This Fortnight I…

Hi! Sorry. I was asleep last week again!

Fatigue has been one of my biggest struggles with my recovery and treatment so far, I keep waiting for it to pass after the transplant, but so far it hasn’t. It seems fatigue can also be a side effect of my maintenance treatment. So it might be something I need to learn to live with. I’m planning to start a diary to see if I can spot any patterns to it in the hope I can manage it a bit better.

I have friends coming for a mini Oktoberfest this afternoon. Which should be great fun. But first, this fortnight I…..

Went on holiday

Hurray! Just a short 4 night break at a cottage belonging to my friend. It is honestly the best place to go if you have dogs. It has a secure garden, long and short dog walks, a special dog bath in the garden, treats, toys and a dog bed in every room. They love it.

It also has a hammock chair in the garden that I got into and couldn’t get out of again without some very inelegant manoeuvres.

Accidentally went to a brewery

Well, not really accidentally. We planned to go during the week, thinking it was open all the time.

Then on Tuesday night we took the dogs out, and decided to just keep going and go to the brewery then, and it was lucky we did, as it turns out that it was only open on Tuesday, then shut till Friday, when we were going home.

So we stayed and drank beer. Then walked home across fields in the dark, which was exciting.

Kicked a dog

Whilst At aforementioned brewery I approached the bar to buy drinks. But I could not remember the name of the beer we were drinking so tried to skip down to the far end of the bar to check. Except a small dog was sitting in the middle of the floor and I fell over it. It was not a hardy dog, it was a small fluffy lap dog, and it behaved like I’d been beating it. I obviously felt terrible, and the dog stared at me like I was evil for the rest of the evening.

Had a very deep bath

Another good thing about this cottage is it’s bath. It’s huge and deep. I’ve been looking forward to sitting in it with candles and a glass of wine for weeks. It was worth the wait.

Made some terrible pottery

We ordered a “Tuscan Pottery” date night box from Box42 as a fun holiday activity.

As you can see, I probably won’t be making it onto pottery throwdown anytime soon. or Sewing Bee or Bake Off for that matter. we leave the crafty activities to Mr Gem.

Got a bit lost

On Thursday, amidst news of the Queens failing health, and me telling Mr Gem that she had absolutely died, we walked to the pub.

Except we walked too far in the wrong direction and then had to turn around and navigate more fields to get to the pub, which means that this is where I was when my Mum rang me to tell me that they’d just announced that the Queen had died.

Came back to reality with a bump

Because the best way to end a holiday is with a trip to the hospital.

It was my monthly Zometa infusion to keep my bones strong. We went to the pub in the evening to make up for it.

Said hi to Autumn

I love it when it does this. Almost overnight it goes from boiling Summer to definitely Autumn.

That means it’s time for the autumn fireplace decor. Ignore the paint pots, they are not a feature.

Found ”The Rat”

That rat has been occasionally popping in and stressing me out. This week we heard it in the kitchen. Mr Gem had everything out of all the cupboards, and we finally found him in the bin.

He has apparently also been hiding potatoes under the bath.

we have ordered more traps and Mr Gem has made an ingenious contraption out of a bucket.

Had Covid jab number 7

So many jabs! Having had 3 primary doses, then a stem cell transplant, then another 3 primary doses, I think I am now back on the regular schedule. I was due my booster around now, which conveniently coincided with actually being allowed my autumn booster that I would have been due anyway.

By I got that fancy new bivalvent vaccine that works against omicron. It felt like someone had punched me in the arm repeatedly for 2 days, and I felt a bit ropey for the rest of the week, but it was all ok really.

Had the first PSL

Because I’m sorry but I just have to have a Starbucks PSL in autumn.

Had a cheeky beer

And just to bring us up to date, last night we took the dogs out and stopped for a cheeky beer.

And that was my fortnight.

How have you been?