#FBPE
,
#GTTO
, ๐, ๐lefty, โค๏ธJuicePlus+, several other playgrounds, FB/GriseldaCannMussett. artist, writer, Bad Poet, chemo, gratitude! No unsolicited DMs.
Iโm Griselda. Iโm one of the MANY faces of cancer. I have a husband, 2 children, 2 beautiful grandsons, wonderful friends, and I contribute to the world. I love, and I am loved.
But our PRIME MINISTER says I donโt matter.
Only money does.
Two things I heard today. A child eating a school rubber at midday because his lunchbox was empty
(Kent). And a family of 4 living in an unheated caravan - someone donated hi-tog duvets via the foodbank (Devon) ๐ณ๐ซ๐ข
Are you not enraged by this?
Could someone from the car insurance industry explain why everyone's premiums have rocketed? Two, three times as much even for long-standing customers who don't claim. Why is this happening? It just seems like a colossal organised ripoff! Who thought this up! Who's it for? Why?
Iโve felt & looked so grim & pale & bald for so long with the chemo, but I noticed today I was looking a bit more like my old self. I took this snap in the bathroom mirror & thought Iโd post it as a record of my recovery & return to a more normal life. A bit of sunshine helps.
In a few moments time I will be 73. As a child I never imagined Iโd ever be so old. Now Iโm here I still feel like a child - that Iโll live for ages! Not ready to go yet, thatโs for sure! Trees to plant, art to make, books & poems to write. Campaigning underway, friends to feed..
Dear Lord
In recent times you have taken my favourite rugby player, Jonah Lomu, my favourite actor Alan Rickman and my favourite music artist Davie Bowie.
Just letting you know my favourite politician is Boris Johnson.
This is my beloved. Isnโt he nice? Heโs not on Twitter so he doesnโt have to be embarrassed but - fact is - he means everything to me: husband (42 years since), boyfriend, carer, pianist, cook, engineer, driver, allotmenteer, friend, laugh-fountain & all-round good guy. ๐
And now I am AN OLD LADY! 75 today! Didnโt know Iโd get this far. Feeling jolly pleased. Wishing a very happy day to all my friends & fellow Tweeters.
Iโm going for my second bout of
#chemo
this afternoon, so please wish me luck. The first round 5 weeks ago was followed by an appalling attack of Campylobacter poisoning which lasted at least a fortnight so I trust reactions this time wonโt be so severe & dangerous.
Good news from the oncologist. CT shows the big liver tumour has continued to shrink, the bone tumours have stabilised, the lung fibrosis is clearing up. I am very relieved. My gastric disturbance is caused by
#hiatushernia
, which I suggested. Thank God itโs not another cancer
#Chemo
I have a short soft stubble all over my head. But itโs falling out again. There is a soft rain of tiny bits of hair. I have to confront my vanity yet again. This is really almost one of the worst things, the inner doubts
Tomorrow I will meet with my oncologist and learn whether there has been any progress during the last few months with my
#chemo
. She will look at the CT scan from last week. Hereโs hoping!
Today is our 39th wedding anniversary. We had a curry delivered from Canterbury & a few neighbours came to share it (socially distanced) for lunch in our sunny little courtyard garden. Indian music playing. All good.
Iโm in the chemo unit now, in Canterbury. Hopefully this is my last visit. For chemo at any rate. I am clothing myself in gratitude, and light and healing. And giving myself Reiki. ๐๐๐๐๐๐
@Ellen95294495
Sadly no. Itโs doubly painful to me as I worked in BBC News in the 1970s, and in BBC World Service, at a time when they were fiercely proud of their impartiality & standards. Current biases are blatant & unacceptable.
The consultant is v pleased. 25% reduction in the liver tumours & slight reduction in the bone & adrenal tumours. Two more rounds of chemo, then I go onto a maintenance program based on the oestrogen etc & bone protection. Various scans lined up, &will continue in future years
From Lee Hostettler on FB: The Italian donkey nannies. Grazing animals are moved from high pastures down to the plains. Newborn lambs can't do it on their own so they ride in pouches on the back of a donkey or mule nanny, with stops to feed w their mums
@ZwartblesIE
From FB: Under cover of the Queens death, Liz Truss lifted the fracking ban two days ago. A swathe of fracking licences across the country is the result. This drastically impacts housing plans and not least the controversial HS2 route through Warwicks, Staffords and Cheshire.
