Tag: cancer

Teeth talk time

On By Jen EveIn teeth4 Comments

I thought it really was about time I did a teeth update.

So I’ve been going in to trial some teeth to see how they will look. A couple of weeks ago I went in ready to try some teeth on for size, I sat in the chair, and I put the teeth in. Now they don’t stay in on their own, I can’t talk or anything with them, but if I keep my teeth together then they stay in place. They gave me a hand-held mirror, which I sat on my lap as I put the teeth in, eventually putting it up in front of my face once they were in place and… well… I think watching this clip will give you an idea of how it went. This is an actual, exact re-enactment of how it went (must watch this before reading on)…


Yep. OK so they weren’t quite that bad, I slightly jest. But they were big. I felt quite strange. Actually it was quite demoralising, not going to lie. You pin all your hopes and dreams on looking a bit more normal with teeth and you see them and all you can think is ‘they’re not my teeth… Who’s teeth are they?’

Dwayne’s apparently.

I was clearly unhappy and the dentist and her assistant were telling me they looked good but I just didn’t feel right. She said ‘it’s probably just been so long that you’re used to seeing yourself without teeth and now having them there again seems weird. You’ve probably forgot what they looked like.’ Not a damn chance. ‘You’ve never had your teeth out and your face rebuilt’ snapped petulant teenage Jen who was lurking somewhere inside me. I felt bad saying it, but it’s true. It maybe seemed like the right thing for her to say but no, I don’t forget exactly what the teeth I have had for 30 years looked like just because I’ve been 9 months without them.

It was hard to tell how much of my dissatisfaction was just in general with the fact I’m going to look different now anyway no matter what, or whether they really were too big. But it felt like something worth fighting for. Although they told me big teeth are beautiful and they look fine, I was adamant that I needed smaller teeth. Well… I say adamant, if they were to tell me that smaller teeth wouldn’t work, I would learn to live with whatever I had to. But they agreed to try again and we booked in for me to go back the following week to try a size smaller. I didn’t feel great when I left the dentist surgery that day.

I worried of course that I wouldn’t like the smaller teeth either and I would have wasted their time and made a nuisance of myself. I almost feel like they’re a private practice and I’m a charity case (i.e. NHS), like they’re doing me a favour for treating me and I should just be grateful and do as I’m told. They don’t make me feel like that in any way, but I can’t help but have that thought in the back of my mind. I am so grateful to them for treating me, I know how lucky I am.

Anyway, cut to a week later. The weather had taken a turn for the worst, the day was cold, dark and rainy. The previous week had been sunny. Was London feeling my worries too? Mirroring my apprehension?

I sat in the chair again, held the mirror, put the teeth in, tentatively pulled the mirror up in front of me and smiled. Like… Smiled. Not just moved my lips back to reveal my teeth, I really smiled. They were my teeth. I felt relief wash over me. The dentist and assistant agreed, these were the ones. In fact the dentist said she was glad that we went for smaller teeth and that she has to remember that they’re my teeth. It’s a good point. Maybe the big teeth do look better on paper but it’s important for them to look good on me. That I feel comfortable.

She took a couple of photos and showed them to me. They were difficult to look at because it showed me how little of my face the teeth would actually fix, and how snarly I’m going to look, but hey. I’m going to have to come to terms with that eventually.

I should just interject here, someone said to me the other day ‘please don’t think I’m being an idiot, but didn’t they take moulds before surgery so that they would have something to base your teeth on?’ Not being an idiot, though I can see why you might think so for asking, you would think it would be the obvious thing to have done, but no. The dentists wanted moulds, but I guess it wasn’t something my surgeons had thought was an important thing to do before knocking my teeth out. I think in future it would be a bit better if somehow that process could be ironed out for any others going through a similar thing. It only takes a few minutes and would make such difference for the process later.

