Red or Green curry?

Today I am writing from the patio, catching a few rays of sunshine in between all the cooking I am doing. I have been rather busy this last week, recovering from the icky chemo which went almost without a hitch. Let me explain.... I got a blister on my hand from doing some (a lot) of gardening on the Sunday before my treatment. It was like one of the ones you get on your heel from a new pair of shoes. It hurts but nobody makes a song or dance of it. Well, except if you are having chemo. I went in to have my bloods done the day before and nurse saw my hand. You would have thought it was some huge, disgusting, puss filled, required emergency surgery, injury. Anyway she told me to keep it clean which I was anyway otherwise would have had the wrath from James! He is the biggest keep cuts clean freak ever! Travelling with him was rather hilarious as our whole supply of alcohol wipes was depleted from his one cut in the first week (well worth it though as it did not get infected)! So that was that; until the next day when I had to produce my arm for the chemo needle. New nurse made the same fuss, except I did get told off as well for getting said cut. It’s not like I did it on purpose and yes I did have my gardening gloves on (white with flowers). So that I did find rather amusing. Never will I accidently get a blister again. For any nurses reading my cut is fully healed, was kept nice and dry and frequently plastered with sudocrem.

I was also able to recover quickly after a few grotty days due to my birthday celebrations which consisted of a very nice family barbeque on Saturday, and a lovely roast and visit from my parents on Sunday. All cooked by James and all delicious. James makes the best roast potatoes in the world. This is a fact.

This afternoon I am busy cooking. My best friend George and her fiancé James are visiting this weekend. As it is supposed to be sunny tomorrow George is venturing further into deep dark Wales then she has ever been as we are hoping to go to the beach (previous visits have only got us as far as Cardiff shops). On the menu is ginger and chocolate cupcakes, supposedly for tomorrow but depending on Georges’ hunger on arrival it could be a pre dinner snack (this happened on last visit). Dinner will be a Thai feast! Spring rolls (said in a Thai accent), green papaya salad, morning glory and red curry, followed by pineapple and coconut soufflé. Yum yum yum! Anyone who knows me knows about my love for Thai food. When I told James I was doing a Thai feast he said I bet you do red or green curry. This is because whenever I cook Thai I do just cook red or green curry. I can’t help it; I love red and green curry. I would eat it every day if I could. When me and James first moved into Cardiff a couple of years ago (and on my visits down prior to moving) every time we went for dinner it would be to The Thai House. We ate there so much we had to have a little break from it. Well James did, I didn’t as like I said I could eat it every day, and still took the chance to go with my friends. However, we also discovered The Potted Pig in this time which meant we had 2 favourite restaurants to decide between when we wanted to go out.

So soon I will begin the preparation for tonight’s feast. Cupcakes are half done and smell delicious and I got to play with my new Kitchen aid.  If anyone would like to come and do the dishes for me you can have one. A cupcake, not a kitchen aid. James will not be home to pester me in the kitchen and tell me I am doing things wrong (or not the way he would do it) because he cannot stand how messy I am in the kitchen so is taking himself of to the gym after work. We are rather hilarious when we try and cook together as neither wants to be sous chef and both think we know best so it can get quite heated! This will be amusing when we go to Rick Stein's Asian seafood class in September (my birthday present, very excited), as it says on the website you work in pairs. Even James' mum suggested we do no work together that day! I do hope Rick is there though. I love him! Though I would get very starstruck and probably cut a finger off.... This is highly likely as I go slightly crazy around famous people. 

Back to today - when James gets back I plan to be well on top of things and the kitchen to be nice and tidy with all dishes used so far washed up. And not to be using every pan in the kitchen (another one of my traits). However unless someone does come and help me with all the mess I am about to create, this is more than likely not going to be the case!

Brrr my head's a bit chilly!

So Saturday was the day of the big shave… My hair had started to give up the ghost, not helped by the fact that I am a constant hair fiddler. When I was at school, me and my best friend George always used to always check the back of each other jumpers for hairs after lunch, who knows how or why this began! While I was looking in the mirror at the vast amount of hair on my top one evening this came flooding back and I had a little chuckle to myself as she would have enjoyed that mammoth task!

