thanks simone for the update... nice to hear that piece of good news!

tell bundy to take care of herself if you're emailing her... and tell her to come into the expat pub when she has enough time for a chat!

Well, I'm back. I've got a whole week back in my own home, in my own bed, with my own little life. Hurrah!

Managed to battle our way out of fogbound Jersey yesterday, leaving behind BundyMum tucked up in bed and looking quite cheerful. She is doing well at home, spending the days in bed but coming downstairs (with 3-person escort) in the evenings. We've been doing our best to maintain the high standards of the hospice but largely failing, I suspect

BM has her first outing today - in a car!!!!! Yep, no more ambulance travel for the old girl (they even purchased a new ambulance because of her!). My dad will be loading her up into the car to take her to the day hospice to see her mates and have a bath. She's stupidly excited and my dad is understandably nervous about transporting her. I'm waiting for details....

No news yet on the chemo but it should start pretty soon in the New Year. My dad is flapping about hairloss (my mum's, not his) but my mum is more concerned about how she manages to throw up wearing a corset and unable to bend over......

Anyway, we're all heading back out there next week for Chrimbo so I'm back to do boring stuff like getting the car's MOT done, going to the opticians, that kind of stuff. Oh yeah, and doing some work too

Hope everyone else is well - any exciting gossip that I've missed?

Hi Bundy,

Great to hear from you and especially nice to hear your mum is battling through.

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas together. You probably haven't got to much to catch up on with the Banana lives, the diary is still going.

Best wishes

Warren, Jill and Imogen
xx

Yay, good to hear from you!
Glad everything's ok.

Thanks guys - and thanks for doing the updates Simone.

I've got a bit behind on Christmas having been laregely convinced that it was still November until this morning. Still, I made the Christmas cake before I left Jersey, so that's a start!

Glad alls going well, hope you have a great x-mas, take care

Good to here things are going. Have a special Christmas!

Great to hear your mums doing so well Bundy.

You all take care & have a wonderful Christmas together x

Christmas hugz to you all x

Donna.

Donna did your dad get the card?

Sam

oh how i wish i had this kind of relationship with my mum...........

mmm Me too must be nice to feel like that about your mum

love sophia xx

PS Hope the Bundy clan have a great christmas...love, peace and cyber hugs to you all xxxx

Lovely news, Bundy!! Here's to a very jolly Christmas to you and Mr. B in Jersey. And a very merry Christmas to Bundy Mum, your Dad and the rest of the family.
Love ya,
Desi

I adore my Mum as she does me and my sisters. Makes the thought of telling her that we plan to move to Brisbane almost unbearable.

I'm prepared to fly her out to us twice a year so we can see each other but I'm just dreading telling her. It'll break her heart.

I know she'll eventually come round and will probably end up enjoying it (PLEASE GOD, PLEASE) but it's the initial braking of bad news that terrifies me.

Oh heck, time for a

Little bit more of an update....BM did indeed go out in the car yesterday for the first time in, erm, about 3 months having previously been carted everywhere by ambulance. My dad loaded her up successfully and then drove, and I quote, 'like an old man' to the hospice where my mum had a lovely day (and a bath, thank god!). Once we're all back for Chrimbo we're meeting with the oncology nurse for a big chemo talk. Entertainment for the festive period

Anyway, good poem Sam....I've always got on pretty well with my mum, maybe with a few blips during the teenage years. She's an amazing woman so really it's just a case of wanting to emulate her. I come from a long line of strong, independent women (just found out that I'm related to one of the original suffragettes. It doesn't surprise me in the least ).

Sunshine Girl....I feel for you telling your mum. I was lucky in that my parents had seen it coming for years - dragging Mr B back with me from Oz probably gave it away - and they are happy for the opportunity it gives me. That said, all plans for Oz are currently on hold for the foreseeable future so that I can concentrate on my family. There's no easy way to tell your mum...I guess you just have to point out that she did such a good job of raising you that you are able to go out into the world and make a life for yourself safe in the knowledge that the bond you have is always going to be stronger than distance. Good parents only ever want us to be happy, so, after the initial shock, there's a good chance she'll come round to it. Fingers crossed for you SG.

Right, I promised Simone a post-Chrimble update on BM, so here it is.

We actually had a pretty good Christmas, if a little over-emotional. BM is in excellent form and, in the week I was back here, had with characteristic 'determination' (stubborness) started walking greater distances, climbing the stairs with alternate feet rather than stopping on each step, been out Christmas shopping in her wheelchair with my dad (she's decided to help me with my disability co-ordination work, apparently, so this was merely an 'exercise' ) and done all the Christmas cards. Knowing that we were likely to turn up with an array of scummy coughs and colds they had decided to give her a whacking dose of antibiotics, so while we all succumbed (brother on Christmas Eve, me on Christmas Day, SIL on Boxing Day), she remained resoundingly perky.

Major and deeply emotional achievement was getting her to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. My mum's a bit of a church goer and hadn't been since September. Her one aim, when things were really bleak, was to get to church one last time, preferably for Midnight Mass. As it happened, she was champing at the bit to get there, indignant at the wheelchair and bundled up in more blankets than you could shake a stick at. She was wheeled up towards the altar but clambered out of her wheelchair and walked up to the altar rail itself to receive communion (ok, so she couldn't kneel, but she reckoned god might let her off that one ). The vicar nearly had a heart attack given the deafening round of applause that followed! My older brother was too upset to leave the church and there were certainly tears all round it being the church in which my parents were married and which has seen the marriages, christenings and funerals of a large chunk of the family over the years.

Anyway, Christmas itself was great, my mum able to come downstairs for longer now and able to sit in her special chair for some hours. She was beaming at the fact that she got out of cooking the turkey for the first time in 4 decades and got spoilt rotten, which she clearly deserves. She's still eating like a horse, so much so that her corset has had to be, erm, adjusted, but this is a good thing given the trials of chemo that lie ahead.

So, the main thing now is getting her ready for her chemo and trying to get her to slow down a bit! She's going to have special ice packs on her head to prevent hair loss, if possible, and seems to be of the opinion that she has another chance to fight so that's just what she's going to do. SHe's still going backwards and forwards to the day hospice and telling people she's not really that ill. Bless her, she really is one of a kind.

I'm going back on 17th to assist with the chemo side effects. Getting ready for the next round, really.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year!

Bundy

PS - you Brisbane/Perth drinking club/ladies - a HUGE thank you for the cards. I understand that a degree of espionage was required which could be slightly unnerving were in not for the fact that you're all good people and the cards were there to greet us on our return from Jersey. Gave me a really big boost and I'll take them with me next time I go back to show the BundyParents. Thanks guys, you're little legends, the lot of you.