Mum’s Second Chemotherapy Session

Mum had her second session on Friday and once again came out of it saying that it all went fine and she wasn’t suffering any ill-affects which again was really pleasing to hear.

Spoke to her on Saturday and Sunday and the same thing, felt tired but thought that might just be the tablets that she needs to take. She and Derek had been out for the day to Stratford-Upon-Thames and watched some films back at home as well.

Tasha emailed her today though and unfortunately she’s started noticing that some of her hair is coming out, so the cold cap treatment might not be doing its work. I didn’t speak to her but Tash will persevere and if need be then Mum might look at getting a wig or at least some scarves.

This is what she was dreading, but I think her attitude is that “whatever happens, happens!”, but I think she’s not too pissed off because she’s getting through the treatment with such minor affects when expecting to be really sick and everything.

We’ll see.

Paul Scholes retired yesterday

One of my favourite players, Paul Scholes, retired from football yesterday. One of the best players in his generation and hugely admired amongst his peers, International and UK-based. There was loads of stories and accolades that can be found about his but he was looked up to by other players which can be no better compliment.
Some people on Twitter and noticeboards were criticising his tackling ability, or lack of, but that’s not relevant when you run a YouTube search on his goals and contribution if you ask me and shows a complete lack of understanding of the game.
Unless of course they were simply wanting to buck the trend and say something contrary just to be ‘clever’!
Thankfully, he’s not dropping out of football altogether and is going to continue being involved in a coaching capacity, I don’t much care that it’s with Manchester Utd as I don’t support anyone but for him not to pass on his skills and experience to younger players then that would have been a shame.
I wish him all the best good fortune in the rest of his career.

Another Great Weekend…

Bank Holiday weekend, what didn’t we do?!?!

Friday after work we had a BBQ and invited Jason & Sharon Millar and their kids, Wayne & Kerry Holden and their kids and Liam & Zoe Carroll and their kids so a bit of a houseful, or more to the point a garden-full as we stayed out all evening! As usual far too much to drink but all the banter and silly chat and it was a lovely evening. Got a fire up and running which always goes down well with the kids as they can toast marsh-mallows and add wood to the fire. Who doesn’t enjoy playing with the flames once in a while? Late night but well worth the effort, we enjoy having people round for food and drink.

Saturday was the Cholsey 5-a-side tournament for Lewis’s team, they did really well and got through to the quarter-finals but then were cheated out of it by some outrageous decisions but the local referee. I don’t get involved with the silly chatter but I was so close to going mental! I bit my tongue as I didn’t want to get some crap fine, but Sammy got sent off for telling the ref he was shit – he was right but he’ll still get a suspension and £40 fine, not worth it for some uptight bully!

In the evening it was the Champions League final between Man Utd and Barcelona at Wembley. Currently Barcelona are the best team in the world and they proved as much in front of millions of viewers winning 3-1, it was incredible to watch. They can’t be touched at the minute, they have the best players and team ethic where they pass the ball constantly to work the space and beat down their opponents. No one could begrudge them the win and they made it look so easy against a Man Utd team that are hardly lighting up the world but are still one of the top five teams around – but FCB simply looked like they were training! Messi, Iniesta, Xavi – gifted players that we’re very luck to watch at this time in our lives.

Sunday we went out for a cycle ride down by the river, past the Perch and into Oxford, nice to explore a new route. Jack spent some of his HMV voucher on a DVD, popped into the Old Prison complex to treat ourselves to a Krispy Kreme donut and then back home along the river again.

In the evening Tash and I went out to Newbury Racecourse as she was provided with VIP tickets for the Rod Stewart concert which was the first leg of his UK tour. So we were treated to a couple of free drinks in the VIP suite and then right down near the front of the stage to see the concert. At 66 you wouldn’t guess his age, the concert was brilliant and he played for 2 hours. So many songs that are memorable, you forget the ones that he’s sang in the past. Felt a bit guilty as there were at least 20,000 people so we left during the last song, “Do ya think I’m sexy” and then heard the encore “I am sailing” in the car park and left so as to miss the traffic, to make it worse they then released a huge firework display!

