With thanks ....!

Well hello again, my friends! Since my post yesterday Hubby and I have been inundated with the most wonderful messages of love and support from all over the world. I cant even begin to tell you how much that means to me!

From the friends we see and speak to regularly, to the people we haven't heard from in a long time, and a few people I have never met - thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my heart! Your words and kind thoughts are incredibly uplifting at a time when it can be very hard to find joy.

It is truly heartwarming to see how much my dear hubby is loved and respected by you all, and to know how much he will be missed.

We had a pretty chilled night last night and busted out Despicable Me 2 for a first viewing, which we both thoroughly enjoyed!

The doctors were still tweaking away at his pain meds (we are trying to get away from pill form and get him onto all liquid pain control) and he had a much stronger dose of the liquid which made him very sleepy and a bit worried so we had a night of broken sleep while I monitored his breathing and made sure he was comfortable - which he was, phew! 

Tonight we have another tweak and will be getting rid of the pain pills completely so I don't expect to have any lively conversation this evening, but that's OK as I still have Christmas Day's Dr Who to watch! It looks like the liquid is doing a better job at keeping his pain under control which is wonderful, and in another couple of days his body should be used to the new dose and hopefully he will be less sleepy.

In other completely random and frivolous news, (because it cant be all doom and gloom!) I decided last week that it was time to get rid of the blond hair. This decision had nothing at all to do with a year's worth of DIY bleaching leaving my hair scorched, frazzled and looking like a scarecrow! Nothing at all!!

So I decided to go bright red!!! But my hair decided to go ......

..... well, kinda pink! Again, I am sure that this has nothing to do with my hair being so utterly abused that the dye wouldn't stick to it! Nothing at all! 

This picture doesn't do the colour full justice as the back and the roots are quite red, and it contrasts quite spectacularly with the faded pinky ends, so I have ended up being rather happy with it! 

A slightly better shot of the colour

I wouldn't get too used to it though, after a year of continuous blondness - the longest I have ever maintained a colour other than my natural one - I suspect that I will be mixing it up fairly regularly over the next few months! 

On that note, it is time for my dinner and I hear a pizza calling me from the freezer - happy days! I'll check in again tomorrow and let you know how the boy was over night.

Laters .... x

The Latest Hubby Update

Hello friends. I apologize for the lack of updates, but the news has not been good and I have not had the heart to write about it.

A recent PET scan showed that sadly the latest chemo was having no effect and that all the tumours had grown again, so last week, in consultation with the oncologist, my brave hubby decided to stop chemo and begin hospice care. A horrific decision to have to make, but it is the right one and now we can concentrate on keeping him comfortable and hopefully squeeze a little fun in before the end.

No one can tell us how long he has left, but his health is visibly declining and we know that we are looking at weeks rather than months. 

The hospice care will be done in the home as much as possible, and I am delighted that he will be able to remain in the comfort of his own home and that I will be able to continue to care for him.

The hospice people have mostly been wonderful so far, and the doctors and nurses have been in contact daily while we adjust his medications to get him and keep him comfortable, and he even had a massage from one of the hospice volunteers today!

Christmas was a toughie, but our amazing friends did their best to make it special and hand delivered me a rather yummy Christmas plate so that I didn't miss out on my festive dinner! It was hard to know what to get him for presents, but I figured I couldn't go wrong with light hearted movies so we have some Muppets movies, Despicable Me 2, Elf, and the original Star Wars trilogy on Blu Ray to look forward to over the next few days, along with some 3D spacey geeky nonsense :-)

I know a lot of people will want to come and visit Hubby but he gets very tired very easily so I'm afraid there may not be many opportunities for visits. Please text or email me, or text Peter, before visiting to see if he is fit, and be aware that any scheduled visits may have to be cut short or cancelled at short notice depending on how his day has been.

Also, be aware that if you are sending him texts it is probably me that is reading them and while you may not always get a reply I am passing on your messages.

Well, that pretty much covers it. I will keep you posted on any changes in Hubby's condition, and hopefully we'll manage to have some fun updates too! 

Laters ..... x

Hubby Operation Update

Just wanted to let you all know that Hubby had his left lung drained of about a litre of yucky gunk this morning, and had the filter to stop the blood clots inserted. Both procedures went well and he is dozing happily and comfortably as I type.

We don't know yet if the draining has taken care of the palpitation problem (he also had an echo cardiogram this morning that we haven't heard back about yet) but it certainly explained why he was having trouble breathing so it should at least help! I guess we'll find out when he tries to move or get up!

We also heard back from our oncologist this morning on what they found when they compared Hubby's recent CT scan to the previous scans and it was a mixed result - the lesions in the liver had either stayed the same or grown a little bit, which isn't great, but the stomach tumour showed significant reduction, which is better news and we will take any good news we can get!

I'll let you know when we have any more updates.

Laters ... x

Further Hubby Hospital Update

Hello again. If you are wondering how Hubby's little stay at the Good Samaritan Health Spa is going, then this post is for you!!

As you know, we checked in on Thursday and they found that he was very anemic again and wanted to keep him in for another blood transfusion. They also did a CT scan on Friday night and discovered that he has a number of blood clots in his lungs, and an ultrasound on his legs where they found more clots.

The clots, along with the anemia, are most likely the reason that he has been so wiped out that he couldn't move, and also should explain the strains and pains around his heart. Tomorrow he will be having a filter inserted in to his vena cava that will catch any new clots in his legs moving up to his lungs, and he is on a blood thinner that should dissolve any clots currently in his system. He should also hopefully be getting his lungs drained tomorrow, which should ease some of his pain.

All rather horrible, but essential to getting him well enough to bring him home, which if all goes to plan should happen sometime after Wednesday or Thursday *fingers crossed*

Despite this, we still managed to throw him a pretty respectable birthday party yesterday with loads of pressies and cake and champagne - hurrah!! It was quite tiring for him but he made a good effort and he managed to enjoy himself (as much as anyone in hospital can enjoy themselves!!) A huge thank you to everyone who helped make yesterday special - we weren't going to let a little thing like being in hospital stop us from celebrating in style!! ;-)

I guess that's all the news for tonight. I will, of course, let you know how he gets on with his procedures tomorrow.

Laters .... x

Hubby Hospital Update

Hello peoples! Just a quickie to let you know that Hubby is having another wee stay in hospital just now. He has been really wiped out for the last week between his chemo, the insulin adjustments in his IV nutrition and his new meds.