Now they’re starting to think about implants. They’re not confident they’ll be able to give me many, maybe a couple. But fingers crossed they’ll be able to get at least one in, because that will mean they’ll have something to anchor some dentures to. Otherwise they said they can look at implanting a piece of metal in my new top jaw and holding some dentures in using magnets. They’re aiming for surgery in Jan/Feb.

So here we are – angled and smiling, so it doesn’t look too bad…

I give you my trial teeth!

The joy of ongoing appointments

On By Jen EveIn Recovery, Tests8 Comments

I was talking to someone the other day who was saying that going back to the Macmillan Cancer Centre for appointments is something she fears and finds upsetting. And I get it, there can be a certain sense of PTSD with these things, and constant reminders of the trauma isn’t necessarily what you want.

But my views could not be more different.

I remember the first time I walked into that building. Hanging from the ceiling in the foyer is a colourful art display of things picked up on beaches across the UK. From toy spades to flip flops to plastic straws to plastic crates and any other number of things. You could sit for hours gazing up at all the things hanging there, and collectively, I have.

I remember the first time I met all the smiling people who told me they would look after me. The oncologists who said they knew how to treat me. I remember the joy I felt at being in safe hands.

I remember going back every treatment week to catch up with everyone and start another session to cure me. All the people who were working together to give me the best chance at living. The laughs I had with my pharmacist, the smiles from Ambulatory care when I showed up for my chemo. We would debrief on our weekends.

I remember finishing chemo and being transferred over to my surgical team. The same building, but clinic was over the other side. You would think it would mirror the oncology clinic since it was the same floor but it didn’t. It was similar but not the same. But the pattern on the floor was the same – a colourful mosaic designed by the man who designed the Sgt Pepper Album cover. Can you imagine?

Even after surgery I didn’t feel on my own, despite being cast out into the big wide world – I had appointments to come back and see everyone. They still cared, they were still looking after me.

These days I get to come back for Oncology clinic every two months, and a chest xray to check it hasn’t spread to my lungs. I know some people would use that as an opportunity for anxiety that their cancer has come back and they will therefore soon die. I approach these appointments with excitement. I’m so glad and grateful that they keep monitoring me so closely and I quite enjoy getting told every couple of months that everything is ok. And if there is a day when it isn’t, well I couldn’t be more happy that they had kept checking.

The Macmillan Cancer Centre is also where I have access to my psychologist, as well as complimentary therapy (e.g. Massage and reiki *eye roll*). It’s where I can pop in to the ‘Living Room’ to make a cup of tea and probably make some new friends if I feel like it. It’s where I could attend support groups if I needed them.

This is the place that has taken me in, looked after me and hopefully saved my life. That keeps providing love and support, even now. That has somewhat been my second home over the past 18 months. That is filled with people who care about me and my well-being. What an amazing place to have! Why would I fear going back? Why would I get anxious each time they show they are still looking out for me? Why would I be angry at the smiling faces of people who’s job is to help me?

Every time I go back I am reminded of how lucky I am and I smile. I smile for all the good I have experienced over the 18 months, thanks to this very place.

That transient little thing called life, held in the hands of others, human and otherwise…

On By Jen EveIn surgery4 Comments

I want to take a moment once again to talk about my surgeons. Well, all surgeons really. But mine in particular, those in each of my surgeries who took it upon themselves to take my life in their hands, to do everything they could to give me the best chance of survival, and with it, put themselves and me at the mercy of luck.

Of course the incredible skill of my surgeons is the main factor in it all, there is no taking away from that. They worked hard to get where they are and they are incredibly skilled. It is down to them personally that such a good job was done. But it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the huge part that luck also plays.

Before going into the surgery people would say ‘good luck’ to me and I said thank you but thought to myself that it had nothing to do with luck, it was down to the great work of the surgeon. I thought if anyone needed luck it would be them, but hoped that it wouldn’t be down to luck that I survived it and the outcome was favourable!

