he's down for a third nap (as is his dad) and I have a few minutes to try to catch up on my blog, my reading (gotta read getupgrrl every day as she's not publishing archives right now) and my "other" writing. ah, what would Virginia Woolf say?
lessee, cancer issues: conversations I imagine #1: when someone challenges me for using the "disabled" private change room at the pool and I explain to them that I'm using it so as not to shock other patrons with my disfigured chest, and that they should mind their own business in future. but no one ever does challenge me. either a) everyone is just getting on with their lives or b) people are more considerate than I realise. did I mention how many topless sunbathers there were in Thailand? I saw more breasts in public than I've ever seen in my life. not all perfect, mind you, not at all, some great, some old and floppy and fat. but all in pairs.
conversation #2: walking up to a smoker on the street, a feckless young gal with great skin and a fag in her hand, and explaining to her how chemotherapy feels, and how the dr at the hospital on Friday (I had a stomach bug and had to go in for blood tests, a drip, etc) pushed the needle right through my vein and out the other side.
and what the notes below are about: this article, by a religious anti-IVF, anti-female reproductive control idjut masquerading as a doctor and ethicist. I can pick them a mile off now. it's (free) subscription-only, so I'll give you a sample, much as I'm loathe to reproduce such rubbish:
"A study by David Dunson and his colleagues published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 2004 concluded that sterility did not increase with age. The authors found that even the most difficult demographic, the 35 to 39 age group, could still conceive within a two-year period in nine out of 10 cases. They just needed to relax and do what is naturally necessary to conceive."
yep, RELAX!!! aargh.
and finally, one thing I did in Thailand. we visited the Big Buddha on Koh Samui, where for 20 baht you can buy a brick for their temple and put your names on it. I put on my name, dh's, A's and a tiny dot. for the baby who may or may not be, but is still just a tiny dot right now.
(I also had aches in my armpits and a rare cry over the small matter of what's left of my right breast. but basically the holiday was not about sickness and very much about food, swimming and playing on the beach with A.)
