food

Not being able to taste anything feels like quite a trivial thing to cope with in the big scheme of things, and it probably is, but it's such a pain.

It's right up there on the list of things we take for granted, and when it's taken away it brings right into focus what an amazing thing it is.

I am beginning to get back very slight traces, but only enough to differentiate between sweet and savoury, but only just.

There is no logic to it either. For example, yesterday I tried some of brother-in-law Dave's super strong lime pickle, nothing at all. Yet I can eat something with a very delicate flavour like melon and it tastes pretty much normal. I can eat a bowl of sugar puffs ( and I do, a lot) and the puffs are just like tasteless polystyrene balls but the milk tastes of sugar puffs! Weird. I can confirm that my wee smells of sugar puffs after I have eaten them so no change there.

Here is a list of stuff I have tried to eat and what they taste/don't taste like.

•peanut butter-glue full of sawdust

•crisps-cardboard

•crackers-beer mats

•all vegetables-absolutely nothing

•tomato soup-hot, thick water

•orange squash-mr.sheen

•opal fruits-pencil rubbers 

On the plus side, I can taste the following:

•banana nesquik

•smint mints

•melon

•sugar puff milk

Which is great, I'm just not sure it represents a healthy diet!

mum

It's Mother's Day so I will keep this brief. I will dedicate this blog to my mum who through the way she dealt with her own cancer problems last year and losing dad to the same thing 22 years ago, has shown me how to deal with this and the way forward.

I love you mum.

chart

Dealing with all this stuff requires a bit of organisation, what pills to take today, hospital appointments, district nurse visits. Our way of making sure we're on top of things is the chart on the kitchen cupboard.

It also has the double whammy of seeing the days ticked off, so you can see we 're pretty much half way through. Huzzah!

I'm still manning my outlook post on the sofa, carefully monitoring visitors next door. Nothing to report today. I occasionally stand at the front window with my skinhead and check shirt and stare manically into the middle distance, because I can!

Lovely day out there, going for a sit in the sun and looking forward to another good result for Super Samba City later on.

Laters.

sale

Walked Grace to school this morning Whoooop! A little tired but nothing that an hour on the sofa watching Breaking Bad won't put right.

Talking of the sofa, I am perched at a jaunty angle to allow me to observe both the tv and the estate agent showing potential buyers round next door.

If I don't like the look of them I turn the volume up full blast and unfurl our kitchen blind which has the following written on the other side of it in full view of next door's kitchen window.

WE WORSHIP THE DEVIL. USUALLY LATE AT NIGHT & ALWAYS QUITE LOUD. SOZ

Lidl

A quiet day. Been to Lidl with my sis for some bargains. First time out of the house/car for 5 days and it was a bit fresh. I have literally got no hairs up my nostrils which means I have a constant flow of you know what. This is the solution.

energy

Another day of rest. It's difficult to explain the way that all of this stuff going on, both physically & mentally, completely drains your energy.

Sitting and watching telly yesterday I was feeling great & got up to get some washing out of the machine put it in the basket and take it upstairs.

Wow. Just about got to the top of the stairs before I had to drop the basket and sit on the top step wheezing for 10 minutes. Energy levels are that low. 

Having a bath is fine until it's time to get out. It literally takes 10 minutes to first stand up, then sit on the side and recover then get dried and recover. 

This is all stuff that when we are fit & well , we take completely for granted . This will be on my list of things to appreciate when I'm better. Along with eating better, getting fitter, being kind to animals etc. etc.

Had an ace card from Keeley's aunties (Jacky & Angie) yesterday.They obviously picked up from a previous rant/blog that I'm a big fan of Noel. Thanks ladies.

Thanks also to cousin Lydia, Rich & the kids for my food parcel. It's like the Red Cross round here!

My unflinching love and respect for Sarah & Marcus has been bolstered by their latest gift which is a thing of beauty and amusement. I give you Woolly Willy!

Laters homies.

weight

Not much to report today. Good day yesterday. Ate plenty of fruit, noodles. & porridge. White blood cell injections are ongoing and course of antibiotics will start on Saturday.

Waiting for confirmation of date to go in to be fitted with peg/rig, probably end if next week. For the uninitiated this is the device that will be fitted externally into my tummy to allow me to take in nutrition as and when I become unable to eat conventionally.

http://www.oxfordmnd.net/information/guide-to-peg-rig

Weight is dropping off a bit (10 lbs since last Monday) but hopefully this will level out in a couple of days. Problem at the minute is that my tongue is in the sawdust/dry/rubber phase so food, even melon, feels dry in your mouth & is difficult to eat.