But I realise now that is a bit of an oversight. The French surgeon René Leriche once said that ‘Every surgeon carries within himself a small cemetery…’ Not necessarily just for patients who didn’t wake up, but for those who ended up with additional damages.

Surgery is insane. We’re doing things now that we never would have even attempted in the past. Think about brain surgery for example – the amount of risk involved there is scary. But these people take that risk on, knowing that your death or paralysis could be at their hand as opposed to the tumour growing inside the lump of flesh sitting in front of them.

So while giving due praise to the skill of the surgeon, it would not be fair on them to put all the onus of your survival on them, sometimes things just go wrong. Sometimes mistakes are made. Sometimes no mistakes are made but still things don’t work out. And unless it’s done with malicious intent (you occasionally see those stories in the news), or significant negligence, nothing that goes wrong can really be blamed on the surgeon, though I’m sure they often blame themselves. In fact author Adam Kay gave up being a surgeon after a (non consequential) mistake at the end of a very long shift that could have ended in disaster but did not.

Some surgeons are egotistical narcissists with no people skills – that’s the stereotype, isn’t it? Inflated sense of ego instilled from playing God on the regular. Others are humble and great with talking to people, or even writing their experiences down (some brilliant books out there written by surgeons). But either way, no matter what their personality, style or people skills, they are taking lives into their hands, weighing up the risks and deciding to give it a go. A very educated and practiced go. But a go, nonetheless. They are still human.

It’s a bit difficult coming together from both sides of the fence. Us as the patient, and them as the surgeon. Us, them. We want answers, we want progress, we want things to be fixed now. And you know me, I’m always on the go, patience has never been my strong point. From their point of view, it’s good to wait and get stability, and let’s be real, although scar tissue in your lip that makes you look ridiculous when you get teeth is disheartening as a patient, what does it really matter?

Patients can seem demanding, difficult, ungrateful and pushy. Most of which stems from an underlying place of fear. Surgeons can seem despondent, haughty, dismissive, defensive. Most of which stems from just being busy (you’re not their only patient) and also an underlying place of fear. Fear of not succeeding, fear of their work being pulled into question. The brain surgeon Henry Marsh described it as ‘morbid fear’ that he gets before surgery, but which dissipates when he picks up his scalpel – no time to be afraid, a job to get done.

We like our surgeons to be confident. But can you imagine how much of a blow their self-esteem could take if something went wrong? I get that if I write a post that doesn’t resonate with someone. Suddenly I think ‘oh I’m terrible, why do I even bother’. Only for a second, but then it takes me a moment to get up the courage to write another. Not seriously, but the thought is there. And like anything we do, if there is a failure, it knocks back our confidence. And we’re evolutionarily hard wired to take negative things on board more than the positive. If our ancestors ate a berry that make them ill, they needed to remember never to eat that berry again. Even in 100 good things, it is the bad one that stands out to us, that we hold on to, that we dwell on.

I bet you that any surgeon with a bit of experience under their belt could still tell you about their ‘failures’ (though they may not like to). What they were wearing when they broke the bad news, the face of the patient or family, how they got home after. Maybe they bury it deep, trying not to remember it, chalking it down to ‘wasn’t my fault’ but I can guarantee you it is still there, imprinted in their mind forever.

The second part of that quote from Leriche is as follows:
“Every surgeon carries within himself a small cemetery, where from time to time he goes to pray.”

In fact one of my surgeons said recently that she will never forget the day they had to rush me back into hospital. I was so blissfully unaware, just so grateful that they all rushed in on a Saturday and got me back in and fixed it. I was smiling heading in, not at all phased. I had complete and utter faith in the fact that they would fix it. Complete and utter faith in them. And rightly so, but it could have gone either way. I guess they understood the gravity of the situation. Their work had failed (not due to them, just due to luck) and my life was on the line, they needed to get back in, try again and hopefully fix it.

