Bye Bye Hixxy Cat.

This week is a very sad week. My lovely handsome ginger cat Hixxy was knocked down and killed on the road the other night. At least a nice person managed to find me so I could go and bring him home in some blankets.

So so sad. Those cats have seen me through some pretty horrible treatments. It's no exaggeration to say that having them here for love and attention while I was off was a great help to get me through it all. I think my little Sy cat knows that I am upset as she hasn't left my side since and comes to cuddle up to me when she sees me crying. Bless her little cotton socks.

Guess it will take a little bit of getting used to not having him around. We'll miss you Hixxy.

The Gargrave Triathlon

Well, James and I have been for our first joint training session. James is planning to do a long-ish run at the weekends and I said in my last post I would get out a bike and join him. So this morning that is exactly what we did.

The weather started off looking quite promising. No rain yet (that was soon to change). So we looked out James's bike from the garage, threw it in the back of the Landy and drove over to Gargrave to run/bike along the Leeds-Liverpool canal tow path.

If James was running and I was biking, where does the swimming part of the triathlon come in I hear you ask? Ah, now that part was all down to me! A slightly misjudged rock on a particularly narrow bit of tow path saw me careering off and landing up to my neck in the (rather chilly) canal. Not entirely sure how I managed to leave the bike safely on the tow path whilst going feet first into the canal, but I did.

I managed to scramble myself out, but did insist at this point that perhaps we turn back. A rather long 30 minutes later I was able to haul a rather wet me into the Landy to go back home, jump into the bath and be brought a warming coffee (+nip of brandy for the shock).

A rather successful first attempt I think.

A Marathon fundraising event

I am really very excited about this.....

James will be running the London Marathon next year! And he is doing it to support my favorite breast cancer charity; Breast Cancer Care. He was selected for one of 20 "golden ticket" places (out of 400 applicants) to run for bcc.

On the application we had to say why James wanted to run for bcc... that was easy as I have a list as long as my arm of services of theirs I have used.

As Breast Cancer Care relies on donations from the public to provide its services free, I decided for a bit of fun to have a little think about just how much I might have cost them... apparently;

• £5 allows 1 person to access the online chat forum and share experiences with other people affected by breast cancer at any time of the day or night . CHECK - oh and have i used these forums... they are a constant source of info, help and support from others for me during treatment and through this forum I have met numerous bosom buddies, including one of my breast buddies who I meet up for the odd glass of champagne and support now and then. I will still pop on there now and then even these days.
  

• £15 would enable us to send out breast cancer factsheets and booklets to 30 people in urgent need of information CHECK - The amount of hand outs and info booklets I have poured over for anything from loosing you hair, side effects of treatment to.... oh lots! and they send them right to your doorstep as well as online info.
  

• £35 covers the cost of a call to our free confidential helpline, offering crucial one-to-one support and information to anyone affected by breast cancer CHECK with bells on- I was part of a Young Women's telephone support group which was just amazing help. Basically they get 7 young-uns together on a conference call every week with a "mediator" and a nurse on hand and for an hour each week we were able to chat through and discuss any issue that were affecting us. It sounds like I was a jibbering wreck about my cancer needing this service - but I don't think I was. It was just nice to talk to other girls about how they were dealing with hair loss, side effects and some of the big issues we all don't talk about that often. I had this every week for 7 weeks as I was going through my treatments.
  

• £65 covers the hourly cost of “ask the nurse” email service which is a vital resource for those who find it difficult to talk about their feelings. CHECK - I used this on a couple of occasions to phone or email a nurse and ask for more info about some of my treatments. If they couldn't answer it they went away, did the appropriate research from all the sources they could and got back to me with advice - fantastic if you think about it. I can't believe I didn't actually think about how much this service might be actually costing them, bcc was just there if I needed it!
  

• £95 connects someone facing breast cancer with a local volunteer who will give that person the opportunity to talk through their experiences of breast cancer face-to-face -CHECK I tried this and was paired with a young "buddy" on the phone when I was first diagnosed and had to take time off work, she helped me overcome the feelings of guilt I was having about having to take some serious sick leave off work, I learnt to relish my time at home in front of the telly.
  

• £400 will fully train a volunteer to provide emotional support and information to people with breast cancer CHECK all the "young women's forum" weekends, healthy living days I pottered off to could not have taken place without the volunteers and staff to make them run. Just Brilliant!
  

So I am so passionate about this charity I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about being able to throw myself into this mammoth marathon fundraising challenge.

We have had to pledge to raise a minimum target of money, but we are up for the challenge. Not only will James be training hard to run the 26 miles (I am going to get a bike to go out and support him on his training runs - that's the plan anyway). I also pledged to hold some fundraising events including a Pink Champagne party... now I have to get my thinking cap on as to what I want to do... I am thinking manicures, champagne, girlie things and gossip (don't worry - James and I also are thinking of planning something the boys can take part in too - unless you are a boy and you like manicures and champagne of course!). And then there is the "Pick me up" fee which is going straight into the pot!

And best of all... I now have something to come and write all about on my blog. I never seem to have anything to say these days (fantastic isn't it!). But now; I have the training schedule (I am determined to match James hour for hour in exercise [pilates, swimming, walking, bike riding and cake baking all count]) and then there is the fundraising planning. Oh how I have missed you dear blog!

That Friday Feeling...

It's 4:30 on a Friday afternoon and I have got that Friday-Feeling.

That really is quite impressive seeing as a little over 24 hours ago I had that Monday-Morning feeling!

You see, I don't work Wednesday's - which breaks up my week a treat - and so when I come into work on Thursday it feels like Monday but with just one more day till the weekend. Result.

Earlier this week I had another occupational health assessment and after a long hour of probing about my physical and mental state, we (my Occ Health Doc and I) decided that I wasn't ready to come back full time and I should give it another 6 months at 4 days a week before I re-asses. He said I was doing very well, but I still feel like I am struggling slightly. So that's the decision and I feel good about it.