Quick mention for our favourite insurance company. You know the ones who made our life such a misery after the house fire last year.

They provide Keeley's private health care which gives us a small daily allowance for the days I'm in hospital. They've just rejected our claim & asked us to resubmit it because the dates were written (23/03) rather than with the year on(23/03/14). 

Well done tossers.

back of nut selfie

plan

Monday starts with a frost & bright sunshine. Basking in the glory of yesterday's 4-1 over Villla on the telly I am feeling good. Nigel Kennedy (idiot spiky haired violinist) & Prince William (prince bloke) both Villa fans will be skulking around all day with their tails between their legs after their televised humiliation yesterday. A disgruntled Villa fan made me chuckle on an online forum when complaining about how crap they were and how Stoke seemed to have morphed into Bayern Munich! Love it.

The plan today is -

District Nurse to call this morning to administer my white cell booster injection.

Watch a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad

Eat some fruit ( see yesterday's problem)

Make appointment at hospital to see Orthodondist next week to check health of teeth after chemo.

That's about it. Baby steps.

Stop press. Grace created my homecoming in Lego. Genius.

blocked

Excuse me for not sparing you the details  but the day of rest dawned with me so badly bunged up that we had to call into the Emergency Assesment Bay in the Cancer Unit to be prescribed with something to get me 'moving'. Hopefully the fruits of our efforts will bare fruit later.

I fully expect to celebrate with a good result for The Mighty Potters this afternoon at Aston Villa.Hurrah!

late selfie roundup

A few pics that were missed this week due to technical difficulties.

Banana brows 

Banan Hitler

The last bag

Grace's confirmation

HOME!

early

At 2.am this morning I heard the words I'd been waiting for since Monday.

'That's you (bar a quick flush through of saline) done.'

Very sweet words indeed.

I feel a lot stronger at this stage of the process than the first, & am now, with eyes wide open, moving onto the recovery from chemo and preparation for radiotherapy in a couple of weeks.

The experience of staying in hospital for the first time in my life has been in equal measures the most horrible and uplifting thing.

Ward 201 is full of such poorly people going through such a traumatic process that you would think that it would be hard to find much in the way of positives and good humour, but in fact that is exactly what I have found.

The staff, from the doctors & consultants, to the nurses, healthcares and cleaners are completely humbling in their attitudes and kindness. They have made my stay infinitely more bearable.

The turnover of new patients  coming in is relentless, but everyone is dealt with such dignity which assures you that they are going to receive the absolute best care possible.

The camoradery and friendliness of my fellow inmates has been an eye opener for an anti-social git like me. Sitting around in your jamas and talking about stuff with old men all day turns out to be something I have quite a talent for. Special mention here for my mate George. Classic Stokie. Friendly, funny, used to work on Doultons & Masons. A true gent.

Still. Bloody glad to be going home!

Everyones texts and Facebook messages have been ace The link to the outside world, intermittent as the internet was, has been a big help. 

 I missed my baby girl's Confirmation this week so I'm looking forward to her tales of what she confessed to and meeting Bishop McGough over the weekend. Can't really think of anyone with anything less to be guilty about than Hilda but, we'll wait and see! She is taking the name Angela (after St.Angela of Medici, but more importantly after my lovely mum who was there too) as her confirmation name. Being sponsored by our greet friend Maria is also a great start for her. Archie stood in for me as head of the house (mini me) and I am certain he did me proud as usual.

M-in-L Chris has offered her usual unconditional love and total support (and banana nesquik) for which I can't thank her enough.

Keeley has been my absolute rock again, putting up with my grumpiness, keeping home as normal as possible, working to pay the bills! Don 't worry love, this £72 a week benefit I'll be raking in will help me keep you in the custom which you deserve! Anyone got a paper round need doing?

It 's now 3.15am. I am unplugged. I have been for a wee detached from the drip trolley for the first time in 5 days. Keeley is due to come & get me at 7. By 8 I will be home, have had a bath, had a bowl of Sugar Puffs and be the happiest bloke in the world. Tara a bit.

Old

Not a bad night's kip last night. In one if my waking moments I realised a couple of things.