I’ve never left a concert early to beat the traffic and I will never do it again either!

So if that wasn’t busy enough on Bank Holiday Monday we took the kids down to Bath for the day, poured down with rain the whole time so that wasn’t much fun but we wandered round the Roman Baths which was really interesting and then had a bit of a walk around a walking tour. I’d downloaded the walking tour on everyone’s mp3 players the night before but for some reason they weren’t impressed that the now have a playlist called “Bath Tour”…no pleasing some people is there? Treated ourselves to Pizza hut at the end of the day to cap off a lovely weekend.

It was good to spend time with the kids today, they’re funny when they’re on form, each has their own personality to bring to the family and as much as it grates sometimes and we bicker we have a good laugh the majority of the time. It’s a shame I didn’t record us singing along to “Your Song” in the car on the way down…a most amusing rendition.

So all in all, quite a busy weekend really, now back to work for a rest…yeah right!

Working from home or in Starbucks…which is best?

Sometimes working from home has its benefits…this morning I dropped the car off at the garage for its service and MOT, then wandered down from Shotover to the Churchill Hospital and had my broken finger prodded and bent. Now that might not hurt the Physiotherapist but it bloody well hurts me! All good and only one more session required apparently. The finger is on the mend.

And then it was a walk up to Headington, sit in Starbucks and get on the wireless internet and work over coffee and cookies…I don’t get this at home!

I took a detour walking to Headington and went through Mattocks Close which is behind where I used to live and was a field, bit of nostalgia for a Friday morning, passed the Youth club and up New High Street where the shark is in the roof of the house and saw all the short-cuts we used to take as kids through people’s gardens when being chased or going to call on mates. I was tempted to knock on the door of one house to ask if the shortcut was still there, but then I thought better of it as they might call the police on me thinking I was ‘casing the joint’!

Just had a call from the garage, car passed MOT but brakes need sorting, so will get a call around lunchtime to go and collect it, so BLT could be in order now.

Now to get on with work, wish they’d turn the music down, it doesn’t sound so good when the phone rings to speak to clients.

What a weekend…

It all started off fine with the Summertown Stars Presentation evening on Friday night. We had a good turn out and it was very pleasing to be able to give Jack the Player’s Player of the Year award, well deserved as he admitted to some of the parents after getting it! “I agree!” he replied to a couple..ah well, he’s only 10. Lewis also picked up Most Improved Player for his team so it was a good night for the Dark family.

Saturday night Charlotte & Tash went to Newbury races for a concert and watched The Wanted, they had a great time.

On Sunday we were going to to canoeing but the weather was crap so pottered around and then went up to Shotover and met Mum. She’s doing okay with her cancer although throughout the week she’d been getting pains in her arm and she finally complained about it and they found that she’d had a blood clot – not good. So they sorted that out but it means she needs to inject herself in the stomach with a blood thinning agent for the next 6 months! It never rains…

Sunday evening wasn’t so good…Sue’s dog Heidi is on her way out and she finally died at 6.00pm, cue tears and sobbing from everyone in the house, Sue, Tash, Charlotte and Jack, all very sad indeed. I then had to bury her immediately, can’t say that was enjoyable. Poor thing, she didn’t suffer and went quietly in her sleep.

I managed to get out for a run in the evening, first one for months and I was useless, 4 miles in 40 minutes so not good at all. But I will try to get it going again over the next few weeks so that I start to get fitter and in more shape, we’ll have to wait and see. So a traumatic weekend all in all, hopefully this week will be better.

More wisdom from Jack

More wisdom from Jack before going to bed...

"God is actually a really good person, he's invented loads of good things but he's made some bad things as well...such as...school...fruit....and girls!"

I love our little chats at bed time!

Olympic Torch Announcement

Lord Coe unvieled the route of the Olympic flame today and announced that it could be viewable by 95% of the population as they are trying to ensure that it's almost in everyon'es back garden

When asked how close that is in reality he replied "About an hour's drive" - how big is his back garden for goodness sake?!?

