Catching up..

Here's a few pictures of my baskets and pots at the back of the house. I'm really pleased with them this time. Normally the plants look weak and feeble - this year they are surprisingly happy and strong. I suspect that the fairly constant rain has something to do with their success!

Thank you to everyone who left lovely and supportive comments on my last post.  I read everything that you wrote several times and it helped me immensely (especially when members of my family were being less kind!).  After a few days of uncertainty and roller-coaster emotions, Mark's consultant has now decided that he wants to hold back for a little before the next operation.  His rationale is that he wants Mark's face to heal as much as possible.   It's difficult because Mark had talked himself into the correct mindset for having the next operation.  Uncertainty is suprisingly exhausting!

The end of term is grinding on....  Year 8 are performing the outcomes of their Tribute Band project for the next two mornings (6 hours of live Music in two lots of three-hour sessions).  There are approaching 80 Bands/Vocal groups from the whole year group.  Every child gets up on stage and performs.  It's rather crazy - but a lovely way to end the course.  Confident pupils will work with backing tracks or live music, while less experienced pupils sing/play along with the full version of the song.  The focus is on developing performance experience plus all the personal organisation that comes with the rehearsal process.  I tend to be completely mangled by sympathetic nerves!

Friday is the day that all the 'nice' Year 7s, Year 8s and Year 9s are shipped off to the West Midland Safari Park, Drayton Manor and Alton Towers.  I normally go to Alton Towers but this year I've elected to stay at school - largely because my foot is still uncomfortable and not great at walking distances.  I've yet to find out what I'll be doing with the 'interesting' characters that have been left behind.  At least I'll be able to make a quick getaway at the end of the day.  For the first time in a very long time, Mark and I are going away for the weekend.  We are REALLY excited....!

Term ends on the 20th July... "So near and yet so far...."!

Good News and Bad News..

On Tuesday Mark got the results of the biopsy of the tumour. The good news is that it's not cancerous.  The bad news is that around 10% of the thing is still in there and it's already growing under the skin that was grafted into his eye area.  He has to have another operation.  The specialist wants to do it sooner rather than later so we're going to be 'back to square one' farily shortly. 

To be honest, we've been through a bit of a gloomy patch over the last few days - which is why I've been commenting but not posting.  I keep reminding myself that at least its not cancer, but it's been giving me some sleepless nights and work has been hard.

Today I reached a point where I realised that I really should be counting my blessings....

This afternoon I taught one of my Year 10 (15 years old) Music classes.  There is a boy in this group who had a sequence of cancers when he was 7/8 years old.  While he survived, many of his vital organs were badly affected by the strength of the treatment that he received.  I chatted to his Mum after his performance in the concerts last week and she told that his latest problem is varicose veins in his stomach.  He postponed treatment to complete his performance assessment last week; went in for an operation at the beginning of this week; was back in my classroom today to finish off his written assignments and will be back in hospital for a further operation next week.   This boy always smiles and never complains.  To me - especially with my current preoccupations - he is inspirational.

Moving On..

This is the lovely Marilyn on crutches.  Sadly I've looked decidedly less glamorous as I've hobbled round school for the last week.  There was a low point on Thursday evening when I had to hang around for four hours to play one short piano accompaniment in the Key Stage 3 Prize Evening.  There was an even lower point on Friday morning when torrential rain got the better of me somewhere between my classroom and the Head's Office.  I staggered into the meeting, apologising for looking like a bag lady...

"My Dear Jan," the Head replied smoothly.  "Bag Ladies don't wear Berghaus!"

It didn't make me feel much better... The coat in question was a present from Mark about seven years ago.  It is well-used, much loved and well on the way to being extremely scruffy.  The Head was just being polite ~ bless him!

Anyway, things are looking up in our household.  Mark went back to work today.  I also did most of today off crutches.  I have an immensely busy next few days - concerts, parent's evening, a fashion show and the Prom - so it's been a relief to be able to move around unhindered.  In all this chaos I haven't been posting much, but it's been lovely to read everyone else's news.

A walk round Chepstow

Thank you to everyone who left their best wishes for Mark on my last post.  The stitches make him look like he's auditioning for the part of Frankenstien's monster - but he's definitely more himself again today.  Obviously he can't drive at the moment so I took him out for lunch for a change of scenery.  We went to a quiet little cafe in a garden centre on the far side of Worcester.  The drive through the lanes was lovely despite the awful weather.

Here are a few photos that I took of our visit to Chepstow on Bank Holiday Monday.  This is the bridge over the River Wye.  I am standing in Wales and the far side of the bridge is England.

Chepstow is at the beginning/end of two long distance paths - the Offa's Dyke Path and the Welsh Coastal Path.  This is a new mozaic on the bank of the river that gives a little information about each of the paths.  I was intrigued to read that the Coastal Path is 840 miles long.

There's a beautiful Priory Church.  The west end is 12th Century, while the rest has been rebuilt at later times.

I found this family tomb in one of the transcepts.  It's ages since I last saw one of these memorials with all the children lined up across the bottom.  There are 10 girls and just 2 boys.  She married twice so there are also two husbands! 

