130. I am officially old

Well, I knew this because I get letters from the Older People’s Service CMHT giving my psych appointments for my medication and I know primarily their work is with patients with dementia. Please spare me that fate - I have 10 years of endocrine therapy (anastrozole) and that’s bad enough.

So how am I officially old? I just applied for a Blue Badge. I learnt at the end of my cancer treatment that I was entitled to a Blue Badge - a bit late but apparently it is still possible to apply. It wouldn’t have helped earlier anyway because it’s specific to a vehicle, I think - though why did I have to submit a photo for my badge?? There were firm guidelines about how much shoulder had to be on show (I may fail on that one because I cropped mine to remove a wonky chest - probably my extended arm for a selfie!) and it had to have a neutral background and no shadow on the face. It didn’t say about glasses but I thought I’d better leave them off.

Blue Badge mugshot

Anyway, I applied on the grounds of agoraphobia. This has been a long time coming. Australia allocated BBs to people with agoraphobia decades ago and it made me angry that the UK discriminated against people with mental health issues. Being afraid to walk further than 5 minutes from the car is disabling but it wasn’t considered a disability. Hopefully that will change now. This is no guarantee that I’ll get a badge of course but it’s worth a try.

Tomorrow I have the dentist. They have a tiny car park so Dennis has to come with me and help me park this new car. It’s really hit and miss as to how well I’m parking right now and spaces there are tiny. Maybe ‘hit and miss’ is not the best term to use in the circumstances but... Anyway, I am seeing a Dr Nixon who has specialist knowledge of the effects of cancer treatments on teeth and mouth. Maybe he can explain why my upper lip stretches and I look like one of the Bash Street Kids!

Guess which one

Meantime, I have formed The Nefertiti Club, a closed Facebook group for people who, like me, get mighty pissed off occasionally and have nowhere they can rail and rant against the disease and, worse still, the treatment. There is only 1 member (rofl) but I am trying to recruit Wonky from the breastcancercare forum as we are very much on the same wavelength and we each have our eye on a few people who post on the forums and you sense may be ready for something like this. Unfortunately Wonks is less FB-savvy than I am so we’re still struggling to get her into the group! Small steps. There’s no rush.