Mum & Cancer

I have been meaning to write this sooner

Around January this year, Mum was diagnosed with Breast Cancer as part of the 3 year routine checks, they didn't know how bad it was until the results and then said she'd need a mastectomy which she duly had a few weeks later.When getting the results from that and her lymph nodes and the like they were able to confirm that it hadn't spread elsewhere that they could see but it was a particularly aggressive cancer and they couldn't give 100% assurance that it was cleared and out of her body.

So they have decided that she needs chemotherapy and a course of Herceptin so that they can basically try and completely flush it out of the system and it not creep back in 6 months time.

So Friday last week was mum's first Chemo visit and incredibly she suffered no side-effects other than to be tired - incredible. She has 6 chemo sessions in total 3 weeks apart and then 9 months of Herceptin about 2 weeks apart so all very serious and time-consuming.

Her work have been brilliant as has Derek so she has no worries there.

It's obviously been a huge shock but she's borne it well and we (my wife is very pro-active) and the kids have kept her busy taking her out and having meals and all sorts. Louise lives in Kings Lynn which is annoying as she's not down here much but we're doing our best to support her etc.

I hope this diary will be a record of her battle and success to defeating this awful disease...

Love you mum.

Jack's Praise to me!!!

- Dad, did you get a certificate for making me? 
- Your birth certificate I suppose Jack. 
- No that's mine, you should have got a certificate because you did a good job!

Another weekend over

Butlins was fantastic, kids had a great time and loved it, parents as well, some great photos.

Mum had first chemotherapy treatment on Friday and has suffered no affects whatsoever, can't believe it. Amazing woman and very proud of her. Hope that's the way things will continue because you hear all the horror stories of illness and that which we were preparing for...5 more sessions to go, fingers crossed.

Worked hard this weekend, off to British Red Cross tomorrow for training and then to Rochester and two Oxford customers on Thursday - all over the bloody place! 

Butlins

Off to Butlins tomorrow taking Jack's team and doing what I have done twice with Lewis's team. Should be fun and everyone is looking forward to it. Still haven't packed yet so need to get that sorted.


It's been a really bad time of things later, I'll update all the happenings shortly as I don't have time now, but we've had Roy next door die, my Mum has breast cancer and is now going to have chemo, all sorts happening. 


On that note...

It's the weekend

Thought I lost my Facebook account last night - I removed the email addresses linked to the account so that I would stop getting notifications and then logged in use a Hotmail.co.uk address and it started a new account - nightmare! Eventually worked it out after over an hour of emails etc but it's now back to normal. In saying that, I am trying to reduce Facebook use so I shouldn't really care about it. But once in a blue moon won't hurt I guess.

England cricket is in good voice this morning after we thumped the Aussies in their own back yard again to retain the Ashes with a 3-1 series win Down Under. It's been very easy for the team which is a shame but it's good to be able bash the Aussies of course! The Barmy Army have been in good form as well.

Looking forward to the weekend, Jack has his mate Danny over and then there is football at the weekend, should be nice. We play Abingdon on Sunday, hopefully get a decent result after a very indifferent first half of the season. We'll have to wait and see.

Bloody thieves

Not a good day yesterday - Lewis and 4 mates at school had their wallets and phones stolen whilst they were at the Ferry Centre for a school PE lesson. Their bags out of 25 were the only ones affected, really pissed off as it amounts to over £90 worth of things gone. New wallet from Grandma for Xmas, £10 in it, phone and credit and bank cards in the wallet so we were rushing round cancelling everything quickly

Didn't get anywhere with Ferry or the School taking responsibility so we won't be able to get any of this back as it's not worth claiming on the insurance of the house. Nightmare and very frustrating.

Lewis was actually one of the luckier ones, one poor lad had his brand new iPod stolen. Poor lad was in tears

I then made things worse by panicking and registering my credit card with an online mobile tracking company and it looks like it's all a scam so I am trying to get that all cancelled - last thing I need is more money lost! We'll see.
So that was yesterday, today I was in central London with Collins doing training, it was okay but I was shattered on the way there and on the way back - both times I was fast asleep on the train. Nice to catch up on some sleep but not good from a work perspective as getting something done on the train is a bonus. Ah well.

