Hello, and welcome to our blog. We are a comitted couple living in West Lothian with our seven furry (& thirteen feathered) babies - don't worry, we don't have kids with Hirsutism - they are dogs, cats, chickens and a parrot!! We consider ourselves to be happy-go-lucky individuals, who most definitely believe in living life to the full whilst attempting not to hurt people along the way! We enjoy the company of warm, fun people - a sense of humour is absolutely essential to 'get' us (plain silly to pure sarcasm). We don't 'gel' well with people who can suck the life out a duracell battery.

Our hobbies are vast and varied...We should spend a lot of time renovating our 100 year old cottage, but we much prefer browsing for hours in book shops, people watching, coffee shops, cinema, shopping, walking by the beach or being lost for hours in the country, cuddling in bed, watching DVDs when we really should be out cutting the grass!, cooking, eating out in quaint little restaurants that serve food so yummy you want to do a little dance at the table, playing Sudoka (and spending way too much money on those rip off little puzzle books!), debating (for hours on end) with each other (or anyone who'll listen) over the downfall of society, etc...and how everything was much better in 'our day', telling each other the same stories over and over again...and still expecting the laughs/knods like it's the first time we've ever heard them, Scrabble, spending money we don't have on things we don't need, xwords/arrow words, Eggheads (any quiz programme really), gardening - in an attempt to become as self sufficient as possible, spending hours upon hours sitting watching our beautiful girls doing what chickens do, reading/posting on various forums (addictive, isn't it?). Oh..and saving for our Civil Ceremony, planned for 2012.

This blog is about all of the above, and more. We hope you'll at least enjoy some of it - thanks for taking the time to visit!

Bobbie & Liz
xxx

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

There's a first time for everything...

Well, we have to start sometime, so it may as well be today!! Not that today has been a better or worse day than usual...in fact, it's been a very quiet day, but you've got to start somewhere. It's been so cold outside - which makes it near impossible to do anything other than hibernate, in an attempt to keep warm!

The last few weeks have been increasingly difficult - My Papa was diagnosed August 2007 (the day of his 75th Birthday) with terminal lung cancer. We were advised at the time that with no treatment his life expectancy was two years - but with treatement we could have him for a significant amount of time longer than that. He opted for radiation therapy, which was very successful. He was given the best possible news on his quarterly review with his Consultant, however he very quickly deteriorated again at which point was advised that the cancer had started growing again. Amazingly he opted for MORE treatment, and started chemotherapy almost immediately. To cut a VERY long story short, he's now exhausted all treatments - and in the last four weeks has continued to deteriorate rapidly. We are all VERY shocked by his sudden decline, and despite the fact we've always known his time is limited, it's very scary to accept that it may happen sooner than we imagined.

We had our first 'meeting' with the Macmillan Nurse, which was good - although very upsetting. My Gran is caring for him full time, with assistance from the immediate family. I'm trying to take every day as it comes, but it's horrible - and there are moments when I feel full of panic. It's very hard to accept in life that something is completely out of your control - it's rare that no course of action can change/influence a reaction - but that's where we're at for now.

My Uncle and his family are coming over for Christmas from the States, so we have a nice Christmas Day to look forward to - something I'm sure my Papa is looking forward to as well!

It's a bit of a cliche, but it's very true. Family are sooooo important in life - you really need to enjoy every moment you can with them, and show them how much you love them as often as you can, even if you don't always get he same back from them!

I thought it would be appropriate to add a pic of the most wonderful Papa in the whole wide world in this post...

Photobucket
My Papa, Gran & I on one of our many family holidays. Believe it or not, this was taken in Lancaster - the weather had me fooled though!

Photobucket
Papa opening his presents at this years birthday party (76) - Gran supervising!

To top today off, my Mum has been on the phone for advice for her wee dog: Quincey. It turns out Quincey stole about 3 oz of 70% dark chocolate yesterday, and today is worse for wear as a result of it. I'm sure most of you know that dogs are allergic to the theobromine in chocolate, and as such can have adverse reactions to chocolate if given in large enough quantities. Needless to say Quincey has had a large enough dose, and is now in the Vets overnight - he's being given IV fluids, so hopefully with a little nutritional support and fluids he'll pull through very quickly. If not, I think it'll be the end of my Mum. This little dog is her golden child!!

Photobucket

Fingers crossed everyone!

Bobbie x
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)