Living in the same house as cancer: Wickets falling, All around me

Yes I am watching the test match and England are on the verge of losing. Perhaps by the time you read this they will be all out, Australia on the ascendancy and the Ashes lost. Perhaps not.

Its been my last pre-Christmas week at work this week, a quiet week. This is partly because I have been in the Docs for a very minor op to remove skin tags from my eyelids. The worst part, as always, was the very painful injection (yes I know, wuss) although this was nearly beaten by the disconcerting heat next to the eyeball as a growth in the eyelashes was cut out. I had sore eyes for a couple of days and a very small black eye. Not much in the scheme of things but I just wanted to show you all that I am brave too. And yes I've managed to take a few photos of my distress for you all to see.

If you look very closely you can see a (tiny) bit of blackness on the right eye and marks on the eyelashes of the left eye.

Tracey has had a quiet week this week, apart from the usual family (Olivia) arguments. She has been down at the bottom of her chemo "cycle" but her mum has been here to look after her until the threat of snow (more about that later). So we have gently moved forward. We are looking at the end of chemo and the PICC line is due out on Christmas Eve. Talking of PICC lines some of you might be wondering what we have been making a fuss about. I have tried to grab a little photo of it this week, Tracey is a bit reluctant to have me prying but I have managed a few fuzzy shots.

The tube enters her body just above the inside of the elbow and follows a vein in to Tracey's chest. Yuk! This has been the scene of much action and fiddling. "Is it clear?" "Can we draw blood?" "No we can't". What you can't see is the surround redness which is caused by Tracey reacting to the tape which is used to hold on the protective gauze. Down by her wrist is an elasticated covering which is stretched over it to keep the whole lot in place. The whole lot is usually covered by a long sleeve. How she has managed to keep this protected for so long I just can't imagine.

So Thursday morning Tracey's mum left, the threat of snow was just too much and for safety's safe she had to go then or run the risk of getting stuck here. She had a good journey home before the bad weather.

Brenda has made a trip up to look after her daughter and just as importantly look after all of us every time Tracey has had chemo. She has cooked, cleaned, cuddled and kissed. She has given hugs when needed, advice whether wanted or not and kept Tracey protected when she has been at her lowest. She will of course still come and visit and we will go down to Cornwall when the time right. I just want to say thanks to her. Thanks isn't enough but it is all I have at the moment. Also Roger needs a big thanks at this time. He has been largely left out of all this and I know he has been worried. He has not seen Tracey since June I think, I am sure it has been lonely for him for the last few months with his wife spending so much time with us, well you've got her back now Rog, fewer Tesco Indians for you from now on. I will miss the phone calls.

Talking of Snow two snow things to tell you about. I have Skyped an old friend of mine Bob Pells, who Tracey and I used to work with in Plymouth. Bob now lives in Iceland with Birgetta and his 2 young girls and I haven't talked to him for 14 years. I love Bob, he is an old, surly, curmudgeon who can crease me up will a well chosen moan. He is a boy from Tavistock who is now an international glob trotter. He was always an American at heart and Iceland is half way there. I talked to him for an hour and a quarter, far longer than I usually talk. We will talk again next week. Bob has 2 beautiful daughters, a shy one and a noisy one. He taught me everything I know about computers and then I learnt a lot more.

And here there be snow! I was up early and walked my daughter to work in the snow. Initially she wasn't going to go and then we walked through town. Most of the snow was virgin, the roads had been used and one or two vehicles slipped and slid. I was cold and wet but the snow makes it all better. Time for a few more pics.

My winter Wonderland