@KayBurley
Will we have to burn Jane Austen's novels? So many references to plantations etc in the West Indies... And in Emily Brontรซ's Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff may even have been a slave boy from Liverpool, with his dark countenance... We have a lot of unpicking to do.
@Peston
Johnsonโs phone; mortgage costs; NHS; strikes by doctors, teachers & railworkers; inflation; govtโs ILLEGAL Illegal Immigration Bill; sewage in all our rivers & along the beaches; missing millions for useless PPE; MPs ditching their constituencies while drawing full pay & exes..
It's very odd. On the whole I am not distressed by my diagnosis of incurable cancer. I never planned to go so early, and there are nasty side-effects to the treatment, but - you know - I make sure each day has gratitude as furniture, and I remember we all have to go sometime 1/2
@Nu_Nu_Nevermore
Thanks for your details reply which makes some sense but my gut feel is there's a lot of profiteering going on as well. Lots of interesting answers to my question anyway. (No-one's mentioned long-covid poor judgement on the roads, yet!)
The UK govt had apparently been working on the assumption that Irish trade would still be using Dover & therefore they could force the EU into a 'light touch' management of freight movement so as to avoid holding up Irish trucks. But the Irish found their own solution....
@mrjamesob
@SurreyHeathLDs
Your contribution to this astonishing saga will never be forgotten. It took courage to do what youโve done (& itโs not over yet), and you were in the fray from the first. Thank you. ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
@clairebubblepop
Quite apart from your own predicament, whatโs really horrible is peopleโs readiness to criticise, attack, find fault, pile on more agonyโฆ. For goodness sake, weโre all trying our damnedest!
@LongCovidHell
A few years ago, my lovely sister had Guillain-Barrรฉ syndrome, a dreadful illness w life-long repercussions, & now advised not to vax against covid. Which despite great care, she has caught. In hospital now in France where she lives. On oxygen. The only anti-vaxer I support.
@BBCR4Feedback
@MichaelRosenYes
@BBCRadio4
Theyโre ignoring the MASSIVE elephant in the room - a profoundly corrupt Tory govt - austerity, Brexit, NHS being sold off, and all the rest, against the wishes of the people. Not speaking for us, ludicrous news management, part of the problem!!!!!
Please send your prayers & healing for my friend & neighbour Ian in the QEQM Hospital in Margate where he is desperately ill with Parkinsons & now covid. Struggling to breathe. A lovely man. Thank you.
Today I will hear the results of Mondayโs CT scan. Is the new targetted chemo having the desired effect on these tumours? I really hope so, because they started growing again quite fast once the last treatment finished. Wish me luck.๐ค
@paullewismoney
Iโm really surprised you said that. The paper published a private letter. โPrivateโ. Her pregnancy is inevitably a public matter, why shouldnโt she announce it? Very unlike you to put a foot wrong, and not nice. Gender blunder, I think.
@SarahjevsEvans
Our late lamented cat Harry was befriended by several elderly neighbours, one of whom would tip tins of catfood for him from her upstairs window onto the pavement. He got so fat he eventually pulled the whole catflap out of our door and wore it like a huge body-bracelet.
@MayMWoods
@metpoliceuk
Horrendous! The lack of followup seems as brutal & damaging as the first attack. What a mess. The police MUST act. I hope you are ok, seems like you are in good hands medically but the trauma is frightening. Wishing you a speedy recovery ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
@CounsellingSam
What an advanced young woman! Maybe sheโd like to support a third-world project? Women/girlsโ schooling or health, tree-planting, small farmers in Africa, that sort of thing?
@GoodGiftsCat
has lots of ideas. Happy birthday to her!
@JMPSimor
@RichardJMurphy
@michaelgove
It's a ghastly situation. I have respect for fishermen, their courage and strength. It's an ancient trade. But - you know - they were misled, made the wrong choice, and have now been dumped by the govt as disastrously as their catches will be trashed in the docks. We all lose.
