Fainting, Friends and Food

So I left you yesterday guessing who my special guest was and both Rita and Leanne guessed it of course, it was the lovely Julie Murphy, my ex ex ex boss as sadly in our region, like birthdays you get a new one every year whether you like it or not.

Now it’s been 2 1/2 years since Julie left the BHS family but she is loving her job. So the plan was to walk Molly, home by 4, sleep until 5 pm, food prep and tea in for just after five, shower and ready for my friend. All going to plan and freshly out of the shower and dressed I head downstairs. The door bell goes and I panic as I’m not fully ready and could Julie be early? It wasn’t Julie but our neighbour who popped in last Friday to say thank you for the gift we sent her when she had her baby girl a few weeks ago. So we stood outside talking and then she comes over all faint and looks like she is about to pass out. I’ve got one hand on her and one hand on the pram, I call for Steve to help. Steve watchs the baby in her pram whilst I get her inside to cool her down. So I’m in the front room trying to cool her down and not let her pass out. I call for Rebecca to relieve Steve from baby duty, the baby starts crying, Steve and I are waving cushions at her to give her some air, a glass of water later and we manage to keep her from passing out. It turns out that she had taken the baby into town for a health check and to be weighed, she had pushed the loaded down pram there and back just 3 weeks after having a C section! Now High Wycombe is not called High because we live in a flat area. No wonder she felt faint but she thought she could do it on her own. We over estimate our bodies’ ability sometimes and all take health for granted.

Anyway crisis over and 1/2 hour later Julie arrives, Julie Murphy is in my house, wow. I had warned her to only bring herself and if I see anything remotely flower shaped that I will kill her and bless her she did as instructed but I did get a lovely bag of No7 goodies. Now I’m not saying her car is big but she had to do a 6 point turn in order to just turn it round when she left us. It’s a BWM 5 Series. Now my son would be impressed with that, it’s got leather everything and I believe it also makes tea! The neighbours will be impressed or think royalty has arrived.

We catch up a little before tea, in fact we chat too much as I can cook rice no problem but it’s a fine line between fluffy and a solid lump of starch and whoops I’ve been talking for too long and I have ‘rice fail’ but sometimes you just have to laugh it off and accept that rice like life isn’t always perfect. We all enjoyed tea which was beef madras, failed rice, and chicken tikka (just in case the beef madras was a fail) we all have seconds and Julie said she liked it 🙂 I explained that my desire to cook comes from my love for people. We can all order a takeaway but if well enough I love to cook, it’s my way of showing people that I love them.

IMG_4026We retire to the chemo gazebo but although the weather forecast said no rain it’s belting it down so we give up and go into the front room for what turned into hours of fun, laughter, catching up and of course my journey with cancer. Here is the famous ‘chemo gazebo’ photo for you all. Now Julie just looks stunning so I’ve used the best photo of her and I’m the old one on the left lol. Now when Julie arrived she did say that she thought I looked really well (an old favourite of mine) and I do but if she had seen me last week she would not have been of the same view. Now you may or may not notice that Julie is wearing a policeman’s helmet (it appeals to her authoritative side) and I’m wearing a pair of bunny ears! I’m not giving anything away but I will slightly tease you in that I am working on a special surprise for you all which I hope you won’t have to wait too long for, maybe 10 days. Anyway Julie is a great sport and as she knows my love of fun and laughter she agrees to wear the hat.

Julie is completely content with her life, her happiness can’t be hidden and her smile goes from ear to ear. It’s so lovely to chat up, share old memories and of course she wanted to hear my Simon Le Bon story but I don’t like to talk about that so I only gave her the briefest outline to the story lol. She stayed late which I didn’t expect as live lives in central London but I was so glad of the hours we had together, cheers Julie and see you soon.

So after a quick chat up on line I am so tired and go to bed just after 1 am. Now on my current shit sleeping pattern I’m secretly thinking that I may wake up at 4 am but I slept until 5.30, wow 4 1/2 hours of peace.

Wednesday 29th July

I have asked my chemo bud Karen to write a guest post for my blog about her journey through cancer as it may just help others to hear about someone else’s story. Last night I received her story via an email. I was so pleased that she had done this for me, for you and for anyone out there that it may help. Now this Saturday is going to be a manic family day as Richard will be home, Lauren is also coming to spend the weekend with us and my mom will also have returned plus a car full of BHS Kingston staff are also planned to visit. So I will post her story up for you on Saturday so that I can just enjoy precious family time. Plus it’s the start of my rest week so no chemo tablets for me and I should be fit enough to really enjoy it and I will trust me, nothing makes me happier than to share precious time with the people I love.

Me, Mr Vines and Mother Hen
Me, Mr Vines and Mother Hen

Today I spent the day in Staines doing my project work. Mother Hen had agreed to meet me for lunch too so why not mix business with a bit of pleasure 🙂 I head off in my car and memories of the last time I went into Staines came flooding back. I cried all the way there that day knowing that Mary Poppins was telling the Kingston team I was now stage 4, I had to tell Leanne over lunch and to the rest of the team in Staines had to smile and not say anything, that was a tough day for me emotionally.