Anyway so Saturday morning arrived, James was armed with his clippers and for once was not worried about the mess I was about to make, swiped away my suggestion of newspaper on the floor. It took about 5 minutes to let him near my head as I was overcome with the giggles. I don’t know how men go through having their heads shaved, it really tickles! And then all of a sudden my hair was gone. Well it did actually take a while, and I think James was pretty pleased with his barber efforts. A lot of people asked me when I said I was going to shave my head which hairdresser I was going to and were a bit shocked when I said James was doing it. Even the wig man! My thoughts were he couldn’t exactly do it wrong, and he is probably the only one I would have trusted to do it (well I would have trusted my mum too, but she wouldn’t have been able to do it and most probably would have cried throughout!). 

 

So the result was not as bad as expected although I was pretty horrified with how brown and dark my hair looked. I was not happy about that! So the deed was done and we raised and continue to raise an amazing amount of money for the Breast Centre, so thank you all for that.

As we had a day of summer we went down the beach, me in a coat and Ugg boots (it’s always a bit chillier by the beach and I don't like being cold), and my wig. After a little walk we went to the arcade and tried to win some Nemo teddies for our nephew on one of those grabber games (Nemo or Dory as we won Squirt last time). We didn’t win. I think it’s rigged as every time James got close and found Dory, and I got excited and started jumping up and down, the claw dropped her. Very disappointed.

Once we got home I took my wig off and blimey my head noticed the difference. Brain freeze! So for the last few days I’ve been alternating between my wig, head scarves and bare head. I think the scarves make me look more poorly at the moment, I suppose partly it’s because I just associate them with cancer. I don’t actually mind having a naked head but do not want people staring at me when I go out (and it’s very cold without hair) so have yet to brave that!

I have of course done some baking over the weekend, and had a very green fingered Sunday which I finished off today by repotting my chillies (hopefully spicy ones for my love of spicy food) and planted some cherry tomatoes. This all needed to be done prior to chemo cycle 2 tomorrow as the next few days will most probably be spent with me laying on the sofa doing my jigsaw, what a geek I have become….

To Blog or Not To Blog?

Writing things down is a way to get things off your chest, to get your thoughts and feelings out there without actually having to say them out loud. It seems these days it’s the thing to do, especially if you’ve got some time on your hands, as I do at the moment.

On Valentine’s day this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Instead of going out for a nice meal with my boyfriend (something we usually do after Valentine’s Day so we don’t get charged ridiculous prices for dishes we can’t even chose ourselves) we were sat at home with the task of telling our families. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. After only a few hours of being diagnosed I couldn’t really bring myself to say the word ‘cancer.’ At 25 years old it wasn’t on my list of things to do, on my rough plan on how I wanted my life to turn out but it is now something that I have to deal with every day, as does my family.

A few people suggested I write a blog or keep a diary, which I was unsure of at first. Why would I want people, some of them strangers, knowing personal things about me and about what I am going through? My mind starting to change when James (my wonderful boyfriend and solid rock through this awful ordeal) encouraged me to set up a justgiving page to raise money by shaving my head for the Breast Centre Llandough, where I was treated and will continue to be treated. I wanted to raise a couple of hundred pounds, just as a thank you to my Breast nurse, my doctor, and all the other people at the Breast Centre Llandough. A special mention to the singing receptionist (the Grease melody I think it was) for managing to give me and James a laugh on one of our visits, something not common in that place! Little did I know what an amazing response this page would receive. Currently the total raised is over £1500. Friends, family, friends of family, friends of friends and even some strangers have donated generously and completely overwhelmed me with messages of support and encouragement.

And so I think this blog will be born. It will not be all doom, gloom and cancer however as that is not the kind of person I am and I definitely do not want this thing taking over my life, nor will I let it. I will keep you updated on my day to day adventures - I seem to have taken up gardening. I am an expert gardener; this is what I believe anyway.

Ask my parents and James and you may receive a different response. Also ask James’ dad Graham, at the end of the summer how his vegetable patch has got on as he is allowing me to plant a few things! So far I have a few little broccoli plants popping up to say hello and some sunflowers that seemed to have stopped growing….. I also have increased my baking repertoire, something I have loved doing for years; however sugary dairy filled goods are not highly recommended with cancer, so I bake, have a little treat of what I have made and leave the rest for others to eat.

So I will endeavour to keep you updated on my ever increasing gardening skills, my interesting concoctions in the kitchen, as well as how I am doing.