WHAT A BUSY WEEK

The last time I wrote my blog was the 4th December, since then I have been completely pole axed with the dreaded flu bug, following a flu and pneumonia jab! I rarely ever give up or give in, but the only place for me was bed. I am now up and about again, so where was I? Ah I remember, I had been given my scan results.

Just because the diagnosis is not always what you hoped it would be, you still have to get on with life. I had a lump in my stomach that had been causing me great pain and worry. Now the scan had revealed it wasn't cancerous I booked myself in to see a colo-rectal surgeon Mr. Budhoo in the hope he could help. I paid to go privately because I didn't want to wait for months on the NHS. I am used to waiting for 2 to 3 hours outside oncologists' offices, so it was a luxury to find myself being seen by Mr. Budhoo within 15 minutes.The lump was caused by scar tissue from 2 hernia operations that I had to have following the major surgery due to ovarian cancer. He explained that it would not be advisable to open me up again and that I would have to live with it. I will try everything to sort a problem out, but if there is nothing that can be done then I do learn to live with it and that is what I will do now

I'd had enough of hospitals for one week so it was so refreshing to go out to lunch with my old BBC friends, Cheryl and Claire.The food at the Bell and Cross near Belbroughton is excellent and well worth being stuck on the M42 on a busy Friday afternoon. Luckily I managed to get back home in time to go to my grandson Ben's school fair. I even won him the last tombola prize so I gained a few Nanny brownie points!

I love Xmas, especially the build up and each year we go to the Classic Spectacular at the NIA. Our friends Debbie and Gordon came to stay the weekend and equipped with union jack flags we left the Hyatt hotel after a superb meal and walked along the canal which looks so beautiful at night to the NIA. We sang our hearts out and waved our flags furiously to Land of Hope and Glory and marvelled at the wonderful special effects and fireworks during the 1812 Overture. We are blessed to have the marvellous CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra) and to have so many entertainment venues in Birmingham. We left that night happy and elated after watching a wonderful show.

The next day we were off to Worcester to celebrate my friend Geoffrey's 60th Birthday party. He was a music producer in Popular Music at the BBC and I spent four of the happiest years of my BBC career working with Geoffrey. He has a wonderful dry sense of humour and gave my leaving speech when I retired due to cancer.It was great seeing old friends and colleagues that I had not seen for 7 years. I have to say that the ladies seemed to wear better then the men, but then I would wouldn't I!

After a lovely afternoon we raced back home to Solihull to go with other friends to an Old Time Music Hall at the little Dovehouse Theatre. We all sang along with the songstress, laughed continuously at the comedian's jokes - no swear words or sex, just pure unadulterated humour. Then one of the former members of the Morton Frazer Harmonica Gang came on looking incredibly young, especially as they were famous many years ago.As he played with great skill I remembered all the times my Dad played his harmonica. He died in August this year and when I went to his flat I found 15 harmonicas including a very tiny one. He always rang me up on my birthday to play me Happy Birthday, followed by The Flight of the Bumble Bee, so when this talented gentleman started to play it I could feel tears dripping down my cheeks. I guess I am going to get many of those moments, but when he started playing his tiny harmonica just like my Dad's, I realised how lucky I am so have so many wonderful memories of my special Dad.

All in all a very good week, but what a busy one. The next week proved to be different altogether.