7.30!!!! Wow managed to sleep from 1 am till 7.30 a.m.. Things are definitely getting better. Have now finished the steriods, but was having dreadful problems with night cramps. Apparently not part of chemo, but never had them before. I am inpossible to sleep with, as during the night I jump out of bed Banshee style screaming and stamping the floor as the painful knot in my calf will not undo. Clearly this is not conducive to Dave's beauty sleep and he has found refuge in the guest room upstairs where he says he can still hear my night time antics.
I read that night cramps are due to a lack of various minerals, potassium, calcium etc. I already take calcium tablets as the treatment for the bone cancer - zoldonic acid takes a lot of the calcium out of the system and you have to take calcium tablets to put some back. With a view to improving the potassium, I have taken to eating a lot of bananas - or rather bananas fried in butter and tossed in rum and sugar - yummy, but doesn't seem to help the night cramps. In desperation therefore I asked the doctor for quinine tablets which are meant to help - At least I won't get malaria this summer! I had the first tablet last night and like magic the cramps have gone. Bliss. I am a new woman.
House buying and selling is proving a wee bit troublesome. We were out-bid on the house we wanted - gazzumping still goes on, although I suppose we didn't offer anywhere near the asking prize for the house that we wanted. We also lowered the price of ours to ensure we secured a buyer in rented accommodation as the people who were going to buy our house were in a chain and the people at the bottom of the chain pulled out.
Now we have the buyers, we don't have a house to move to. However tomorrow I am off again to look for a Dez Res with lovely garden, big kitchen and not a lick of paint needed. Have about four to look at. House hunting is a bit voyeuristic. It is an insight into the different ways people live. The house inhabiting public is made up of clutterists and minimalists I think with shades in between. However, when trying to sell a house, one would assume that the clutterists clear up a bit. Not at all and we have seen some very cluttered houses. The idea I think is to look beyond what is in a house, but I am not very good at that. I am definitely good at knowing which house I like though - usually within the first 5 minutes. If I feel coming home to a house would not make me think - oh I am glad to be here, I don't even want to go on. That discounts most non-period houses and houses on estates where there are lots of houses that look the same. Hope I don't sound a snob - oh what the hell, I probably am.
I have finally organised our 30th Wedding anniversary week-end. Last August Dave and I should have celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. However I was half way into my first lot of chemo and the momentous day was marked with a quick head shave (Dave decided my hair needed a bit of a tidy up) and a celebratory drink of tap water. In discussion with the hospice physio I saw yesterday - we were working on improving my breathing and she is a native of Holland - somehow we started talking about flowers, perhaps even having enough breath to smell flowers. She told me that this weekend is the famous Dutch Bloemencorso - flower festival which takes place between Noordwijk and Haarlem (not far from Amsterdam). One can watch the procession and then cycle along the coast to see the wonderful flowers in bloom. We abandoned any pretence at a physio session, got on the computer and planned it all - her notes will surely mention 'suggest practice breathing techniques in practical session this week-end!' So it is off to Holland via the car ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland and two nights in posh hotel. We can take my electric bike so I will be able to cycle as easily as the next person. Who says all stops when you have chemo!
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