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Whey Hey, Mums Coming !
Today is the 19th July 2007, and what a day it has been.Talk about emotions’ getting the better of you, well that is indeed what happened.
I slept late and can vaguely remember waking Lee this morning when the alarm went off.These sleeping tablets are sooo good.After the usual kiss and each other saying ‘I Love You’ Lee set off to work at 6am.Four and a half hours later and I am coming round from the deep sleep that I had fallen back into.I felt so happy this morning, still tired but happy.Happy because;
a)I don’t have to go into work today.
b)My mum is coming to stay and
c)That was the second night in a row that I’d had a full night of undisturbed sleep.
It doesn’t take much to please me does it?
After making myself a hot cup of coffee I got myself comfortable on the sofa in front of the TV, still in my PJ’s and Dressing Gown.There was no rush to do anything today.I felt good; Apart from still feeling a little tired I had no effects from the previous chemo and was raring to go for round 3.
My mum was due to arrive later in the afternoon, the first time that she would be making her own way.Usually Lee and I would meet her off the motorway at Junction 26 and she would follow us through Nottingham to our house.Even though she has been time and time again, the thought of driving through Nottingham and remembering the way frightens the hell out of her, so for this time I had sent her a little email containing a map and directions.I tried to make it easier for her by telling her to come off at a Junction 24.Why Junction 24? Well because once off the motorway it is virtually one straight road to my house.
Watching GMTV this morning made me realise how common cancer is.They were talking about the home testing kit for Bowel Cancer that is being sent to thousands of homes.This kit is designed so that people can take three faecal samples at home and send them off for testing.I have a picture in my head now of thousands and thousands of poo samples making their way through the British Postal System. Making their way through each post box, being hand lifted into post bags, emptied onto the conveyor belts at the sorting office and then being hand delivered to the labs for testing..It may sound funny and the thought of the poo being in the post is rather hilarious to me and was hilarious when I listened to my mum telling me about it when she received one.I had tears pouring down my cheeks after she had finished reading the letter and telling me exactly how each sample had to be done.Yes she did do her test and popped it in the post along with the thousand other Poo’s.I know I’m laughing; but the fact remains, this one little test that you can do in the comfort of your own home can save lives.
At just after 1pm my mum rang to say that she had just set off from home, so depending on traffic that would mean that she should arrive by 2:00pm at the very latest.1:50pm and my phone is ringing.I started to laugh as I answered the phone knowing that she was going to ask me for some directions.“I don’t know where I am” I heard her voice at the other end say.I laughed.Yes, my mum was lost.I know she is useless with driving directions and as she has always said,she would be all right if they put up the proper road signs saying ‘This way to Karen’s House’ I started to re-cap where she was up to.“Right” I said.“Have you come on the M1”“Did you come off at Junction 24?” “YES” she replied.“Did you turn left from the slip road”“What left, there was no left” she answered.“WHAT!!”I was shocked.“Of course there was a turn left, you come off the motorway onto a slip road that takes you up to the roundabout with traffic lights and you take the first exit sign posted Nottingham”.Her answer puzzled me even more.“I didn’t see any roundabout or traffic lights” she said “Are you on a dual carriage way” I asked her “NO” she said. “I don’t think so, it looks more like a motorway”“Where on earth are you mam” I laughed at her “I don’t know” she laughed back.I told her to turn around at the next exit and to get back on to the M1 that she had just left, God knows where she was.We hung up and I now waited nervously.
