It's been almost 2 years since my last post and although I have missed blogging and even drafted a couple of posts it's taken the Queen's Platinum Jubilee to actually get me here! All because a cousin e-mailed me today and mentioned the King's death 16 months before the coronation and asked if I remembered where I was at that time. So yes I wrote telling him what I remembered about that sad day and said that the 16 months between then and the happy occasion of the coronation had been a time of change for me as my mother had suffered a slipped disc which necessitated surgery and she was in hospital for weeks and was told she wouldn't be able to work again which meant a move to a new way of life in the Forest of Dean living with her father.
It then occurred to me that the 16 months prior to this Platinum Jubilee has been yet another time of change for me including a death and a new way of life as back in February 2021 the Wanderer was living with us prior to flying off to Saudi Arabia to a new job there so a new life for her. Her flights were cancelled several times due to Covid but eventually she was due to fly on 8 April. However on 5 April, Easter Monday, I woke to discover Mr M had died next to me in bed during the night! What a shock that was I can tell you as he hadn't been ill and on Easter Sunday had been happily gardening much of the day. I called the Wanderer who leapt out of bed and came to see and called 999 and within minutes we had a paramedic at the door closely followed by an ambulance with two crew and shortly after that a police car with two policemen!! What a pantomime and ironic that you can't get an ambulance when you need one but when it was too late they all appeared at once immediately!
The Wanderer said she couldn't go to Saudi as arranged and leave me but I persuaded her she should as she might not get another opportunity and I was obviously going to have to learn to live on my own and the sooner the better so off she went on the Thursday. Yes it was difficult but one positive thing was that I hadn't had to watch Mr M getting more and more sick nor to have had to do things for him which I know we both would have hated and I had no memories of him being ill.
You might imagine just how difficult the following weeks were and having no family to help me and being in the middle of a pandemic didn't help. But gradually I coped. Then later in the year I had a routine blood test and it was discovered that I had iron deficiency anaemia which required looking into and colon cancer was diagnosed so following numerous appointments at the hospital when I wondered if I might get a Blue Peter badge for visiting so many different departments I had surgery on 30 November. I was discharged after a few days and was able to cope alone luckily as the Wanderer couldn't get home again even though she had booked a flight due to flights being cancelled etc due to Covid. I had an appointment at the hospital on 21st December when I was given the best Christmas present possible - I was all clear and no chemo or other treatment would be required.
I learned a lot during this time, such as I was not on my own at all as I feared and as well as the support I was given by the hospital staff there were also so many good fairies who appeared from nowhere to help me, friends called to see me or telephoned and kept in touch with offers of help. I had several invitations to spend Christmas Day with friends which I declined as I was not yet able to eat normally, was going to bed after lunch for a nap, and not up for crackers and paper hats just then! So I had a quiet Christmas by myself and even made myself a ginger cake on Christmas day as I just fancied that!
I went back for a nurse led end of treatment appointment in March when I spent an hour with a lovely nurse who explained everything and answered all my questions and I had another blood test, I have lost track of how many of those I have had. I will need an appointment for a further scan and the ubiquitous blood test in October so fingers crossed all continues well. It's all been a real life change and many lessons have been learned. I am stronger and braver than I realised, I have lots of wonderful friends, I have made some new friends too, life is still good in spite of things that happen and I am indeed learning to live on my own and the Wanderer is finally coming here in less than 2 weeks' time and I can't wait to see for myself how she is. I have a long list of things she can help me with too!!
So you can see why I haven't been posting! I haven't been reading any blogs either but often think of those blogging friends I had especially as I have so many things that had been given to me in the blogging years.
I have just discovered how to access my blog on Mr M's computer rather than my old laptop which takes forever to do anything but not yet how to add photos from camera or phone so I will try to do better next time!