• I passed my driving test on 21 mar 1983, 31 years ago! What an old git.I miss my Fiat 132 with electric windows & a 90% covering of rust.

• On the same day we, that is, mum, dad my sis and me moved out of the pub (The Boat Inn, Gnosall) which had been in our family for 3 generations. 

In retrospect it was a big day.

• I awake to find out that Kate Bush is going to play live for the first time in 35 years. That is enough to gladden anyone's heart. Wowowowowow unbelievable.

• Swings & roundabouts alert. I am saving a fortune on shampoo & razors - this is offset dramatically by the extra moisturiser I am slathering over my puny little dried up body.

• I will endeavour to post all of the pics that have been missing this week on Saturday when I am due home.

• sitting around in your jamas and watching Homes under the Hammer all day isn't as glamourous as it sounds.

14.00 my last 12 hour bag of chemo is on.should be done and out first thing in the morning. This is a good day.

Kirsty

It's a lie in today as the  sound of Channel 4's very own Kirsty's Home Comforts suddenly wafts through the curtain towards my bed at 5.05am. That, and the crunching of what I would put as a loose estimate of 3 packets of crisps. 

The room suddenly filled up last night at about 10, so we are back to a full compliment of 4, and associated smells and sounds. The regular trundling of trolleys to the loo as the saline sollution mixed in with everyone's chemo reaps it 's inevitable consequence.

Wait! He 's remembered Noel's on again. The box is chosen, will it be a deal or no effing deal? 

Sleep deprivation and Noel and Kirsty notwithstanding, health-wise I feel pretty good. No reaction to the chemo this time so will hopefully be out a bit quicker. Lack of appetite, nausea, dry mouth etc are kicking in a bit as expected, but managed by tablets etc.

5.45 quick update. Obs done and thanks to my ever-resourceful & beautiful wife's suggestion of last night I have a half-solution to the noise. I'm listening to 6Music through my big-old headphones at low level which is drowning out everything else. Huzzah! Making my ears blooming warm though.

Language

I will apologise for the language straight away but my head has been done in a bit. 

I was moved from my side room last night at 9 which was disappointing, but I understand why. People need to be isolated and I don't at the min so fair enough.

Moved into a ward with 3 blokes, 3 x tv's on full blast on different channels and a shared blocked toilet. Nice.

Last tv went off at whatever time the live roulette online gambling thing comes on, though not after weighting half an hour for a nurse to come & turn it off.

This morning after catching some sleep I am woken at 5.30 by a dawn chorus of Noel Bastarding Edmods Deal or No Deal.

Very poorly bloke in bed next door so I really can't complain, but it really is like some sort of water torture, lying here desperate for some kip listening to the perma-crap-haired Mr.Edmonds, now everyone is awake and talking about  knees , paracetamol, the Magic Roundabout 

& the budget. I pretend to be asleep behind my curtain. I'm not.

I wonder to myself if the doctors use some sort of sliding scale of illness for these patients. Where 1 is ok (me)and 4 is so far gone that watching the aforementioned perma-highlighted-cowboy-booted-self satisfied-beard dying-ex dj's excruciating afternoon tv quiz ( on repeat at 5 in the morning FFS!!! )is somehow tolerated due to the seriousness of their condition. 

Sorry, rant over.

Next door has turned his telly off now, must be tired. He's snoring. It's 6.56.

Quick update, it's now 7.10. Two tellies are on, both on itv but about a second out of sync with each other.Bleeeeeeding hell. It's going to be a long day folks.

facts

today's fascinating facts:

• found out that we are indeed state of the art here at UHNS.You will have seen the space age mask I was fitted with for my radiotherapy treatment. Apparently in lots of hospitals these masks are still created old school, ie, plaster of Paris bandages on your face and straws up your nostrils to breathe through.Flippin eck.Would have had a dicky fit. I love Stoke.

• I can't sleep with a clock ticking within 100 yards. At 2 this morning after my 2am obs and wee break I had to balance on a chair and rip the battery out of the clock on the wall. This worked for an hour until the buzzer went off on my drip to replace the bag. Couldn't really justify turning that one off.

• Home comforts working well. I've got a pillow with one of the kid's covers on it and a blanket. Most welcome.

• Enjoying the new Beck album

• Have had confirmed that radiotherapy treatment will be put back a couple of days to compensate for the delay in starting this round of chemo. No problem, will give me a bit more time to get better in between. Fitting of rig (pipe into tummy for when I can't eat) will be arranged to coincide with the getting better.

