Winter is here...but summer is coming!

Christmas was lovely and so was new year: celebrating my mother in law's 80th birtnday with afternoon tea at the Ritz (which I highly recommend btw!).
Now, I'm back to work, and back to uni. Got a commendation for my first assignment, which wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but not bad for a first attempt and given that I work full time, have a family etc etc. (New year's resolution: must try to be kind to myself in 2015). Now the second one has been submitted and I've begun thinking about the third....this 2 year Masters will be done before I know it!!!
Elsewhere, I have a trip to Brussels at Easter to look forward to, to catch up with my brother and his family who will be in Europe (briefly), which should be fun. But the really big trip coming my way is in 25 weeks and 5 days: I'm off to Gabarone (via Jo'burg)!!! What an adventure that is going to be. I'm going all by myself and am really looking forward to it...for so many reasons!!
I hope you are well and I wish you a very happy and healthy New Year.

Why isn't everyone so fortunate?

Recently, I read a blog from a lady in America about how, apparently, hit and miss care for thyroid cancer sufferers in the US is. We know that the NHS over here comes in for bad press quite regularly, but is it always fair? Not in my opinion. From diagnosis, which only happened because of the thoroughness of my endocrinologist, to surgery, which was carried out within a month (and only took that long because I wouldn't have it done sooner), to radiation and now: aftercare at two different hospitals, from 2 excellent consultants, I have had the best, most thorough care money could buy. Except I haven't had to pay an extra penny and have paid nothing at source. I know it isn't like that for everyone and I'm sorry about that, but we really shouldn't take our fabulous NHS for granted. Had my big check up earlier this month and so far no news...which I take to be good news.

Elsewhere, my beloved brother and (most of!) his family have upped sticks and moved to Botswana. Thus far communication has not bee as bad as I'd feared and that's despite a lack of broadband at home. I miss them, and will miss seeing them as regularly as I'm used to, but what a holiday destination to look forward to next summer...I just hope there are flushing toilets in Gabarone, that's all!

Beautiful Runnmaro

So, I have just had the most gorgeous holiday, courtesy of my brother and his family, with my trusty sidekick in tow. 10 days in a lovely, comfortable, wooden cabin, on an island in the Stockholm Archipelago: Runnmaro. So isolated that there was no flushing toilet (more of that in a minute!) and the nearest (and only) shop was a 5km walk away (and of course 5km walk back!). It was a 2 minute walk from the sea and a 20 minute walk from a lake, for those who prefer freshwater swimming. Glorious! The weather was amazing and our day trip to Sandhamn definitely a highlight. We found a gorgeous sandy beach and I had the most amazing prawn and crayfish open sandwich for lunch. Followed, of course, by Daim ice cream. Yum!!
Back to the toilet. Not inside the cabin, but in a hut over some rocks and down a slope (where it was easy to mistake the tree roots for snakes!). And not flushing: a strange device called a separator. You lean forward to wee, making sure that it goes down the hose into the bottle out back and for the other, you lean back to make sure it goes into the bag, yes BAG, which my dear brother and sister in law took turns to change....oh, I ask you! Well, it was a hoot...how we laughed, honestly! I've tried to upload a photo, but no dice so you'll just have to use your imagination.
So now back home and my annual clear out of the junk that accumulates in our house. What a way to spend my summer holiday!!

So, 2 years ago I got the shock of my life, when I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Papillary Thyroid cancer. Within a month I'd had my total thyroidectomy and 12 weeks later went into isolation to ingest I131, radioactive iodine, to bump off any stray cells that had been left behind.
Since then, it has been tricky to achieve effective levels of thyroxine: enough to suppress my TSH and prevent anything from growing back, but not so much as to make me toxic. I have been plagued by low Vit D levels, which of course is not helpful: without Vit D you don't absorb calcium well and high doses of thyroxine (I take over 200mcg daily) render you more susceptible to osteoporosis. Ain't life grand? Well actually, yes it is. It's certainly better than the alternative!
Two years on and so far, so good. No recurrence yet. The next round of checks is in September and no doubt by then I will be worried, as I always am before I see the various consultants, but there is no sign that anything is amiss.
In the meantime, I have a glorious summer to look forward to: just 2 more days of school then 10 days in Sweden and in September, I start a MA course.
Happy holidays one and all!
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