www.barnfonden.se

Last week I sent in an application for a child sponsorship. I got the papers through yesterday. I am now sponsoring a little girl called Djénéba. She is 11 yrs old and is living in the south of Mali. She has got 14 siblings and the 200 kr (18£) that I give each month will help to support the whole family. Djénéba will now have the opportunity to continue school and she will be provided with the right materials that she needs in school. She will also get 100 % paid healthcare and 60 % for the rest of the family. The money that is donated to the Childfund is helping the whole village in forms of buildning waterwells etc.
It warms my heart to know that I can help improving someone’s life. I strongly recommend you to do the same. The swedish organisation is www.barnfonden.se, just click on "bli fadder" it is so easy and it is not a great deal of money really.
(klicka på rubriken till inlägget så kommer ni direkt dit)



Yesterday evening my friend Ida.A came to see me in Örsjö. I have not seen her since school finished so it was really nice. We drank some alcohol free wine and ate pear, cheese, crackers and crisps. Yummy!



I have no plans for today yet, but I will probably just stay at home. I can feel that my body is starting to hurt and I feel a bit sick. I am going to continue reading my book “De nakna kvinnornas ö” by Inger Frimansson.

Third treatment of chemotherapy

Today I had my third treatment of chemotherapy. Ida came with me and my mom came later. Mike is working daytime so he has not been able to take time off work to join me yet. Maybe he can come with me some other time. But really, it is nothing special to see. It is just a bit boring to go by myself. Ida and I played Chicago like always :) time went quick and it is nice to have her driving back from Kalmar.

Now I have to check how my farm on Countryville (Facebook) is doing. I am totally hooked on this game. It is ridiculous how much I think about it and constantly having to check the progress. Is my corn ready yet? Do I have to plant more clover? Can I afford to expand my ranch? I need more ranch cash and neighbors, etc… :)
Come and help and join me, but be aware; it is very addictive!


Ida did not want to be in the picture, so just imagne: two pretty eyes, one cute nose and a happy smile!

Loosing my hair?

On Monday I went to Växjö to see Susan. It was nice. She showed me how to use a scanner. I managed to get some old photos from when I lived and worked in Gran Canaria scanned. I will put them up on facebook soon :) We had some lunch at Subway. I have not eaten a Subway sandwich in over 4 years, it was great! After we eaten a ice-cream in the sun I went back to Örsjö. I have now finally got the sick list papers from Försäkringskassan, so I have filled them in and sent them off.

On Tuesday I went to the local clinic to do blood tests. They tried to take blood from the “Port-a-cath way” but after three failed attempts they gave up and I was in pain. In the end they had to take the blood from my arm anyway.
After the needle attack I went home to my dad in Flygsfors to wash and clean out my BMW 316 that I am planning to sell now that I have a new car. I also went home to my grandparents for a visit.

Today my friend Malin came to see me in Örsjö. I have not seen her in about two months so it was nice. We had some tea and cakes. Then I went to Kalmar to pick my mom up from work. We went over to Öland, Färjestaden because I had an appointment with the hairdresser to look at wigs. I decided to try out 3 different ones. She ordered them from a catalogue and I can try them on perhaps next week. I am not going to give you any clues on what color or style that I am going to get. It will be a surprise :)
I have now started to feel that my hair is slowly falling off. It is just the beginning of it so we will have to wait and see if it keeps on falling out or if it is just getting a bit thinner.
After the appointment at the hairdressers me and my mom went shopping. I found a really nice top, some pictures to hang on the wall, flower pots etc. Then we ate dinner in a restaurant. We were supposed to have gone to this popular music show called “Diggiloo” in Ekerum at 19.00, but it was pissing down with rain so we decided not to. Instead I drove my mom home and I went home to Ida for a visit. It is her birthday today!

Tomorrow it is time yet again for my next (third) chemotherapy treatment. I am not at all nervous this time because I have had good experiences the first two times and that has calmed me down a lot.

Hilarious

Ida showed me this video over 2 months ago but I cannot stop watching it. I think it is hilarious. It reminds me so much of our cat Tequila in the morning when she is hungry.

Feeling a bit better again

On Friday Emmy came to see me. It was nice. We had lunch together and were sat talking about everything that’s going on in our lives at the moment. I have not seen her in a while now and a lot of things have happened since we last saw each other.
In the evening me, Mike and some of his friends went to the cinema. We saw the film Inception. It was good, but a bit difficult to follow because the story was quite complicated. Mike (the smart one out of us two) had to explain it to me afterwards.

