Calling all triple negative breast cancer patients in the UK
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hello everyone
Thank you for your well wishes. Your thoughts, comments and support are very much appreciated.
I am officially past the halfway mark with the chemo. This coming week another dose then a week off. Last week in the ward I sat next to the youngest person I have seen at our chemo Centre. A young man 22. I told him I thought he was the youngest I have met in the ward. Nice young guys. All the children go to the metro cities for treatment. Sad to see young people fronting cancer.
Sylvia, you asked about the training I deliver, I train trainers for the vocational training and education sector in Australia. So I have the pleasure of working with all kinds of professional and trades people who have developed expertise in their respective areas who want to train others. I deliver the Certificate IV in train and assessment which is the base qualification required to work for a registered training organization that delivers nationally recognized qualifications. Essentially the course teaches how to design training, deliver and assess training as well as how the sector and qualifications work.
Thanks Pkville for the posy of peonies. I have tried to grow but no luck with flowers. They are just beautiful!
Stay well everyone xx0 -
Hello Helen,
Congratulations on passing the halfway mark. I remember feeling a huge sense of achievement and relief when I reached that point. I hope your digestive tract has decided to behave itself.
Yes, really makes us put our own problems into perspective when we meet young men and women in the Chemo unit. Though one 18 year old we talked to had managed to catch his cancer (lymphoma) in the very early stages and had been told that he had at least a 95% chance of making a full recovery. I went home happy that day!
I found the patients in the chemo unit very supportive of one another. There was genuine happiness all round when someone completed treatment. The saddest part was probably when older prisoners from Norwich prison came in for treatment. Frail though they were, they sat in the waiting area with two prison officers and were chained to one of the officers. No dignity there whatsoever.
Hope that despite the peony disappointment, the rest of your garden was full of colour this year.
Take good care of yourself and keep on doing well.
Love,
Gill xxx
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hi everyone
Hope u are are well in this crazy world we now live in. Big day today. 2 1/2 hour drive to an indigenous community in Wilcannia to do a pop up screening clinic for Covid
Australia has relaxed screening criteria and we are now screening anyone with a sniffle. It’s happening in alignment with the lifting of restrictions to blanket the country so we don’t miss any cases while everything opens. Nursing homes are the target area as well and people are being temp checked as they come to work. I’m still crazy busy and have been attending desktop exercises and emergency managing meetings almost on a daily basis to prepare for the second wave. Modelling now looks a little more promising and hopefully we will only see sporadic cases but we are very prepared which is great.
Uni is still very full on and I’m struggling with an epidemiology unit which is appropriate. Miss my grandsons terribly and can’t wait to see them. Stay safe and well everyone
Much love
Jat
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Hi Kat,
Good to hear from you. Australia's model for dealing with Covid-19 is textbook stuff. Very well done everyone. I won't bore you with what's happening here, suffice to say that our Government did very little and what it did was far, far too late. So many have died needlessly and our care homes have been decimated. I don't cry easily, but I've been reduced to tears on so many occasions.
You deserve a long holiday after this.
Keep well.
Gill xxx
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Hello Sylvia,
Just wondering if you're alright? I know you have a lot to do at the moment, but you've been unusually quiet for the last few days.
Hoping to hear from you soon.
Love,
Gill xxx
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Hello Gill
Thank you for caring. I am very busy at the moment dealing with various inspections and services at our apartment complex. Everything is so much more difficult with social distancing.
I am also trying to take care of Raymond as this surgery has taken its toll on him. We were told it could be a long recovery. He hates taking all the medication and some tend to upset him. Until all this he had barely taken any medications during his life and we think four months of daily nasty medication has not helped. He has decided to take a break from all the medication to give his body a rest.
The strange life we are leading with the coronavirus and the Boris Johnson gang is really getting to us.
Take care and best wishes to you and Michael.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Helenlouise and Kath,
Thank you for your posts and I shall try to answer soon.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Sylvia,
I guessed it was probably pressure of work and taking care of Raymond. It's a relief to know you're both as well as possible though. Johnson and Cummings along with coronavirus are really getting to me too. Thank heavens for good weather and a garden.
Please don't post back while you have so much to do. Take time to relax whenever you can.
