Velcade Cycle 2, Day One

Back at the hospital this morning. FL reported increasing numbness below the ankle, night cramps and breathlessness, but it was decided not to change his dosage of Velcade for the time being.

The doctor is going to check the "salts" in his blood to see if the cramp is due to a chemical imbalance. He had to get up three times last night.

Overall, he is doing pretty well. In a surprise move, he was back at golf yesterday!

Sofa sitcom

My front room this morning: note pair of blue sofas. Ignore the brown vinyl reclining chair with ripped mustard curtains covering the arms. (Ever watch Frazier? Remember his dad's chair? It's one of those situations.)

When I moved in with FL, we bought (second-hand) a pair of blue sofas: a 2-seater and a 3-seater. It was 6 months before we occupied the farmhouse (legal wrangles with his ex-wife) so when we came to move in, these sofas felt like part of the fabric of our home together. So it was disappointment when 3 grown men failed to get the 3-seater into the front room. I am told they tried everything.

So it was shoved into our bedroom, and the kids and I shared the 2-seater while FL sat in his chair. The kids are now teenagers and the three of us did not fit on the sofa. There were some rows. Someone always ended up sitting at the table. Often it was me, just to keep the peace.

But after the floods, I feared for my 3-seater sofa, which was backed up against the wall with a buffer of newspapers to save it from the pond in the middle of my bedroom floor. So yesterday I finally cracked. I persuaded my son that he and I could get the 3-seater into the front room while FL was out.

First, we had to remove the brown leather settee that FL had "found" and which none of us would sit on - not even him. It had become the place where he stored a month's supply of newspapers, dirty plates, junk mail and the occasional item of importance that none of us could bear to brave the heap to find. I had regular "discussions" with him, and he promised to tidy it, but I don't think it was ever fully cleared in over 4 years. It is now in the garage. Its contents have been filed / burnt / recycled / washed and put away.

Then my son and I went to move the 3-seater. It turned out to be much heavier than I ever imagined. I couldn't lift my end at all. My plan to take it out the front door and in the back was a non-starter. So we shuffled it through the house to prove the removal men wrong. My daughter got the camera and laughed at us. (She kept shouting "Pivot! Pivot!", which fans of Friends might appreciate.)

We wedged it in the bathroom door and tried to turn it. Nope. We backed it into the study. Nope.

Then my son had a brainwave and removed the castors. Ah ha! So we stood it on its end and pushed. Well, he pulled, I pushed. There was a cracking sound - oh that's just the draught-excluder on the door we can fix that later. There was a terrible creaking sound. Stop!

Too late! It shot through the door, and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing my daughter.

By some miracle, it is not broken.

And then another miracle occurred. FL came home, and after a second's pause said: "What I don't understand is why you still haven't got curtains for this room...?"

The kids and I stared at him open-mouthed. Because for 4 plus years we have been told that he didn't want the view obscured by curtains, so we have put up with not being able to see the TV during the day (it faces the window just out of the right-hand corner of this photo) and almighty draughts in the winter.

I am still reeling. And tomorrow I am off to buy a curtain pole before he changes his mind!

FO: Biwa socks

Stats:

Biwa socks from "Knitted Socks East and West" by Judy Sumner.

Hazel Knits Artisan sock in Plum Glace, bought from the late lamented Socktopus. (Why isn't Stash showing the Socktopus sock yarn range if Alice has moved in with them?)

Size 2.25mm dpns - which seems to be my default size.

What can I say? I loved knitting these socks! Everything was joyful: the pattern was complex yet simple, and the plain sections a welcome relaxation. The yarn is probably my all-time favourite sock yarn to date: firm yet soft, with a slight gleam in sunlight. It rarely split, despite me trying to knit tbls using purple yarn on dark brown needles in a dimly-lit room! The 10% nylon content should make them hard-wearing, but it felt like knitting pure merino.

Love them! The happiest project I have finished in a long time!

More rain

It has been very quiet on my blog this week. I blame the rain. We had more rain this weekend. HUGE rain! I had to work at home on Monday because the roads were closed in every direction. It has been too dark to take any pictures of anything new. Then this morning I was cursing myself for not carrying the camera in my car because there were spectacular Lord-of-the-Rings- style mists over the valley. You just can't win!

So here's a random seashore picture of FL from our holiday in north west Sutherland.

FL and I seem to have stumbled into a new phase of our relationship. During the day, he sleeps a lot and listens to the World Service and devours newspapers and books. When I get home, I walk the dog and knit a lot and watch him sleep. At night, I sleep. He gets up around 4 am to read some more and reminisce. Sometimes he wakes me at 5 am to tell me what he has been reading and thinking. He has finally given up golf. This is a major life event.

