Smelling The Roses......

 
This made me laugh when a neighbour sent it to me. What are the chances of another couple having the same names as Hubby and I, and performing locally. 

I went for the Oncology appointment and the consultant confirmed that lymphoma needs treatment that will control it as it can't be cured. It will be one pill a day for life that targets cancer cells to inhibit growth (it's not chemo). Told it will give unpleasant side effects which will then need to be managed but as everyone is different that's ongoing and will hopefully settle after about three months. CT Scans every four months. I was actually ready to refuse all treatment (the nine previous cancers had without doubt damaged my fight reflex) but for the first time ever Hubby insisted I have it which is what I needed. 

After two vampires made five bloodless attempts I stopped them and have now made an appointment at the surgery for Monday. That was possibly my fault as I didn't know I would be needing a blood test today so didn't drink the gallons I would normally have to as my veins are notoriously shy. 

I was given a leaflet and told the specialist/Macmillan nurse would call me in a day or two to make arrangements. I'm hoping I can start the treatment after the 11th August as I've plans before that I don't want to miss. 

Of course as soon as we came home I reported all this back to our children and my siblings. Then later I emailed my ex-work friendR as I knew her husbandJ had similar treatment for myeloma. They were both so supportive and reassuring that it made me feel a lot more positive than I had. 

Now I'm gradually going through the people that also would appreciate knowing and checking my calender and warning those we should be meeting up with later in August that I need to see how I feel at the time. 

I've also emailed the Courts to ask to be excused from jury service that I'd already agreed to, that's also end of August. 

Didn't realise I was so busy until I started to cancel and let people know. 

I will try to tell it how it is, as my diary can't just be the good bits, but that's enough serious stuff for this post. So I'll share some of my garden. 

Not too many rose blooms out although there's lots of buds getting ready. 

And the ones that are in bloom are beautiful. 

I love this huge lavatera/mallow display especially as the original came from my mum's tiny little garden. 

Stunning acanthus needs a bit of a weeding around it. 

And I've had my first ripe plum off the tree, so the others shouldn't take much longer in our current hot sunny weather. 

Till next week, don't forget the sunscreen and drink plenty.

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