Much love,
Gill xxx
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Hello Helenlouise,
Thank you for your latest post. You must be very relieved and happy to be past the halfway mark with your chemotherapy and looking forward to a week off. You are right to say that it is very sad to see young people and especially children going through cancer. It is difficult and traumatic at any time but really tragic in young people who have not had much of a journey through life and having this disease thrown at them.
Thank you for the explanation about your work. It sounds very challenging but very interesting and you must get a great deal of satisfaction doing it.
Everything is much the same here. Life seems unreal with all this social distancing and very lonely and confined. It will be such a relief when it is all over, especially for cancer patients who are not getting the attention they need.
Take care.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Kat,
It was nice to hear from you and thank you for your post. You are definitely right about the crazy world in which we now live.
I was wondering how everything went with that indigenous community in Wilcannia. Do you get the results pretty quickly?
I think in the UK we are well behind you. Our government seems to muddle up everything. They are slowly lifting restrictions but some of it makes no sense. They are now making a big thing of testing and tracking, but I have serious doubts that they will do it properly and that it will work. It all seems a bit of a muddle.
I think the government and experts are also waiting for this second wave, but they do not seem to think it will happen until November. I think it will then get muddled up with influenza. I do not think a great number of people have been tested here for the coronavirus, given the population, about 5%. We have probably the worst number of deaths per million than anywhere else.
You seem to be very, very busy but you must feel a sense of achievement.
I bet your grandsons miss you.
That is all for now. Take care.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello everyone,
A friend has just sent me this, as if we didn't know......
'Getting older is just one body part after another saying "ha ha, you think that's bad? Watch this."
Have a good weekend.
Gill xxx
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Thought I would share this to spread some cheer! This is puppy I am getting, right now he is still in his first home. This was sent on Memorial Day, so patriotic!
Sometimes I'm not at all sure I'm ready for this
Mary
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Hi, Sylvia and all
To continue the puppy story, yesterday I went to the Pet Store and bought a crate, a leash and collar, a little bag of treats, and looked at hundreds of toys. This was overwhelming. I have had many pets in my life, probably 8 dogs and as many cats, but they were all in my pre-cancer life except for one very old cat who died in '16. Even though I had all these animals with me before, I had never bought all these accoutrements before; things seemed much more relaxed then, and now I find myself with a bit of anxiety overall. To add to this, my older brother made a comment that getting a puppy might not be wise at my age. The puppy might outlive me, after all. My answer was that that could be true for anyone. The bottom line for me is this: I miss the pitter-patter of little feet, and the company of a dog. If I can survive the puppyhood!
Sylvia, I am sorry Raymond is having problems with his meds and generally feeling unwell, and I'm sorry it also has you down to be living in this difficult time of Covid-19 with all its' unknowns. Here we are split on state lines, our State has opened things up quite a lot, we are still supposed to be social-distancing and sometimes wearing masks, but those rules are often flouted as our infection numbers are not high (but still ticking on, probably because of more testing). Weather is nice, parties and weddings with large groups of people are occurring and the bottom line, seems to me, is we are all responsible for ourselves. At my age, I am not going to large gatherings, but I am mingling with a few friends and family, without a mask. I wear a mask when I go to the grocery store, but most people there do not. I am never really sure what to do, so I err on the side of caution for the most part, and then really don't worry about it when I'm in my home county, where we have only had 2 case-positive persons since the whole thing started. I even got a haircut yesterday!
On the other hand my sis-in-law on the East Coast has much tighter restrictions. She is same age as me, and is being told she should remain in lockdown until August 20th! She is quite rebellious about this and says she is going to rebel!
Please give my best to Raymond, and I hope things get better there as well with this virus, and the politics. Fall and winter will be here soon enough, with their worries. I hope we can all enjoy the summer at least. (Except for Kath and Helen, who are now in winter.)!
Talk later, love, Mary
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Hello Mary,
It was nice to hear from you. I was starting to get concerned again.
With Raymond's medication I think it was more a case of the accumulation of too many drugs over the past four months into the body of someone who had been drug-free most of his life. He has not taken any for the past week and is feeling much better. We do have regular walks and he can do them pretty easily.