Yesterday I went to my moms. We were supposed to have gone to Kalmar to have a stroll around the market and to have dinner at a restaurant, but it was pissing down with rain so we decided not to go. Instead we ate take-away pizza and played some cards. Before dinner I had a nice, long, relaxing foam bath. Brilliant :)
Later in the evening I went to Linn and Marcus house. Ida, Martin and Soyho were also there. We played Chicago and Monopoly. The alcohol-free wine that I drank actually tasted a lot like real wine. I think I got a bit “placebo” drunk…hehe.


Today I have nothing planned. Me and Mike just got back from town. I went to see my mom and had a bath, after that we went food shopping at Willy´s. Now we are making dinner; chicken with curry sauce and rice. It is still raining so I guess we will put a film on afterwards and just keep chilling.
Tomorrow I am going to Växjö to see Susan. I feel much better now so I believe I will have the energy for a trip. It gets a bit boring to sit in the house all day, but when you don’t have the energy to do anything it is not possible to go anywhere.

Another visit to the hospital

Today I had to go to the hospital. The ward was full so I had to go to the emergency to see a doctor and take some blood tests. I have pain in my throat, it is swollen and it hurts. The doctor said that the white blood cells were low but that is normal when you get chemotherapy. If the pain gets worse I have to come back and get antibiotics.
I think that it is better to check things out at the hospital then to just leave it in case something is wrong.
After my trip to Kalmar I went to see Linn (and Marcus) for a while. Next time I go to their house I will definitely bring a bikini because their pool looked and felt (on my feet) great :)
Now I am going to eat my tea and watch Eastenders.
Tomorrow my plan is to go and see Emmy.

Sick of being sick

Now I am getting tired of this. I still feel rough. The pain in my body is not going anywhere. I have had this pain for a week.
Every morning when I wake up I have a horrible metallic taste in the mouth. Mucosal cells is affected by the poison, and it feels like I could easily bite holes on the inside of the cheek where the skin feels so thin.
I have a stomach ache constantly. I have emptied many prunes juice packs and hope that it will give way.
The feeling that I have in the body is much like fever was worse. It creeps and tingling all the way into the bone marrow. Since I do not move around that much, I also get a sore back and joints. Sometimes I feel like an old lady. These last days I have been taken paracetamol for the pain. I am totally exhausted and do not have the energy to do anything. Just the thought of having to climb the stairs at home in the house makes me sick. However, I have managed not to suffer so bad from nausea after the chemotherapy this time. But it is mentally challenging as well as a physical burden to feel so bad that you can not do things that you want, for example, go to the beach. But I suppose you are listed sick from work for a reason.
Today I will go to the Kalmar to retrieve my car that has been serviced at BMW. I will also buy some food for the newly defrosted fridge. Then I'll go to my mother´s place to have a bath. I have bought her a small gift to celebrate her "birthday". We usually celebrate her birthday on the 20:th of Jully instead because her birthday is on Christmas Eve.

This really makes me angry

This is a article that was printed in todays newspaper Aftonbladet.
Irresponsible people like this makes me really angry!
If you can´t take care of animals you should not have them. These cats were in so bad shape they had to be killed.
When you decide to take care of an animal, you have to know that they have needs and you cannot just treat it/them the way you feel like.

173 of them were killed
The woman had been warned by the provincial government:
Not more than nine cats.
She had 191 cats.
Police and the County Administrative Board in Stockholm were met by severe poverty, according to county administrative board's report after the visit at the home of the animal owner. Only after several attempts and with the help of the police had become the county administration goals against at home.
Several dead cats
The two buildings, one large and one small building in Botkyrka, survived the 60-year-old woman with her mother, sister and her 30-year-old son and the 191 cats. The cats sat and lay on the kitchen benches, tables, cabinets, on the floor, on chairs and windowsills. They found the feline, injured and sick cats and multiple cat boxes that were all full of feces and urine.
Transferred to new home
"It was a pungent odor of ammonia which affected the respiratory tract," writes Marie Lundin, welfare officer at the County Administrative Board of Stockholm.
173 of the cats were killed on the spot. The other 18 were recovered and taken to a shelter.
-? These people here really like animals and have a good heart. They consider themselves able to take care of them, but we are not really with them about it, "says Karina Burlin at the County Administrative Board in Stockholm.
A few times each year the County Administrative Board in Stockholm whistle on people who had built up a large number of pets so that both owner and animal suffering.
-? But this large number of animals is rare.