Not sure what to do this evening, have a busy weekend lined up already so need to either get some work done or some of this learning that I am trying to improve on...where to start?!?!?

Time Bandits and Scrabble

Just beat Jack and Charlotte at Scrabble - it was close as well!

Now we're watching Time Bandits, class film, such good fun.

Yesterday it was Out of Africa which was great to see all the scenery that we saw only last year on our safari.

Before that it was Kick-Ass - even Tash loved it, that's saying something.

Back to work today which was okay in the end, not going into the office now so that's a bonus.

I need to work on a resolution to 'better' myself so have been reading before bedtime and now need to focus on training and other things. I want to work on the kids football coaching as well.

2011 - Another New Year

So it's another New Year, where did the last one go to?

Xmas was good, had a really long break and there was the snow that came the week before that was so deep and everyone loved it. Perfect. Lots of great presents and a few resolutions that I will try and stick to, one of them being this blog....we'll see how it goes.

Kids are home today but for Tash and me it's back to work and the usual crap that comes with that.

Ah well, best get on! Have a good one

Xmas on its way

Well, Xmas is getting closer again and at the end of November we were hit with the first of the snow and unbelievably icy temperatures. And as per usual the whole country ground to a halt and everyone panicked or crashed their cars and our office was closed for two days. All a bit sad really.


One nice thing was getting football called off! We've been able to enjoy time as a family and yesterday was lovely, went to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (it was okay, but the kids loved it) and then went to Milletts to see Father Xmas after having been to Appleton this year and their Tree Barn so we have everything ready for setting up the decorations


On Saturday Taurus were performing again with Talent Oxford and it was really pleasing to see Jack in such a starring main role, he's damn good at what he does. He's really able and throws himself into things with a gusto, he was brilliant. Will post a video when we get hold of one!


Had some really sad news yesterday, a chap from the Summertown committee was killed in a car accident yesterday, drove into the back of a lorry and car caught flames. Wife and two young kids left behind, isn't that tragic? Didn't really know him to be honest as I'd not been to many meetings but still such a shame.


Actually, bit sad about that so will sign off as not in the mood to carry on writing at the minute.

OMBL Representative

Jack went for trials to get into the OMBL Rep side on Saturday and was successful. I was so very proud of him, really, really pleased.


There was at least 70 kids there and some great talents so it was especially pleasing that he shone enough to be noticed. He was the only one from Summertown that even went, but he got stuck in and he'll make friends with people there. Lots of faces I recognised, mostly coaches and parents but all the best players from the league were there.


That made my weekend which was about the only highlight unfortunately, it's been a rubbish one, we got beat 6-2 for the u10s with 6 players missing, very frustrating. Ah well, it's only kids football!

A Wicked Experience

Had a great weekend in London. We took the day off on Friday and tried to get Take That tickets in the morning but failed miserably because of server issues as everyone in the country tried as well. Wandered round Oxford St & Hamleys and had an early meal in Prezzo so we could take the kids to watch Wicked. 


What a great show that was, luckily it was just up the road from the hotel so we were able to walk. It was fantastic, Charlotte saying it was  the best one she's seen. It's the first time I've been at a show where there is a standing ovation at the end. Loved it.


Next day we did the tourist thing and went round Covent Garden, Houses of Parliament, Downing St, Trafalger SQ and back to Covent Garden. Jack got a caricature done with his money which we were against but so glad that he did do it as it was brilliant. 


Sunday was Halloween which as usual everyone made a big effort and the street was really busy with loads of families going up and down scrounging off us! I did the music again and that was fun.


Oh, and the German student arrived. So all in all, a busy weekend!

Our Kenya Safari book

Kenya Safari 2010 by Julian Dark | Make Your Own Book

Happy Birthday to me

Has a great day today, spoiled by the family. Went to Turnpike and had a lovely meal paid for by mum.


Now work tomorrow so early night!