So I do things which please me, and tell my loved ones that I love them. And I write poetry, Bad Poetry, which makes me laugh. Only when I read it back do I see the deep sadness and foreboding it contains, leaking out, despite my best efforts to smile.
This is for sale in a garden centre in Hastings. Can somebody please tell me who he is? Zeus? Hercules? I think heโs rather marvellous, even if heโs just a concrete cast
@syrpis
@emmyzen
@BorisJohnson
@AndyBurnhamGM
Interesting, yes. Also itโs clear now โthe Northโ is gearing up to resist as no-one has managed to do before. Can they bring this filthy cabal down? I hope so (& Iโm in the south).
Getting older, with cancer/chemo, life shrinks a bit. I travel in my mind instead of in car/bus/train/plane. The 100% is still there but just is a bit smaller, more distilled. More precious. No point being miserable. Iโd rather go to bed at night feeling Iโve had a good dayโฆ
@PeterStefanovi2
@pmoni13
You have been doing a sterling job, absolutely inspiring & itโs kept so many of us focussed & angry & motivated. Please do take care of yourself! Things are shifting now - we can wait to see what happens next - so take some time out & weโll see you when you clock back on again.
@deelomas
Like, why donโt shampoo & conditioner-makers put the text on the labels MUCH bigger because none of us wears glasses when weโre in the shower!
Not the greatest news. Bone cancer is stable but liver cancers are on the increase, which is a pain. Luckily not hurting me but means I have to go back onto some sort of chemo.
@mattprescott
The covert/de facto sale of the NHS; failure to publish the full Russian report; govt take-over of BBC News; domino collapse of our electoral commission, judiciary, police independence; closure of so many family-support programmes; push to build ungreen houses everywhere; ???
Met a neighbour in Tesco. Am wearing lacy blue rigout to cheer myself up. She smiles & says โOh! You look like Joan Collins! โฆ.. From behindโฆ..โ
@MichaelRosenYes
@rupertbu
One of the great loves of my life since I was a tiny child was Edward Ardizzone... this postcard of one of his fabulous humane drawings has been by my washing machine for 20+ years.
@NewsBytesApp
In the 1950s in England triplets were quite rare & mothers with 3 or 4 babies born at once were given commercial sponsorship by companies producing goods like clothes, prams, diapers, etc. Who is going to help support this family? It sounds pretty crushing as well as miraculous.
I did not originate this very funny remark, cannot take credit for it. Not sure where it came from, was just passing it on. Sorry I didnโt say so at first. Glad itโs made so many people laugh.
@RhonddaBryant
@JoanneMcDermot4
What about โleadershipโ, โmanagementโ, โteam-buildingโ, โconsultationโ, or even โinspirationโ as a means of heading up & running a large organisation?
@jacquep
@Santilespr
@JeremyWarnerUK
Yes & I take comfort that the hordes & hordes of pro-Brexiters who screamed & shouted at us Remainers have all gone VERY quiet now. They were wrong & we were right. Just fancy that! They were lied to, misled, and completely horribly humiliatingly wrong. WRONG!
@SethAbramson
This is too horrible. It is directly comparable to the behaviour of the Nazis in Germany - violent attacks on Jews, protesters, gays... anyone they hated received savage murderous attacks in broad daylight - swaggering personalised violence while their leaders looked on smiling.
@Sandiescot44
Oh! So sad! Iโm sorry - itโs a shocking thing to read. We donโt know each other but I feel grievously pained to read that. I think of my son who lives far away, how powerless we are. ๐๐๐
Feeling a bit sorry for myself. Bored, a bit lonely. Isolating for another couple of weeks now... miss my family. Realise even this boredom is a sign I am improving, & v aware of my good fortunes, but just a bit low. Dark morning not helping. Got any laughs, anyone?
Seasons greetings! We wish you a merry Christmas - by X this year! The money we would have spent on cards & postage will be donated to Mรฉdicins sans Frontiรจres. We are doing ok & pleased to have navigated a trying year smoothly.
Love from us both!
Griselda & Andrew
Thank you for all your kind wishes re my gastroscopy today. I was v anxious in advance but (after a longish delay) & with sedation & throatspray (banana/diesel flavour), I felt nothing & they found no cancer - phew!!! Very very relieved. Thanks Dr Hassan!!! I am SO grateful! ๐
@i_iratus
@LeeAndersonMP_
& just LOOK at the sewage in our rivers & streams, & on our beaches (Tory govt).
