The 3rd & 4th; I'm kind of a big deal.
The 3rd of December.
I got up at 5.40 this morning, bleugh. Daddy and I went out in grim weather, and he dropped me off outside the hospital then went home to have his breakfast. I trundled off to Ambulatory Care by myself with my crochet, and set myself up for a long morning. A nurse checked me in and did my obs, then Sara came down to take my line out! I inhaled, held it, she pulled the line out, and I exhaled. This was all done by 8.35. I hadn't even got a wristband yet. Then I had to stay on my trolley for the next four hours because that's the protocol now, so I sat and crocheted. Made excellent progress! There wasn't anybody tremendously entertaining around today, but I did get to listen to a lot of nurse gossip as I was right next to their station.
Daddy came to pick me up at about 12.45, and I was very happy to have my lunch and more coffee. Then I spent the afternoon doing a bit more crochet, and I started American Horror Story: Coven on Netflix. I didn't like Murder House, but I have read through what happens in Coven and I think I can cope with it.
This evening, we had a nice surprise visit from Becky. Baby is growing nicely and moving around, but I didn't get to feel it yet. We're just looking forward to Christmas. Muppets Singalong!
The 4th of December.
Another trip to London! Anthony Nolan Christmas Carols at St. Pancras Church.
This morning, Mommy was at Fracture Clinic (for ages; they were running very late) and found out that her arm has not healed at all yet, which is frustrating. It's going to be closer to six weeks than four for her to be functional again. Silly bones.
While she was there, I got a little bit of crochet done so I reached the end of a section of her present, then I sat and watched Victoria Derbyshire, hoping the postman would come with the dye I needed to fix my hair before we had to go to the train station. Thankfully, he arrived just before lunch, so after we'd eaten, we went upstairs to the bathroom to paint the rest of my hair deep red and calm my worries of being perceived as a racist. It's only semi-permanent, but it will do the job until I want to change it again. Probably when it's my birthday.
Once I was happy with my hair, I got dressed in some festive attire and we went out to get our half past four train. I got a coffee to keep me awake, and we had a pleasantly uneventful journey to London.
The carol service was taking place in the church almost directly opposite Euston, so we didn't have far to go. Inside, we were offered mince pies (from Konditor and Cook no less!) and prosecco, and got to have chats with lots of people. We saw Lucy who let us know we had reserved spaces for the chair, and I talked to Bradley about being prepared for Christmas and how I am kind of a big deal, plus he was finally able to lend me a book we've been talking about for ages. We kept moving down the church, and suddenly someone came up behind me and grabbed my shoulders. They moved round in front of me but because they had a hat and scarf round their face, I couldn't tell who it was. Then the scarf moved, and I realised it was Aunty Hilary! Uncle Jeremy was there too, and so that was a lovely surprise. It is always nice to catch up with them, and it's great to be at an Anthony Nolan event with them because Jeremy couriers cells now. We are an excellent family. We got to our space, and sat behind me was Una Stubbs! She is a supporter, and was doing a reading of The Night Before Christmas. I had a brief conversation with her, and she is super cute, even asked me if I was warm enough. Plus she had very cool silver shoes on.
We did eventually had to get into our seats and shut up so the carols could actually take place, and it was great fun. We had the B Positive choir from BGT performing which definitely made it more enjoyable than your standard carol service. I recorded some of the songs, including the final chorus of Oh Come All Ye Faithful. I nearly did a cry during Rise Up, but managed to hold it together. A transplant patient called Jo spoke about finally getting normal Christmases after several in hospital, and I understood only too well. Christmas at home is the best.
Afterwards, I had a good long talk with Mohini about the Milibands and lung disease (amongst other things) and she introduced me to the choir leader. I wanted to talk to him to say how much I enjoyed them, and it reminded me of why I loved being in the gospel choir at school so much. We got to talking and it turns out that he leads the Birmingham Gospel Choir too, who are having an event on Saturday at the Town Hall and he invited me as a special guest! Isn't that kind? I'm very excited.