This has left him utterly exhausted and unable to move, and he has had problems with heart palpitations whenever he did try to move. A quick trip to the ER showed that he was very anaemic again so they are keeping him in for another blood transfusion, which they think may fix all the problems, but if not they will hook him up with a cardiologist in the morning and see what else they can find.

As I left he was a quarter of the way into his transfusion and already looking a million times better and was busy telling the nurses how to do their jobs so he is well on the way to recovery!

Well, it has been a long-ass day and I am just home (it's midnight!) and I am settling down to my dinner and a glass (or 3) of bourbon before I turn in for the night.

I really cannot thank the wonderful Miss Garneau enough for hanging around all evening waiting to give me a lift home (and then back to the bloody hospital with something I had forgotten then home again!!) You are a legend and I love you dearly!!

Right, my pizza is nearly done and I am ready to switch off for the night!! I will post again tomorrow when I get back and see how the boy is.

Laters ... x

Weekend Hubby Update

Happy Saturday, people!! Hope you are all having a lovely weekend and doing something fun!!

Thought I would give you a quick update on the pain management appointment yesterday. The nurse and doctor we saw were really nice and really understanding of the pain and problems Hubby is currently going through. They explained that the reason the fentanyl patch hadn't been as effective as we had hoped was because it relies on fatty tissue to absorb and distribute the drug through his system, and as there is not a drop of fat on the Hubby right now the absorption levels had been erratic.

So we now have a shiny new regime of MS Contin (a morphine pill) every 8 hours, with a liquid morphine that he can take as needed for breakthrough pain. The pills are making his head rather fuzzy for the first hour or two, but they seem to dealing with the pain which is great and he has only had to take the top up morphine a couple of times.

Unfortunately this weekend he is also dealing with the after effects of the chemo on Wednesday, and some problems with his blood sugar levels due to the IV nutrition. They have added insulin to the IV bag and we were up for a lot of last night testing his blood and adjusting the insulin levels. I am currently waiting for a call back from the nutrition people so we can discuss how to give him a better night tonight as we would both be very grateful for a better night's sleep!!

Well, I shall get back to descaling my coffee machine now - I have been without means to make coffee for over a week now and I am getting a bit fed up having to haul my sleepy ass down to the coffee shop for my morning fix!

Laters ..... x 

Belated Hubby Update

Greetings friends! How have the last few weeks treated you? We've had a few ups and downs but things seem to be balancing out now. I wont bore you with all the details but here are the highlights:

First up, Hubby has just finished the latest round of chemo and seems to be tolerating it pretty well. We were hoping to get him back on the chemo pills this week (which the oncologist had stopped after his little stay in hospital last month to give him a chance to recover) but that is still on hold. Fingers crossed we can get back on those soon!

Pain management has still been a problem. We have been prescribed some stronger stuff which seems to work some of the time but not consistently so we have an appointment with a pain management specialist tomorrow to see if we can get some better options. We also have an MRI scheduled for Monday to see if we can identify the cause of the pain in the middle of his back which is causing him the most trouble right now. 

He has been receiving the IV nutrition for 3 weeks and it seems to be doing a good job as he has put on a few pounds and is looking noticeably healthier and less pale. His appetite is coming back in fits and starts and he has developed a fondness for chicken nuggets, tater tots and Cool Ranch Doritos! Hey - whatever works!!! :-)

On his good days he has a lot more energy and has managed to be a bit more sociable, even if just for an hour or so, which is wonderful to see! We enjoyed a few good group gatherings as we watched the Red Sox romp to World Series victory and we are now proper baseball fans - we have tshirts and everything!! (Thanks Rachel!! Or technically, thanks Rachel's mom!!)

He has also started making his model air planes again - something he loved to do in the UK but hadn't had the time to pursue since we moved here. Well, he has plenty of time on his hands just now! I am really happy that he has taken up his hobby again as it is keeping both his hands and his mind occupied!

In other news, my driving is progressing - just as well as my test is in two weeks time!! (I had to schedule it before my learner's permit expired this month) I still have a couple of lessons before my test, and I have some very generous (and brave!) friends who have taken me out for some practise session - including a rather scary jaunt down to Santa Cruz and back!! I would say that I am cautiously optimistic that I will be able to pass, but please everyone keep your fingers crossed for me and pray to your God of choice!!

In sadder news, we definitely wont be able to make the Sea Ranch Thanksgiving trip with the gang as the next chemo is scheduled for the day before and the day of Thanksgiving :-( Rather disappointing, but chemo comes first and the priority is to get him fixed so we can enjoy many more Thanksgivings to come!!

Well, that about covers it, I think. I should really go off and do something productive but I am rather sleepy so I shall probably just sit on my ass watch some TV for a bit :-) I will keep you posted on how the upcoming appointments go, and anything else that I think you might like to know. Enjoy the rest of your day!! x

Multiple Hubby Updates

Good afternoon, my friends! I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!!

Its been a mixture of highs and lows since I last wrote, but I am pleased to report that we are on a high at the moment! Hurrah!!

On Wednesday evening after chemo Hubby was on astoundingly good form so I suggested we pop round to our friend and neighbour's house to catch the end of the baseball (Go Red Sox!!) thinking that a wee half hour out the house would do him good. Happily, we ended up there for about 3 hours which I think is the longest he has been out of the house for something other than a hospital appointment for a couple of months!! Yay!!

Thursday wasn't a great day as he was very tired and sore at the hydration session at the chemo centre. The afternoon appointment we had with Immigration Services didn't help, but it was only to get our fingerprints taken for our green card application and luckily we were in and out in about 15 mins.

On Thursday evening we had a nurse come round to get us set up with the IV nutrition program I mentioned on Wednesday. It seems all very straight forward and idiot proof - which is fortunate as I will be playing nurse for the next few weeks and changing the IV bag daily!!

Friday was a particularly rough day for Hubby as he didn't sleep much the night before and was very sore and nauseous from the chemo. We spoke to the oncologist and arranged for a prescription of a Fentanyl patch which is a much stronger painkiller, and is worn for 72 hours so we should be able to avoid the pain highs and lows.

