Gourmet Between

Apologies for the late posting of this blog entry.  I ran out of puff at the end of last week.  The gourmet between period in South Australia sapped my energy.  But, here now is the entry.

Gourmet in Sydney

Thursday 14 July Andy, a friend from Glebe Uniting Church days, dropped in for a morning visit after visiting his dentist.  He arrived with a numb mouth but left feeling more normal after sharing many stories and some humorous anecdotes.  Barbara and I felt uplifted by his visit.  It’s been good seeing Andy a few times this year.

Lunch was with our neighbours Joy and Graeme, which we enjoyed at Naggy’s on Glebe Point Road.  They make good lunches – so it was a touch of gourmet!

Friday morning I was up early to drink my barium drinks a half hour apart and be at Alfred Imaging at 8.30 am for my CT scan.  Well, I confess, I found this a bit of an ordeal.  Coming so soon after finishing the chemo, I felt the effects of the barium more strongly.  However, I had to have the CT scan then because we were in South Australia the next week.  At 11.30 am Katharine and I met at Pain de Sucre for coffee and cryptic crossword training.

Christmas in July in Sydney

Saturday night was our annual Christmas in July.  During the afternoon two of us played Scrabble and five of us walked around to the Blackwattle Café at Bellevue House on the Harbour.

By the harbour with Anzac Bridge behind

Barbara, helped by various Heyco’s produced a delicious turkey and wide selection of vegetables followed by a scrumptious collection of cheese and gourmet cakes.

We each received one gift (limit of $10) from one other person as our traditional way of present giving plus some unexpected ones.

Sunday we enjoyed yum cha (Chinese brunch) at Marigold Citymark on George Street, Sydney.  Thus ended our gourmet time in Sydney.  Time to fly to Adelaide for the main gourmet events.

Gourmet in South Australia

An engagement present from a relative of our third oldest fiancé's relative was a week in a home in Port Willunga.  Sunday afternoon six of us flew to Adelaide.  We picked up our Hertz Kia Carnival people mover and drove to the Adelaide Hills for our first night.  Barbara and I stayed with Nadyne (who was my personal assistant at Arthur Young from 1986 to 1989).

On Monday Nadyne showed us around Mount Barker where she displays artwork and teaches at a gallery. Then on to Hahndorf a famous German settlement town, where we visited the Hahndorf Academy where Nadyne does some of her artwork, followed by coffee in nearby Cafe Assiette.  Nadyne recently was awarded a prize for best picture at an art show. 

We then hooked up with the others at the Shaw and Smith Winery, enjoyed a wine tasting and purchased some pinot noir.

Then we went to The German Arms Hotel in Hahndorf for German food, after which we drove to Port Willunga.  My brother joined with us to Wednesday.

David with his trio of German sausages

Brothers sitting in the home at Port Willunga

Tuesday was our Adelaide day.  We drove to Glenelg a southern beachside suburb for breakfast, after which all the others caught the tram to the city while I drove the Kia and met them at the Adelaide Central Market, which operate Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays.  Barbara and I really liked them and they reminded us of the great markets we had seen in European towns. 

Meanwhile, the others walked around the city, shopped and ate and we all met up at 2.00 pm.  We enjoyed afternoon tea with my second cousin and her husband.  My brother had not seen them for thirty years and our children and partners met them for the first time.

Wednesday to Saturday we enjoyed the local area: enjoying coffees and Saturday Farmers Market in Willunga; dining and wine tasting in McLaren Vale winery area; on Friday the others travelled to Victor Harbour http://www.victoryhotel.com.au/ and Port Elliot while I had time off at the beach; Willunga and house; and dinners at the Victory Hotel and Star of Greece, and of course, enjoying the holiday house.  Our sons also played two rounds of golf on courses they thought were picturesque and challenging.  We assembled two jigsaws, enjoyed the slow combustion fire and consumed breakfasts, wine and other drinks, cheeses, dips, nibbles.

Around the town of Willunga and lunch at – d’Arenberg, Chapel Hill, Coriole, Pertaringa:

At Christina's Café

at Three Monkeys

At the Slate Museum

Sitting on a seat on High Stre

d'Arenberg lunch, my oysters

d'Arenberg lunch, my kangaroo

Chapel Hill Winery

Coriole Winery

Pertaringa Winery

Watching the wine tasters

Dinners at night - the Victory Hotel:

Saturday Willunga Farmers Markets:

Barbara with future in-laws

the honey store

Port Willunga jigsaw puzzle solving:

Sunday 24 July we flew home to Sydney.  We had all been ‘gourmeted out’ and were eating less food by the end of an active, enjoyable and entertaining week.  I felt very tired and remember looking at my clock at 6.36 pm as I got into bed.  I was asleep within a few minutes and slept well, which meant that I would be ready for chemo round 9!

Chemo Round 8

Last week and continuing this week I have a heavy cold that adds to coping with the chemo.  Having so many people in our home, I caught a cold.  At the doctor’s I got a script for antibiotics as the doctor thought I had a chest infection.  I also got some cough mixture.  These have helped but if I do not improve further, I will be back to the doctor tomorrow.

