All in all a good week was had by all, well me anyway, not too sure about everyone else really but it sounded like a good, happy, positive way to start off the blog for a change.

Okay first things first, as I was finishing the last blog you might remember me saying that I was off to a local pub for Sunday lunch. Well I have to say it was probably the best lunch out I have ever had. It was perfect in every department from the Roast Spuds cooked in Goose Fat and the Centimetre thick slices of Roast Beef and the vegetables, well, I have never in my life seen so many vegetables served up. Most I find usually dish out 2 maybe 3 different types but this pub served up no less than 6 which were Whole baby carrots, minted garden peas, mashed Swede, minted new potatoes, sprouts and cauliflower topped with a cheese sauce. In fact I also forgot to say on the plate along with the meat and roasties were some roast parsnips and a homemade Yorkshire pudding. And then the icing on the cake was the homemade gravy made with the roast meat juices. I must admit I was in heaven as I do love my Veg, in fact I ended up leaving a lot of meat and set about devouring the Veg on offer. So if you happen to be in St Athan at anytime and fancy an excellent Sunday Lunch then I would highly recommend:

The Four Bells Inn
Rock Road
St. Athan
Vale of Glamorgan
CF62 4PG
01446750383

But make sure you book a couple of weeks in advance as space is limited along with the rush of people who like me who appreciate good home cooked food.

Okay then on with the rest of the weeks highlights.

After a well deserved snooze on Sunday to try and recover from lunch I pretty much just chilled out in front of the goggle box watching re runs of all my favourite cookery programmes mainly. I did a bit of surfing but to be honest I don’t seem to have the patience at the moment and as result I am not spending a great deal of time on the computer at all. I’ve done the odd bit of Christmas shopping including the star of the Christmas lunch this year, a 5 Bird Roast which includes a partridge inside a duck, inside a goose, inside a chicken, inside a turkey. It looks heavenly tasty and I just want to get on with tasting it so there may be a chance that we wont wait for Christmas day to come and we will have the days feast before next Monday. There is only one slight problem with this roast and that is that it actually weighs around 11 pounds and that’s all meat as it is completely de boned and there are only 3 of us for lunch this year and in real terms as I cant eat too much because of the whole skin thing and Judith doesn’t eat a lot that probably equates to about 2 meals between the 3 of us. Thankfully I have managed to cut it in half and freeze them so we can enjoy the other half later on. I have promised my mum that I will take some up there when I visit over the holiday although I don’t think she is expecting quite a fridge full.

Wow this is turning into another foody type blog again isn’t it?

Okay Monday, what happened on Monday???? Oh yes I went up to Heath Towers to see Merlin. After the usual leeching of my valuable red stuff it was a case of settling down with some gorgeous sweet pumpkin and parsnip soup and garlic bread and wait to be summoned into his lordships lair. Ooops more food again sorry!!! Well after the customary 3 hour wait he finally saw me. He gave me an update on the new machine thingy for the GVHD and thankfully it was quite good news. They have at last decided to offer me this treatment as up till now they were still umming and arring and they are planning to purchase the machine in question for themselves. However, the down side is that they will not be able to do that till the start of the next financial year, April, meaning more waiting. Well no actually!! They have also decide to try and arrange for me to go to Birmingham, the nearest machine to here, to start my treatment as soon as possible after Christmas and then when they get their own machine here I will just transfer back to here to complete the treatment. So good news at last and I will say that it was quite a shock as I wasn’t expecting anything to happen till after Christmas as he had said the last time I saw him.

Tuesday I had an appointment with the Reflexologist. I really get a lot out of these sessions in many ways such as relaxing both the mind and body and making me actually feel generally happier and content. I have a number of sessions booked with her at the moment and will hopefully continue to have more in the future although, as the service is provided by a local Cancer Charity “The George Thomas Trust” they are totally reliant on donations and fundraising to continue with there valuable services.

Wednesday was yet another trip to Heath Towers, this time it was for a 4 hour infusion of Immunoglobulins. This time I was bit better prepared and took my laptop in with me to catch up with, yep you guessed it, more cookery programmes that I had recorded over the last few weeks and not yet had chance to see. It all went quite smooth actually apart from the last bottle playing up a bit by refusing to go in properly unlike the first 2 that went through with no problems. Just my bodies way of keeping them on their toes I suppose!! I also had a visit from the sweat busters (Physiotherapists) to bring me my new 3 wheel push along trolley to replace using the 2 sticks when I do manage to walk a little. It has even got a little shopping basket on the front to put all my bits in!! she was really apologetic as it had been some time in coming although she did explain it was down to the person in the appliance stores and not actually them which is about right as I can remember the hassle I had to get the wheelchair last year.

The physio’s are still coming here to see me each day and this week it has been dry enough for me to get out for a little walk each time along with the usual exercises. I have actually managed to walk to the car twice this week admittedly I was still quite out of breath when I got there but soon recovered and went on to walk some more so there is definitely a lot of progress in that department which is promising. Don’t get me wrong I will not be signing up for any marathons in a hurry unless of course I can do it in my Scooter!! But to be honest I am grateful for any progress right now more so this time of year as I usually tend to get a lot worse when it is cold and damp etc and then a little better in the warmer months if we actually get any that is.

Health wise all is around the same with the skin GVHD and shows no sign of improvement or worsening for that matter, so I guess its just a case of waiting for this new treatment to start. My chest however has been up and down this week. I have been wheezy quite a lot and it seems to be for quite long periods too instead of the usual couple of hours. I did feel a lot better later in the week although this weekend my chest is quite bad and causing me sleepless nights again along with this annoying permanent rattle in my throat. I’m not sure whether the Immunoglobulins have the same sort of effect as say having blood does. What I mean for all those reading this that are or have not needed regular blood transfusions is that the usual effect for most people after having some blood is a bit like a rush of energy and life again. Not unlike the effects of Red Bull, it certainly “Gives You Wings”. I definitely feel a little better since having it on Wednesday and hopefully it will have the effect of keeping me out of Heath Towers over the festive season however much I really will miss the gorgeous Lunch they provide??????

Well I guess all in all that is the sum of my week unless you want to hear about all the hundreds of deliveries turning up all week as all 3 of us have been ordering pressies online. I thought not. Ah well as I have been typing this thing for the last hour or two I guess it’s time for a rest son I’m off to get ready to go out for lunch again, although sadly not at the Four Bells but to an equally delicious establishment called The Highwayman, perched right on the end of the runway to Cardiff Wales Airport, so the mix of food and aviation fuel fumes is something to savour let me tell you!!

See Ya!!