It took a wee while to kick in, but by this morning Hubby was feeling a lot better and was a more chatty when I went to check on him. I am really confident that the combination of the patch and the IV nutrition is what is going to put Hubby on the road to recovery!! :-)

Well on that note it is time for me to go prepare his new feed bag, and then there was a rumour that I might be able to get him out of the house again for a little more baseball action (Go Red Sox!)

I'll check back in with you soon! x

Long Overdue Hubby Update

Hello all!! Apologies for the lack of recent information but the last 3 weeks have been mega busy!!

It hasn't all been doom and gloom as we have had some wonderful friends and family come to visit from Scotland, but it has been a particularly rough couple of weeks for poor Hubby.

The new chemo pills have been reacting with the area in Hubby's throat where he had the radiotherapy causing something called radiation recall, which caused Hubby a lot of pain whenever he tried to eat or drink.

This got worse to the point where Hubby was living on boiled eggs and miso soup and, after calling our oncologist for advice, he ended up in hospital for 3 nights last week getting fluids and a blood transfusion :-(

While he was there they also did an endoscopy to make sure the pain in his throat was not being caused by new tumours, and hallelujah! For once we got some good news and they were able to confirm that it was definitely caused by the radiation.

He seemed better when he came out and was managing to eat a little more each day until Monday when his appetite dropped off again and he was in a lot of pain. He has been prescribed an appetite stimulant but that wont kick in for a couple of weeks.

We discussed this with the oncologist when we saw him today and we have been referred to a company that deals with at home IV nutrition to try and build him up as he is incredibly weak right now, but we are not sure if he can eat if he is taking the IV nutrition which seems like it might not really help in the long run so we have a few questions before we agree to this treatment.

Based on his blood counts last week and how weak he was looking today we were unsure if he would get the planned chemo but surprisingly his blood counts were all good today and the oncologist was happy to proceed, but has told Hubby to stay off the additional chemo pills until we see him again in 3 weeks.

Hubby seems to have taken today's treatment quite well and is dosing happily in the chair next to me. Back in tomorrow for more hydration, then fingers crossed we will have a more peaceful cycle this time round!!

I'll keep ya posted!! xxx

Sleepy Hubby Update

Hello! Please forgive me if this post lacks my usual panache but today has been the longest day ever and I am absolutely exhausted!! Nevertheless, Hubby wanted me to get the latest news out so here are the bullet points of our day:

Today Hubby had his final blast of radiology and started on his shiny new chemo regime. 

We got the results of the echo cardiogram this morning which showed that his heart was healthy enough to take the proposed new treatment, and we also got the PET results which showed that while there was improvement in one area, as suspected, most of the tumours have grown. 

We had been warned that the new chemo drug would be more potent and have more nausea and side effects, but I am pleased to report that so far he doesn't seem any worse off than the previous treatments. He said he felt tired and weak but doesn't seem to have had any nausea and even managed to scoff down a sizable portion of Mexican food for his dinner - which would be considered an achievement even on a good day right now!!

So that's about all I can coherently put together right now. We will keep an eye on him overnight, and then we are back at the chemo centre for a couple of hours tomorrow for further hydration, and I will check back in with you in the afternoon and update you on his progress as well as fill in any blanks from today.

For now though, I am off to my bed! Nighty night!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......................................

A Cheeky Wee Hubby Update

Hello friends! Thought I would check in and give you a wee update on the Hubby.

He finished his second week of radiotherapy today and there have been mixed results. They were targeting two places - his hip and his chest - and while he feels that the pain in his hip has improved a bit, the pain in his chest has been significantly worse.

He reported this to the doctor who thought that this *could be a flair up from the radiotherapy which could mean that the treatment is working and prescribed Hubby a short course of steroids to help with the inflammation, which he finished today.

(* a bit vague, I know, but he also ran through a list of symptoms that would give him concern which Hubby had not experienced)

We're not sure how much good the steroids have done - he has reported a slight reduction in pain, but doesn't know if it is due to the steroids or because he has been taking more of the stronger painkillers. We will monitor him over the weekend, and if he continues to be in a lot of pain the doctor says he will prescribe a longer, stronger course of steroids.

Speaking of painkillers, there seems to have been a lot of concern recently from friends and family about Hubby's pain levels and him not being able to get the painkillers he needs and I thought I should clarify. Yes, he has been in more pain than either of us are happy about, but the problem has been more about finding something that Hubby is comfortable with rather than something that deals with the pain.

We have at least 3 doctors who are monitoring his pain levels closely and are happy to prescribe pretty much anything that he thinks might help! Unfortunately Hubby has a very low tolerance for narcotics and more often than not, the side effects of the stronger medications, such as severe digestive problems and feeling dizzy and nauseous, cause him more problems than the original pain, which is why he prefers to manage the pain with over the counter meds whenever he can.

We are trying something new today though - our latest doctor suggested liquid vicodin which will be easy for him to take in reduced doses so hopefully he will be able to find the right balance between pain relief and tripping out of his skull!! We will continue to keep an eye on this and do whatever we can to keep Hubby comfortable until we can start blasting these bloody tumours away!!

Hubby also had his echo cardiogram today to make sure that his heart is strong enough for the new chemo next week, and I can confirm that he does indeed have a heart - hurrah! We will find out on Wednesday what the results are.

Well, that's all the news for now. He has a PET scan tomorrow morning and I will let you know how he gets on with that, but again we wont actually have any results or real information until we meet with the oncologist on Wednesday.

Until next time ,,, x

Two hubby updates for the price of one!!

Hi guys! Here is the latest news from Hubbyland:

This morning we met with the chemo dude to get the results of the latest blood tests and unfortunately the cancer marker number had risen again :-( This was not really a shock as he has visibly been in more pain recently and we kinda knew that the chemo hasn't been working.

So we have a new regime starting in a couple of weeks, and this one appears to be a bit more aggressive. In fact he has to go and have an echo cardiogram to make sure his heart is healthy before they will start the treatment.

If all goes to plan he will be on a 3 week cycle instead of 2 weeks, with a longer first day at the chemo centre (as the new stuff is a lot stronger it has to be given slowly and with extra hydration), then a couple of hours back at the chemo centre on the second day for further hydration, followed by chemo pills for the rest of the cycle. He will continue to get the bone strengthener on every 2nd or 3rd treatment. We will do this for 4 treatments, then get a PET scan and see how we are getting on.

