November Ups and Downs

There are times when it is difficult to think of anything to write in this blog. I certainly don’t want it to become dull and repetitive. November has been neither dull nor repetitive.

Tabby and Donella - star quality

Things kicked off on the first weekend of November  when Tabby and Donella took part in the “It’s good 2 give” fashion show. This took place in the performing arts centre at Stewarts Melville College – a great venue. Along with another 40 or so models, Tabby and Donella were assigned three fashion boutiques around Edinburgh and in the run up to the event attended each for fittings etc .

Receiving the plaudits

On the day of the Show, all the models had their hair done by   Charlie Millerand his team . For those of us expecting something out of the “Women’s Institute” – dream on. The show was glitz and glamour at its finest.    Organised by the wonderful  Lynne Mcnicoll, the show was hosted by Grant Stott – ably assisted by three girls who have all been on the Ward 2 Roller-coaster. All the models were affiliated to Ward 2 at the “Sick Kids” – either patients, family, staff or friends.  I was asked up on stage and interviewed by Grant Stott about Tabby, the last 12 months and “It’s good 2 give”.

"Hurry up Lynne!" (Only joking)

The show was terrific. It was so good to see so many patients and “ex – patients” taking part and at times was quite moving. Tabby looked wonderful in each of her  outfits – she and Donella seemed very at home on the cat-walk. In the last set, Tabby appeared in a lovely bridesmaid dress with a fur stole while Donella wore a show-stopping red glittery ball gown (apologies for inadequate fashion speak). She looked stunning.  It was hard not to break into a cheesy Chris de Burgh song (Lady in Red). It was even harder not to buy “that dress” for Donella. Anyway it was a great day – we had a ball.

Tabby and Kelly Brown, Scotland Captain

A week later, as the “orthopaedic” member of the medical team at the Scotland New Zealand rugby international, James Robson (team doctor) invited Tabby and me to a training session to meet some of the players. I picked Tabby up from school and we went along to Murrayfield to watch the last hour of a training session.  James had set this all up. Throughout the time players would come over and chat to Tabby and pause for a photo. At the end of the session 8 or 9 of the guys jogged across the pitch and presented Tabby with a signed Scottish Rugby jersey and an SRU fleece.  The biggest guys in the team, Al, Jim and Richie then picked Tabby up and put her on their shoulders – about 10 feet up in the air!  Tabby called them her “Gentle Giants”.  It was good fun and I am pleased to report that Tabby was nearly as excited as I was!

Nick, Mike, Jim, Richie and Al

I would like to thank James and all the guys who took the time to come and have a chat with Tabby and have a photo. You could never meet a nicer bunch of people who train so hard and are so keen to help out. The recent Autumn Series results and loss of their coach seems scant reward for all their hard work. Keep it going lads!

Proof that I am as tall as Richie Gray

Tabby continues to work hard at school and really enjoys her after school clubs. Her favourites are “Funky Fitness” and “Street Dance”.  She is also in the choir. In fact P3 will be singing “Silent Night” in German in the carol service. Last week, Tabby found the music on her I pod and we discovered her practicing in her bedroom. She sounded truly angelic. At times one almost forgets that Tabby is still in the middle of her chemotherapy – until the week of steroids that is. Last week we certainly witnessed a short fuse of frustration against a background level of general grumpiness!  When the steroids stop she is back to our usual Tabby. Over the last month her appetite has been poor. Big on carbohydrate and low on protein. She told me recently, that meat and sausages now taste like pooh. I believe this is a common complaint with those on chemotherapy and not a reflection of Donella’s cooking.  At the moment her diet comprises chicken and “Nutella”.

As a consequence of her chemotherapy, Tabby’s neutrophil count has continued to decline. In fact her mercaptopurine and methotrexate was stopped a fortnight ago to allow some recovery. Despite that, Tabby awoke on Tuesday morning with a high temperature. Bags packed, Donella and Tabby were off to the “Sick Kids” again. She is now back in her usual room in Ward 2.   After 3 days we still have not found the bug and suspect it’s a virus. Her temperature is coming down although with the occasional spike of pyrexia to keep everyone on their toes.  At the moment, Tabby has no neutrophils – none  whatsoever- it seems. So at the moment she is on high doses of intravenous antibiotics until her temperature comes down and she grows a few more neutrophils.  