• Looking forward to my ace mum- in- law smuggling me in a chicken sandwich tonight. Much needed, the food in here is spectacularly horrible.As you would expect mush that is sent from somewhere in Wales and reheated to taste.

•That's all folks 

in

Monday morning 9.30 ring ward 201.We're in.Huzzah! Ring Keeley for taxi  and loving wife duties, check bags and we're off.

Side room which is good, no opening windows, not so good. Forgot socks, easily remedied.

The usual couple of hours wait to get signed in, plugged in and swab my bits and pieces for hospital bugs. And so it begins.

The beep and bustle of the ward sounds very familiar. The scratch of the needle is still a bit uncomfy, have to look into the middle distance and look brave.

And get used to dragging the drip trolley around 24 hours a day until Saturday.

No problem. We're getting there.

No photos or selfies this week, will update when I'm out. Takes up too much juice from my phone & the hospital PC is bob shite.

smooth

Sunday has arrived. Another great win for The Mighty Potters yesterday which makes me very happy. After watching the game on a dodgy internet stream and jumping around the living room in celebration with Archie I had a strange sensation. The small amount of stubbly hair on my head was hurting. Only way to describe it. Hurting. As bits of it were already rubbing off I made the dramatic decision to get the Gillette out and shave it off.

Weirdest feeling ever. Totally bald your head feels like it's made of leather. And it's bloody cold. May need to source a wee willie winkie hat to sleep in at night.

Update- thanks to our wonderful friend Gill, I am now the proud wearer of a seaman's watch cap, knitted with her own fair hands. Baldy head now warm as toast. I am forever grateful.

Thanks also to Kathy my old partner in crime from Surface Pattern at college who sent me a lovely letter and an M&S voucher. Keeley has bought some new pants already. She is very happy.

hand

frustrated to say the least at not going in yesterday, not least because of the knock on effect it may have on the treatments that are booked to start in the next few weeks. Will hopefully be in on monday, it will just cut down the time I have to feel better before the radiotherapy starts.

I was all packed, with my own pillow, sweets, iPod, books. Like a veteran after the first time in I made the radical decision to shave the back of my hand where the canular is inserted and the sticky plasters hold it in place. Now I'm sat at home with one hairy hand and one bald hand. What a Numpty.

On the plus side I have developed a new form of head gear incorporating lettuce leaves.

Not sure I could get away with this at Stoke, but if we win this afternoon I will consider it a lucky omen and have to wear the lettuce every Saturday. In the comfort of my own home obviously.

Molesworth

Second fitting for mask this morning. quick injection with black disclosing ink then a ct scan. This will confirm the exact location to zap and will enable the doctor to formulate my radiotherapy treatment plan. Incredibly it is so sophisticated that they can direct the beam so that it hits as few important bits as possible as it passes through my neck and out the other side. Wow.

Should be in for chemo this afternoon, they sent us home because no beds available yet but fingers crossed for later.

May be out of Facebook and blog contact when I get in, not sure if I can operate the computer on the ward. Will do my best, but if things go quiet for a couple of days worry not.

In the meantime, having taken one of those Facebook tests that suggested I was a bit thick because I had only read 2 of the best books of all time ( subjective? I think so ). Here is a pick of one of my faves which describes my return to hospital perfectly. Surprisingly, to me anyway, it wasn't in the top 100.

Update. No beds. Can't get in til monday. Super bummer.

mask

First visit to radiotherapy this morning to be fitted for my mask. Had to lie flat on a bench with foam shapes on it to secure my legs and torso. Then a perforated sheet of plastic was heated up then placed and formed over my head and neck. This sheet has clips on the edges which attach to the bench with the purpose of keeping my head still while I am being zapped with radio waves.The mask us then marked with cross hairs to mark the exact spot on my neck to zap.

Over the course of 6 weeks of treatment 5 days a week for an hour a day, the radiotherapy will hopefully ( on top of the chemo ) eradicate the cancer for good.

The side effects can be a bit nasty:

• severe sore throat & mouth

• weight loss due to inability to eat

• symptoms similar to severe sun burn on the skin where the laser zaps it

• sickness

• hair loss 

Sounds grim but this is 6 weeks that will get us to where we want to be so bring it on.