There is a higher chance of side effects with this treatment, but we are hopeful that they wont be too bad as Hubby didn't seem to be too badly affected by the previous treatments (his problems stemmed from the strong painkillers and the bone strengthener rather than the chemo drugs themselves)

As always I have spotted the faintest glimmer of a silver lining - with this regime Hubby wont have to be hooked up to the take home chemo pump for two days which was always a grotty pain in the arse!

The other update is that Hubby started his radiotherapy today - hurrah!! There isn't really much to report other than that the radio dude was happy with how it went, and aside from the machine making scary noises and feeling a warm tingling at one point Hubby did not seem any worse for wear after the session. 

We have no idea how quickly he should start feeling a difference, but he is scheduled for another 9 or 10 sessions over the next couple of weeks and we are very hopeful that things will start to improve soon.

In other news, my driving is coming along slowly but surely! I haven't scheduled any more lessons yet as I was waiting to find out what the radiotherapy schedule was going to be, but thanks to a practise run with a friend's mom (thanks Kris!!!) I am now able to run Hubby back and forward to the medical centre where he gets most of his treatment - hurrah!! And while I am not confident enough to be taking him to the next chemo appointment, as long as he is still on the ball there's no reason why I cant take him to the radio sessions, as well as the cardio and PET scans we are scheduling for next week, thus giving me a good few practise drives. 

Well, that's all the news for now. It's been a long day, Hubby is having a wee nap for a couple of hours, and I am off to enjoy a glass of wine on the porch and catch the end of the sun :-)

As always, I will keep you posted. Laters ..... x

Quick Hubby Update

Happy Friday everyone! This is just a quickie to let you know that all went well at the radiotherapist today. Our latest member of the oncology team seemed like a nice guy and seemed confident that he could help Hubby. He will be speaking to the chemo oncologist to work out a plan of action, but reckons that we will be going for 2 to 3 weeks of radio, then we will get stuck back in to the chemo.

Obviously we wont know any more until next week, and I will be sure to keep you posted when we have a plan!

We are looking forward to a nice quiet weekend now - the last couple of days have been quite scary and tough, but I am feeling more positive again today. Operation Peapod is back in business!! :-)

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends, whatever you get up to! Don't forget to hug your loved ones and tell them that you love them!

Laters .... x

 

Juice-tastic!!

Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me an obscene amount of pleasure to introduce my latest kitchen friend - my shiny new Juicer of Joy! As per my own crazy assed tradition I will at some point give my new toy a name, but this time I have decided to let Hubby choose and he has not yet gotten back to me.

After hearing a glowing testimonial from one of our friends on Sunday about his new juicing lifestyle we wondered if it might be something that would help Hubby with his digestive issues. There are many occasions where he doesn't feel like solid food and I do really worry that he is not getting the nutrition that he so desperately needs right now.

For once, Hubby agreed with me so off he trotted and picked up a juicer along with lots of lovely fruit and veg to play with. For our first attempt we went with our friend's simple go to recipe - carrot, apple & spinach.

As you can see, the result did not look appetising but it was actually pretty bloody delicious! And when I realised that I had just downed more vegetables than I had eaten all week I decided that I was hooked!!

It was really quick and easy to make, although the clean up is a little trickier - despite being dishwasher friendly, it would appear my dishwasher is not juicer friendly as it doesn't bloody fit!! Never mind - a small price to pay for so much health and happiness in a glass!

Hubby isn't doing too badly today - he does feel quite grotty and is napping right now, but he is much better than he was after the first bone strengthener treatment so I am happy about that.

I am now off to search Amazon and the interweb for books and recipes on juicing and I will most definitely keep you posted on my future creations, as well as that all important name!!

Laters .... x

*** Hubby Update - Encore ***

Hello all. Hubby had round 4 of chemo today and unfortunately the news wasnt brilliant.

So, here's some context - a couple of days before a treatment Hubby has to get blood taken so they can check the cancer markers in his blood and see how he is responding to treatment. We were told that these markers would probably increase for the first 3 or 4 treatments before starting to drop off, but apparently the oncologist didnt expect them to be quite as high as they were today :-(

Now this could be the final flair up before they start to drop, which is obviously what we are hoping for, but it could also mean that the current chemo cocktail simply isnt working and we need to come up with something new.

We wont have any more details on that until the next treatment so it will be a tense couple of weeks while we wait to find out what is going on.

We also have a consultation on Friday with the radiotherapy department to see if they can help any with the pain being caused by the tumor(s) in his shoulder bones. I'll be honest - I dont know that much about this (it was a bit of an info overload today) but I will be sure to update you on Friday.

Aside from all that, he seems to be coping well with today's dose of chemo, which included the bone strengthener which knocked him out the last time, so that is something to be grateful for!!

Sorry that this is a shorty today - im not really in a chatty mood but i know you will all want to know the latest news. Hopefully I will have something better to tell you next time!!

Love 'n' hugs 'n' shit!! xxx

*** Hubby Update - The Sequel ***

Happy Thursday, friends! I am delighted to report that Hubby was well enough to get his chemo yesterday - hurrah! I am also delighted to report that he had gained 2lbs since his last visit - double hurrah!!

The chemo centre was very busy this time so we
 got to sit in the library, and we found a copy of ....
 I shit you not .... Chemotherapy for Dummies!

He seems to be feeling a bit better than after the last two rounds - as discussed, our oncologist reduced the chemo dose a bit, and he also didn't get the bone strengthener as this is something he will only get every 6 weeks. He was still fairly drained when we got back yesterday, but after napping for a few hours he got up and ate a hearty dinner and didn't seem to be too worse for wear. Fingers crossed that that continues!!

The spectacular view from the patio

In other news, we were incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to go stay with friends of friends in Sonoma this week to watch the Perseid meteor shower. We had met our hosts, Bob & Sharon, at a party earlier in the year and had obviously been well enough behaved that when they invited John & Teo to stay they extended the invitation to us too.

Hubby making his pizza

They live in a beautiful house at the top of a hill with the most spectacular views and their own little vineyard where they grow the grapes to make their own wine (which was deeeelicious!!) We had a wonderful evening making our own pizzas in their wood fired pizza oven, drinking from a fantastic selection of wine, and eventually getting wrapped up warm and waiting for the meteors.

