Since my last blog, Pete has had his 4th cycle of chemotherapy… although he’s currently feeling the after effects (extreme tiredness etc), it definitely seems to be working, as on the 18th November, two days before his chemo during the pre-treatment call with the cancer nurse, she told him his PSA count has gone down again, this time to 3.7 – woohoo! Pete is obviously really pleased with this as, for a man of his age, apparently 4 is the magic number so, getting it under this is the aim of the treatment. Good news we hope!

Like many, we had our first taste of wintery weather last week with a smattering of snow overnight into Wednesday (19th). Although pretty, it was very, very cold so we spent part of the day clearing our little sunroom ready to have its new flooring laid later in the week. We were so engrossed that we completely forgot to go to the exhibition about a potential wind farm they are thinking of sticking up on the lovely big hill that overlooks the village… I hope there are other opportunities to find out what’s what before it goes ahead… from what we can gather, the village is a bit split over all of these energy projects!

Overnight into Thursday (20th), though we didn’t seem to have had any more snow overnight, the car needed a good defrost before we headed off to Melrose for Pete’s 4th cycle of chemotherapy.

We left in good time just in case the roads were bad but got 5 minutes down the road & had to turn back as Pete had forgotten his cancer folder (it’s where his treatment and notes are kept).

Setting out from the house again, I felt a bit more confident about the roads as I had already seen part of the road and it didn’t seem too bad. However, that was before we started heading up over the hills between Saughtree and Wauchope towards Bonchester Bridge where I have just noticed on the map, there’s a place called “Hell’s Hole” – that sounds about right – well, on the day we headed to the hospital anyway 🤣🤣🤣! The road became icier & snowier and my driving a lot slower…

I consider myself a fairly confident driver (even though I am a terrible passenger!), but snow and ice are weather conditions I really dislike driving in. I think it stems from a difficult drive back from work once when I was based in Kendal. It had started snowing in the morning and by lunchtime, a decision was made that people should head home – not living locally, I faced a treacherous 55-mile drive back to our house in West Yorkshire where we lived, at that time, between Skipton & Keighley. During the drive, the weather conditions grew worse and worse… cars were sliding all over the place on the A65, stalling on hills and sliding back down and it was the first time I thought I would have to abandon the car somewhere on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales and walk home in my inappropriate work shoes! I remember feeling very relieved to make it to the bottom of the big hill we lived up, where I finally abandoned the car and walked the rest of the way! I was a nervous wreck when I finally got through our front door! Nightmare 😱

Thankfully, the roads were much better when we eventually made it to the main road at Jedburgh but, although I thought we had given ourselves plenty of time to get to there, we made it with just 10 minutes to spare so I ended up dropping Pete at the front door and headed off to Gala(shields) to get some shopping.

Pete’s treatment all went to plan and time and we were back on the road home by two-ish. During his treatment, he happened to be sat next to a lady from the village, who suggested a different route home via Hawick & Langholm and, although it took a bit longer, the roads were clear and the drive a lot less stressful (even pleasant!🤣). We will definitely heed Pete’s fellow patient’s advice in future – that being if the road up over the tops from the village (this is the top of our road) to the golf course looks snowy and icy, head west to Langholm to go North East!

On Friday (21st) it was our Niamh’s 8th Birthday and the day that we had our new flooring laid in the sunroom. Then, on Saturday (22nd) we had the new windows and front door put in… it’s nice to start getting some work done on the house even though it’s not officially ours yet (hopefully it won’t be too many weeks now!). It might be psychological or maybe that the freezing weather has passed, but it definitely feels warmer in the house now!

We are making good progress on clearing some of the fitted furniture from the house despite Pete feeling very tired. He has definitely got better at pacing himself but I still worry that he’s overdoing it – but there’s no telling him and boredom plays it’s part too – he’s not that good at just sitting (although I am an expert!). Of course, after each demolition of furniture job, we have to follow it up with a trip to the tip in Hawick – we load up the car and then might leave it a few days until we need some shopping and so, as the saying goes, kill two birds with one stone.

I have also completed the reupholstering of the dining chairs which I am very pleased with…

What else… having finally finished my 2nd cushion cover for us, I have started a new project for a late Christmas present for granddaughter Niamh. I can’t believe that Christmas is only a month away (that’s 30 sleeps… sorry if that scares anyone! 🤣🤣🤣). Fortunately, as with many years gone by, we will not be celebrating Christmas with family until well after Christmas so that gives me plenty of time to finish what I am doing! More about that another time…

That’s all the news from the Scottish Borders… we are slowly getting things around the house sorted, doing what we can each day and muddling through! xxx❤️xxx