We need them to stay confident after a set-back. To trust in themselves to make the cut, to do the surgery. In my case, they worked tirelessly for 10 hours in that second surgery, having done it for 16 hours just five days before. Could you imagine working at something so delicate and ultimately important for 16 hours? My concentration wanes each day at 3pm, after only 6 hours at work.

Sometimes I wonder if there were pictures taken of my surgery and if I would want to look at them if they were available to me. I’m not sure I could deal with seeing myself in that way. But part of me does have a fascination, and I would certainly like to see photos of my surgeons in action, look in at their faces as they worked to save my life, looking as an outsider but also an insider too, someone with a somewhat vested interest in the outcome.

I’m not going to stop pushing for answers. I’ve always been one to wait my turn and not rock the boat, but I’ve been told too many times over the past year to be my own advocate. So I ask the questions, I follow up on the responses when I haven’t heard anything. But I hope they know that when I am grumbling about something so seemingly inconsequential to them like not being able to breathe through my nose, I do so knowing that were it not for them I might not even be here to worry about such things. And that really does put some things in perspective. I think you can take it for granted a bit. All I did was go to sleep and then recover and now I’m dealing with these ongoing annoying things that I didn’t have before that I may have to face forever…that becomes a reality that fills your current well of suffering (remember the quote from Viktor Frankl?) and your mind minimises the enormity of what you’ve been through and how tiny these struggles are in comparison. Though that doesn’t mean I’m going to settle for anything just because I’m grateful to be alive, I will always be pushing for things to be better. That’s just who I am.

I would like to send my surgeons a Christmas card every year, though they do a good job at staying disconnected from their patients – I have no way to contact them directly. Probably to make sure they don’t get an influx of Christmas cards every year.

And what would I say if I did?

‘Hi, just me, still alive, cheers’
‘Hi, thanks again for allowing me to make it to another Christmas’
‘Hi, I’m not into Christmas, but thanks for playing God for me that one time… Appreciate it’

Probably a good thing I can’t send them Christmas cards, there aren’t enough words to put on a small square of paper to express what I would want to say to them.

I only hope they never forget that they made the biggest impact on my life that anyone ever will. And I’m so eternally grateful. Though seriously, this scar tissue in my, can you not just fix it guys?! 😉

‘Life is full of uncertainty…’ And other life lessons in places you least expect them

On By Jen EveIn Thoughts3 Comments

I manage client correspondence at work. Recently our generic email address has been getting some odd spam. People wanting to improve SEO for our website, wanting to sell weight-loss pills, viagra… the random usual things like that (I’m not sure we’ve actually had any of those last two but hey, creative license, it’s my blog).

We have some Chinese/Taiwanese clients and occasionally they will write to us in Chinese. Luckily one member of our team is from Taiwan and can handle these requests (I mean it’s not luck, it’s part of the reason she was hired…)

We got one the other day in Chinese and I couldn’t work out who it was from. I asked my colleague to look at it and as soon as she did she immediately burst out laughing. Not moving my head, I looked at her sideways from were I was sitting next to her at my computer, wondering what was going on. I pulled up chat to ask her what was happening and she was already typing.

‘omg’ she wrote, ‘I need to translate this for you. Hang on’

I hung on, the suspense bubbling up inside me. Eventually it was time for the great reveal…

Life is full of uncertainty, where you can find peace of mind is where you belong.

No matter how many difficulties you have gone through, there will still be flowers, butterflies and sunshine.

Being angry is taking others’ faults to punish yourself. Forgive others, let go.

That was it.

Well, I tell a lie. At the end it had a slightly more nonsensical phrase: “If people go to the big cities to fight hard, that is a foundation. If not, if it fails, maybe even today’s life will never be there again.” Not so sure what that’s getting at so let’s gloss over that bit for the sake of a good story.

We laughed, it was hilarious to think that we were worrying we had some complex issue to solve, when someone was just educating us on… I don’t know, Buddhist philosophies or something…

But struck a chord with me, so I kept it.

