Jane's Blog

Well, I think it’s time to reveal our mystery guest. For those of you who were at Leeds University Dental School back in the late 70s and early 80s, it was a picture of our good friend, John Roberts, who was on the same course as us whilst at University.

It was delightful to see John when he called round the other evening, and today we had another lovely time when Judith and Dina called – Judith bringing an afternoon tea of scones and clotted cream (which brightened up the boys’ afternoon no end, I can tell you!), and Dina bringing an arrangement that she had done of freesias plus other beautiful flowers, making the house smell wonderful. We are very lucky indeed to have such thoughtful friends.

Dina is to the left of the picture, Judith to the right, with me ‘un-photoshopped’ in the middle!

Proving that it’s possible just to have a little too much of your Mother’s DNA, this (above) is Michael wearing my wig (not so sure that he meant the ‘thumbs up’ now that he’s seen it though!): as opposed to this (below), which is Michael freshly scrubbed and out of the shower, and with his more ‘natural’ hair state!

And

It’s not many folk who receive a set of World Cup Football cards from their Medical oncologist, but Dr H and I had a good chat earlier this week – mostly about the football, it has to be said – and just today a package arrived from her with some cards in it, as she knew the menfolk in the family wouldn’t be interested in the World Cup, but that I was. What a cracking woman!!

A face from the past ‘dropped by’ this evening to say hello. No prizes for guessing who, but maybe one or two of my friends from Dental School days will know who he is. No time to photoshop my complexion today, so I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with the ‘yellow’ look this time!

Yesterday (June 4th) was our 27th wedding anniversay – a big milestone in anyone’s book, but especially so for me at this particular stage of my life. I was determined to get here, and had effectively been ticking off the days for a while.

We didn’t do anything special – I am so weary nowadays that just getting up and getting washed drains the energy from me – but we did receive lots of phone calls and short visits from friends, so the hankie was a little on the permanently damp side and required wringing out at fairly regular intervals.

The boys both received brand new PC flatscreen monitors yesterday, so were tripping round the house like a couple of dogs with two tails they were so pleased! Michael also got an OM adapter for the digital camera, meaning that he can now use our old Olympus SLR lenses on his new Lumix camera – so he had even more reason to celebrate. The photo he took of us didn’t require any special lens though – just a bit of ‘touching up’ to get me looking a little more normal in colour!

In and amongst the various hospital appointments of the past few weeks, I’ve had several friends who have been kind enough to come and visit me.

At the end of January, Jane (Holt) and Peggy, members of the H&T department at LDI, came along and brightened up my Saturday afternoon with news of what was happening at work. First we put the world of dentistry to rights, and then moved on to archaeology – at which point a flint knife and my bronze sword appeared, as examples of what I used to do in my spare time. Jane and Peggy were also introduced to Sona and Charcoal (our chinchillas), having heard a lot about them when I was at work. The boys were on their best behaviour, and thankfully didn’t chew anyone’s shoes!

Last Sunday saw the arrival, from various parts of the country, of Judith, Anne, Dina, Faith, Peter, Diane and Sue. We spent a splendid afternoon reminiscing and chatting, and then devoured the buffet that Paul had prepared for us. James appeared in time to help eat the food, and he also set up the TV so that we could view all Diane’s photographs, taken whilst on holiday ‘down under.’

(Apologies to Sue as she arrived after the photos were taken).

Many thanks to everyone who is kind enough to set aside some time to come and see me.

December 21st, otherwise known as the winter solstice: the shortest day, and the longest night, of the year. But as far as I was concerned, this was the day Michael came home after 3 months in Japan.

The previous day had seen me sending him ever more frantic emails as the snow blizzards increased in intensity, and we worked out contingency plans in case we couldn’t get to the airport to meet him. Common sense then overtook my desperate desire to meet him off the plane, as I realised that I couldn’t afford to get stuck in the car in the cold weather (my hands and feet are badly affected by the Oxaliplatin, and I can experience tingling in them even whilst sat in the warmth at home – the pain when out in the cold is something else…). Then Paul took one look at the weather forecast the following morning, and decided to catch the train to the airport rather than risk taking the car on the M62.

After he left I sat at my laptop, constantly refreshing the ‘Flight Stats’ homepage to keep an eye on Michael’s flight as it progressed across Europe. He finally landed at 12.30pm, after which I got the car out, slithered in a controlled manner to the main road, and drove to the railway station to meet them. The reunion on the steps of the station was wonderful.

We then had a very special Christmas Day together. The sun shone out of a cloudless blue sky as we made our way down to church for the morning service. We sat at the back, so that I was part of the service, yet away from the vast majority of the congregation due to my immunosuppressed status. Then it was home to open our presents (and thanks to the boys for my WiiSports, which was totally unexpected – now if only I could get on the TV to play it…), and to have our Christmas dinner. Michael had told me that he was looking forward to this whilst in Japan, and he certainly made up for lost time and small portions by tucking in with gusto!

Whilst home, Michael celebrated his 20th birthday on the 29th of December. As this unfortunately clashed with my next round of chemo, we went out for a family meal together two days earlier instead. Thankfully, the weather didn’t prevent us getting to Cubley Hall, and we made sure we all did justice to their superb carvery.

Then, after 3 weeks at home, it was time for Michael to return to Japan. Many, many thanks to him for making the long 24-hour journey home, and to the rest of the family for making it a very special and memorable Christmas and New Year

What a wonderful weekend of parties!

Last Friday evening, Faith, Dina, Diane, Sue and I went out to celebrate my birthday. We went to a local Italian restaurant, where we discovered – very bizarrely – that there was another Jane Gregory having a meal there, and Sue almost ended up with the wrong party! Thankfully, the girls didn’t subject me to the ultimate humiliation – wearing a hat with candles on whilst being serenaded (if that is the right word) by the rest of the diners! A lovely evening, and so nice to see everyone again.

On Saturday, Paul and I were invited to Jane Rowbotham’s for afternoon tea. Jane (for those of you who don’t know) is one of the Principal Tutors in Hygiene & Therapy at LDI, and had the misfortune to be the first person to be saddled with me when I started at the Dental School.

After a slight ‘incident’ on the way across (Paul had to do an emergency stop, so the bottles, which had been happily sitting on the back seat moments before, suddenly found themselves smashed on the floor), we arrived at Jane and Peter’s to find that most of my colleagues in H&T were there with their families. Jane had thoughtfully arranged superb weather, so we had a lovely afternoon in the garden, watching the children play whilst chatting away. Very many thanks to Jane for providing all the food and drinks – especially my surprise Birthday Cake – and to everyone for being there.

On Sunday, we had arranged to go for a meal at Cubley Hall near Penistone, with several friends. This was both a belated birthday meal and also a ‘farewell’ meal for Michael, who leaves for a year in Japan this week (Wednesday). The food was typically superb, and Jill had made and decorated a second birthday cake for me, so there was more singing and blowing-out of candles. A fantastic way to end a wonderful weekend – my heartfelt thanks to everyone for making it so special

Well, despite the very best efforts of Ondansetron and Cyclizine, I still managed to end being in my forties with my head in a bucket. Ah well, at least it was memorable!
This morning I was dragged from my bed by the early arrival of the District Nurses. After a cheery welcome of ‘Happy Birthday!’, they proceeded to change my syringe driver.
After they left, I weighed up my options and decided I might as well stay up rather than return to bed, so spent the next few minutes happily opening all my cards.
Very many thanks to you all for your good wishes, cards and presents – and, of course, to Peter for singing down the phone to me!