John & Bob with the finished pizzas 

I must confess, I was expecting the sky to be full of meteors all night long! That was most definitely not the case, but when we did see a meteor it was pretty spectacular!! Hubby and John both had their cameras out trying to capture one on film but sadly they were just too damned quick!!

Me, Teo & Sharon 

I must send a huge thank you to Bob and Sharon for having us to stay and being such wonderful hosts!! We both enjoyed ourselves immensely and and it was a perfect break and distraction for both Hubby and myself!

I like a table with 5 open bottles of wine! :-)

We also had an out of the blue visitor this weekend in the form of Hubby's childhood friend Dave, who now lives in Michigan. Dave called on Friday to try and plan a visit and it turned out that the only suitable time for the foreseeable future was ... well ..... the next day!!

Dave & Hubby

The boys hadn't seen each other for many years, and it was the first time I had met him - although I had heard many stories about the infamous Dave before! We had a lot of fun having him to stay, and I really enjoyed getting to meet him, and look forward to him coming to stay again!!

We have more visitors coming out next week - Hubby's parents have understandably been concerned about their boy and have decided to move the trip that they had originally booked for the end of September up by a few weeks! This will obviously be a different kind of trip than we were all originally planning, but I'm sure we will still be able to manage some mini outings and fun times!!

And finally ..... my first driving lesson has been scheduled for Friday of next week so I would highly recommend that anyone in San Jose area stays off the roads between 12.30 and 2.30 pm!!! I will, of course, let you know how that goes as I am sure you could all do with a laugh!!

On that note, I'm off to check on the patient. I'll keep you posted on how he is doing this week

Laters ... x

*** Hubby Update ***

Hello friends!! A few people have been asking about Hubby's progress this week so here is a quick update.

He was due to have his 3rd round of chemo on Tuesday but when we arrived our oncologist said that Hubby's blood count was a bit low and, although he could go ahead with the treatment if he wanted, the doctor would feel more comfortable postponing it for a week.

It was a bit disappointing to be sent home, but we are not overly concerned as the oncologist seemed to think that it was caused by the last treatment being too strong and an extra week of rest should be enough to fix Hubby's levels. He will also reduce the dose of the next treatment which is scheduled for Wednesday.

As always, I have tried to find a silver lining here and have found a couple - first, it gives us an extra week to feed the boy before he loses his appetite again - hurrah!! And second, if we stick to the new schedule we should be able to go on the trip our friends have been planning for Thanksgiving - which we were almost sure to have missed on the previous schedule - and that will give us something to look forward to! Hurrah again!!

Despite feeling a bit run down, Hubby had a good weekend and made it out for dinner on Saturday night, then on Sunday we made it to a Star Wars themed concert in the park. Saturday was the first night in months where he managed to stay out for the whole evening and everyone was delighted - for a few hours it felt like everything was normal again and that was brilliant!!

In other news, today I booked some driving lessons - EEEEEEEEEK!!!! As you all know, I am very anti-driving (well, anti-me-driving, anyway!) and have managed to find an excuse to put it off for many years. Now with Hubby being ill and frequently unable to drive, particularly to his chemo appointments, it seems I can put it off no longer :-( I don't have a date for my first lesson yet but I will keep you posted (and warn you when to stay off the roads .....!!)

And finally ..... I got chatted up today by a nice young man while I was waiting to cross the road! :-) He drove past me turning on to the main street, reversed back (nearly knocking a poor woman off her bike!), introduced himself then asked if I would like to go out sometime. I politely decline, obviously, but I had a definite spring in my step all the way home!! Particularly as he looked about 10 years younger than me! :-) Yep, I still got it!!

Well, on that note I shall get back to my crocheting. Yes, you read that right! I have decided to crochet a blanket for the chemo centre as their current range of blankets are a bit crap, but as this is only the second thing I have tried to crochet (the first being a decidedly wonky scarf) they may still seem like a better option!! Yet another thing I shall keep you updated on!!

Laters .... xxx

When life hands you lemons .....

..... throw them back in the bastard's face and hope at least one bursts in his eyes!!!

As you may or may not have heard, life has recently handed us a big ole sack of lemons. My wonderful hubby has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer which started in his stomach and has spread to numerous other parts, including his liver, lungs and some bones, and as you can imagine, we are pretty fucking devastated about it!!

He had been having back problems all year which were diagnosed as arthritis in April and had been losing a shitload of weight which we had attributed to an ulcer caused by taking too much ibuprofen for the back pain. Sadly this was proven false after he was sent for an endoscopy while on holiday in the UK for his sister's wedding.

Anyhoo, here we are back in sunny California and dealing with a new future. He has started his chemo and is currently on round 2. He will be on a two weekly routine of one day at the chemo centre for a 4 hour infusion, followed by 48 hours of take home chemo, then 11 days to recover before the party starts all over again! This will go on for 6 months and then we will re-evaluate.

He seems to be recovering a lot quicker from this round of chemo which we are very relieved about, but the good painkillers are causing him a lot of digestive problems and it is hard to find the right balance. It is still early days though, and I am confident that we will figure it out soon!

All in all, we are staying pretty positive and doing our best to get on with it. I am so proud of how Hubby is dealing with it - I'm fairly sure I would have gone to pieces by now if it was me!! Luckily we have the best friends anyone could possibly hope to have, and they've been keeping an eye on both of us and have been absolute God-sends giving us lifts to all his appointments and making sure we have everything we need. There really aren't enough words to express how grateful we are to everyone and how lucky we are to have you all in our lives - if love and support cured cancer then Hubby would be cured already with bags to spare!!

Our oncologist has said that he should start feeling an improvement in 3 to 4 cycles so hopefully in another month or so he will start feeling a bit better and be able to get out and about a bit more -  I bloody hope so as he will be off work for the next 5 or 6 months and it will be rather intense if the two of us are stuck in the house together the whole time!! On that note, if anyone has any suggestions for Hubbyish books, movies, games, hobbies or other pass times we would LOVE to hear them - he is not used to being house bound and I suspect it wont be long til the boredom kicks in!!

On a happier note, today is our 12th wedding anniversary - hurrah! We wont be celebrating with our usual fancy meal out, but that hasn't stopped me dressing up (who says I cant sit around the house in a leopard print dress and wedges with spikes?!?! ;-) ) and we will be making a nice romantic dinner to have at home. You can expect to hear about that tomorrow ...