Just when you think everything is running smoothly!

Finally, this evening Tabby popped out of  Wd 2 briefly to deliver a quiz sheet to “Radio Lollipop”. Fifteen minutes later, she still had not returned. Donella went to investigate and found her in the “Radio Lollipop” studio being interviewed – live on air! She was on air for ten minutes talking about herself, her family, the cats and favourite holidays. The only thing she didn’t do was plug her new book. Next week she will be appearing on Parkinson and Jonathon Ross.

Donella has spent the last 3 nights in hospital with her and I will take over on Friday. I hope Tabby gets out soon because we are off to see the Pantomime “Mother Goose” at the Kings next week!

Here’s hoping for a Christmas Tabby  and all of us can enjoy. Christmas blog to follow

 

Merry Christmas,

 

The Lawsons

Happy Halloween!

The “Tabby News” blog is still going strong. Posts are now monthly – hopefully to reflect fewer ongoing trials and tribulations as Tabby progresses through her maintenance therapy. 

 

At the start of the month, Donella and I were invited to Carol’s  “Sound of Music” **th  birthday party.  All guests had to dress on a “Sound of Music” theme. Tabby and  I watched the film and decided upon  “These are a few of my favourite things”. Although I wore the outfit I think you will agree that Tabby looks  pretty cool as a “Brown paper parcel wrapped up with string”.

Later that weekend, we went through to Glasgow to see the recently opened “Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome”. It is just one part of a multi-sport complex and will be a wonderful  venue for the Commonwealth Games. I am not sure any of us have been converted to track cycling -  the arena has to be kept at a constant high temperature and the banking at either end is pretty steep. I think I would be too slow and simply slide down to the floor of the arena.

The following week, Tabby was invited to Libby’s party at “Kiss the Fish” in Stockbridge. She had a wonderful evening of grafts and decopatch.

Despite all that has happened over the last 10 months, Tabby has never lost her determination and competitive nature. The final swimming lesson before half-term at David Lloyd finished with a race for all the children having lessons on a Saturday morning  -“A float of your choice and 2 lengths of the pool”. Yes, you guessed it.  Having just returned to swimming lessons, Tabby dug in and won. She had the biggest smile of the week.  What can you say?

On 15^th October, Donella and I took a flight to Nice and spent 3 days in the village of Eze on the cote d’azure for a short break. What about Tabby? Auntie Anne and cousin Rory kindly came down from Wick to “Tabby sit”. They all went o see the new “Madagascar” movie in 3-D. Tabby says, “It was so much better than great!” Thankyou so much to Anne and Rory for keeping an eye on Tabby while we were away .

Last weekend, Tabby and Donella went to a fashion show rehearsal. They, along with a few others, are both modelling clothes from a variety of shops and boutiques around Edinburgh.  This is being organised by Lynne McNicoll’s “It’s good 2 give” charity. There has been a lot of swaggering up and down the hall as they practice their “cat-walk” walk. Thankfully, we have not yet had any Naomi Campbell-esque tantrums. As someone with negligible dress sense, I am relieved to report that I have not been invited to take part. I will report back in the next blog as to how things go – unless “Hello” or “Harper’s and Queen” get there first.

Halloween has come  - and gone. Tabby, with Donella’s help made a wonderful pumpkin lantern. Despite that, we had no “Guisers” at all last night. I reckon the  Halloween decorations at the front door scared everyone away

 

 

Thanks everyone for reading the blog

 

Tha Lawsons

"Pedal 4 Paul" special

Once again, a bit of a delay since the last blog post. This is good. No news is good news. As I reported on the most recent post, Tabby is now on her Maintenance Chemotherapy. This is a more predictable regime of 4 weekly cycles. Week one consists of daily steroids then after week 2 a day in hospital, general anaesthetic and more spinal chemotherapy. The rest of the time is daily mercaptopurine – and some other stuff.  Tonight, for example, Tabby had  a total of 10 tablets to swallow. I am amazed how she does it. Lastly she had to swallow 5ml of some syrup. Having taken it I told her she had to jump up and down quickly.

“Why am I jumping up and down Dad?”

“Because I forgot to shake to bottle!”   - The old ones are the best?!?.

Two weekends ago we were given 2 tickets to see the ballet, “Cinderella” at the Festival Theatre.  These were donated by a local charity. Donella took Tabby and they both really enjoyed the event.

