Living flat and recovery after breast cancer
I write every day. Not on this blog, but in a notebook. I journal every morning, pouring out whatever I’m feeling and documenting my life and, as it turned out, the pandemic. I love getting everything out of my head and on to the page. It frees me up for the day. Or it used … Continue reading Reality
Today is the first day of Chelsea Flower Show 2020. Except that it’s not. Or at least it isn’t in its usual physical form. Instead the RHS have organised Virtual Chelsea. Monday is member’s day where us horticultural fans who choose to pay an annual subscription can go online ahead of the general public and … Continue reading Lupin back to Chelsea Flower Show
It’s four years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Actually, four years today as I sit here and write this blog. Four years ago, I was sitting in this same chair typing into a laptop and desperately searching for information about what the hell was going to happen to me over the next few … Continue reading Moving Forward
Photo credit: Ami Barwell for Stand Up To Cancer Defiance – what does that mean to you? One dictionary definition is: proud and determined opposition against authority. To me it means challenging the norm, being brave enough to speak up for myself. Ami Barwell’s Defiance exhibition for Stand Up to Cancer shows the gritty and … Continue reading Defiance
I haven’t blogged in months. Not since the beginning of June to be precise. I was riding high on a wave of positivity; my image having appeared on billboards in Times Square and Piccadilly Circus. I’d been on BBC Radio London and made a repeat appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live. There were press articles … Continue reading Living my best life
Nearly three years ago I had my first mastectomy. My left breast was removed because a seven centimetre tumour had taken up residence in my GG cup. Despite having had a lumpectomy three weeks previously, the tumour was too large and too dispersed and so the whole breast had to go. Being told that I … Continue reading Horror vs Happiness
At the weekend, Facebook reminded me that I started this breast cancer blog a year ago. When I wrote the first post, I had no idea what reaction I’d get – if any! I had no idea how blogs worked...and even less about search engine optimisation. I still haven’t worked that out and it did … Continue reading Weather report
What to do to commemorate the third anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis? It's today, by the way - 22nd January 2019. I decided to celebrate, rather than commemorate. I celebrated being alive and being one of the lucky 1 in 8. I celebrated life and family and flowers. I celebrated by getting inked. A … Continue reading No tits and a tat
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
