February 4th - Leaving Work

The two and a bit weeks to wait between getting my results and having the sentinel lymph node biopsy would have passed unbearably slowly had we not had the excitement at work that following week.



I went back to work on Monday, and that was the day we received the OFSTED phone call: they were coming in Wednesday and Thursday to inspect our school. Thank you God! What a brilliant distraction. I mean it. The days flew, and then, what with back-patting on Friday, we got through the first week in no time.



At the weekend Bill and I took Ann down to the Isle of Wight to see his parents and to finish a job on our boat - fitting the new exhaust manifold. Bill was very keen that I get on with it - crawling down into the engine bay on my front and wrangling upside down copper nuts into position on a freezing cold February day, because, as he pointed out, this would be my last weekend of being able to do practical, arm wrenching, chest squashing, boat maintenance work.


And who says chivalry is dead?



Monday and Tuesday at work. It was reasonably normal. I was planning Wednesday. How to tell the children I wouldn't be there for some time because I had breast cancer? I was planning how I'd encourage them to ask about their concerns and to tell them about how I'll be fine, and what treatments are available these days, and how,although we wouldn't know for definite how long I'd be off work, they would be well looked after, and I'd still expect them to work hard while I'm away.

In the end that's exactly what happened. Jackie and I gathered all the year 5s together, and I told them how it is. And I answered their concerns and it all went very well. I pitched it just right. They asked about everything from causes to death to baldness to contagiousness. I got a LOT of heartfelt and uninhibited hugs from the likely ones and the unlikely ones. I sent them all home with a letter to their parents, simply explaining what I'd said to the children.




Thursday. I have just been to the Medical Physics Department at RBH. They injected me with a radio isotope. Tomorrow I'm having day surgery to remove the sentinel lymph node - the isotope will help them track which one it is. Then there'll be more news. Then there'll be more plans to make. Then there'll be major surgery. Then there'll be more news. Then there'll be something else. And we don't know yet what.

I feel odd. Afraid and curious. And also a bit of a fraud. I don't feel ill.
Don't worry - you soon will...