Living flat and recovery after breast cancer
As the end of another year approaches, I've been in reflective mood. It's almost three years since my breast cancer diagnosis which means that, unbeknownst to me, at this moment in 2015 I had a tumour growing in my left breast. I'm a very different person now, both physically and emotionally. As I write I … Continue reading What a year
I'm aware that most of my posts have about breast cancer - my feelings and recovery, as well as my recent hip replacement surgery. So I thought that it was about time that I featured my flowers as they were originally going to be an equal part of this blog. This is going to be … Continue reading My year in flowers
October 30th – nearly the end of Pinktober, thank goodness. All month, I’ve been thinking about whether to write, what to write, when to write about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I have conflicting feelings about BCAM and so I’d almost decided not to write anything at all. Then yesterday I heard some very sad news … Continue reading Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Today I had the amazing, but surreal, experience of being the subject of the number 1, most watched video on the BBC News website. As ever, I was topless and talking about why I'm happy living flat. The video was a follow up to another first for me - broadcasting live on a national radio … Continue reading Choices, choices, choices
Last week was one of the saddest that I’ve experienced since being diagnosed with breast cancer. On Monday, Rachael Bland tweeted, with her usual humour and candidness, that she had only days left to live. Unfortunately, this wasn’t unexpected as she also recently disclosed that her cancer was untreatable and incurable. Then on Wednesday her … Continue reading Inspired by Rachael – telling it how it is
Being back in hospital for a non-cancer operation recently, prompted me to think about my body and how it has changed over the last two and a half years following my breast cancer diagnosis. I’ve acquired another scar, this time high up on the side of my right buttock, to add to the two across … Continue reading Living without breasts
Growing flowers from seed, following my breast cancer diagnosis, has to be one of the most joyful things that I've ever done. Being able to step outside early on a summer's morning, before the sun has risen too high in the sky, and look at the beauty of the flowers in my cutting patch has … Continue reading Flowers make me happy
I've experienced a lot of physical and mental pain during my treatment and surgery for breast cancer. That pain pales into insignificance compared to the acute sciatic pain that I'm now experiencing in my left leg and the psychological pain that has come along for the ride. I've just come back from my daily dog … Continue reading The one about pain
How a joyous, yet poignant, visit to RHS Chelsea Flower Show reinforced my love of flowers but came at a time when I was experiencing acute anxiety, two years after being diagnosed and being treated for breast cancer. Two years on On Wednesday I spent the day at Chelsea Flower Show with Liam. Nothing too … Continue reading Flower power
How it felt to lose all of the hair on my head and body as a result of chemotherapy to treat breast cancer, following my mastectomy. Two years ago my hair began to fall out. I had a great summer lined up in 2016 - Chelsea Flower Show, Wimbledon tennis, both of my children's graduations, … Continue reading To baldly go