This will start approx 2 weeks after the next chemo session which is 5 days, hopefully starting tomorrow, fingers crossed.

The good news is that I can keep the mask(below) which will make a nice feature on the living room wall, maybe sprayed bronze*

*this is a joke by the way. Gold would look better!

P.S. I need to thank John & Vicki for bringing me their superfragilistic home made carrot & ginger & loads of good stuff juice which was delicious.

Also my uncle Rick & Auntie Gill for their fantastic food parcel and their great company.

Sarah for Keeley's lovely flowers & the ace tasting peanut butter.

 And , as they say in the radio, anyone else who knows me.

Ta ducks.

nostrils

Today I feel really well. Feeding myself up like Mr Mange Tout in Monty Python's Meanng of Life. Not with waffer thin mints but fish & chips, Jaffa cakes & ham sandwiches. Lovely.

I have also had a novel idea to counteract my dramatic hair loss. If you remember Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine you will know the look I'm going

for.

Also I have realised that your nose hair stops your nose running constantly. If you've got none your nose is like a dripping tap.

wisdom

Facts of the day

• We're saving a bloody fortune on shampoo & conditioner 

• I have an instant get out of jail card for telesales people trying to sell me life insurance

• I am in a good position to take full advantage of the free month trial on Netflix

• Breaking Bad is really good. Really, really good

• I can taste banana nesquik

• I am drinking a lot of banana nesquik

• I am looking forward to having a blood test this afternoon, which sounds a bit weird but if all is well I will have the go ahead to start more chemo on Friday.

• Met with oncholigist at hospital. Full steam ahead for Friday. Bring it on.

Ward 201 waiting room.

• thanks to Belinda & Ian for their M&S food parcel.Can confirm that I have put back on the weight I lost during and after the last hospital stay. 

Also big thanks to Sarah & Marcus for their visit last night with ice lolly making kit (great idea) and sweets. May struggle to squeeze into my jamas by Friday.

school

I cannot begin to describe the pleasure of being able to walk Grace in to school this morning. Between her and Archie I have been doing that walk twice a day for the last 9 years. Before this whole thing I have probably missed about 5 times and the summer will see her going to High School so these are precious times.

Great to see a few familiar faces like Archie's old teacher Mr.Stockton, Jo, Gerry and Grace's classmates.

The school walk beckons

Buoyed by my earlier adventure I took the radical decision to go to Sainsbury's for bread & milk. IN THE CAR.

Mission accomplished I pushed my trolley along the line of checkouts trying to find the operative least likely to give me the lurgie whilst we transacted. This went well and I returned to the car feeling heroic, like Sir Ernest Shackleton returning to the Endurance with his supply of bread, milk & salt and vinegar chipsticks.

One final thought for the day, and another positive in my current situation. Because I am so tired I have taken to going to bed at about 10. This means that I won't have to watch that self-satisfied, completely unfunny posh tosser Michael McIntyre's new show tonight. Result!

lesson

As the countdown begins to going back in to hospital on Friday, I have been doing a bit of thinking.

Some stuff I know this week that I didn't know last week:

1. The shape of my head

2. It's drafty when you've got no hair

3. Not recognising yourself in the mirror is weird.

4. I like sugar puffs with full fat milk very much

5. Grace looks ace as The Cat in the Hat

6. Archie has a keep fit regime (sit ups)

7. Cleaning the kitchen windows is very tiring

8. Give the most mild mannered, layed back person in the world (me) a skinhead and even I look mildly threatening

9. Ham, egg and chips for tea is ace even if you can't really taste it

10. Slippers aren't that bad

The Cat in the Hat

Me & Archie the intrepid explorers ( walked about 300 yards!)

Me, Keeley, the kids and some friends pictured earlier today.

Kojak

From this

To this

hair

If I needed a graphic reminder of what's going on with my body then I had it this morning. Brushing my teeth last night I noticed a bit of hair in the sink and ran my fingers through my hair and quite a bit came out. Up to this point I think I had persuaded myself that maybe I would be one of the few that chemo doesn't effect through hair loss. I was wrong.

Knowing something is going to happen, and then watching it before your eyes are two very different things. 

In the shower this morning I just stood there while the tray filled with hair. On inspection when I got out you would never know but obviously now the process has started it won't take long for the rest to go. Need to make an executive decision to get the clippers out and take it back to a grade 2 and see what that looks like, with a view to shaving it all off if it's too patchy.