Mr Vines has his stocktake today and therefore I really appreciated the hours he spent with me going through my project work as his will be the next one I do. Mother Hen also loved the stuff I’ve been working on and wants me to do one for Bromley too. I’m happy to do this for her as she has done enough for me over the years. We all enjoyed lunch together, reliving old memories of the years we have worked together.

BFF hard at work
BFF hard at work

Now Mr Moore you will never guess who turned up to work in Staines today too, what luck hey my BFF following an earlier meeting needed to pop into Staines this afternoon. Now I can report she did work and was not distracted by me being there at all, and here’s the photo to prove it 🙂

 

 

 

IMG_4042I dropped Mother Hen at the train station and she slipped a present into my car for me and as she reads my blog and laughs at the funny names I give people. Now these are personality chocolates and blow me they have a Juddy one lol so Teresa and Ian Judd here is your chocolate named after you. Countess Judd, no less haha.

 

 

On a final note I have just checked my stats. We have broken through 20 thousand views today, actually it’s 20, 586, I’m delighted and I can’t thank you all enough. The daily shares that you all do for me, are reaching across the globe and hi to our new friend Beverley in Michigan too.

 

 

 

Published by

Wend

Married to Steve, I have two children - Rebecca and Richard. Steve has two children, Lauren and Chris. Rebecca lives with us (nurse Rebecca) and my mom Judy also has become nurse and housekeeper but lives in the West Midlands. My son is in the Army and comes home when he can. I am 47, born in 1967 and I was told I had bowel cancer on 22nd Feb 2015 and this blog is my journey through it. I hope it helps you as you were the reason I started it.

10 thoughts on “Fainting, Friends and Food”

    1. Wow the big man himself, I’m impressed and oh course I will think of you both whilst I tuck in yum yum xx

  1. Another great blog Missy Wendy Woo 🙂
    You have been sooooo very busy & in demand, proud off you I am. A visit to Staines with work in mind coupled with catching up with BFF, Mr Vines & Mother Hen, check you out xxx
    I bet you did have a blast with Julie, she’s a love and more importantly she’s a wee love and IRISH 🙂
    Sweet Mother of God & All that’s Holy :-0
    I’ve got visions of you having a nun outfit or habit for my visit to the chemo Gazebo lol 🙂
    When we get around to my wee visit hopefully sometime soon. xxxxx
    That was really lovely to have a wee slot for Karen, you girls just amaze me!!!!! Your courage just blows me away xxx
    I’ll look forward to that wee read.
    Love n Hugs xxxxxxx

    1. Oh my angel now that would be a great day for me to get you in the chemo gazebo. Steve really wants to meet you. I have two spare rooms and I could always put you up, but the miles apart is a problem, I know that. Your support from the early days when we didn’t know what was wrong with me has always comforted me. Thank you daily isn’t enough, it’s you that should be in the nuns outfit. Oh and a message from Karen, more sore bum prayers needed lol xx

  2. Hi Wendy, it’s Ann from high wycombe bhs. I have been reading your blog regularly and have had lots of laughs along the way, it has also helped me understand the pain and frustration that my cousin Gareth would have experienced during his treatment. Sadly he lost his fight on the 1st Feb. We all knew his cancer was terminal but had hoped he would have had more time with us. He was only 51 and left behind 2 young sons a 9yr old and a 13 yr. Not only was he my cousin but he was my husbands best friend for the last 37 yrs (they were at school together ). We went on holidays and had fabulous parties and celebrations together. Although we were closer than you’d expect cousins to be when it came to emotions he was a very private person. He would always try and make light of his chemo, making jokes, but reading your blog about the side effects has really given me an insight into his private pain and while it saddens me knowing this it also makes me realise that he was truly a brave man. So thank you for helping me go some way of understanding the pain and discomfort he experienced. You are truly an inspiration to cancer suffers with your wit, strength and care for others. Look forward to your next blogx

    1. Hi Ann, I’m sorry to hear about Gareth and he sounds so lovely, he was trying to spare you the pain of knowing how hard this journey is. It sounds like you miss him so much as would your husband. It’s a shit disease that is so hard to deal with. Thanks for reading my ramblings daily and I’m glad you like them. It gives me strength to know that I’m helping people along the way. See you soon xx

  3. Thanks for the shout out Wendy. I just saw it whilst playing catch up on reading your blog. Our daughter is about to deliver the first grandchild any day now so we’ve been offline for a bit. Reading about your adventures is something that I truly look forward to. Congrats on all the views!! We readers can’t get enough of your work!! Sending out loads of positive thoughts your way!! xx

    1. My pleasure Beverley as it’s lovely to think of you reading about us all here in England. I’m being read in Dallas too wow there’s a first and I was addicted to the TV show too so I’m really happy with that. Lots of love xx

      1. Oh wow, that is great!! Word is really getting around about your blog. Congrats on that!! Dallas the show was a favorite, everyone loved to to hate JR. 🙂

        1. Wow were a Dallas fan too? That’s got to go in my next post 🙂 Great minds think a like hey! Thanks for reading and enjoying my blog 🙂 xx

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