A very different than planned, but lovely New Year!

At the end of my last post I said the next one would be about my meeting with Mr Paclitaxel – well I fibbed, blame it on chemo brain (I am using that excuse for everything these days  - it comes in rather handy at times).

I totally forgot about New Year and it would be criminal to leave that out.  A few months ago we were invited by friends to spend it with them in Gibraltar and we were so looking forward to it.  We’d booked to stay in The Rock Hotel, a beautiful 1930s Art Deco Hotel with fantastic views of the harbour and neighbouring Spain.  I love the Art Deco period, the clothes, the architecture and the house décor – all of it.  Most of the Hotel rooms have balconies and the first time we stayed there I opened the curtains to find a Barbary Ape with her baby clinging on casually strolling past our patio doors – a wonderfully moving sight.  I scrabbled to find my camera and managed to catch a couple of shots of her as she ambled along the wall, totally oblivious me.

We were due to fly out from Stansted with Sleazy Jet on Friday 30^th December and return home on Sunday January 1^st.  On the Saturday we had planned to take Hannah up The Rock to meet the famous Barbary Apes, we weren’t sure how she would deal with this, as they are ahem a rather tactile bunch.  On our last visit in 2009 we met Michael, the oldest Ape, but sadly he passed away last year – mind you he was 30+ years old – a ripe old age.  He was quite a character and I have photos of the beggar sitting on my head nit-picking (I hasten to add he was disappointed there so took to raiding my trouser pockets instead.  I was wearing combat trousers full of treats, placed there by our jokey taxi driver, Albert, so Michael was occupied for some time – he even had me in a headlock at one point!)  There are many more “Michaels” on The Rock though, all ready to steal your lunch, camera or handbag – so take note of the warning notices, they’re not there for the hell of it.  On New Years Eve we were booked in for a Five-course dinner at our Hotel with our friends and their families.  Being in British governed Gibraltar (they still have traditional Bobbies on the beat - albeit with a slight accent lol), The Rock celebrates New Year twice once at midnight their time and again an hour later with the UK– sounds like a good idea to me!

Well the diagnosis of The Git put paid to all this fun and frivolity as my Onc (Honk Honk) said she would rather I didn’t leave the country during treatment.  (Hence we have also had to cancel our ski-ing holiday in February, which I am really peeved about as Lisa and I had our Après ski-ing all planned out – bloody cancer).  However, as I was still recovering from the allergic reaction, NYE in Gib would have been a wash out for us anyway.  I am a bit peed off with myself though as, for the first time ever, I forgot to buy travel insurance – I can’t blame chemo brain for that though as I booked the trip in August – donut!

So, this years NYE was a totally different from planned, quieter but very lovely, evening, spent with family and good friends.  We went to see Alan’s Mum, who, due to my being comatose for most of Christmas, hadn’t seen us at all.  We exchanged presents; one of my favourites was a gift box of Soap & Glory perfume and body butter.  Now, chemo makes you stink – it’s a fact (sorry but it is), your body, your bodily functions, up your nose, your hair, yuck yuck yuck.  I hate the smell and it makes me feel as though I am officially ill – so as I love the Soap  & Glory products, I am going to slather myself in it on every visit – I just hope it doesn’t put me off the stuff when the battle is won!  Another gift was a bottle of Vintage Moet & Chandon Champagne, which she bought us with the instructions that it is to be opened when The Git has been vanquished – a cork popping I am looking forward to with gusto!

After leaving Irene’s we visited our friends Jason and Lisa, who we usually spend raucous, wii karaoke, fireworks which have a mind of their own (sorry neighbours), drunken sleepover filled New Years Eve’s with!!  We’ve known them for over 20 years now, but always revert to our teen-selves when we are together – partly because Jase still thinks he is a teenager and it kind of rubs off on you….   Lisa mentioned she had gotten worried as there had been no FB or Blog update for a while, so had resorted to texting me to find out if all was ok.  I explained that my right arm was still painful if I wrote or typed for any length of time (you should have seen my present labels at Christmas….).  Jase started giggling to himself so we knew he was brewing a plan (or wind, you can never tell with him).  He eventually shared his thoughts - thank goodness!  What if he made me a headband with a drumstick on the front – that way I could type (very slowly of course) with my head, but it would save my arm – I am still waiting for an odd shaped package to arrive with the Postie.  Lisa told him off but we were all falling about laughing – definitely the best medicine.  After a few hours, we left there stuffed, relaxed, chilled and, unusually, sober – unheard of but it won’t be a regular occurrence I’m sure, as Lisa is famous for her Long Island Iced Teas – just ask Jase’s football team’s parents!!!