Today's picture may be the last hairy one for a while. 

who loves ya baby

Thanks to S.Stevens of Greenwich for suggesting these hairy alternatives.

dressed

A week on from coming out of hospital I feel great.I've lost some weight & walking upstairs is a big effort, but in the circumstances I don't think I could be much better.

So much so that today,for the first time in 2 weeks I have got dressed in jeans & shirt rather than jogging pants and t-shirt.Small pleasures.

Little sis is visiting today so I think we will attempt to go for a walk.Again this will be the first time I will have been outside for a fortnight.Will report back later with my progress.

12.30 back from walk to doctors to pick up prescription & sick note.10 minutes there, Squeek popped in for stuff so that I didn't have to mix with the poorly folk, then 10 minutes back.

Absolutely knackered.

stash

Flying solo today. Keeley & kids packed off to work/school I started the day feeling fine & had a good soak in the bath.

Suitably refreshed, and having taken the first of my 6 day course of antibiotics, I decided to put in a call to the benefits people to see if I am entitled to any dosh.

1 hour later, none the wiser but claim has gone in.

That dealt with I cooked myself a nice bit of chicken which I covered in breadcrumbs. Nice texture, not much taste but not bad.

Buoyed by my new found energy I decided to make some calls for quotes for the house insurance. Pretty shocked to find that because we made such a big claim last year (our fault or not) that most companies won't insure us. WTF?

We are going to be made to pay again for next door going up in smoke, which makes me bloody mad because it wasn't, isn't and never will be our fault.Unbelievable.

16.24 sorted the insurance now. Loads more but not quite as bad. Might knock on next door to ask them to make up the difference.

And relax

pancakes

today's hectic schedule :

wake at 7.30 - still jet lagged & not sleeping properly

8.00 brew some ginger tea & wave off Keeley & the kids 

8.15 toast some of the wheaten bread which Gerry very kindly bought round. This is good as although I can't taste it the texture is ace.

8.30 fill in my medication, food and mood diary for the last few days. This will hopefully help me to track things when I come out of the second chemo session in a couple of weeks. Have worked out that, as Ron Burgundy said, Milk was a bad choice. 

09.30 turn on computer for first time in a couple of weeks. Update software & trash 300 Viagra emails.

12.00 injection time again

13.00 banana,grape,spinach,yoghurt health shake for din dins

14.00 Karl briefs me on his stocks & shares (really)

14.30 decide to dress for a walk around the block. Expend so much energy getting my jeans on that I have to have a nap.

15.00 dreaded tummy ache returns. Tablet & ginger tea will hopefully sort it out in time for pancakes later.

Step back ladies!

17.00 cooked 20 pancakes successfully.

sunshine

A lovely day at home with mum. Sat in the back room with the door open & the sun streaming through the window. Feeling about a well as I have the right to.

Lovely gift of some ginger & lime cordial from Gill which have set the tastebuds into high alert.

Water on it's own tastes like I imagine the inside of a kettle to taste. Obviously I have to get as much fluid down me as possible to keep hydrated so any flavour is good, although ordinary orange squash tastes disgusting.

The mentalist ( smiling )and mum

more footer

As predicted yesterday, a good win over The Arse has been a proper tonic. Another restless night ( I was up at 3 watching match of the day) but awoke feeling ok at 8.30.

The district nurse informed me that it is possible to administer my own injections. I politely declined.

My sensation of taste is still diminishing and my mouth, throat & tongue are getting drier & drier. I wake up at night with my mouth welded shut & my tongue pretty much stuck to the roof of my mouth. Water sorts it out temporarily.

Not to get too gruesome but my tongue feels like someone has removed it, coated it in sawdust & stuck it back in my mouth.This is as a result of my taste buds & saliva glands being obliterated. It's all manageable with fluids but obviously the desire to eat reduces when what you are eating has no taste whatsoever.

footer

Woke up feeling a bit brighter today. Still not sleeping but now allowed to take paracetamol for tummy pain, which along with a hot water bottle is having a positive effect.

Probably not a good idea to go to the match this afternoon so I'll suffer listening on the radio. According to my calculations this will be the first time I have missed consecutive home games since 1980! Honestly. Not a bad record. Confident we will get a positive result against Arch southern softies & team who I refuse to acknowledge even in writing FC this afternoon.