The big event of the last few days was the Glasgow – Edinburgh cycle ride. A few friends and I joined the “Pedal 4 Paul” team raising funds for the charity “It’s good 2 give” . The evening before the event, Tabby and I went to a bar-b-q to get our team tee shirts and a banner to put at the bottom of our driveway. Our house is actually on the cycle route. Lynne, the Founder of the charity asked Tabby what other  goodies would she like to have in the ward fridge apart from juice, fruit and fromage frais. Tabby replied, “raw carrots, humous, pepperami, cheese strings and a beer for Dad”.

Tabby and Paul's banner

The next morning, having put up the banner at the bottom of our driveway we all set off for Glasgow.  We arrived at Glasgow Green at 8am, joined the queue to start and set off on our bikes at 9.15. The first 10 miles were chaotic – lots of traffic, traffic lights and 9,000 other cyclist. We stopped at Avonbridge where we met up with Donella and Michelle, who were also doing the ride but had decided to avoid the “Official start” at Glasgow Green. At Linlithgow we stopped and met up with Paul’s  mum, Ruth, albeit arriving an hour or so later than we had planned.  In exchange for muffins, Ruth got a hug from 5 sweaty cyclists. When we arrived at Kirkliston, our banner was still up and we were met by Tabby, Olivia , Ewan, Sean and sister in law Ruth who plied us with Champagne and Pizza -so much better than Gatorade and energy gels. 

Ruth, Tabby, Sean, Olivia and Ewan

After the champagne, the next 10 miles to Edinburgh drifted past – almost effortlessly.  We finished up at Murrayfield Stadium and met up with Lynne and the gang once more.  When we got home, I found Donella making tea and coffee for other “Pedal 4 Paul” team members who were still cycling through Kirkliston. All in all, it was a great day in so many ways and thankyou to all of you who sponsored me and my pals with our current total creeping up to £3,000.

Tabby’s hair has continued to grow back. It has not come back red although when I picked her up from school today in the pouring rain, it was all spikey.  With a set of dungarees, she would be the spitting image or “Oor Willie”

No harm trying things out!

At the moment, Tabby is doing pretty well, she is back at school, has returned to Sunday school and is back at her swimming lessons. She wanted to play tennis today, but we are well aware that she is a bit thin and finds long walks and stairs a challenge and really cannot run because of leg pains and muscle wasting. I am sure it will all comeback. Anyway, as things go I plan to reduce blog posts to a monthly post which, I hope,  will reflect a less eventful few months ahead.

Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to the poor chap, who I overtook on the cycle run as we approached the Cramond Brig. Seeing this bloke on his bike wearing a green padded suit I thought he was a “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle”.

“Hey are you Donatello or Leonardo?” I called out as I breezed past.

“Naw, ye ejit. Ah’m the Incredible Hulk”. Concerned I may have made him angry, I accelerated away.

Al, Johnnie, Angus, Tabby, Me (Cycle shorts issue!) & Derek

As ever, thanks for reading,

The Lawsons

Back to School and "Street-Dance"

I have to admit it has been a while since my last post on this blog. My apologies.  I am pleased to report a gradual improvement in things generally. The most obvious thing is the reappearance of Tabby’s hair. At first it was a light downy covering – a bit like stroking a peach, quite blonde as well. Today Tabby’s hair is looking a bit thicker - almost kiwi fruit-esque. However, there are a lot of red-heads on Donella’s side of the family, so I am concerned the next look may be a coconut if we continue the fruit analogy!

Ready for a Bar-b-que at St Andrews



In for a top up

Along with her hair, Tabby’s appetite has also started to re-emerge. Two weeks ago we went up to St.Andrew’s to get the keys for Olivia’s flat for 2^nd year at university. We had lunch at an outdoor Bar-b-que restaurant and Tabby devoured a whole medium-rare sirloin steak.  Ironically her blood results later that week were still a bit low, so we were back at the “Sick Kids” for a top up transfusion. As ever Tabby was very jolly and chatting to patients and nurses  in the ward. One dad told us that his daughter was back in the ward with a temperature and a cough and the Doctors had diagnosed  the common “rhinovirus” as the cause.  To which Tabby replied “Does that mean she has grown a horn?” Her wit was too quick for us Dads. I think her blood transfusion was donated by a comedian. That weekend, Tabby had a “Sleep-over” at her friend Ruby’s house. It was the first time in ages that Tabby has had a night away. Tabby loved going to “Yo Sushi”

Last Wednesday, Tabby was due to have more chemotherapy but – you guessed it -  her blood count was still too low. Yet another delay. Instead she had her first day of Primary 3. The highlight so far has been the “Street –Dance” lessons. She comes home to show us what she has been taught. I have to say she is certainly throwing down some crazy shapes (I think that is what you are supposed to say).

