Week in the Brecons

We booked a remote cottage in the Brecons for the week and set off on Saturday with snow forecast later that weekend. Sure enough it snowed on Sunday and overnight Monday. There was only one way up to the cottage along a steep track with a hairpin bend in it, so we settled in by the log fire and thought we were snowed in until the postman arrived in his Escort van! Nevertheless we ignored this set back and stayed put.

By Tuesday the snow was melting and we ventured out in the car, the Brecons were beautiful with snow on them while we were driving around in sunshine. We visited Llandovery, Llandeilo and Brecon during the week. We also went to the Brecon Mountain centre a couple of times and walked up to the Trig point in the picture. The walk took about 3 hours instead of 1.5 hours as I had to keep stopping to get the blood flowing in my leg again, but nevertheless it was an acheivement to get up there and the view was amazing in all directions. Nearly forgot to mention the cottage was on the edge of an MOD training area so we were a bit surprised when the Chinooks flew over and the artillery firing started and even more surprised when the Army got lost and ended up blocking our track back to the cottage. All the excuse Frank needed to turn round and go to the pub :-) I must mention the pub, it's owned by the locals and we had a superb meal in there on the last night, it's called the Shoemakers Arms at Pentrebach and if you ever get the chance to go there it's worth the visit.

The week just disappeared too quickly and we have now returned home. It's a quiet week treatment wise so I've nothing to report until next week.

Sheila x

Round 3 complete

I'm late again this week with my update, apologies, and there won't be any pictures to break it up either. More of those next week.

Last week was fairly routine, going to the gym, further clearing of the house for the move, which is now scheduled for the end of April, but don't hold your breath just yet. It was my Dad's 83rd Birthday so we had a family meal at Jurys again and a walk around the docks. Mum and Dad hadn't seen the changes down there, so they were amazed.

We've had the house valued, which meant we had to clean it, the car MOT'd and a new bed delivered because it was a bargain! We've caught up with old friends, and exchanged our last Christmas presents a few days ago!

This week has been treatment week again, my bloods were fine on Monday, so the nurse came round on Wednesday. We were more prepared this time for a possible reaction and so ran the drip very slowly to begin with. Unfortunately I started to react again with back and neck pains so we had to stop. After a hydrocortisone injection we started again as last time and all went fine, but that cost us an hour or two. So next time I think we will do the injection first and see if that makes a difference.

In the intervening weeks this drug seems to be easier to cope with than previous ones. I'm not tired in the day, so I can happily do most things. My hair still hasn't all fallen out, I have a sort of downy covering, no idea if it will stay like that. I've also still got eyebrows and eyelashes so that's good, doesn't look so odd. Wearing hats and scarves most of the time, not too keen on Raquel, feels a bit false and I'm not convinced it won't blow away in high winds :-)

Anyway must go, Frank wants to go for a walk before the sun goes in. Not that he's impatient or anything, but tapping his fingers is usually a good sign.

Speak soon
Sheila x

Cornwall in February

We had a nightmare journey to the Station, every road seemed to be jammed for some reason on Monday morning, but got there with minutes to spare, only to discover the train was ten minutes late! After our stressful start we settled down to a very pleasant journey with the sun shining. That was almost the last we saw of the sunshine, the rest of the week was cloudy and showery with a bit of sunshine here and there.

However undaunted we found the B&B, right by the train and bus stations which was ideal for us. During the week, we visited the Eden Project near St Austell, recommend it out of season, we saw a film of the summer madness, some days they have to put announcements on the radio to ask people to stop going there. It was good though, one dome was like being in Thailand again and the other Spain. They are improving the place all the time since it opened about 6 years ago.





We went to St Ives by bus and saw Portmeor beach with nobody on it! It's not flat this time of year either, the wind has created a sand dune effect, which they must level off for the season. All the places you can't get into in the summer overlooking the harbour were empty so we had the pick of seats. Bit too chilly to sit outside the Sloop but some people braved it.

We also went to Falmouth by train (and bus as we missed the connection), and Mousehole and Porthleven another day. It was non-stop, we walked a lot and each evening we were ready to drop. Luckily we found a local hostelry near the B&B that did good pub grub and Doom Bar and went there all week :-)

All in all, a great trip and we are now well versed in reading timetables, let's just say we learned by our mistakes very quickly :-)







As for me, the hair is still hanging in there in places, I may have to shave it if it stays like this, it's wierd and neither here nor there. I'm hoping the next chemo will kill it all off and I can start from scratch again. Otherwise all is well and the next trip is already planned.

Hope you like the photos.

Speak soon.
Sheila x