After a picnic lunch we visited Chepstow Castle.  It's quite large, with five courtyards stretched along the ridge above the Wye. 

There are loads of nooks and crannies to explore...

I amused myself trying to get some effective atmospheric shots through the leaded windows..

It's been a slightly wierd halfterm really.. certainly not as relaxing as usual.  I think the combination of  Mark's op, Jubilee celebrations, guests and this dreadful weather have all 'played on my nerves' a little...!  Nevertheless, I have done a fair bit of crotchet.  Every cloud has a silver lining!

Jubilee Celebrations..

On Saturday afternoon I settled down in the conservatory to make 14 metres of bunting.  I used some coloured paper (courtesy of school!) and a few sheets of wrapping paper with a design on both sides.  Once I'd created a template the cutting out process was relatively straightforward.  Next I stapled the triangles to the ribbon.

I was extremely pleased with the over-all effect when the bunting was in place..

I had enough paper left over to make some napkin rings.  I was really pleased with the way that my china and Mum's china mixed together for that '1952 look'!

Here's the family together at Sunday tea-time.  (My brother-in-law and Mark are just out of picture.)  I frequently use the conservatory for family gatherings because it's lots bigger than our dining-room.  We had a traditional 'high tea' - with the addition of 'Coronation Chicken'.  Everyone dressed in 1950s style clothes or red, white and blue.

Here are all the puddings.. I made strawberry blancmage and rasberry jelly.  There's also battenburg cake and fruit cake on a two tier cake stand near my Mum.  My family normally go for the healthy option so I also prepared loads of fresh strawberries.  I was amazed that they were completely ignored on Sunday while everyone wanted second helpings of jelly and blancmange...

On Monday we took Mark's Mum and my parents out for the day to Chepstow.  We went in 'BJ' (the Discovery).  Everyone was very impressed with the space, comfort and visibility.... and her ability to act as a picnic venue in a cold wind!  In the evening we went up to Hanbury churchyard to watch the beacons.  This is the view to the Malvern Hills, looking across most of north-east Worcestershire.

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Today Mark has had his operation.  It seems to have gone OK, but 50 minutes is a long time to have your face operated on under local anathestic.  We've been back home a couple of hours and I think he's still in shock.  I'm trying to be a good nurse (but get very queasy when blood is involved!)

I hope that you all had a fabulous Bank Holidays.

Things move fast...

Thank you to everyone for leaving such lovely and supportive comments on my last post.  You all realised that I was beside myself with worry and it really helped to share some of my deeper fears with all my blogging friends.

I think I have good news.... The scan shows that Mark's tumour is very contained.  There is nothing at this stage to suggest that it's removal is going to damage the tear duct or cause long-term damage to his eye.  More importantly, it is not growing down into his sinuses nor back into his brain.

The specialist is going to operate next Wednesday.  He is going to remove the tumour  - and carry out some plastic surgery to cover the effect of the surgery at the same time.  Fortunately all of this is happening during my halfterm holiday.  Basically we will do the whole 'Bank Holiday/Jubilee' thing with our families at the beginning of the week, then focus on getting Mark on his feet from Wednesday onwards.

It will be lovely to 'draw a line' under this phase of our lives!

Happy Endings... I hope...

A lot has happened since Winnie Van Kof (the old Range Rover) died on the hard shoulder of the M5.....

We've managed to find a Series 1 Discovery as a replacement vehicle. Like Winnie, she is an old car with a much newer engine. This suits us just fine. We don't really need a pretty 4X4 - we just need something which is serviceable and will move us around with the minimum of fuss.

One of her previous owners has put her on a Northern Irish number plate.  (These look like private plates but are much cheaper.)  As a result we now refer to her as 'BJ'...

On Sunday we went for our first picnic with her and we had a lovely time.  We think she was quite a bargain at £1,800.

Things are looking up for 'Winnie too...  One of Mark's work colleagues has been looking for an offroad vehicle for some time.  He has bought her this week, and is happy to do the work necessary to make her road-worthy again.  The money that he has given us has ofset the cost of 'BJ' so I think everyone feels like they've got a bargain at the moment..!

The only clouds in our blue skies are Marks' health problems.  You may be able to see from this photo that he has a large lump/cyst/tumour next to the top of his nose.  It is apparently very rare.  In the last couple of weeks we have seen four Consultants AT ONCE on the NHS (after months of messing around).  They decided that they didn't want to have anything to do with it.  

Fortunately Land Rover/Jaguar have a private health scheme and Mark has been able to access it.  In less than two weeks we have seen an international specialist and Mark has been through the scanner. We are going back to see the specialist tomorrow and he is going to explain 'how' and 'when' he is going to operate, based on the results of the scan.  I've been trying hard to keep positive about the whole process but it is immensely stressful.  We've been told that it's not cancer, but it is likely that Mark will have eye problems for the rest of his life.  My deep-seated worry is that the tumour has moved back towards his brain.

Will post again once I know what's happening...