A wee silver lining (sometimes you have to really dig deep to find one, but when you do you should grab it!!!) is that Hubby needs some serious feeding up and that will let me indulge in my hobby - cooking and baking!! Although we do have the unfortunate situation where Hubby is trying to gain weight while I am trying (as always!) to lose some, yet I seem to be the one eating most of the goodies! Bah!!

Well, that's probably enough for you to digest for now! I will be posting updates about Hubby's treatments and general health and adventures here, and please feel free to ask any questions or post any messages for him - I will be sure to pass them on!!

Laters .... xxx

Guess who's back?!?!

Grrrrrrrrr-eatings!!! Sorry for the radio silence - I've been off having far too much fun to find the time to sit and tell you all about it! But now that I have a quiet moment, let me share some of the photos from the last couple of months .....

As always, wine has played a rather large part in our social life and adventures! First up was a trip to one of our favourite wineries - Guglielmo in Morgan Hill - with Jared and Erin. It was Bottle Your Own day again and we couldn't resist stocking up on a couple of cases of their wonderful $6-a-bottle bargains!







Hubby had a lot of fun filling up the bottles!!

And my beloved little friend Paco was very brave riding on the conveyor belt!!

And then the boys had fun seeing how many boxes of wine they could fit in Jared's beautiful Ford Fairlane .....

Next, Jared & Erin took us to a new winery, Sycamore Creek, where the wine was simply amazing. Normally at wine tastings there are one or two that I don't like as much, but here everything was delicious so we promptly signed up to be members! Hurrah!!!

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, so after the tasting we sat outside and shared a bottle of wine while we admired the view

On the Saturday of Easter weekend, 19 of us hired a bus and went on a tour of 3 wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains. The first stop was at Savannah Chanelle, which is a lovely little place with some very lovely wine!

We were led on a tour of the vines by a rather entertaining guide, and got to sample the wines while we were out there rather than back in the tasting room, which I thought was a nice touch!

Sadly I don't have any decent photos of the other two places, but I can tell you that the second establishment, Cooper Garrod, utterly sucked balls!! I wouldn't have washed my toilet with the crap they were serving! The final stop was Mountain Winery which is a wonderful place, and just for you dear readers, I will make sure I go back and get some nice shots for you soon!

The highlight of that last couple of months has been my friend Cara's visit from Scotland! Sadly she could only come for a week, which isn't nearly enough time, but we managed to fit in a bit of shopping, a fair few cocktails, a wee day out in San Francisco, and even a trip to the ice hockey which I think was Cara's favourite part of her trip!

GO SHARKS!!!

And the week would not have been complete without a wee party to introduce her to all our wonderful friends over here! We decided to make it a cocktail party and the mojitos and lemon drops were flowing freely and absolutely delicious!

And that pretty much brings us up to date! There have been other adventures, but none that I have enough photos of to warrant a mention. As usual, I will promise to try harder, take more photos, and keep you up to date, but I know you wont hold your breath! Thank you for tuning in again!! :-)

The Princess & The Pea

Hello again! Have you all recovered form your weekends and the Monday blues? Did you get up to anything fun? We had a brilliant weekend!

First up, we had our fairytale new mattress of joy delivered on Friday. Our old mattress from the UK had collapsed on Hubby's side so he had taken to sleeping in the spare bed, but I found the spare mattress too hard so I was still sleeping in the old bed :-( I wont lie, part of me did enjoy the few nights I had with a whole bed to myself, but we were very happy when the new mattress arrived! And oh! What a mattress?!



We got a Sealy Posturepedic pillow top mattress and it is the comfiest bed I have ever slept in in  my entire life! On the downside though, it is twice as deep as our old mattress which makes it look quite ridiculous on our wee bed, and none of the sheets fit properly, but I don't care!! I loves it!!! :-)



On Friday night we had a long overdue catch up with Vera & Leo and their beautiful baby daughter. This was the first of my planned dinner parties of the year and I spent ages trying to decide what to make. I settled on a couple of things that I had tried before - asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and phyllo pastry for an appetiser, followed by grilled chicken with a mushroom and wild rice pilaf and roast veggies. This was the second time I had tried the pilaf and it was much improved! I totally forgot to get pics of these for you, but I will definitely be making them again so you'll just have to wait for next time!

The highlight of the meal was the dessert. Ive never really made desserts before - back in the UK they always came from Marks & Spencer - and was a bit intimidated by most of the recipes I was finding, until I came across Jamie Oliver's cheat pavlova. It looked fairly simple and rather impressive so I gave it a go and was very glad that I did!!

Other culinary highlights of the weekend included my new favourite brunch - a fry up of potatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, red bell peppers and topped off with a poached egg - yum! We even threw in some crisped up leftover prosciutto - double yum!!

Saturday dinner ended up being a surprisingly delicious Asian edamame and shrimps noodles. I say "surprisingly" as our food processor failed to puree the ginger down properly so it was all lumpy, and I forgot to reserve some of the noodle water so the dish was a little drier than it should have been, but I really enjoyed it and it will be making future appearances on our menu!



Saturday night found us back at the Grapevine wine bar in Willow Glen, but unfortunately there was a band playing and they were the worst band I have ever heard!! They proceeded to murder many classic rock songs at obscenely loud volumes to the point where it was more comfortable to sit outside wrapped up in coats and gloves than to suffer the noise inside! The wine, snacks, and service was as wonderful as ever, though, and we still had a fantastic, if chilly, night!

Well, that sums up our weekend. Hubby is off work this week so hopefully I'll have some adventures to share with you, culinary or otherwise. The main thing on the agenda for today, though, is to get some new bloody sheets ....!!!! Laters x

World's worst vegetarian .....

OK, so I haven't claimed to be a vegetarian since I was 16 (all my friends were doing it - what was I supposed to do?!?!) but aside from a few delicious exceptions over Christmas I have been successfully and happily avoiding meat for a couple of months now.

The little bit of beef in my Korean meal on Wednesday night was a tasty wee treat. Last night was pure meat porn! :-)

I had been planning another veggie curry when we got invited to Henry's Hi Life, our local barbecue restaurant, with friends - one of whom I hadn't seen since before Christmas and I really wanted to catch up. Barbecue is the one kind of restaurant that will never offer a vegetarian option!! They did have salmon on the menu, but if you've been following my posts this week you'll know that that just is not going to happen!