I think the routine of social distancing is wearing us out. Exmouth is like a dead town and it takes ages to get through a queue and into a shop. We do not like all the mask wearing that is going on and we think they may cause more trouble. We saw pictures on the television of discarded masks and plastic gloves floating in masses in the sea. We do not know how people can be so sloppy. We feel that the government here has made a mess of everything and that Boris Johnson is not up to the position of Prime Minister.
I can understand why your sister-in-law says she is going to rebel. I feel in the same kind of mood and feel that I would like to give Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings a piece of my mind. I wish they would both disappear.
I do hope you enjoy your puppy.
I do wish we could get back to concentrating more on triple negative breast cancer but I suppose we shall eventually.
I do think about Marias often and am appalled at what goes on in her country. What a mess the world is in.
That is all for now.
Love and best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello, everyone. It has been some time since I have posted on here, but I have nit stopped thinking of you. Life has been so busy these last months, even when we aren’t going anywhere. My husband had heart surgery two weeks ago after it was cancelled in March, and seems to be doing okay. We are getting caught up on things and I am trying to set aside time for this website and emails. So many of them, it’s almost overwhelming. We are finally having spring weather after a relatively cold May. Tulips are blooming and other flowers are showing signs of life. My orange oriental poppy has over 40 buds this year.
i hope you are keeping as well as you can, but now must spend some time to catch up. Wishing you a great summer0 -
HI, 53Nancy
It's very good to hear from you, and I'm so glad to hear you are doing so well. For anyone here who doesn't remember, Nancy did not partake of chemo but opted to have surgery and radiation. It all seems to have worked out well for you, Nancy, thank goodness. I'm sure it was a difficult decision. I recently had a minor scare, after a Breast MRI an Ultrasound was ordered, and then a Biopsy, but all turned out well and the small lump was benign.
We have also had a nice cool spring, but like you, I am very busy for being home a lot. I am also playing catch-up after a year of recovering from 2 shoulder surgeries. I'm sorry about your husband's troubles, but glad he is recovering.
The flowers are so beautiful now, before they wilt from the heat of summer, we must enjoy what we can!
Talk to you again soon, Nancy.
Love, Mary
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Hi, Sylvia
I agree this is such a strange time to live through, with dire news everywhere and yet, people are out everywhere enjoying the weather and going here and there. Most people I talk to are simply ignoring all this virus and socializing within their circles, as more information comes out to the point that if one is under 60 and mostly healthy the risk of getting anything serious is small.
I have heard that the mask-wearing, if one is not ill, could even trap bacteria inside the mask and cause more problems for one, and they are not necessary especially outside. But yet, if one is going into a doctor's office or hospital they are absolutely demanded. It's all quite cumbersome.
As for getting back to Triple-Negative talk, it seems all has been overshadowed by this virus, except for the people here such as HelenLouise, who has been going through her lengthy chemo regimen. Also MaryJv, who has not been posting here lately, but I have noticed her on other threads. There doesn't seem to be much news on the front of treatment of TNBC. We are using the same drugs with now the addition of some immunotherapy drugs: if only there were a drug to be found that caused no side effects that would cause an uproar!! The rest of us are in various stages of recovery from the cancer and treatment, and have adjusted to life with the big C in the rearview mirror. I thought the other day of how long it has really taken me to get over the whole experience physically. True, many other things happened in the intervening years that have slowed me down, but my vision during chemo was that when it ended I would immediately start my life again. That was not true, it has been years to adjust to the neuropathy, and the many changes, in endurance and agility and strength and smell and sight. True, some of these things can be laid at the feet of aging, and it is difficult to tell where the line is.
I don't like to think of you and Raymond standing in long queues at the shops, I think we are all missing a clear message from the leaderships, especially the medical "experts" such as those at the CDC, the NHS, WHO and so on, who give us conflicting and ever-changing edicts to follow.
There has been a lot of news on Brazil lately, and actually much of South America is just a mess. I don't understand why nothing ever seems to get better. These are countries of great resources, and beauty, and always they manage to be under the thumb of inept, or tyrannical leaders. It is such a shame, and the people suffer. I pray for Marias too.
I shall talk to you soon, Sylvia, and I do hope things will get better soon, and we will at least be allowed to enjoy the summer.