Ready to start Primary 3

Last weekend went well. On Saturday morning I took Tabby back to her swimming lessons at the David Lloyd. It was really good to see everyone there again and the instructors made Tabby really welcome. They had often been asking how she was getting on.  This was her first lesson since December 5^th last year when she was too cold and tired to finish the lesson....  Anyway, she is in the same group as Poppy once more and by the end of the lesson was thrashing around the pool along with everyone else. Whatsmore, I didn’t get criticised on my ability to tie Tabby’s hair into bunches or a pony tail afterwards as I usually do.

That afternoon, Tabby and I went to a bar-b-que at Richard and Julie’s cottage in St Abbs. After a wonderful  lunch, we all trooped down to the beach to run on the sands, explore rock pools and paddle in the sea. Then back to the cottage for pudding.  It was the sort of afternoon Enid Blyton would write about in the “Famous Five”, although lashings of ginger beer were replaced with just lashings of beer! When we got back to Edinburgh (7pm) Tabby and I joined Donella at John and Felicity’s Lunchtime drinks party.  With an impromptu disco, Tabby was back in there with more of  her “Street Dance”.

On Sunday morning, Tabby went to Sunday School, where Ewan is currently a “Sunday Club” helper. At this point, we would like to thank everyone in Sunday Club for their lovely “Get well” cards and presents. Tabby loves them and has shown them to everybody.

As I mentioned in the last blog, a group of us are taking part in the Glasgow to Edinburgh cycle ride as team “Pedal 4 Paul” to raise funds for our local childhood cancer charity “It’s good 2 give”. With a bit of luck, hopefully we will have a bit of a tailwind from the west! If you would like to sponsor me, I have set up a sponsorship website via the link below:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GRAHAMLAWSON

If you see any of us cycling past on Sunday 9^th September give us a cheer. Alternatively visit the link above to see what we are doing.

Finally, Tabby started her “Maintenance Chemotherapy” today. Although it goes on for around 80 weeks (yes 80 weeks), it means that her high dose, Intensive Chemotherapy regime is now behind her.  We reckon this is a bit of good news. I know that it is a “school day” etc but suspect we will join Tabby in a quiet toast to herself and the Staff of Ward 2. Who knows?  We may even do some “Street Dance”!

 

As always, Thank you for reading this blog.

 

The Lawsons

 

Brave

Following the hiccups and stutters of the last few weeks, we now appear to be back on an even keel.  Although Tabby made an excellent recovery from her shingles, her blood count remained too low for her to resume her chemo – so another week’s delay.  We are now back on the “Delayed Intensification Regime” albeit more delayed than originally planned.  Another three weeks of this then we move onto “Maintenance Therapy”.

Tabby and Mischief the cat

The weekend before last,  we all took the train to Glasgow to meet  Donella’s  sister, Grace  with  John, Hannah and Andrew who had flown over from  Los Angeles to come to the Olympics.  It puts us to shame insomuch they have travelled 6,500 mile to see the games and we did not even manage the 300 miles or so from Edinburgh. Oh well, next time!?!?  Anyway, Grace works for Mattel ( The Barbie people) as Vice President of H.R and presented Tabby with a unique gift – “Ella”, Barbie’s friend who  has had chemotherapy and has no hair.  As you can imagine she does have an assortment of wigs and scarves. I believe it was produced at the request of the CEO of Mattel  in response to a friend’s situation.  It seems that Tabby’s “Ella” is the first one in the UK. These will be produced in greater numbers next year  but only available to charities and children in hospital. I think they both look great.

Tabby and Ella

We had a wonderful day in Glasgow.  Even the rain held off – almost.  We then got the train home and slept soundly until we got home.  Tabby always enjoys a train ride – as does her Dad

Bald on bald

 The Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe have now kicked off.  Donella took Tabby and her friend Poppy to see  “Mr Brown.... and his singing Tiger”. I think they enjoyed it.  Tabby is going to see some more shows over the next few days  with Poppy and Ruby.

