Multiple stressors

I'm trying so hard to stay positive. But we have a rather large list of life stressors at present. Night times are tough. Most nights I wake at 2 or 3am and lie there awake for hours with my thoughts flailing back and forth. I get so frustrated with myself. Sometimes I can sleep through.  Sometimes I can successfully empty my mind and drift off again. Chronic tiredness does nothing for your general state of mind and I am aware that I am more brittle, irritable, less resilient than usual.

Mae continues to soldier on.  She's remarkable. This week her challenge has been to cope on her own, as Nick has been at work and David and I are back in Forster. She's doing OK from what I can tell. They saw the medical oncologist yesterday and a plan is in place for chemotherapy to start on 17 September. Meanwhile the community nurses are coming regularly to see her to help her manage dressings, her catheter, the ileostomy, her medications and so on. She and David play Scrabble and message each other on line. She wins regularly and keeps him honest.

We were loving living with cats at Mae's place over the last couple of weeks.

Gus exhibits a Pavlovian response to the irresistible little whistle noise that David uses to call them up. The others are a bit smarter: the ears swivel, but they keep eating.

We left Canberra and our kind bed-providing friends Marg and Keir last Saturday and stayed a night in Surry Hills with Linda, Phil and Michael. Sunday it was the pleasant and scenic trip north from Sydney to Diamond Beach. The wattles are in flower all along the Pacific Highway.

The sight of our local beach is a balm to my troubled mind.

Monday I saw my GP to book a colonoscopy for myself.  What is that niggling constant left lower side discomfort that I have been ignoring? Is it just osteoarthritis?

At least I now am less worried about the colon cancer risk to Wim and Lian. Recent test results indicate it is not F.A.P (familial adenomatous polyposis), an awful genetically derived cancer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familial_adenomatous_polyposis Mae is relieved for them, but of course it is no comfort to her.

Our house is nearly ready. The builder and his team are working hard to get us in.  They are all being very supportive of our situation, as are the wonderful friends we have been imposing ourselves on in the last few weeks since we moved out of our rental place. Sadly our landlords are being the opposite and are demanding an extra week's rent, saying we gave only 12 not 14 days' notice. I emailed them today asking for some compassion in the circumstances and the reply has just come back: "I am tired of people not paying what is owed. I understand you are having a tough time but business is business." So I guess that extra week's rent will be taken out of our bond. Sigh. It takes all types to make the world.

Looking on the bright side, the house is looking better and better.

The kitchen is especially pleasing.  All our own design work and we think it will function well.

 The granite splashback is a beautiful work of art, courtesy of nature.

Overall the lighting works well.  But the experiment with LED floods in the lounge room was not a success and we will have them replaced with other lighting before we move in.

Lots of cupboards and shelves for the stuff we have in storage in Canberra that we haven't seen for 3 years. I've forgotten what is in there and we'll probably want to throw most of it away when it arrives!

The builder has just phoned to advise that the house has passed its final inspection and we will soon have an interim certificate of occupancy. The plan is to sleep there for the first time this coming Sunday! Hoorah! I am over being a gypsy. Totally over it.

We spent a few days earlier this week with Tim and Jenny, our lovely new neighbours in Vincent Close. Now we are with Robyn and Chris, who were lovely new neighbours over 40 years ago in Duffy. There are good people in this world.