& the millions of tons of rubbish strewn along our M-way verges (Tory govt)
& rubbish dumped in country lanes w queues & charges at local recycling centres (Tory govt)
FILTHY toxic Tory capitalism!
The little grandsons arrived from Ireland last night. They are delighted to be here and everything is very sweet. It was a very long drive and their parents are going to have a lie-in while we take care of the lads. Breakfast, park, swings, larksโฆ. ๐๐๐๐
@JimFergusonUK
I live in a small market town which is in effect a 15โ city and itโs brilliant. Just about everything we need within a short distance. Your obsession with this interesting & liberating idea is plain daft. Modern cities are pretty nightmarish & need to be humanised. Get with it!
Itโs now 3.5 weeks since my last chemotherapy. I am definitely feeling a bit better, and I am putting on a bit of weight. ๐งPresumably my body is no longer battling against the toxins.
My children are adults now, professionals, home-owners, I have grandchildren - you get the picture. But I still worry about them almost as if theyโre still toddlers. Am I the only one? Does this totally redundant anxiety ever dissipate? (Asking for a friend). Lol!!!
@Peston
Why is all the argument about a memorandum? Why isnโt everyone SHOUTING about the ongoing delay in compensation for the postmasters? Weโve been v successfully manoeuvred into looking at a detail of process when the real scandal is the governmentโs continued failure to act!!๐ก๐ก๐ก
There are many ways of running a national health service, as in France, Ireland, Scandinavia, Canada, Germany etc. Why is there no discussion about which model might suit the UK best? MUST we follow the US style? The worst? Why is that?
@BBCNews
@guardian
@itvnews
@debrakidd
@Bob0Mar
The govt (someone up there) needs to speak out about this very soon. The self-appointed stasi are very dangerous. Even if powered by anxiety & patriotism, they are out of order & need to be told to stand back.
@RevRichardColes
You have to hope a little old lady or gentleman lives there, last of their family, born in the house like their mother & grandfather, no housemaid now but still ok to get a little shopping in each week - sliced bread, longlife milk, one chicken lasts several meals...
Why do washing machine seals nowadays have this horrible black staining which forms inside the door? Never used to happen. Canโt remove it. What is it? Is it dangerous?
@CarlosTF50
We miss you all SO much - our government has made a catastrophic decision damaging us all, itโs really hard to understand why, and all levels of society & the economy (except billionaires) are suffering - especially the younger people. Please help us back.
@Lookinupatstars
I think solo men are basically children. They only see what is in front of them. They fondly imagine that females are interested in what they have in their pants, their greatest treasure. but Iโve never met a woman who is remotely attracted by this part of their anatomy first off
@Heccles94
Iโve been a hospital outpatient now for over 2 years (chemo) & I see the growing stress & exhaustion in the wonderful staff. I am profoundly grateful for their kindness, professionalism, skill, care & courtesy under appalling circumstances. Thank you!
Going to hospital in a mo for a new chemo treatment - the earlier ones have not stopped the tumours from growing. Side effects - lungs, white blood cells/immunity, digestion. Am slightly scared. Feels like itโs really getting serious now. Tho I feel ridiculously well, just tired.
@1goodtern
DH & I have had it once. Long string of small deteriorations for both (mine masked by c symptoms & chemo + meds): loss of memory, smell & taste, hearing, tiredness, clumsiness, tripping, poorer vision, loss of grip. Were both really fit b4 all this, mid-70s felt like 50s max.
Cancer update: the large tumour in my liver has been constrained & looks paler but thereโs a smaller one which is growing. So next scan is being brought forward & theyโre planning a change of prescription, maybe w more side-FX. Sadly. But feeling ok - wait & see! ๐ค๐ช๐
Starting my new chemo today: Capecitabine. Tablets every day for a fortnight, then a week off, then start again. I hope the side-effects arenโt too arduous. The lists always look alarming.
@PeterStefanovi2
Really good to see some journalists in the MSM showing some backbone at last. Good for them! It will get worse. They have our support.