Birthday Wishes.

Blimey, where do I start......OK I will start at the beginning of the day, which was Ady’s birthday.

The girls made him get up before they went to school, so they could wish him a happy birthday and give him his presents (we bought a few bits from Herm Island when we were on holiday).so he came downstairs still attached to his night time piss bag...nice...and sat at the dining room table to open them along with his cards.

The girls made him breakfast, and we left him there while I took them to school.

I came back home to find he had gone back to bed and was fast asleep, so I thought I would check our account to see the state of the finances and if we could afford to get some coal in ready for all this snow that is supposedly due. We had enough for about half of what I usually order, so thought to myself, something is better than nothing. I phoned and ordered the coal to go with my logs from Sue.

A couple of days before, my friend Mary sent me a text to ask me if I would be in on Thursday evening. I said that I would be as we had nothing planned and Ady isn’t wanting to go anywhere at that time of day atm because he catheter leaks a bit then and can be a bit painful. “Good” she said, “Make sure you are in between 6 and 8, you have a surprise coming”

‘Oh bloody hell’, I thought, ‘what has she done’

Ady had his appointment at the hospital for his cystogram thing. It’s where they put dye in to see if he has healed and can have the catheter out, or if he has to have it in a while longer cos he has sprung a leak.

This was at 12.30, so I woke him in time to go. He is still feeling really knackered and has to plan his sleeps around his activities and appointments. I think that standing at the side of the pitch shouting at the kids the other day has caught up with him, silly sod.

We went to the brand new Tunbridge Wells hospital which once you have found your way to the car park which is quite poorly sign posted, and navigated your way around the concrete pillars holding it up (the concrete pillars are exactly the same colour as the floor), the hospital itself reminds you of an airport and shopping centre. Not like the Kent and Snuffit, sorry, Kent and Sussex, where Ady said it reminded him of an abattoir.

This is the new, top of the range hospital, where you zap you letter on a machine and it tells you where to go. So off we went to the orange zone, past Costa Coffee and WH Smiths and sat and waited. Well, blow me down; they called him on time....yes, on time!

I was told to stay in the waiting room (bloody cheek, do they not know I need to take notes for my blog?) and Ady went off with a couple of nurses.

He told me that they took the bag off bunged up the pipe. They then used the other pipe bit to fill his bladder with water. They said they would keep filling until it became uncomfortable and he said stop. He told them to stop, and then he had to hold it while they took pictures. They then took some more pictures of it coming out.

Anyway, Ady’s arse seems to be being ignored these days, and all eyes are on his willy and bladder. Good job really cos he says that the up his bum bit is pretty sore and feels bruised...I tell him I am really not surprised!.

I am very pleased to report that Ady’s urethra has healed and he can have his catheter out on Tuesday. We had to ring the uro nurse to tell her so she could sort an appointment for removal. That was a nice birthday treat.

We got home, and the postman had arrived. Ady had lots of cards from friends and family and in amongst them was a letter for me.

I opened it up, and there was a note saying “Just to help you out a bit, much love, Spans x”. Bugger me, she had sent me a cheque!. I was a bit stunned and thought Oh Em Gee, how bloody nice is that!. I showed it to Ady. He was really really happy and said that I had some really nice friends....which I agree with !

We both said together,”Brilliant, we can get the rest of the coal now”, so I phoned them straight away. I also messaged Jennie to thank her, and she replied that only I would think of buying coal in a heat wave!

Thank you SO much Jennie..Thank you, I don’t know what else to say. I am overwhelmed!

After the hospital, we popped into Sainsburys to look for some pants to hold the incontinence pads in place ready for Tuesday. The girls were home from school, so I told Ady to ring them; neither of them answered their mobiles, so I said to ring the home phone.

 Steph answered, and Ady said “Hi, its dad here, we have just been to the hospital and are nipping to Sainsburys to get some pants. Are you at home?”.....I just looked at him and said “Bloody hell, they say a man’s brain is in his trousers, and it’s true, cos they’ve removed half of yours”. He then realised what he had said....

It got to about half six in the evening, and there was a knock at the door. Standing there was a Tesco man calling me Mary *****. Well, blow me down, she had done me a well thought out Tesco’s shop, with some very sensible items such as meat and veg, milk and bread but most importantly, crisps, kitkats and a birthday cake for Ady !!

That was like Christmas, opening all the bags to see what was inside, with Charlotte squealing at the tuna and Steph screaming at the orange juice.

You know how happy we were Mary, when the girls phoned you with delight. Thank you, it was a lovely surprise!

In all, we had a really nice day. It was Ady’s birthday, we had a lovely surprise from Jennie, Ady is healing well and can have his catheter out, and it was ended with a lovely surprise from Mary.

Our family might be cursed with cancer and we could allow ourselves to wallow in a pit of misery, but how can we, when we are blessed with some truly fantastic people in our lives!