in June, because I'd been having some pain again, a CT scan was organised, and got the results in July - not good. The tumour has come back in the same general area and is about 5.5 x 8.5 cm. It's pressing against a nerve which is why I'd been getting so much pain, and is also squeezing one of the tubes from my left kidney.

The oncologist said that I've had as much radiotherapy as I can have, and the standard chemo for Anal Cancer had stopped working last year so he doesn't see any benefit in trying that again. There is one other "mainstream" chemo, which isn't standard for Anal Cancer, so wouldn't even be guaranteed to work, but he said that as the side effects are quite severe, my quality of life wouldn't be good while I was on it, and if I was one of his relatives he wouldn't want me to have it. So, there aren't very many options left as far as conventional medicine goes.

I have been offered a Phase 1 drug trial, which initially I thought would be my best bet, but the more I read into it, the less sure I was. At time I was offered it, less than 50 people in the world had had it so far, and at the moment they are testing doses, and checking how the body tolerates each amount, so there's no guarantee that the dose I would get would have any effect. I also wouldn't be allowed to take anything else for the duration of the trial and for a period of time afterwards and I'm not sure if I want to put all my eggs into the one basket when there's no guarantee that it's going to have any positive effect. We spoke to the research nurse at length about it and decided that, at the moment, it's not the best option for me.

In the meantime, one of the district nurses suggested finding out about
Mistletoe therapy, so I phoned Clan House and made an appointment to see a doctor there. To cut a long story short, she asked my GP to refer me to a doctor at the Camphill Community who specialises in the treatment of cancer patients using Mistletoe therapy and a "whole body" approach. She also got me started on the Mistletoe injections there and then.

Two weeks later I got an appointment at Camphill and got started on intravenous Mistletoe. Compared to the injections which are 0.2mg, the doses are huge. I started on 20mg, which went up to 40mg, then 80mg. The last dose a week ago was 120mg after which I did have a bit of a reaction - shivery, fluey feeling for a couple of hours. This is good though as it shows that my immune system is beginning to kick in and fight for itself. The infusions are given in much the same way as chemo - through a cannula in the back of my hand and take a couple of hours to go through. The main difference is that I'm in a cosy wee room on a couch with comfy pillows and a duvet, so I either cosy down and sleep through it all or read my book until it's all over. Afterwards, I seem to have a lot more energy and just a general feeling of wellbeing, and I've been hearing some good reports about people who, statistically speaking, shouldn't still be here if it wasn't for the treatment, so fingers crossed...

My GP also agreed to give me a private prescription for a drug called Low Dose Naltrexone. This is licenced to treat drug addicts and alcoholics in doses of 150mg to dampen the effect of the high they get from their chosen poison and helps to wean them off. In smaller doses of 3 - 4.5 mg it's been found to help the symptoms of some auto immune diseases including MS and some cancers. Very, very simply, what it does is tricks the body into producing more endorphins, which trigger the production of more T cells, which in turn help the body to fight for itself. However, since it's not licensed for this use I was very lucky that my GP was willing to prescribe it at all. As it is I'll have to pay for it, but it's only about £30 a month which isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

None of these are miracle cures, but I think in the meantime they are the
best chance I have to have a good quality of life for as long as possible.
Even if I can stay at my present level of health without getting worse, then
I'd be happy and in the meantime, progress is being made in conventional medicine all the time, so who knows what's going to come along? The only thing I can't do is sit and do nothing and wait for it all to happen. It's not over till the fat lady sings, and we have her bound and gagged in the cupboard under the stairs at the moment!

I also had another stay in hospital a couple of weeks ago - taken in by
ambulance on the Thursday evening with a bleed from my wound (yes, 8 months on from surgery and I'm still having to have it packed and dressed every day!). Apparently
it's a side-effect of the radiotherapy, which can cause blood vessels to dilate. I was told that if it wasn't treated quickly, there was a possibility that they could burst causing a "catastrophic bleed" which could be "quite serious". As a result I had to have two blood vessels embolised (blocked off). Horrible, horrible procedure and I'd hope never to have it done again. I had a local anaesthetic then a catheter was inserted into a vein in my groin and a contrast solution was injected so they could see where they were going. I could feel everything that was being done and was in so much pain by the time I got back to the ward an hour and a half later that I had to be put on a morphine pump. I was kept in over the weekend (including my birthday - see previous post) and got out on the Monday.

So that's where I'm at.... I can't drive myself for any distance, but since I've started on the Mistletoe, I do feel a lot brighter, and can look forward to planning weekends away and, of course, THE WEDDING! He doesn't know what he's let himself in for!

LOOOOK!!!!!!

It's been a while since I've posted - mainly because I've been feeling a bit poorly again, so it's been difficult to sit to type, but have got some good news for a change...


WE GOT ENGAGED ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!!


It's only taken 23 years, but who's counting! I had no idea - thought I was getting a notebook computer to make it easier to keep up with emails and blog posts, and my parcel was that size, but when I opened it up, this is what I saw....



.... and immediately burst into tears! Opened up the little box to find the most beautiful diamond ring. I'm absolutely over the moon - AT LAST I'm going to get to be Mrs K!!



We had a brilliant day, surrounded by family and friends, cake and bubbly. More than made up for having to spend my birthday in hospital, but more of that later...

PS
Wee note to family and friends - please, please no engagement presents. We're both sooo grateful for all your cards and good wishes and they are enough. If you would like to mark the occasion in some way, we'd rather you make a small donation to Camphill Medical Practice Ltd, or CLAN, both of whom have been tremendously helpful to us over the last few weeks. Both can be found on JustGiving.org:

Camphill Medical Practice

CLAN

Thank you!

4am Wake Up Call!

As if I didn't have enough trouble sleeping already, for the last couple of days I've been woken up by some terrible screeching noises outside - not the usual dawn chorus of birdies at all. Got up to have a look to see what was going on and this is what I saw:



It's a peacock - or a peahen to be more precise! I've no idea where she came from because we can't think of anywhere close by that keeps them. I did report her to the SSPCA, but they said that unless she's distressed or injured then they wouldn't get ivolved. She doesn't seem to be either at the moment, and I thought it best not to say that if she wakens me again I'LL be distressed and she WILL be injured!! They've added the details to their database anyway, so if anyone reports a missing peacock, then at least they'll be able to say where she was sighted.

Lovely to see, but the novelty's worn off already so I hope she moves on again soon.