Monday, 20th March 2006

Vanity thy name is woman

Having assembled a respectable collection of head scarves I decided it was time to show some of them off. I have been sporting a different look every time I take the children to school however not really recorded any for posterity until now. I called my sister Rosemary and told her about my idea of having a little photo shoot in Uxbridge and, being the good egg that she is, she pitched up last Thursday with her camera. Following a catch-up over a pub lunch we got down to business. We called in on our friend Spyroulla who runs Le Petit Beauty Salon. She sprinkled some fairy dust over me and also allowed us the use of a room so that I could change from one outfit into another. I regretted not bringing my other coat with me but still hopefully the pictures show how you can go bald, not use a wig and, well, sort of get away with it.

Hat courtesy of Rosemary. Scarf from Anne-Marie's own collection.

Hat from Accessorize courtesy of Debbie. Scarf from Anne-Marie's own collection. When Joshua saw this picture he said to me, “Nice boat.”

"I'm ready for my close-up Mr De Mille......"

The casual shopper look. Hat courtesy of Debbie. Scarf courtesy of Andee. Both from Accessorize.

The Boho look. Scarf courtesy of Suzanne.

I made the most of last week when the side-effects of the chemotherapy had all but worn off by packing as much in and seeing as many people as I could. Apart from Rosemary, I also met up with boxing-glove-Jaks and Izzy for lunch in the city. It was good to see them both again. Time flew by: we left the restaurant at half past three. On Saturday, I asked my parents if they would look after the boys so that I could see Debbie over a relaxed lunch at her place. I drove there as I was feeling absolutely fine. She's a very good cook and lunch was delicious. I left having been fed and with a chicken casserole to go into the freezer.

But it has not all been plain sailing. Simple everyday tasks, such as loading the washing machine and hanging up clothes to dry, have become harder for me. With two boys that are mud magnets and our own clothes plus towels and linen, the machine needs to go on two, maybe three, times a day. Previously, I thought nothing of putting on a load before I left for work in the morning then doing the other two loads when I got home from work in between supper and bed-time. A chore, of course, but it got done. However, over the last week, the washing has been piling up as feeding the children and putting them to bed was all I could manage. Bryan continues to work as a music teacher during the week then as an opera singer at the week-ends and looks tired enough when he gets in without me asking him to do a load of washing. For a few days I tried to muddle through but the laundry was not getting done so in the end I decided to enlist the help of my mother and mother-in-law. Thank goodness we have them both nearby, willing and able. Since I asked for their help laundry has been whisked away then returned cleaned, dry and...ironed. In fact everything is coming back ironed even underwear and pyjamas. It occured to me I could tell them both not to go to so much trouble. Then thought the better of it: if this is what they expect to do who am I to tell them otherwise? We are very lucky to have such a caring family around us at a time like this.

I have been able to continue with a little voluntary work at Joshua and Benjamin's schools. I am one of the parent trustees on the parents'/teachers' association that runs events to raise money to purchase much needed school equipment for both schools. This entails helping out with publicity (in my case) and helping to run one or more of the stalls at one of the events or to persuade other parents to spare time to do the same. Currently we are preparing for the Spring and Summer Fairs. Last week we had a non-uniform day at Joshua's school to remind children about the Spring Fair and encourage the parents to send in a bottle with their child for the adult tombola. So we had a bottle collecting activity at school on Friday morning when each class took it in turn to form a neat queue outside the store room and a handful of mums, including me, took in bottles taken into school by the children. We collected over 200 bottles for the adult tombola so this stall will get off to a great start. I also attended a meeting one evening to discuss planning for future events. As a number of the mums know about what has happened to me I was giving them a quick summary of how the chemo was going before all the other attendees arrived. Listening in attentively was our token dad at these meetings: Steve. A number of the mums started to make some helpful suggestions about how to adjust to my new circumstances; had I tried lavender under my pillow; did I know about the soothing effects of chamomile and so it went on. After a while I could tell Steve was building up to something and that he too was about to make a suggestion.

“Have you thought about having anything tattooed on your head?”
“Not really, no.”
“You could get a rabbit tattooed on your head.”
“A rabbit.”
“Yes. From far away it would look like a hare.”