*sigh* Half rack of baby back ribs it is, then .....

Oh, but they were juicy and delicious and wonderful .... and not remotely healthy or cholesterol friendly at all, particularly when served with the mountain of garlic bread we went through too.



There was no way I could finish the plate, but I still managed to eat far too much and was in a bit of pain for the rest of the night! It was sooooo worth it, though! :-)

I am now officially off meat for the rest of the month, although just looking at that photo has me wishing I'd brought my leftovers home for lunch! We have friends coming round for dinner tonight so I am off to rummage through my books for something healthy to make that I can tweak so I can have it meat free! Or maybe something with shrimp. Hmmmmmm ..........

Not convinced ...

Every Wednesday night Hubby and I go out for dinner. We started doing it for practical reasons when Hubby was the main chef (ie only chef) and didnt want to cook when he got in late on a Wednesday. Much has changed since that first time he said "sod it, lets go to the pub for dinner", but our Wednesday date night has endured and been a favourite part of our week for nearly 10 years!

We have a limited choice of restaurants in our immediate area, and would usually prefer not to take the car, so more often than not we end up at an Italian place round the corner. This week we decided to branch out a little so I met Hubby at his office and we went to explore some of the places around there.

Hubby likes Korean food, and aside from a trip to a Korean barbecue place (which was delicious) I haven't really tried it. He took me to a place called Jang Su Jang which he had heard was good.

My first look at the menu told I was in trouble! Though I am a lot better than I used to be, I am still quite a fussy eater. You're talking to the girl whose biggest eating out decision when I was growing up was which fish and chip shop in our village to go to!!

I was definitely out of my comfort zone and nothing really appealed to me. Hubby suggested I might like the Bibimbap - a dish of rice, beef and vegetables with an egg on top. It sounded like the most Andrea-friendly thing on the menu, and even though I am trying to avoid meat, I went for it.


I didn't like it .....


The dish was quite bland, and the accompanying broth wasn't much better. I ended up having to put loads of the chili sauce on, but I didn't really like the flavour of the sauce so I was just generally disappointed. The beef, though, was delicious and the only part of the meal I actually enjoyed.







Hubby was very happy with his noodley soup :-)







So, I guess we wont be going back there again! I would like to try another Korean restaurant with Hubby sometime as I wouldn't want to write off a whole cuisine based on one experience - and would welcome any suggestions of good places to try from people in our area.

Well, on that note I am off to finish scaling the Ironing Pile of Doom. Wish me luck .......

Good news or bad news?

Good morning!! What news do you have today? Ive been making good progress on my organisation goals and managed to get all the upstairs crap cleared up, and conquered a good chunk of the Ironing Pile of Doom so I did not have to iron Hubby's work shirt first thing this morning - hurrah!! (Friends usually mock me for doing his ironing, but it really seems like the least I can do ...!)

Ive also been breaking my general healthy eating goal down into more specific targets and one of those is to eat more fish. *groan* I'm not a huge seafood fan. When I was a kid we used to have fish every Tuesday, and without fail every Tuesday morning my dad would ask me if I wanted the good news or the bad news? "The good news is I love you, the bad news is it's fish for dinner" Oh, how I laughed .....!

I'm not as bad as I used to be, but I do believe there is a special circle of hell reserved for salmon. It's just so ....... meh!! But apparently it is very good for cholesterol, and the fact that Hubby has started eating a lot of it is probably one of the reasons his cholesterol is so much better than mine now. So, one of my diet goals is to eat fish twice a week, and make one of those meals with salmon *groan*

I started by making salmon with toasted Israeli couscous last night and it truly lived up to my expectations - it was crap!

Lets ignore the fact that it was overcooked (I'm sharing joint blame with Hubby for that - sorry babe!) The recipe sounded really tasty - I mean, how could anything with pistachios not be delicious?!?! Well, apparently this is how!




I did really like the Israeli couscous, although this was actually the Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend with baby garbanzo beans, orzo and red quinoa through it, and I am looking forward to having that again. I suppose I like the theory of the salmon with the couscous, I just need to give it some ... y'know ... flavour!!!

On Hubby's request, I am stopping using my food magazines for inspiration as there have been more crap-fests than successes of late.



Instead I shall be using my Christmas pressie books and delving into the pristine collection of cookery books that I have been collecting over the years and barely touched!! I got many of these books when I couldn't even boil an egg and they were quite intimidating, so hopefully I'll have more luck now!



In other random news, I have made myself a Happy Jar :-) "A what?!" you say? A Happy Jar!




I read about it last month, and normally this kind of thing would have me rolling my eyes and reaching for a sick bucket, but I actually really like this idea. Basically, whenever something fun/good/memorable happens you write it down and put it in the jar, then at the end of the year you open it up and relive all the happy memories. Nice, huh?

I guess I need a little help decorating the jar, though - perhaps one of my arty friends could help with that? Katy ...? Cameron ...?




So far I only have the first cork popped on new year's eve in it, but I'm confident I can fill it by the end of the year, and not just with corks!! Mind you, that would be fun too ..... :-)

Mixed results .....

So this week I have been getting back in to my healthy veggie cooking after Christmas's scoff-fest. My Christmas gift from my in laws was two vegetarian cookbooks that I had had my eye on for a while - Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian, and Verdura, Vegetables Italian Style by Viana La Place - and I was keen to get  started on their yummy recipes.

Last night, as promised, was my first attempt at gnocchi with a Sorrento style tomato and mozzarella sauce from Verdura.



 The gnocchi was a lot of fun to make, but the texture of the finished product was a little off and I am not sure why. Maybe I over- or under-under kneaded the dough? Perhaps the water wasn't at the right temperature? Should I have left them to dry a little longer before cooking them?




More research is required, I think, and a trip to a decent Italian restaurant so I can properly savour the real deal and see what to aspire to!!




My sauce, on the other hand, was delicious!! Just the right amount of creamy yet still healthy - yay! I was a little disappointed that the sauce seemed to separate on the plate - Hubby reckons it was because of the mozzarella - something else to research, I suppose! It didn't spoil the taste, though, and all in all I give this dish 5/10 with definite potential.