Love, Mary
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Hi, Gill
I loved hearing about your flower garden issues, I had big dreams of climbing roses and arbors and training them up this and that, and none of them survived. I do remember reading about the Paul's himalayan Musk, I was quite obsessed with the climbers until they broke my heart. Another thing that has bedeviled me is light. I have planted beds in shady places, and then when the trees providing the shade had to be cut or got struck by lightning suddenly the plants were in bright sunlight and they were no longer happy. I also love clematis, and have 2 of them surviving which I planted in part sun and they are now in deep shade, so their growth is sparse, an occasional few flowers surprises me. Another plant I love and I find it very easy and hardy is hosta. The only disconcerting thing there is that occasionally a burrowing vole will chew on them underground over winter and sometimes move the roots but not destroy them, and they come up in the wrong place in the spring. Such as underneath their neighbor.
Sorry about your church! We are still doing our services and Masses, albeit with distancing and masks while going in and out. And we on the choir are singing and breathing on each other. But we are happy to be there singing the songs we love.
There is now info out claiming that the virus spread from surfaces is not as much as was thought, Nevertheless we have people who wipe down the benches after service and Mass, they are people from the local Emergency Services, takes them all of 5-10 minutes since we have small church. They are youngish people. We are not allowed to socialize before or after Mass, so when it's over it's be off with you. I haven't been to a restaurant since all this started, although most of them are open now around here, with limited seating. There is a very large Lake which is a tourist Mecca in the summer, opening weekend last week things were packed, there were some pics which went viral of outdoor bars with pools that were packed with patrons. Waiting to see what comes out of it, but the general air around here among the younger people is they are tired of it, and willing to take the risk to catch something. Not sure how they will feel if slapped with a 2-week quarantine if they do test positive, they might just not get tested. It's all rather a mess, I am just going to do what I think best for me, a 67 year-young woman who doesn't want to be sick or quarantined or any of it.
Puppy pic above, hope he's not a little devil!!
Talk soon, love, Mary
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Hello Nancy,
It was so nice to hear from you and I must say that we have not forgotten you either. It looks as though life is getting pretty busy for all of us, so it is nice to come back here together. It looks as though the coronavirus has made life more difficult and more demanding. I certainly find the lock-down here and the social distancing exhausting. It is so unnatural.
I was very interested to know that your husband had had heart surgery two weeks ago. When you have had time to catch up on all the posts, you will see that my husband, Raymond, also had heart surgery back on February 14th and has been on three months recovery and it will probably take more time. I shall not go into all the details now. Raymond had coronary bypass surgery and it is major surgery. I would be interested to know what your husband's story is.
I find my days very hectic at the moment but I always make sure that I give time to the thread and to our faithful group.
We have had a very unusual Spring with very little rain and temperatures above normal. Here in the south west we are desperate for rain.
I do hope you are keeping well and that life is good for you.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for your latest post.
You are right that the coronavirus has taken over everything. I think our government over here has made a mess of things but I do think we shall have to learn to live with this virus.
As for masks, I have read the same thing about trapping bacteria and I can understand that. I shall resist wearing one. They are also becoming a menace to the environment as people are just throwing them away and they are ending up in the sea, along with a load of plastic gloves. People here are rather negligent when it comes to the environment and do not seem to have much pride in keeping everything nice. They will toss everything into roads etc. instead of disposing of things properly. It was all so very different in Canada. Here it is very lax.
I agree with you that there is no really earth-shattering news about TNBC. I think patients have to be alert and steer their own course in treatment. Early diagnosis is essential and the shorter the possible treatment the better. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy really mess us up. Somehow we learn to live with side effects but living something like neuropathy or lymphoedema is no picnic for many.
Raymond and I manage somehow but we do not like the social distancing queueing and I think people are fed up with it. It will be awful if we get weeks and weeks of rain and cold.
That is about all for today. I have to do some watering in the grounds as everything is dry here. We could do with weeks of rain.
Take care, Mary, and let us hope Marias will pop in soon. I hear nothing but bad news about Colombia.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi Mary,
Very, very cute little dog. Cheeky looking too, you're going to have a huge amount of fun bringing him up. He'll be such good company, a loyal friend and probably full of devilment. Think of all the adventures you're going to have together.
