Originally Posted by MrsMangle

hi Bundy
I'm always reluctant to post replies to your thread, thinking whatever I say will just sound hopelessly corny...but really pleased to hear about Christmas, midnight mass sounded very emotional for you all... your mum sounds like a very plucky lady!
best wishes for the new year!
m

Originally Posted by bundy

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.

Originally Posted by ProofReader

Originally Posted by tiredwithtwins

eyup bundy,
glad to hear all is well in your camp....sounds like you got lumbered with the cooking like I did!....and bundymum just keeps on smashing those odds doesnt she!?
fantastic news!

heres to a very prosperous new year for you all!


sue x

Originally Posted by bundy

Wotcha Sue,
Yep, she is the miracle patient! The consultants just shake their heads and gawp at her when she sees them and people keep on sidling up to us and saying 'she's a very determined lady, isn't she?' She's certainly not a quitter!

Originally Posted by bundy

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.