My brother Kevin & his fiancé Trina had invited us all over for the evening. Being parents themselves now to my gorgeous two year old nephew, Freddy – they have realised their traditional  NYE celebrations ie. tripping and stumbling from pubs to clubs until the wee small hours have had to go on hold for about uhmmm 16 years!  So about 9pm we turned up to find Mum, Dad, Kate & James already in situ – and well on their way to Plastered Ville.  Fred was in his element running about strutting his stuff to an appreciative audience – I didn’t realise I knew so many verses to “The Wheels on the Bus” – I am sure Mum was making them up as she was going along.

Now, I forgot to say, before we went to Kev's we popped home first to offload presents.  Alec and his girlfriend were already home and I had forgotten the cardinal rule: text them when we are on route – oops!  So I did the next best thing and I texted them as we pulled up on the drive!  Alec, after a lot of knocking and ringing finally opened the door to us.  It was Hannah who noticed that his T-shirt was on back to front and inside out – she cracked up laughing and he ran upstairs very embarrassed with our laughter ringing in his ears – GOTCHA!

So, obviously when we arrived at Kev's, we filled the family in on our earlier discovery.  The result – everyone quickly turned their shirts & tops inside out and back to front – Dad even disappeared and returned with his trousers on back to front – classic.  We took bets on how long it would be before Alec rumbled us – it took him about two minutes – cue a very red face – well in our family, you have to learn to take it on the chin love!

Obviously the past month has been very stressful on us all; not least my mum and dad who have had to standby by helplessly and watch their normally healthy daughter fall apart at the seams.  They have done, and continue, to do a wonderful job of being supportive, loving and positive – even when I was back in hospital feeling like crap they were there with Alan cheering me up.  However, it has had a deep effect on them, as it has on all my family and close friends.  NYE was a way to let some of this stress out – and boy, did Mum do that in style.  I won’t embarrass her – too much (don’t worry Mum I won’t post the photos or that video but I did keep Gill in Geordieland fully informed image-wise as the show unfolded lol),  I will just say she let her hair down.  She kept insisting that apart from one Rum & Coke, a rather potent cocktail a-la Trina and a small glass of Champagne at NY – she had drunk nothing else so couldn’t work out why her legs and mouth were betraying her!  Seeing her sitting on the floor and lean against the armchair, totally missing and falling backwards between the armchair and the sofa was priceless.  Watching my equally pie-eyed brother and sister trying to put her shoes on was hilarious to the point of side splitting.  All the while Mum was trying to work out what happened to her to end up like this after “just three drinks”……. Hmmmm no idea mum!

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Alan, James and Trina had discovered the culprit – three quarters of a bottle of Mums favourite tipple of the moment “Mount Gay Rum” – the butt (no pun intended) of many a joke in our house!  Three drinks my eye!!!  Evidently, all the stress mum had been feeling had now been transferred to this empty bottle.  Warning: Nobody open that bottle!!!

The transfer of Mum from house to car was a pantomime in itself – a very bemused and entertained Dad, grabbed a handful of the back of her coat and half carried her to the car – her feet weren’t working very well at this point so this was the best, funniest and safest way. She left the house with cries of “it’s a puppet” and “when you get home take two paracetamol with a pint of water” ringing in her ears.  Finally, she sat in the car giggling and waving to us all like The Queen and after they drove of we all said it was the best laugh we had had in a long long month – so thanks Mum – you’re a star! 

The next day we all left her to sober up a bit before we called to remind her of her antics of the previous night – the jammy woman did not have the slightest hangover, she had been up since 9am (earlier than any of us), breakfasted, dressed and was full of the joys of Spring!  Now, I ask you, is that fair?

I on the other hand need to listen to my body a bit more carefully now I suppose, as I spent the next day in bed recovering – and I had been stone cold sober.  Not how I plan to spend NYE 2012 I can tell you!  Anyhoo, I spent the day either prone on the sofa or prone in bed catching up on my blog, feeling like a pile of poop.

It was a lovely way to spend NYE, but I must admit I did find it a bit tricky when it came to midnight and everyone was kissing and hugging saying “Happy New Year.  Knowing this is going to be one of the most difficult years of my family’s lives, and mine it choked me up a bit.  However, although it will be a year of challenges, ups & downs, it will also be a positive year with a positive outcome and that in itself is worth putting at the top of my list of New Year’s Resolutions!

1.              I will smash The Git into smithereens

2.              I will learn Italian – it's on there every year, I live in hope!

3.              I will eat less chocolate – pah!

So, although this post hasn’t really been about my treatment, it has been about how the treatment is affecting our lives – at the moment.

The next post WILL be about the days of anticipation leading up to my date with Mr Taxol, promise!

As always, Onwards & Upwards

Debs x