Things are looking a bit grim in your corner of the world at present. Hope the rioting calms down soon. The killing of George Floyd has been all over our newspapers and last night Norwich City Hall was lit up in purple in protest at his death. What a mess, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
Lockdown is being eased here. Scientists, medical staff and much of the population think it's too soon. The statistics for new infections and death seem to be a moveable feast, I don't believe much of what this Government tells us. I'm staying as safe as I can, but if photos of parks and beaches are to be believed, many younger people have abandoned the idea of social distancing. There's plenty of warning about a second wave. If the scientists are right, then it might be better to have another wave during Summer, rather than Winter when there's so much more illness about, including seasonal flu.
I seems there may be plans to reopen Churches before too long, but for private prayer only. Masses will still be virtual. Priests in the smaller Churches are lonely and isolated. Performing Mass in front of an empty Church, no singing, no feedback, no meeting for coffee afterwards, must be dispiriting to say the least.
I wonder if the climate where you are is just too hot and dry for roses to flourish? Mine have rust, blackspot and mildew and are a shadow of their former selves. I'm not sure why they're so unhealthy, could be that we had no hard frosts during last Winter. Sadly, I'll have to dig a few of them up at the end of Summer as I doubt they'll recover. Some have become like old friends, so I'm not looking forward to giving them the chop.
Tell us all about your doggy adventures. I shall expect pictures of the chewed furniture, shoes, mats........
Keep well,
Love,
Gill xxx
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Mary - I love the little puppy - how old is he?
I am going for my CT scan tomorrow (the one I was supposed to have in April which got postponed due to the virus) - I hope that it will be OK - it is always a bit anxiety producing for me when I have to have any test.
Things here are starting to open up a bit more - some restaurant patios have opened, kids are back at school (this is optional since there is only 4 weeks of school year remaining). Hairdressers have opened, physios, etc Now we have to hold our breath and just be sure that there is not a surge in the number of cases - almost everyone here is still super careful about the distancing - which I think is very good.
I try to read and catch up with everything going on here, but in spite of the virus - time is flying by and I always have something to do - especially gardening at this time of the year.
Stay safe everyone.
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Hello adagio,
It was nice to see you popping in.
I do hope you will have good results after your CT scan. I shall be thinking of you.
I do not think the anxiety ever goes away with breast cancer. I remember how anxious I used to get during the ten years post treatment that I had with the oncologist and breast cancer surgeon. I also remember the relief I felt when I was told all was well. Even now, fifteen years on June 20th since diagnosis, I never take anything for granted.
Everything is still pretty strict here with coronavirus. We are going towards 40,000 deaths and I feel that is a lot higher than that. Yesterday it was announced that on June 15th it will be compulsory to wear some kind of face covering on all public transport. I have doubts about this because of the problems with bacterial contamination with the masks. Our government has messed up from the beginning with all of this.
I saw on the forum yesterday a posting by the Moderators about possible post-treatment for TNBC with the drug Xeloda. I feel that it is just one more drug and I was very happy not to have any drug treatment after my standard treatment.
Keep in touch.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hello Sylvia,
I hope you've managed to get on top of at least some the inspections and services at the apartment complex. I wonder if Exmouth beaches have remained quiet? Dorset and Brighton have had a ridiculous number of visitors over the last two weekends, people, especially younger people, don't seem to be taking Covid seriously any more.
What a mess the track and trace system is. It now appears that it won't be up and running until Autumn. Australia had this in place months ago and Kat has told us that systems for coping with a second wave are being organised. A second wave in the UK, while everything is so chaotic would be a disaster for cancer patients from diagnosis through to surgery, chemotherapy and any further treatment.
I don't know if you saw Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. Johnson didn't answer a single question and blamed Keir Starmer for criticising the Government's response to Covid, of which he is very proud! I don't know why the Government keeps telling us that just under 40,000 people have died, when the death toll is well over 50,000. So many unnecessary deaths and this man is proud.
Not much news about breast cancer to comment on at present. Regarding my metaplastic breast cancer, some of the latest studies are showing that patients who are given radiotherapy in addition to surgery and chemotherapy have a better survival rate than those who aren't. Chemotherapy has very little impact on metaplastic, unlike the usual triple negative where it generally works extremely well.
That's all for now. It's raining here, and not very warm. Definitely a day for the housework.
Keep well both of you.
