The great news today is that my daughter and her family have completed on their house - they can finally move out of private rented and all the stress that involves into a home of their own, where they know they can stay for the rest of their lives if they want to. She was in council-owned houses for ten years or so, but when her husband was offered work in Wales and they had to move (nearly three years ago), they had no option but to give up the council tenancy and rent privately. Since then they have suffered a catalogue of dodgy buildings (the first house they moved into had a bedroom that was in serious danger of falling into the kitchen), landlords who wouldn't do repairs (the explosive water tank in the next house and the usual trauma of phone calls from the agent giving six hours notice of an inspection of the house... They have lived in four different houses in the two years after they moved and the children have never been able to settle in school as they are never sure how long they are going to be there. Hopefully they will have some stability now and she will lose some of the stress which has been driving her mad over the last few months - it's not easy for first time buyers to get a mortgage today, even with a 20% deposit!
I had a call from one of the nurses at the breast care unit today - they are trying to organise the next round of scans, and wanted to know why the consultant had marked the MRI request as "urgent" - as though I would know... he didn't say anything to me about it being urgent - it could just be that he's trying to avoid getting bogged down in a long waiting list, or it could be that there is something he isn't telling me yet. See how easy it is to get into the worry trap?!?! I would have expected that he would want me to have the scans a bit after the final chemo (which is next Wednesday) and a bit before I see the surgeon (whenever that will be) - but one never knows. At least I can wave the private insurance card now if I need to... Anyway, the nice nurse will track down the consultant and ask him, and will let me know what's afoot, possibly when I get there this afternoon.
The nurses on the breast care unit are all Macmillan nurses - this makes it very scary when you first meet them, when there is a lump and you're trying to keep calm and convince yourself that it's all going to be ok - when the nurse holding your hand while the doctor does things has a "Macmillan Nurse" badge hanging off her belt! But it does mean that they are all specially trained and should have some of the answers...
I will be off to the hospital shortly for my meeting with one of the nurses on the breast care unit to talk about the radiotherapy. I think I will also ask her for advice about getting signed off as unable to work - talking to an acquaintance yesterday it seems that there is help to be had, whatever the Jobcentre think, and that being treated for cancer is considered enough to justify this, but the forms have to be filled out very carefully. I have to say that I could do without the stress of job hunting right now - the agonies I went through over the last interview, which had me wound up like a bowstring and so tense that I couldn't remember my name let alone what I had done for a living.
Just seen the reports on the Beeb about the fire on Hastings Pier - what a tragedy...
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