But it's not so bad. We have been enjoying the tranquillity of our fire-lit evenings together. He is reading The Poisonwood Bible and is so excited by the descriptions of Africa which he says capture exactly his experience when he taught there in the 1960's.

I am hurtling through the second Biwa sock, which is just as well, as my calendar tells me it is November and I have done very little towards my Christmas knitting goals!

To recap:

1. Zur Lederhos'n for FL: stalled towards the gusset of sock one. I am afraid they are going to be too narrow, but I don't have the heart to rip it... yet.

2. Herbivore for my son: not yet begun... and my daughter thinks he would never wear a scarf.

3. Scroll Lace for my mother: not yet begun... and I am not sure she would wear it.

4. Secret something for my daughter: not yet begun, but definitely still on the "to do" list.

5. Teen cousin present: done! The Sloochie hat.

So it looks as if I am ditching ideas 1, 2 and 3. I am thinking FL might like a scarf instead of more socks, so Herbivore might yet be knit! For my mother, I am thinking of knitting the Yarn Harlot's Pretty Thing . If it turns out well, my aunt will get one too, because I appear to have started wearing the Ishbel I knitted for her! And 4 will be a pleasure, but can't be blogged because the walls have ears!

First Biwa sock

The first Biwa sock is done!

I love the yarn.

I love the pattern.

I am knitting the second one straightaway!


P.S. On closer inspection, FL's parking ticket was a "first warning" - no fine incurred! Woo hoo!

Velcade Day Four

Was actually yesterday, Thursday.

FL went to the hospital on his own, and it worked out fine. He didn't even have to wait long for his infusion.

However...

• he did get a ticket for parking illegally in a staff space (for a full ten minutes!)
• he did met his ex-wife in the chemist on the way there

Absolutely typical. He hasn't bumped into her for many many months and it had to be on the one day I was not escorting him to an appointment. Clearly the "new model" is a flighty young woman who doesn't look after him properly. Sigh. However, it amused me greatly that she advised him to take a bus to the hospital, rather than drive!

This would involve driving to the nearest town (15 minutes), waiting for a bus (up to half an hour), taking said bus all the way to the hospital (one and a half hours) and then walking across the hospital - the bus stop is at the opposite end of the "campus" from Haematology. And reverse the process to get home. It would take all day! Even thinking about it wears me out.

Ach sod it - who cares what she thinks anyway!

So he was quite cheerful last night. Lots of news about his children in Australia via the ex-wife. I wish they would ring him or write, but I suppose you can't have everything.

Fresh and Shiny

Picture credit: joules.com

The sun is shining today and I am so much happier. Ridiculous that I let the weather drag me down.

At the weekend, I rearranged my stash (again!) to make sure it was still mouse-free, and felt all the better for it. Now all the odds and ends are in one box and the fresh and shiny new sock yarn has a plastic tub all to itself. Inspiring! The sock-yarn-leftovers blankie now seems possible, as do 24 pairs of new socks (err yes...)

I also fondled my Manos Silk Blend and decided it needed to be knitted into something glamourous, not a frumpy old-lady cardi (aka Moonstone). By chance, my ex-sis-in-law was looking for help finding a pattern for her mum to knit herself a bedjacket, and I found this. OOOOH! Top of the queue! There is a gorgeous version on Ravelry by Tadtwister using just three skeins of Manos. I really fancy a silky woolly kimono to lounge about in, in my fantasy watertight bedroom!

Then yesterday I found a colourful new blog to browse: Attic24. I am probably late to the party on this one, but I had a very happy lunchbreak browsing the archives. And becoming besotted by stripey armwarmers along the way! Now weighing up the options: pay £15 to buy them ready-made, or fiddle about with a gazillion yarns with ends to darn in and colour-matching decisions...? Definitely one for the Christmas wishlist!

FL has cheered up a lot since Monday. He says his back is noticeably painful, and he is having difficulty straightening up properly. Deep-breathing is uncomfortable. But he thinks that Dexamethasone is a wonderful thing, and can he take it every day please?! I tried to explain that it is not a recreational drug, and is almost certainly the cause of the atrophy of his leg muscles, but he thinks he ought to be allowed the level of energy it brings, on a daily basis. Eek! Thank goodness it is a prescription-only drug! And he has to admit that the post-Dexy crash of Monday morning was NOT a wonderful thing!

I am just debating whether or not to meet him at the hospital tomorrow. His 12.30 appointment is hard to fit with my day job, so we are thinking he might drive himself there and back for the first time. But I could be there for him in the waiting room, for moral support. I will definitely want to be there is he is going to see a doctor. Decisions, decisions.

Oh - almost forgot - a new-to-me Myeloma blog. Lisaraniray. Absolutely extraordinary writing. If she doesn't get an offer from a publisher, I will eat my armwarmers.