Love,
Gill xxx
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Hi Adagio,
Hope your CT scan goes well. We don't have many checks and tests here once we've finished treatment - just an annual mammogram which doesn't reassure me at all, as I've had a mastectomy and would like to know if there's anything happening on that side. I think once we've been diagnosed with breast cancer, we're always going to he anxious about check-ups.
We seem to be coming out of lockdown far too early here. Infection rates and deaths are levelling out, but not falling by much. Hairdressers will be opening soon, much to the relief of many. I think that I'll carry on doing Michael's hair now that I'm getting the hang of it. He might have other ideas.
Keep well.
Gill xxx
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Hi, Gill
The puppy......people keep asking me if I've planned any trips, I say no, I'm getting a puppy. I figure he will occupy my time while I'm trying to civilize him and hopefully by the time I succeed we'll be over the worst of this virus. If we're not over the worst of it but have a second wave later, then I will have a little friend this time to keep me company. I am thinking of driving to Texas to see my brother, but haven't planned for that yet, I'm still a little anxious over staying in a hotel for a night on the way. Ah well, the upshot is I have no grand plans but live day by day puttering in my garden and at the farm, seeing friends a couple of times a week, and starting to have beautification appointments again. I have recently had a pedicure and a haircut, and yesterday I had a massage.
The grim news here goes on; I have heard that there are going to be a million people gathering in Washington D.C. this weekend. On a selfish note, I am glad to be very far away from there. The policeman who killed George Floyd and his 3 fellow policemen are behind bars, they have been charged and await sentencing. The protests go on, but the looting and the violence also goes on. There are some very bad people who are taking advantage of this situation and causing much mayhem, and giving the protestors a bad name. The policemen who are trying to keep order are between a rock and a hard place. They not only have to differentiate between peaceful protestors and violent looters, but whatever action they take can turn out very badly. There are (in my opinion idiotic) city leaders who are responding to calls to defund some of the big city police forces by actually agreeing with the demands to be rid of the police. I think this is a very bad idea. Shades of Neville Chamberlain the appeaser. I don't know what the answer is to all this, there are actual statistics and numbers that show the truth of many things relating to this subject but I shall not go into this any further here. Suffice it to say that the soundbites you are hearing on TV tell only a tiny bit of what's going on, and there is a much bigger story behind it.
In relation to Covid19, we here have all watched hair salon operators and gym owners be berated and charged with crimes because they opened up shop too soon, and now we watch with disbelief as very large groups of people are roaming the streets of the big cities with no thought of any kind of distancing and the very people who refuse to end their cities' lockdowns don't say a word about it. As you say, young people also do not seem to be paying much attention to the edicts, and actually I think that's probably okay. I think we will all have to be in charge of ourselves, if we want to take a chance and mingle with a crowd, then we'll have to accept the consequences. I do not choose to do that, but then I'm not much of a crowd person anyway. Here the health communities have ramped up testing and it is easily available, they are encouraging being tested to get a good picture of what's going on.
The climate here is okay for roses, I'm pretty sure the problem is me trying to grow them in soil that's not amenable to their growth. At the farm, my yard is on a rocky hill, and I think I was trying to force them to grow in bad conditions. I have figured out what works there, and try to stick with that.
I have been warned of puppy chewing, I have bought a few toys for that, and I hope his chewing will not be on my fingers and toes! Coming soon.......
Talk to you soon, love, Mary
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Hi, Adagio
I think the puppy is about 5 weeks old. I don't have him yet, maybe in another week or 10 days. Rather nervous about it, it's been awhile since I've had a puppy.
I have had a pedicure, a haircut, and a massage in the last 2 weeks. It does all make me feel more normal. Except that I have to wait outside till I'm let in these places, and have my temperature taken first. Which is okay under the circumstances.
I agree with you that the time flies by, I can't believe today is Friday. I wish you very good results with the CT scan. I agree these tests are the scariest things to wait for, and then to wait for the results is worse. Fortunately nowadays I think the technicians and docs are more understanding and try to get the results to you as quickly as possible.
Thinking of you!
Love, Mary
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Hello Gill,
Thank you for your latest post. I am still very busy and I just do not know when things will ease up.
You ask about Exmouth beaches and I can tell you they were absolutely full last weekend and the police were called in.
