End of year 0, 3 more to go

Well my little bloglets,

I know it has been a while since I posted and I know that I have loads to mention, but its 10pm and nearly this crazy girls bedtime.  Also I have a sore throat threatening and REALLY don't want to be ill, so hopefully an early night will knock it on the head.  I have also been main lining ginger, lemon and honey tea in the hope it will do magic things.  I also accidentally swallowed a rather large piece of ginger this morning and if anyone is ever feeling cold, swallow ginger, it will warm you up like you wouldn't believe it!!

So what else, exams are over YAAAY!!!  They were also much better than I thought they would be, so hopefully I have passed...I could answer every questions, maybe not well, but I could put something down for each of them, so that must mean something.  Also as I have passed all the other parts of the courses I only need to get 30% to pass.  Surely I have done that.....results by mid June so will let you all know.

On the results note, I had my check up last week.  Platelets still up, I think they were 112 or 114 so that's good. The Leukaemic rate was also the same ish.  It had gone up slightly to 0.022% but I was assured that in the grand scheme of things, it's the same as 0.017% so was ok with that.  I have also lost, wait for it......a whole kilo, yes, 2.2 pounds so all the running I have been doing, and I actually have been doing it rather than saying I'm going to do it, is beginning to pay off.  A couple of days ago I re-read the last few blog postings and noticed that in everyone I was pissed off about my weight and in every one I said that I was gong to start running that week.  Well this time I can tell  you that I have. Woop!  Hopefully next time a few more kilos will have gone by the next check up in 5 weeks as I'm going away really quite soon and will be in a bikini in at least one destination.  Actually, having realised that, it's celery only from tomorrow!!!

Job hunting begins tomorrow, yuk.  It was meant to start today, but not long after I woke up I got a text from a friend of mine, Bags who is in the army to say he was in London so we have a really fun day together.  We also both share a very dark sense of humour.  Mine from cancer, his from being in the army and having done a tour in Afghanistan, so spend a lot of our time together saying very, very wrong, but very, very funny things.  We also spent about 2 hours playing in Hamleys which was amazing.  There is also a life size toy camel called Lou  Lou for sale.  It's only £1800, so if anyone wants to buy it for me, don't hold back!

Another video is up on jimmyteens:
http://jimmyteens.tv/2011/05/katie-ruane-video-blog-9/

I of course think it's AMAZING so go and have a look.

On the jimmyteens note, apparently my last camera was corrupted...and NO.  Not by my face, thanks everyone for thinking that, so I got a new one.  It's very pretty and white and matches my iPhone and iPod so I'm so happy about that!!!  I've just realised I haven't sworn yet, fuck!  Ok, that feels better now.  I will be doing another film tomorrow as I haven't done one in fucking ages.

Through jimmyteens and this blog a girl has contacted me who was also diagnosed with CML when she was 22 and has told me that she finds what I do very helpful which is nice to know.  And yes, I did have a bit of an 'fine, I'm not special any more' strop and I KNOW that that's me being utterly ridiculous.  But when you get used to being the only person you know with what you were diagnosed with, it can be hard to find out there are others.  Unfortunately for her, she hasn't been as responsive to the treatment as me, so might have to have a bone marrow transplant.  And I'm a bit jealous of that.  I know that you will all think I'm mental for saying that, I do have my reasons.  If I'd had one, I would be completely 100% cancer free now and not on the arsing drugs everyday and not going to the hospital every 6-8 weeks etc etc  So yes, part of me, and maybe a big part of me wishes I'd had one, and the other knows how lucky I am.  It's a fucking difficult place to be.  I hope that I can be supportive to her through this and pass on what I have learnt through my cancer journey.  That's what I hope with everyone actually, regardless of their health and if they've been diagnosed or not.

So fairly self indulgent rant over.

I haven't mentioned my beloved TCT yet.  Am bucketing for them on Thursday after an Elbow gig which I think is happening at St. Pauls Cathedral.  I don't have tickets to see it, but hopefully some lovely person who works there will read this and smuggle me one...

I've also joined twitter, so if you want non stop 'me' updates, I'm at @kgruane
I shall also tweet about bucketing and see if I can blag a ticket that way.  I will let you know!

So what else?  Masses I'm sure.  Have basically got my trip sorted now.  Just need to plan my time in New Zealand and get my Indonesian Visa and I'm done.  Just need to get to the places and start doing whatever I'll be doing.


My amazing bootie slippers really smell - I can smell them even though I'm sitting at my desk with my feet on the floor, but they aren't machine washable and am worried that hand washing them will ruin them.  I suppose if it does, it shouldn't matter as I should throw them away anyways, but they are SO comfy and I LOVE them.  Not entirely sure why I am sharing this with you.  It probably means I have started rambling and should go to bed.

I will be back before anything of interest happens if I remember anything else I should have mentioned.

Lots of love, laughter and smiles, and let me know if you need a temp from now until the beginning of July,
XXX