The past four weeks have been somewhat difficult. Wednesdays are my "mad mother day" - ie I meet my more than forgetful, extremely eccentric mother.
The first Weds my mother came into town on the bus, wearing shoes that were too small and too tight; we almost had a fight because she wouldn’t pay for new shoes and finally bought some more second hand ones from the charity shop (which, surprise surprise, also didn't fit).
The second Weds she fell over and cut her eye and hand and bruised her hip, so there was then a first aid session in the car park.
Last Weds she had her purse stolen after I left her ... but she will insist on carrying large amounts of cash and then leaving her handbag unzipped. So I ended up driving back into town and sorting everything, a mere four hours of cancelling cards and chatting with the police, then driving her home (about a 1.5 hour round trip). Still she was ok, not harmed and very grateful.
This week, however, she insisted we check everything I did with her last week ... eg confirm in the bank that we’d cancelled the cards, ordered statements, etc. I am so embarrassed now at going in and out of the bank at least twice every weds! The staff know my name, and I'm not even their customer.
Meanwhile ... I had mammogram on 5th - don’t you just love having your gentle bits crushed.
Got called back for further investigation on Tuesday this week (16th) where I had 4 more x-rays, then ultra-sound, then some biopsies into the lump they found in my left boobie. A biopsy is similar to getting your ears pierced ... they shoot you with a gun, but keep the bit of flesh - yuch, AND you can watch it on the ultrasound screen, beats football! You do, however, have a local anasthetic, so it’s not painful until later, when you can take paracetamol (which I confess to having washed down with a glass of red wine!). This lump is about 0.8 cm (about 1/3 inch in old money) so bigger than a pea and smaller than a malteser.
I now have an appointment with the surgeon on Weds 24th. If it’s benign then the old surgeon will have a smile on his face and tell me they will just measure it at the next mammo; if it’s not then I guess I get told the options.
Meanwhile I actually feel ok ... bizarrely. I was more worried before the recall appointment, now I have seen what I am facing and, frankly, who is scared of a malteser! (Maltesers are yummy little chocolate round things, allegedly less fattening than denser chocolates and in size are a little larger than M&Ms) .
Which makes me think I now need chocolate and a glass of wine! However I restrict myself to both until the evening, unlike knitting, which I sneak in whenever I can.
Meanwhile, on the knitting front, I committed myself to knitting two jackets in size 7/8 yrs in the Debbie Bliss pattern Caitlin as birthday presents for the twins. Because I love my DIL, I wanted a yarn that was easy care, so I started in Sirdar Denim Aran Sport, which had perfect gauge … but half way up the back I realised the yarn was way too soft and the random colour was overwhelming the pattern, so the whole nubbly texture appeared lost.
So I restarted in Rowan All Seasons cotton, without a swatch (oops) which I realised (when I was 3/4 of the way up the first back, for a second time) knitted up far too large, so frogged again and changed down a needle size.
So .... <--- was the starting point and after all the wrapping and packing, sealing and sorting, arranging and labelling ... the end results ... tada ..... are:
From this