There really is so much uncertainty in life. And thinking that we have control over anything can set us up for failure and disappointment. Pinning your hopes on everything panning out will only end in tears. Much better to find peace in just being, and let other things come and go without vesting too much in them. Some things don’t work out, and that’s ok. There will always be more things. Other things.

Us millennials are obsessed with journaling and morning pages and gratitude logs and you might well roll your eyes but there is something in that. It goes right back, even everyone’s favourite Stoic Epictetus spoke of practising gratitude. If you make note of the good things that happen, you’ll find that the difficult things don’t seem so bad, they may even fade in comparison. They say that people who actively practice gratitude are much happier humans living fuller lives. ‘Wholehearted people’ if you’re into Bréne Brown. I don’t necessarily have to actively make a point to do this, I just naturally tend to fixate on the good things. For example, I am not angry or sad that I got cancer, I am only grateful that it was found, and that it happened in a time in my life when I had the beauty of the NHS behind me, an amazingly supportive employer, and my lovely friends and family. Yes, I feel lucky. I see those flowers (you all know how much I love flowers), butterflies and sunshine every day. Even if nothing seems like it’s going right, all it takes is a stranger to smile or hold a door open for you and there is something to be grateful for. And if you manage a day where you see a cat… Well… Wow! Cat!

The final point I really struggle with. I do get angry at people. I don’t get angry at things that happen that are not anyone’s doing, there’s no point in that, but I get angry at people who are rude, who are not kind to others, and who stand in the middle of a crowded footpath (seriously, guys!). I do judge (I think we all do) and I do get far too wrapped up in what other people are doing. I find it hard to let things go and I find it hard to forgive people if they haven’t done right by me or someone I love.

A friend of mine said the other day ‘we are all just our parent’s experiments’ and that the really stuck with me. We grow up with our parents teaching us everything. They have all the answers. But now we’re their age, do we have any idea what’s going on? (Seriously though, how are our parents so on top of getting the washing done? I challenge you to find one millennial who doesn’t run out of clean underwear on the regular). But anyway there is a point to this, bear with me.

Our parents love us and do everything they can to help us but they’re just people too. Those annoying habits you picked up from them? Those strange things they do (ma and da, I’m totally looking at you)? They’re just trying to navigate the minefield that is life too. Does anyone truly know how to adult?

And that person at work who snapped at you? They’re dealing with their own things, the last thing they are thinking about is how you might deal with the fact that they’re under a lot of pressure. Yes, we should all try to be kind at all times but we’re all just trying to get by, we mess up. Give people another chance (but not too many…)

I will try to take my own advice.

Somewhat related, I’ve taken to doing Friday night Tai Chi at the gym I have a 12-week pass for. I have been really enjoying it. An hour on a Friday to be away from my phone and just get grounded before the weekend. Yoga is a bit difficult for me at the moment but Tai Chi is spot on. Life is so damn hectic, it’s nice to have a break sometimes. I’m working on being more calm. I’m quite laid back but not so calm. I’ll get there.

So heading into this weekend, take some time to think of the things you are grateful for. Don’t rush through it without taking the time to savour those things that make it really special, that make your working week… Well… worth it! And try to do one kind thing for someone who doesn’t expect it. Studies have shown that doing something for someone else actually brings us greater and longer lasting joy than doing something for ourselves.

But do something for yourself too, life’s too short.

The next page in the teeth story…

On By Jen EveIn teethLeave a comment

I had another appointment with the teeth man today. Actually at the moment it’s the teeth woman. She’s working with me to see if we can make a temporary denture-type thing for the time being, before we start looking at implants.

