Mum’s Second Op (by sarah)

Mum's second partial mastektamy in the other breast went much better than expected. They used a different tequnic but worringly to me they also did not take any lymph nodes this time. They say they don't need to but then they origonally told her she didn't have cancer when the origonal scan shows both lumps in both breasts and from that they told her she was in the clear.

If they had looked properlly later on they could have just done one operation on her a year ago for both lumps and delt with it all. Instead its two lots of operations and depending on the results of the biopsy from the lump they've removed it may be another third operation to remove the lymph nodes to see how its spreading and then more radiotherapy.

But she is in hoping its all ok as are we and she has been knitting like a demon!

It Gets Worse (by sarah)

Here is a news article about Alex that I recieved after having posted earlier

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053151/Six-dead-flood-chaos-thousands-evacuated-homes--weather-set-WORSE.html

I am feeling so sick right now with this.

edit: another news article

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7603417.stm

Another Friend Gone (by sarah)

With the taste of one friends memorial still in my mouth from Tuesday I came home last night to find a message that another much younger friend had been killed in an accident at work.

Alaric had already left for London when I saw the message and I hadn't yet unpacked things from the weekend so I couldn't initially find my phone. I didn't and to a certain extent still don't beleive it. I became single minded in one thing - I had to phone Al I couldn't grip on to any other thing in reality.

I found the charger but then couldn't find the phone and then found the phone but couldn't find what I'd done with the charger - I was panicking as if I could change things.

I phoned Alaric and just got the answere phone so I just kept phoning I couldn't think of what else to do. I started doing random things to try and proove to myself that it was some horrible practicle joke - but deep down I knew it wouldn't be - this was the same reaction I had two years ago over Wilson's death but with out the anger.

I looked up his work website thinking that would help - he works up at Birdlip - basically in walking distance. I don't even know why I am writing this becuase it would just embarrasse him if he read it. Alex was at uni with me in my first first year and we had done stuff like caving. He also helped out alot when we where flooded and would meet me in Cheltenham for drinks.

We hadn't met up recently as things had been hectic and we just werent being free at the same time - we where going to do something probably a meal and I was looking forward to meeting his girlfriend that I had heared so much about.

I got through to Alaric and all I could say was please come back - I said I;d got an email saying Alex had been killed. Al said, 'Oh god I'm coming back' he hadnt been able to understand anything else I'd said.

The thing is mums going in for her second partial mastectamy today and normally I would be in getting texts from him asking how it was going but thats not going to happen now and stupid as it sounds I feel like everyone is dying on me.

Alex was so nice and helpful he was even going to lend me some stuff from his scout group for mine. I just can't face that this might possibly be true and at the same time I keep crying.

Filling the lake (by alaric)

With all the rain recently, the place where I park the van has developed an annoying tendency to be a lake. So I have to paddle to get in and out of the van, and so does Sarah - Jean, being sensible, just refuses and asks to be carried.

So I invoked the power of Freecycle and obtained a van full of hardcore, then used a pickaxe to dig out the mixture of hard-packed gravel and mud that comprises the parking area, making a trench which I filled back with hardcore.

After packing it down with a lot of treading, thumping, and the use of the big concrete roller, I dumped the gravel/mud mixture back in, to pack back together again and provide a smoothish surface.

I only had enough to do that one strip, but it's a start! When I've stopped aching from all this work, I'll bid for another load of hardcore on Freecycle and do the side where I get out - then another load for the strip down the middle...

UPDATE

It soon started to rain heavily later that day, so I took another picture. Sure enough, the lake is now constrained to one side of the parking area, and the bit I built up is kept out of the standing water. Yay!