115. Acts of kindness (again)

We’ve had rather a lot on our plates this past year (it is 11 months since it all began!) and Dennis tends to be unmanned by anything remotely technical while I am just bone idle, with a high tolerance for the ‘untidy.’ There’s no doubt our home has been somewhat neglected - though I did discover Den had touched up the paintwork on the bannister, by grabbing the newel post while it was still sticky.

So what a pleasure it was to have Alan and Kay come round yesterday, on a glorious morning, Alan equipped with wellies and a Karcher no 5 (we only have a no 4 and it’s never been used lol) and Kay armed with trowel and gardening gloves. In a couple of hours, much of our front drive had been transformed from a stained and weed-ridden embarrassment and our front verge was weeded and ready for a good dig, which Den will enjoy, and some judicious planting.

                                        

Alan returned today to finish it off since the afternoon looked good. He and Dennis got caught in the heaviest downpour I’ve seen here. So any surviving dirt has now been washed away and the drive is pristine. All we need now is some moss repellent and then we can get sanding - something even I can manage, though deadheading one rose bush was pretty painful this afternoon. I’m just not used to bending.

I got texted a link from my medical practice, some research into local community services for cancer patients. This set me thinking about the simple things that we need at some time - someone to pick up a prescription, a lift to the surgery or cashpoint, a bit of shopping... Not everyone has a neighbour like I do or friends eager to drive me around but there must be countless people who’d happily help if only there were a local database. And why stop at cancer? I know the funding is specifically for cancer patients and is probably more about support groups and advice centres and that will evolve separately but what little effort would it take to build up something so useful. I’d happily help.

Dr Wong rang this afternoon as I want to stop taking gabapentin to see if it IS the cause of the horrible mouth problems I get. I was surprised to find she was well-informed about my situation, having been the doctor who made the initial referral. We were talking about how easy it would have been to miss it - she said what she found did not fit the expected symptoms for breast cancer and she was very surprised at the eventual diagnosis so... yes, I’m a lucky woman (my words, not hers).

I’m not sure I’ll be thinking the same on Sunday morning when everyone is enjoying the Sunday papers and a leisurely start to the day and I’m stuck motionless in a noisy tunnel, thinking ‘If I can sit through chemotherapy, I can lie through this.’