On Sunday night Hubby and I delved into our Madhur Jaffrey books (her Ultimate Curry Bible has been Hubby's go-to book for years) and created an awesome curry feast! I made Punjabi style Cauliflower and Potatoes (or Aloo Gobi, to give it it's proper name) with a yoghurt herb dip and home made chapatis. Hubby decided at the last minute that we should have something beany and saucy to go with, so he threw together a quick, yet utterly delicious, red bean curry.

The red bean curry probably needed a little longer for the flavours to settle and mix properly, but dear God, it was one of the yummiest curries I have ever had, and definitely something I will be having a go at in the future!!

My offerings were equally delicious! Now, if I had read the recipe for the Aloo Gobi properly I would not have filed it under healthy as the potatoes are basically shallow fried into chips (or fries, depending on which side of the pond you are reading this ...) I don't think I did this bit properly as even after extended cooking time some of the potatoes were a little undercooked, but still edible. I will definitely be boiling them next time as I don't see how frying them improves the final dish.

Anyway, once they were combined with the stir fried cauliflower and mix of ginger, turmeric, cayenne, cumin & coriander they were delicious!!

The chapatis were simple and fun to make, but they were a little crispy and brittle. I know my pan wasn't hot enough to start so this could be the reason, but I think also I could have kneaded the dough a bit better - I kind of cheated and used my Kitchenaid and i think there wasn't enough dough for it to work with properly. I am looking forward to having another go though, as they would be a great addition to our dinner table.

I'm going to give this meal 7/10 and I know I can get this up to a 9 or a 10 with some practise.

You can expect to hear about lots more meals from these books as I work my way through them, but I won't be able to share the recipes like I can when I when I find them on the internet - aside from being too lazy to type them out for you I'm fairly sure the authors wouldn't be too happy about me posting their recipes online!!

Well, I had best get started on my tasks for the day. I'm focusing on my organisation goal today and re-organising upstairs - in preparation for new year's eve I cleared up all the crap lying around downstairs and it is now all lying around upstairs - whoops!! If you don't hear from me by tomorrow I may be trapped under a pile of shoes in my closet ..... x

Hap hap happy new year!!! :-)

Happy new year, peoples!! I hope you all had a wonderful festive season! How did you bring in the new year? We toyed with the idea of going up to San Francisco again this year, but decided to stay home and have friends round instead - and I'm so glad we did as we had one of the best new year's eves ever!

The plan was simple - dress up like we were going to a really posh party, then eat, drink and be merry!

The girlies were all looking fabulous!








And the boys were looking terribly dapper! Hubby was particularly happy for an excuse to get his kilt out!






And I was happy for an excuse to get my posh dishes out and set the table up all fancy! I really don't do that as often as I should (what's the point in having a nice dinner set if you don't bloody use it?!?!) and have decided that this year I will be making more of an effort, but more about resolutions later ....

Heather brought some delicious crostini with avocado and bacon bits, and Cameron made his legendary jambalaya (which I was delighted to enjoy again for my lunch for the next couple of days!) I made a lemon tart but sadly it was a bit shit :-( It was really really bitter compared to the last time I made it, but most people ate up and claimed they enjoyed it. Thank you for lying!!

Heather was also in charge of champagne cocktails and much bubbly was consumed :-)

Midnight definitely did not find us setting off fireworks, singing Auld Lang Syne and generally being a public nuisance in the park at the end of the street. It was another group of piss heads - honestly  ...!! 

The drinking and nonsense continued back at the house, and we called it a night at a very civilized 2am.

A huge thank you to Katy, Cameron, Heather, Jared & Erin for joining us for the celebrations - you all helped make it a very memorable night!! :-)

And now to those pesky new year's resolutions .... I hate calling them resolutions! Lets call them my goals for the coming year :-) They're actually mostly the same as last year's, with a few updates and a couple of new ones.

1) Topping the list again is diet and exercise! From a health point of view, Hubby and I still have some work to do on our cholesterol so this will be a priority this year. Cutting back on the vino will also be up there! 

From a vanity point of view, I managed to lose about 15lbs last year and I am almost back to my happy size - hurrah!! I still have another 10-15lbs to go, and a lot of toning up, so hopefully this year I can crack it. No, wait, positive mental attitude, young lady!! This IS the year I will get to my goal!!

2) Up next is my cooking. Ive made a lot of progress this year and have really enjoyed making new stuff. I shall continue adding to my repertoire and try and make some more complex dishes. I will also be paying a lot more attention to presentation - my offerings may taste great, but they almost always look like they've been made a retarded monkey! 

We will also be aiming to have a lot of dinner parties this year to give me an excuse to challenge myself, and also to get my aforementioned fancy dishes out :-)

3) My guitar and sewing machine are still gathering dust, unfortunately, and I will try and do something about that. We will probably be moving house in April so I will try and find a guitar teacher in whatever area we end up in and get serious about learning as it really is something I have always wanted to do! The sewing machine will probably continue to gather dust ....

4) My blog entries are still a bit sporadic, and the silences are usually just because I'm lazy or I've got so much to say that I don't know where to start! I do really enjoy writing the blog, so perhaps I will set aside an hour a day to just sit and see if I have anything worth telling you about?

5) A new entry for this year is to be less anti-social. This may seem strange to some of you who may know me as the life and soul of the party (or perhaps the crazy bitch who wont shut up?) but aside from a select few people, I generally prefer to spend my time by myself - and the more and more time I spend by myself the less and less I want to socialise. Don't get me wrong, I love my quality me time and I have certainly not run out of ways to entertain myself!! But I do need to make more of an effort to catch up with my awesome friends more often - yet another excellent reason to start having those dinner parties!! :-)

6) The final goal is to be more organised. This is a bit of a general one as it covers many areas. I always seem to be running around at the last minute trying to get things done. If we go on vacation I'm always up til 2am packing. Too often I'm ironing a shirt at 7.30am because there's nothing hanging up in the closet. I throw too much food out that has gone bad because I forgot it was in the fridge or lacked the imagination to make it into something interesting. I could list another twenty things right now that drive me mad which could easily be avoided if I was just a little more organised, but I wont bore you - I will just do better!!

Well, I think that's enough to be getting on with for this year! If you have made your own resolutions or goals then I wish you all the best in making them happen! I'm off to follow up on goal #2 as I am making gnocchi for the first time tonight, and hopefully #4 tomorrow when I tell you how it went. I might even throw in a quick #6 and iron Hubby's shirt for the morning ........

Laters ..... x