Another 20 minutes went by before she rang me back.“God knows where I am” she said.She was still on the same road and hadn’t seen anywhere to turn round yet.She wasn’t on the M1 that was for sure, she had come off that.She wasn’t on the dual carriage way that was immediately off the M1 and now she was travelling down a motorway neither of us had any idea of where it led too.I was trying my best to find out where she was so that I could point her in the right direction.I was asking her what the signs said, could she see any landmarks?My mum was ranting now and decided to go ask a lorry driver who was pulled up on the lay by.Ha ha! Apparently she had come off at junction 24a instead of junction 24 and was on the A50 on her way to Stoke on Trent.The gentleman told her how to get back and so once again I was waiting at the other end of a telephone, waiting for her to ring or to actually arrive.Another phone call and by now it was obviously getting to my mum, not knowing where she was, where she was to go and how to get to my house.“I hate this journey” she said.Her back was now killing her from being sat in the car too long.“If I could find my way back to Donny I’d go back” she snapped.That was it the tears started.“Then p**s off back to Donny then” I snapped as I slammed the phone down.The landline phone started to ring again.“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that” she said.What she said had come out wrong, what she hadmeant was that if she could find which way Donny was she could go back and start all over again.I apologised too for swearing at her, something that I have never done.I was so upset; I was frustrated and ashamed that I had actually told my mum to p**s off.I was just so looking forward to seeing her and thought that she was saying that she didn’t want to come”.
I rang Lee, what could he do? He was at work miles away, but Lee was usually very good at directions, it’s as though he had a photographic memory and could give directions without even thinking about it, roundabouts, traffic lights, buildings and other landmarks.Lee said he would ring my mum.
The time now was just after 4pm and my mum had found her way to the point where Lee had directed her too.He was on his way home and said he would meet her to bring her the rest of the way.So much for me and my mum having some catch up time before Lee got home from work.
Now as if things couldn’t get any worse.Lee rang me, he had met my mum and as she was following him, a car ran straight into the back of her.When Lee told me this I started to cry again.She hadn’t had the car very long and if it wasn’t for me none of this would have happened.As it turns out there wasn’t any real damaged done to the car, just a feint scratch but the other driver wanting to avoid an insurance claim gave my mum £50 for the damage.£50 and you couldn’t even see the scratch, so by the time my mum and Lee arrived at the house they were laughing.
As soon as my mum walked through the door we hugged, both apologised to each other again and started to laugh about the whole ordeal.This was then followed by her having a feel of my bald head and compliments of how it looked; haven’t you got a nice shaped head, you suit it better than I expected and the one that I hadn’t really thought about was; You’ve still got your eyelashes and eyebrows.Oh yeah! I’d forgotten about them and to tell you the truth I didn’t want to lose them either.Losing them would make me look so weird, how would I do my makeup without mascara, and what would I look like with no eyebrows?Both Lee and my mum said that I should start practicing with an eyebrow pencil so that when they did go I’d have an idea where to draw them and how to draw them.Now I have visions of looking like one of them drag queens, you know; them who draw in their eyebrows with a thick black pencil that are way too high and thick.Like Guy Pearce in Priscilla Queen of the Desert.Next on the list of conversation was by mum who asked the question that a lot of people wouldn’t dare ask.“Do you still have your pubes?” yeah these may go too, but for the time being they are still intact thank you very much. We were all laughing as this opened it up for Lee’s daft sense of humour.“Mmm; bye bye forest and hello smooth pum pum”. He laughed.Yes pum pum is his nick name for my private parts. He was visualising what I would look like, with my pubic hair fallen out and to be honest at first he quite liked the sound of the idea, until I said it would be like being a little girl again.That was it we were all laughing hysterically as Lee pulled a face and shuddered.
The evening was filled with chatter and laughter, which carried on until late.It was gone 11 o’clock when both Lee and my mum told me to go to bed.My eyes were so heavy, but I was enjoying myself and didn’t want the evening to end.It was so nice to see my mum and the thought now that I’m tucked up in bed of her just being across the landing is quite comforting.She didn’t cry when she saw how the chemo was changing me.I know it must have been hard for her seeing me like this and I am so thankful that she remained strong.You see I don’t think about me as being bald all the time, I think I’m still normal until I walk past a mirror or have one of those hot flushes that makes me run my hands over my head.It’s at these times that I then think “Oh yes! I’m bald”...
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