3 years 2 weeks - heartbroken again and an inspiring man I know

Enough now please.

There are times in my life were I sit back, take stock and then need to deliver myself a resounding kick up the arse, tell myself to man up and stop being such a wet.

Today is one of those days.

My friend lost his beautiful 25 year old daughter yesterday

My friend lost her beautiful 25 year old sister yesterday

The beautiful 25 year old girl I regarded as my ‘niece’ because her dad is one of my ‘acquired brothers’ left this life yesterday

Leukaemia is a shitty shitty thing.

So my thyroid is a bit funky, MS is annoying, I suspect I’m going through the menopause.

So what?

I have choices and time – Play the glad game Trace …… simply because you can

If I can get over I would like to be in Canada for her send off, but the logistics of a new job, no annual leave accrued yet might actually make that impossible. Sadly logistics meant we couldn’t get there for her wedding either.

I’m sorry it’s ‘that time of year’ again, Tiffany’s passing simply adds to the loss of Ian and the anniversary in 2 days of losing Dad, and hey the 23^rd would have been Mums birthday, the 24^th Ian’s funeral – I get so sad and maudlin at this time …..

KICK

Stoppit

Yesterday I had a drive up to Evesham to see my lovely friend Phillipa for the day. It’s been far too long since we gossiped and put the world to rights. I got to see the lovely new home she has, we had an awesome lunch with fresh season Asparagus and there were lots of hugs.

I’m off to see Dr B on Thursday for that lovely thyroid review and the discussion about menopause. Bella starts puppy training later that evening, I’m hoping that it will be a lovely experience with her rather than when we took Winston all those years ago and we discovered we really did have the ‘disruptive problem child’ in the class – LOL

Gareth and I are still doing Pilates together on Wednesday evenings and whilst at some points (when using the hilariously named ‘foam rollers’ which are actually as comfortable to lie on as concrete drain pipes) it can be incredibly challenging I think we are both getting a lot out of it.

I had a proper ‘moment’ on Saturday night, someone I went to school with posted to FaceBook that for the last 6 months he’s been undergoing treatment for Prostate Cancer and that he has beaten it. He’s such a big strong man and it seems inconceivable that over the last few months when I’ve been admiring his attendance of rock gigs and the like that he’s been facing all this. Prostate cancer like MS is something that people just don’t talk about. That whole ‘stigma’ thing I guess. It’s the biggest killer of men in the cancer stakes – it’s their breast cancer and nobody talks about it let alone celebrates that caught early it’s also eminently curable.

We should all talk about these things and keep them out in the open, to reduce the stigma associated with uncomfortable conditions raise awareness of what they are, what the signs are and how they can be defeated. The silence gives these shitty things power – an avalanche of voices and awareness will take that power away.

So big shout out to Mick – you’re bloody awesome mate and long may you continue to kick prostate cancer up the arse (pun intended).

Life remains awesome and wonderfully MS free and I promise to pull myself out of my annual ‘funk’ soon.