I think people are fed up with lock-down and the social distancing. Everything here in England seems to be upside down and I think the government is in a panic. I do not expect any common sense from this Prime Minister and his team.
There is so much of our freedom that is being taken away and we may never get it back.
I did see PMQs last Wednesday and thought Boris Johnson's behaviour was a farce. The latest figures I have heard from this pandemic etc. is 62,000 and I am waiting for that figure to appear on my television screen.
I am not happy about the compulsory wearing of masks or face covers and I think this will open up a whole new can of worms. They are all going to end up in the streets, in the sea and in landfill.
I do hope we are going to get more emphasis on what is happening to cancer patients. I certainly do not like the fact that apparently patients having their cancer treatment cannot have someone with them. It is so important to have support and comfort, not too mention protection from the system itself.
We are still waiting for rain and it just will not come. I have spent a lot of time watering today.
Keep in touch and I hope to have more time soon.
Love.
Sylvia xxxx
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Hi, Sylvia
While you are waiting for rain, we are right now getting several inches from Tropical Storm Christobal, it has been humorous listening to weathermen and women pronouncing this name, usually sounds like Crystal Ball, or Christabelle, this will put off our inevitable summer drought for a while.
I hope you are making headway with your work; sometimes it seems the work I do is not very satisfying since it is never finished, but maybe that's the way of life, we just strive to keep up with things and do our best.
Well, I think I am picking up my puppy tomorrow, barring any flooded roads on the way. I am a little anxious this morning, trying to think of what I need to do and realizing I will not be able to be so relaxed with things in low places and on the floor. I am resigned to the fact we may have some uncomfortable nights while we both get adjusted, but then I haven't been sleeping very well anyway. It has been very hot till now, and even with the AC running, I wake up very early and feel too warm in bed.
Today I am taking an older friend to a grocery store in the closest city. She will only drive to one store and they have a very limited supply of things, so we will try to stock her up at a bigger store.
I saw an article in my morning paper praising Boris Johnson for bringing in some 3 million Hong Kong refugees; these are white-collar workers with lots of education trying to get away from China's clutches. I haven't actually read the article yet, I keep getting distracted with thoughts of puppy preparedness. I also read somewhere that things have improved in UK re: Virus. I agree with you, people are fed up, and ready to take their chances with Virus just to return to living again. On a bright note, experts say now that they think the Virus is weakening, and producing milder symptoms. Hurrah!
I will talk to you later, Sylvia. Take care, and greetings to Raymond.
Love, Mary
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Hello Mary,
Thank you for your latest post.
It is actually raining here in Exmouth at the moment, but it is not heavy rain and we need much more. It turned quite chilly this afternoon and I am wondering what kind of June weather we are going to have.
Everything is gradually getting sorted here in our complex but it has been quite complicated because of lock-down and social distancing.
I do hope all goes well with your puppy and that he will be well behaved!
I was sorry to read that you have not been sleeping well as a good night's sleep is very important. Raymond and I tend to wake up several times during the night and we are fully awake very early because it is light at 4 am.
I do hope you managed to get your older friend stocked up with some nice food. It is very kind of you to think of doing that.
The saga of the coronavirus drags on here. We have the worst record of deaths after the US. The figure quoted today was over 50,000 for Covid-19 deaths and 63,000 deaths when you add excess deaths for this time of year.
More shops will be allowed to open on Monday but no hairdressers, barbers or nail bars and no pubs, restaurants or cafes. I do not think anything will work until the social distancing is reduced from two metres to one metre. Schools have not gone back because of the social distancing but zoos, safari parks and drive in cinemas will be opening.
As for bringing in three million Hong Kong residents I would like to know where they will find homes for them. We have a housing shortage, of at least one million homes, and we are heavily overpopulated. I would think we need more basic hands on workers rather than white collar ones.
All the rioting here and in the US have knocked off the virus from the headlines for a few days.
Raymond and I take one day at a time and do our best.
I am particularly concerned about how this virus is affecting all the other illnesses, especially cancer. They are obviously not getting the attention they need. The news is that by Christmas there will be ten million patients on the waiting list for treatment.
That is about all for now. I do hope this virus will go away, but I do have my doubts.
Sending you love and best wishes.
Sylvia xxxx
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