Oops I did it again.

Dad isn't very pleased with me. How was I supposed to know it wasn't allowed anymore? I mean Mom just stood there and watched me doing it, she never said a word. It seems I'm in the dog house again. :(

August 21st Garden

Well August has arrived. The peas are over now, so no more photos this year.

The courgettes continue to grow.

The tomatoes are doing a bit better, but still green.

The onions are small, but perfect for pickling.

The first of the beetroot has been picked and pickled.

The chillies, the red ones are picked regularly.

A second crop of raspberries.

Baby sweet corn.

Good advice.

Way back at the very start Roo suggested we take up knitting, so I did. After a few false starts I managed to finish my pixie scarf and daughters' fingerless gloves and of course when Mike was day +4 I started the "green" thing. The thing has become my hospital waiting knitting and over the last eight months has grown from this:

to this:

Wait, knit, knit. Fret, knit, knit. Count, knit, knit. Cry, knit, knit. Knit, knit knit. Hour after hour of myeloma and miscellaneous conditions. It'll be alright, knit, knit. This time, knit, knit. But what about? knit, knit. Does anyone else understand? knit, knit. It was only an hour and a half today.

Thank you Ruth x

Vermouth and Volante

Monday saw me making my way to New Cross Hospital for the first of this week's appointments. Armed with my appointment letter and a bottle of human pop I waited in the reception queue to be called.

"Michael Gormley" called the health care assistant. I got up and walked over to her and she said: "you're looking well this morning", so I started to limp. I limped down the corridor to Dr. M's clinic and took a seat, holding out my bottle of "Pop". HCA :"I know it says we need it on your letter, but it is a standard letter and we don't actually need it, but thank you for making the effort". Where to put it now..... in my pocket it went with a prayer that the lid might be tight.

Dr. M introduced himself as one of Dr. B's team.....AAAAAAH....NOW I know why I'm here...... the Gastro-intestinal man has asked Dr.M to consult with me. What a pleasant man Dr.M is, explaining why I needed to see him. I had complained that I have a regular urgency that makes me run back home from bus stops, turn the car around and rush back home mid journey and to trek the landing in the middle of most nights, and he was going to take a look at possible causes. I became defensive and proffered that I thought it was to do with the damage done to my insides by the "second world war mustard gas" that they had given me before my SCT at Christmas. Dr.M agrees that it might be the case, but he needs to do a thorough examination to be sure that it is not polyps or even worse.

So out comes the consent form and the Shaffer pen..... well if your gonna sign away your dignity, it may as well be with a Shaffer.

Initial gel,air and camera investigation leads to an appointment I have to ring and request myself the following day, presumably so that they know I'm gonna turn up .

After I finish the consultation, I make my way out of the door limping. To my suprise, the HCA calls down the corridor: "Wrong leg Mr. Gormley". TEE HEE.

Dutifully I made that phonecall yesterday and requested an appointment for my Colonoscopy and they tell me they will be in touch.

Appointment number 2 was yesterday with the wonderful Dr. A. B. which was my usual 6 week check on Myeloma business. My numbers are ok with my HB @ 12.9, WBC @5.6, Neutrophils@ 3.7, Creatinine , (June 20th figure as these take for ever to come from lab )@147 and platelets @ 102.

Paraproteins "less than 2".

I do not need  any treatment still at present so that is good.

Lorna took the opportunity to ask if she could donate Stem Cells to be stored and used for the future by someone in need, but Dr. A B explained that resources don't exist at present to store them and you can only donate fresh if matched. So Lorna is going to take the test and go on the register ASAP. Roll on a Euro Lottery win and maybe we can set up a storage facility.

Well today I was minding my own business when the phone rang.

"Hello....     Mr. Gormley" Yes, you guessed, they have of all things, A CANCELLATION  in the Colonoscopy dept. for tomorrow @3.15 pm. so i'm currently shoving down 1 litre of Klean Prep every hour till i'm nice and ........... empty?    Tastes like a cross between cream soda and iodine, but they say it will do the job so "down the hatch". No solids for me till tomorrow at about 6 pm, so wish me luck xx.

So, you wonder, what about the above title?

" Any time, any place, Anywhere", and SPEED is of the essence just now and I probably will have to FLY xxxx.

Myeloma Fraud

Hi to all my friends out there!

You may be wondering what I mean by the above title..... well since I had my SCT in December and after, all be it a slow recovery, I seem to have been in remarkable health. I've managed to oversee a house re-fit and also to help Lorna rebuild the garden and fit a fishpond....... Don't feel ill at all......what a fraud! (I thought to myself this morning). I've been so busy being full of myself lately that I have been leaving Lorna to give all of our news on here and I feel more than a bit guilty about that.

I've got some appointments at New Cross next week, so maybe I'll find out if my new found health is real or a fraud.....here's hopin!

Did I say hopin? or Hoppin? Maybe hoppin soon cause we are off to Solfest on the 23rd August, my first pop festival since 1972 Lincoln), and Lorna's first ever!

I'm wafflin again!, I really must get back into Myeloma mode, so I will be reporting next week after my appointments, when I've been given my readings (hopefully a line of zero's, well not my reds and whites, but certainly my pp's) and hope I'm not as grreen as my new lawn.

Isn't marriage WONDERFUL!!!!!!!

Love Mike xxxx

Would you Adam and Eve it.

We're into August already! The work on the garden has continued, leaving poor Toni bare earth to lie on.

That was until Tuesday when we took delivery of this little lot:

As you can see Toni thought I was possibly a new piece of climbing apparatus, that or a means of escape.

We spent a day and a half in blistering temperatures careful laying it all. The results aren't too bad either.

What's that growing in the middle of your lawn I hear you cry.

That is our new fig tree, complete with 4 figs!

Oh and just to make Paula green with envy, I harvested the ripe cherry tomatoes this morning: