The Missing Glass Panel

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

From the time we moved into this late Victorian house when our children were very young, Harry and I have lived with the plain glass panel on the side of the porch door. It is obvious that it was a replacement of a broken stained glass one.

We did vaguely wish it hadn't been broken and we did try second hand glass shops to see if there were any spare ones for sale, to no avail.

We got used to the look and didn't seem to worry about it or notice how odd it must look to other people.

You might remember that Paula made this lovely cross out of stained glass, held together with lead last Easter when I wasn't well.

I was really pleased with it.

I see her in our Church regularly and she came round quite a bit when I was in and out of chemo, never knowing quite what I would be like from one day to the next. Some days we went out walking when I was getting stronger.

I was really pleased when she offered to make me a side panel to match the other one but I did think it was rather ambitious and wondered if she would change her mind when it sunk in just how fiddly it would be.

No......... I was wrong, patterns were made and glass ordered.

Paula popped over one evening straight from night school and showed me how she was fitting it all in together.

When she explained how it was being done and each piece individually cut, it made me realise that this task was not for the faint hearted.

It was like fitting a jigsaw together and no two pieces were exactly the same size.

The glass has been matched up to the best of our ability but obviously will not be a perfect match. How could it be, with some of the glass over a hundred years old and some really modern? I think it will look much better than the plain glass panel though.

Paula is making the complete window in three sections and then they will be fitted into the frame with special metal ties.

My son, being a carpenter, will be able to fit it in place.

We will then have to think of some way to prevent it getting broken again.

Haven't I got a clever friend and aren't I lucky?

Aloe Vera Cream to the Rescue

Photos Copyright:Maggie May

This is the lovely celtic cross that my friend made for me and it was displayed in our church over Easter. I am waiting to decide exactly where to hang it, but in the meantime it looks good here, standing against the window. She made it herself in the class that she attends. Very clever. I just love it.

I have just opened the back door to take a photo of the Spring flowers on the patio. While I was washing up this morning, the sun was shining so intensely on them but I really don't think that the photo does the colour of them any justice at all. Some of the bulbs are over their best now.

You will see that there is a good bundle of parsley growing in the middle pot. Traditionally, in England, if a woman can grow parsley well........ it means that she wears the trousers in the household. Well I won't comment about that, because my parsley does do well.

I am getting over my last chemo, which is number six. It has taken its toll on me in the form of intense red rash that causes itching. Next to tiredness, this is the most annoying and hard thing to bear.

My long suffering husband has to sit and watch me scratch like a demented animal. While I was in Oncology this last time, a lady told me that Aloe Vera cream was very good at alleviating itchy skin, so off Harry went to search for it in health shops in town.

He came back with a good sized tube for £6 and I thought it would be well worth it if it really worked.

I raced upstairs (as fast as my chemo ravaged body would let me) and proceeded to cream myself all over. It immediately produced a feeling of coolness and had a calming affect, though my bright red rash glowed through it. I found I had to apply the cream every few hours to keep up the effect and now my cream is running out. Harry will dash down to the health shop again soon.

It is now three days following the chemo and the rash is definitely fading but the itchiness will last till Saturday or Sunday. So at the rate of cream I am using, I will have to remortgage the house!

I have not torn my self to pieces this time, but the photo below will show you just the kind of damage that chemo does to the body.

It is quite sobering to be in the Oncology suite for a long time because there is always someone in a much worse state than me.

A man who was itching intensely, has cancer of the liver and he is not expected to live beyond the summer although he and I agreed that he could do better than that. However, he has no hope of a cure for his itchiness and he has it for every moment of the rest of his life. While I am scratching away, I keep thinking of this very nice man and the effect it must be having on him and his family.

The woman next to me was doing her third round of chemotherapy non stop since last October, to stop her ovarian cancer spreading. Well, if this happens to me, at least I will have a three month break from it because I will be having a scan soon and will be going back to the hospital at three monthly intervals. I will get the results of the CT scan within a week of having it. I have been assured that they are not expecting to see anything bad on it and they are also telling me they are very pleased with my progress. So I have to believe them, don't I?