Today it was to see if something will fit in my mouth and to see how far we can build it out to hopefully make my nose and face less collapsed. The answer is not very far. I still have this bit of scar tissue right across the inside of my lip which means that when teeth go in there, instead of pulling my lip into my mouth as it does now, it pulls my lip up into a super attractive snarl and I can’t close my lips. Which leaves me looking rather ridiculous. My nose is still collapsed, my face still sunken and I’m snarling with open lips.

So…

I’m not sure where to go with that. Also as it will all be held in place by the few teeth left on the left hand side of my mouth, I think it will be rather loose and might not make talking or eating very easy.

I was holding out hope for this next step to make things a bit better, but being hopeful does tempt fate and I should really have known better. I guess I was prepared for this… It’s still a bit disheartening. But on the way home I discovered that Bowie narrated Peter and the Wolf and it’s on Spotify. So… I feel like that’s some sort of consolation.

They’ve made some super cool moulds of my mouth, which are fun to look at. They were less fun to make. As I can’t breathe through my nose, it’s a bit of a nightmare to have your mouth filled with the gooey stuff they make moulds from. At one point she covered up my teeth completely and I couldn’t breathe at all. Oh well, I survived, still breathing! Two more weeks until my next appointment, and another appointment two weeks after that. No idea what each is for specifically, or what sort of timeline we’re looking at for what. But we are moving, so that’s something.

Monday Monday Monday

On By Jen EveIn teeth5 Comments

And not just any Monday, but one that had the potential to hold news about small white things that go in your mouth and help with things like talking, eating and generally living.

Yes.

Teeth.

After weeks (months overall!!! 7 in fact!) of waiting and chasing, I finally got the call I had been waiting for: a referral to the seemingly elusive teeth man.

Let me try to explain the things riding on this appointment.

Firstly I was hopeful to find a timeline and course of action for teeth and hopefully get some information about the process because I have less than no understanding what happens or how it works. In fact the only things I know about it were from a chat with the CFO at work who seemed to have some very basic knowledge about implants.

I went in and had an x-ray first before seeing the teeth man. The machine played a strange digital rendition of Fur Elise by Beethoven. Which coincidentally is also the sound my doorbell makes. I tried to stay still and not giggle.

The waiting room was fancy. This place was fancy. The dental nurses wear white and the dentists blue.

My dentist Dr Dawood is my new best friend (yes I’m well aware I’ve got a few of them now). He was so nice, really easy to talk to, and also realistic. He looked at my teeth and asked if I ate a lot of fruit. Um… Not particularly… Then he asked if I’m vegetarian. No… Then he said ‘how have you been surviving?!’ I said brilliantly! I munch on everything!

So, we start on Wednesday (omgomgomgomg), taking moulds first. They will get the ones that Deepti took before surgery and make my new teeth just like my old ones! Cooooool.

First they will look at making a denture and see how it fits (if it even fits after everything that has changed in there) and then later consider implants.

Until we start trying we don’t know if it will work. If it doesn’t work, it’ll be back to my surgical team and back into surgery to look into more reconstruction from another body part. Yay for being plunged back into March.

Also there’s a good chance my lip won’t be able to fit over teeth anymore, especially with my sunken face, collapsed nose and the scar tissue from the stitches. So there might be issues there with actually fitting teeth in my mouth. And even if I can get the teeth in, they won’t fix these things so I’ll always look a bit odd. Better get used to being told by new people I meet that I have a cleft palate… Eye roll

But still, teeth is better than no teeth. And we’re aiming to have something temporary by the end of November! GUESS WHAT THAT WOULD BE IN TIME FOR?!! BIRTHDAYBIRTHDAYBIRTHDAYBIRTHDAY!

I was bouncing around manically and smiling rather widely as we booked in appointments over the next month or so. The receptionist who booked me in was lovely but I had to laugh. She asked me if I’d had an accident and I said no, cancer, and they cut my jaw out and now I’m just waiting for teeth.

‘Oh so your mum or dad has it too?’ She asked.

‘No, there’s no genetic link for bone cancer’ I replied.

‘And you didn’t smoke or anything?’

‘Lol no…’

The old what-did-you-do-to-cause-it-so-I-can-check-I-won’t-get-it job. Sorry love, you’re just as likely to get cancer as I was. Most cancers don’t have a genetic, environmental or lifestyle cause, we didn’t do anything wrong to bring it on ourselves…

Always in my thoughts, now more than ever…

On By Jen EveIn Friends and Family5 Comments

Yesterday my dear friend Katie started whole brain radiation (Canada Katie – we shall refer to her as Canada Katie, as she is an entirely different person from my long time friend Katie who came to visit from Australia a couple of months ago and we don’t want to give that Katie cancer by way of me not distinguishing between the two).

Sorry, let’s just do that again.

Whole. Brain. Radiation.

Have you ever heard a more terrifying three words?

Though i suppose they are trumped by three more words…

Trying. To. Live.

And at 34, she has a lot more living to do, despite terminal breast cancer doing its best to stop her. Once you get metastatic breast cancer (i.e. spread) you never get rid of it. The intention is to survive as long as possible, but you will never be cured. I know a lot of people living with their metastatic cancer. It is possible.

From this absolutely hectic treatment, she will lose her hair once again, and suffer all the horrible side effects like nausea, fatigue, memory and cognitive issues and months of recovery. This obviously bothers her somewhat.

We had a chat a little while ago when she first found out it had spread upwards, about where the point is that you stop opting for the ridiculously quality-of-life altering treatments like this. It’s not now for her, thank goodness, and hopefully we’re a long way from that point. But I can only imagine what it must feel like to keep going through this. To be facing another round of treatment and knowing what a toll it will have on her body and her life.

Her brain is still fine but the cancer has spread to her cranium. The plan is to ‘radiate the hell’ out of her head (in her words), which will hopefully zap the skull guy, relieve the pain and pressure, then we can go back to managing the cancer in her liver.

Big sigh.

I say ‘we’ because she and I are such a team. I mean obviously this is all on her, unfortunately she is the one struggling through this, and if I could take some of it for her, I would.

Sometimes I feel like a broken record, going on and on to her about how much I love her but oh well! This girl has helped me through some hard times and celebrated with me through the good.

My dear (Canada) Katie, I just want to say a few things to you.

You have changed my life.
You have changed the way I think.
You have given me so much courage.
You have helped me know what to say at difficult times.
You don’t know how often I think WWKD (or should I say WWCKD).
I am so proud of you.
My life is so enriched by you being in it.
I am always here for you.
You are a testament to how people should live their lives.
There is a lot that people can learn from you.

To everyone else out there, she could do with all your thoughts right now so if you don’t mind shooting them all over to Canada to hover all around her while she goes through this radiation treatment over the next week, it would be much appreciated. I’m glad Clarence’s brother is over there looking after her too.

So while you’re getting ready for work or starting your weekend and have a thought that at least it’s Friday and you’ve got two days of freedom ahead of you, or that you’re exhausted from a hard work week… Just spare a thought for Canada Katie. And for that matter for anyone suffering, for whom a weekend is not an escape from much at all right now, or who would give anything for their biggest problem to be that their boss yelled at them or their colleague was being a dickhead.

That’s not to say that every day problems are not legitimate problems, if I was ranting to her about an every day issue in my life, she wouldn’t for a second not want to hear about it because it’s not as dire as her problems. She is happy to hear my good news even if her news is bad, etc. We can compartmentalise these things. We still want to hear about you even if we’re going through a bit worse at the moment. (Though while I’ll absolutely sympathise about how much your finger must hurt after shutting it in a door, please don’t tell me that your nail falling off is the worst thing that you could think of, and how will you possibly survive if it doesn’t grow back looking normal… Even if it is the finger your engagement ring goes on… I’m sure you’ll find a way.)

So please spare a thought for Canada Katie. Love you girl, I’m here for you all the way.