(Aftonbladet 100720)
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article7494295.ab

BMW 330 Ci

I am so, so happy! On Friday I bought myself a new car. I got a loan at the bank (my first ever) and went to Kalmar to have a look at a midnight blue BMW 330 Ci. I fell in love straight away. A few hours later I drove home in MY car!
I have had my old one (BMW 316i) for 3.5 yrs and it has not got AC. So it was about time I got myself a new car.

On Saturday we finally got some rain and a lot of thunder and lightning. It has been very hot for many days now so this rain was needed for sure.
I went for a drive around my moms place to show off the car. I also went to see Ida, we played some cards. The evening was spent in front of the TV with some films. I was too tired to join the girls for “wine-night”.

Today I have been totally exhausted. I have not managed to get off the sofa all day. My stomach hurts, my head hurts, my throat hurst…etc. It feels like I have fever. My body hurts. I am hungry but I feel sick. I hope these days go past quickly and that I will feel better soon so that I can go for a drive in my new car!

Second treatment of chemoterapy

This picture is taken at my last treatment, but it looked the same with the IV-drip feed.

Ida came with me to my second treatment of chemotherapy. Veronica came to visit at the hospital as a nice surprise, she brought sandwiches and juice. Excellent! My mom also came to visit. Ida bought us all ice-cream and we played cards. All in all, it felt more like a “party” than a hospital visit. Thanks mom and girls for keeping me entertained, it was fun!
I am about to go to bed now. I have not felt any sickness yet, but my doctor said that it is best that I take a tablet before bedtime just in case. I am just really tired now.
The result from the bone marrow test was ok by the way. No cancer cells there, but I do need to redo the procedure because there was something he needed to check again after all the treatment is done. I did not really understand what it was exactly but I will ask again next time I am there. I am not happy that I have to do it again because it was quite painful.
Before I went home I went to see the hairdresser quickly just to say –Hi, and to arrange for me to come in next week when I feel a bit better.

Nice day with many visits from friends and family :)

I have had a fantastic day today. I got up at 7.00 am in the morning and went to the local clinic for some blood test.
Annie came to visit me between 10.00 – 12.00 am, we were sat in the sun drinking coffee, eating cakes. She gave me these beautiful words to hang on the wall: Believe – Hope – Love.



After Annie left I started to clean out an area outside the house where I am planning to put a table and some chairs. It was hard work in the sunshine.
My cousin Erika and her family came over for a visit between 16.00 – 18.00 pm. We ate cakes and drank coffee too. I might gain weight if I continue like this :)




At 18.00 – 20.00 pm Susan came to visit me. We walked down to the lake with the dog, it was nice. This day has been excellent.
Now I am going to bed because tomorrow I have my second treatment of chemotherapy.

The lovely flower I got from work

Great day

Even though it has been really hot today as well (33C) I have not suffered so much today.
Carl has been here doing the windows on the houses and I have been running in and out the house doing things all day. I have not been sat down for long at all today.
Carl made me a nice tuna pasta salad for lunch and at 15.00 I went in to town.

Things I have managed to do today:
-Have a meeting at the bank.
-Have lunch with Mike at Dolce Vita coffee shop.
-Food shopping at Ica.
-Clean out the fridge properly.
-Meet up with Susan.
-Hoover the whole house.
-Pick up a present at my moms. (It was a nice flower and a diary from the people at work. So nice of them :)
-Spoke to Malin about school; I told her that we will not be able to write our final exam project (examensarbetet) together because I will probarbly have to do this term (aug-jan) in another six months instead.

I have so much more energy now than compared to the beginning of last week.
Last night I went inline skating for 25 minutes (!) in the evening and I also had a 25 minutes long walk with the dog. It was so nice to move my body and feel like “normal” for a while.
Yesterday Ida, Linn and Sofie came over around 18.00 for some coffee, cake and ice-cream. I got some nice presents of them and I nearly died with laughter when they got me a whole crate of Ramlösa Mango flavored water for me :)
Now it is finally raining a little bit outside, the grass really needed some rain. Hopefully the temperature will drop down to around 20-25C soon I hope. Then the weather will be ok and it will be easier to do things. There are so many people that suffer from this heat.