Last week, I seemed to lose the queasy feeling around Tuesday.  Previously, it has been the last few days before the next round of chemo that I have had none or little queasiness.  So, to not feel queasy for almost a week has been a real blessing.  Again I am aware of the impact of psychological feelings.  I felt queasy walking to the hospital on Monday.  This is not logical as the chemo did not start until late, after 1 pm.

I saw Dr Lisa around 11 am.  She was very pleased with my progress as indicated by the quality of the blood results.  I am having another CT scan this Friday and we will see how far I have progressed at round 9 of the chemo.  I asked Dr Lisa how many treatments I am scheduled – 12 or 13 and the answer is 12.  However, if all is going well and my reactions to chemo remain minimal she will go to 16.  Ugh!  I thought I was 2/3 of the way through but if it is 16 it is only half way through!  This I find a bit hard to contemplate, however, I know I will be alright if it does go to 16.

By the end of the afternoon, I was wishing to be home and not feeling like taking out the garbage.  I hoped that Barbara would take it out.  I arrived home after 6 pm and Barbara had taken it out.  I gave her a huge hug.  Soon, I had some soup that tasted delicious.  I am finding that I prefer to eat food before the chemo starts and then again when I am on the chemo bottle.  In the five hours of the first two chemos, I drink water and tea, eat a small packet of the Smiths Crisps and some sweet biscuits.  I told Barbara and my daughter about the potential 16 rounds of chemo and that I hoped my cancer would be cleared by the 12th round.  My daughter gave me a knowing look – signally this was unlikely – but it would be wonderful!

Another soup later in the evening followed by a tub of yoghurt of which Muggles gets the lid with an extra dollop and the cat and I were happy.  Two Law and Order episodes, ad free and back to back and I fell into a good sleep from around 10.30 pm.  Around 2 pm I awoke and had a coughing fit.  Barbara was up like a shot, concerned I might be sick but it was just congestion from my cold.  After a while I settled down and slept well until around 8 am.

Tuesday passed quietly.  Katharine’s third cryptic crossword training took place late morning at her place.

Wednesday I have felt quite queasy as the third day and tomorrow are usually the queasiest.  Additionally, the glorious sunny winter days have turned to grey and cold.  Barbara and I went out to Pain de Sucre for lunch.  Now, I am now chemo bottle free for 11 days and am rugged up, with the heater on, listening to Abba singing ‘Chiquitita’ (I have all of their 9 CDs and have been listening to them lately) while I am seated at the computer typing this blog entry.

On Being With People

In the initial part of the eleven days between chemo rounds I was especially productive from the Friday to the Sunday: updating a case study for the financial modules of the International Company Directors Course and doing some financial year end work for our business company and other matters.  But during this time, again for me, the value of being with other people struck home.  So that is what I am concentrating on.

Friday 1 July – late morning coffee with my daughter-in-law at Pain de Sucre, catching up on things – a spontaneous idea when seeing her at her computer while I was taking a break from my productive work.  Enjoying dinner at La Ricetta Italian Restaurant, which my daughter arranged to check it out for a dinner venue for her university colleagues.  The food was scrumptious and the company sublime being our family.

Saturday – coffee with my daughter-in-law lead to breakfast with my son at Naggy’s Cafe catching up on things.

Sunday – Katharine came round to discuss plans for the three of us joining Heron Airlines on a four day flying tour to Lake Eyre in September.  That evening we enjoyed dinner at our accountant Peter and Reyne’s place with one of their sons, daughter-in-law and granddaughter.

Monday – lunch with my daughter catching up on things, at the Grand Stand Sports Bar and Function Centre.

Tuesday – Harvey and Gabriella joined Barbara and I for lunch at our place.  They are longstanding friends from Petersham Baptist Church.  We talked of Hungary, Gabriella's home country and Budapest, which Barbara and I enjoyed so much last year on our European trip.

Wednesday afternoon – afternoon coffee with Katharine for her first cryptic crossword training lesson.

Thursday morning – Barbara and I went to a business meeting in Crows Nest.  I then enjoyed lunch at Barramundi Cafe in the city with Australian Institute of Company Directors National Office friends.

Friday late morning – cryptic crossword training lesson 2 with Katharine at Astor Espresso Cafe on Glebe Point Road.  Unexpectedly, around 1.30, Tim, Michelle, Natasha and Caleb dropped in to see how I am.  They were in town for one week of the school holidays and I am very glad they called in.  At night ESFNG came to our home for dinner and sharing.  Barbara had arranged the devotion to be sharing your favourite hymn.

Saturday – Lesley and Stephen came to our place for lunch and dinner.  In the afternoon we walked around to the Blackwattle Blackwattle Cafe at Bellevue House on the harbour where we met Katharine for afternoon coffee.  Back at our place, we discussed producing a quilt for our dining room wall.  Lesley is wonderfully artistic with her quilting.  Then it was dinner time!

Sunday – lunch with one of my cousins, his wife and her mother at their place.  Once back home, I was intending to go straight upstairs and update my blog.  But one of my sons was getting out the cheese and people were interested in afternoon tea.  So, the family sat around the dining room table enjoying late afternoon tea together.  Three of us played Scrabble and now I am updating the blog listening to Jazz on ABC FM Radio.

And so another eleven days between chemo rounds has passed.  I have enjoyed being with some of you, my family and friends in different places, doing different things and talking.  I have appreciated all of your love and care.  Thank you for spending time with me and letting me spend time with you.