On Sunday, Tabby and I were back at the “Sick Kids” for the 4^th consecutive day of Cytarabine injections. We had planned to go for a cycle afterwards but you will remember that the weather on Sunday was awful. Instead we went to the Disney shop! Sadly I could not find anything my size but Tabby found  pretty cool outfit - Princess Merida from "Brave". Next week we are going to watch “Brave” the new Disney film which is about a brave wee Scottish princess called Merida who did not want to conform – or behave like a princess.  Need I say more?  Tabby is even more brave than “Brave”.

Princess Tabitha

On Sunday 9^th September, a  team of us  will take part in the Glasgow – Edinburgh Cycle run to raise funds for our charity “Its good 2 give”. We are “Team Pedal for Paul”.  I have set up a fundraising website so that if anyone reading this blog would like to sponsor me for the ride. The link is:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/GRAHAMLAWSON

Your donation will go to an extremely good cause – a charity that has helped us and hundreds of families like us to cope with childhood cancer.

I now have a month to grow my Bradley Wiggins sideburns.

As ever, thankyou for reading this blog,

The Lawsons

Strawberries and Kandinsky

What else do you do with blue rubber gloves?

Having signed off the last blog, I packed my bag and the following morning swapped with Donella and stayed with Tabby in her side room in ward 3 at the Sick kids for the next 4 days. I have to say it was really nice spending time with her – playing games, watching films, painting and drawing – without distractions like work. Whatsmore I didn’t spill or drop a bedpan all week!

It was not easy to get a full night’s sleep. Tabby has her temperature, pulse and blood pressure checked regularly. Her infusion pump of the anti-viral medicine “Acyclovir” and iv fluid drip are constantly adjusted and re-charged with the pump often alarming if there is a blockage or a bubble in the system. Tabby was obviously  far more accustomed to it than I and seemed to sleep through all of this. As ever the staff of ward 3 were wonderful .

Tabby was such a good wee patient – effectively isolated in her room and being “barrier nursed” because of her infectious shingles. This meant she stayed in her room for 9 consecutive days. I don’t think she ever complained. I am happy to say that things have moved on since the days of the notorious isolation ward “toast diet”:

Patient: “Nurse, I’ve had toast for breakfast, beans on toast for lunch and egg on toast for supper. Why do I get so much toast every day?”

Nurse: “Because that’s all we can slide under the door!”

I was able to creep out in the evenings for some fresh air – at the “Earl of Marchmont”. Very therapeutic and a chance to reflect on the day's events!  Tabby was finally allowed home on Tuesday now taking her acyclovir as a tablet. Because of these unexpected events, yet again, her chemotherapy regime has been delayed.

"I can even wear it"

Tabby fell asleep in the car on the way home. Then, having arrived home burst into tears. Her tears, however were short lived thanks to a special present waiting for her. Stuart and Susan from Cheshire sent Tabby her very own Candy-Floss Machine. It is great. Tabby and Ewan have used it nearly every night since it arrived. There is, however, definitely a knack to it. Most evenings we have clouds of pink candy floss wafting across the kitchen.

On Friday we became tourists. Donella, Tabby and I went on an open top bus  tour of Edinburgh. This was the only afternoon of warm summer weather we have had for a while. It was good fun, something we had been meaning to do with Tabby for ages. To complete the tourist day we then went to the National Gallery and (at Tabby’s request) went round the “Van Gogh to Kandinsky” exhibition. Tabby had been learning about  Kandinsky at school and thought it was pretty cool to see the real thing! We then had Afternoon tea in the Gallery restaurant - a fine day out.

Discussing symbolist landscape painting in Europe 1880-1910

After everything that has gone on over the last few weeks – including 9 days bed rest, Tabby told us that following an afternoon of playing with her  friend Danielle, her legs were really quite tired and sore. On Friday, in Prince’s Street gardens she tried to run to chase Donella. She looked like she had just run a marathon – which I suppose is what she is doing every week.

Yesterday, Olivia and Ewan took Tabby to Craigie, Farm nearby, to go Stawberry picking. Despite the picture, they did come home with an awful lot of strawberries. They all made strawberry cup-cakes. I could not say who’s were the best.

Tomorrow is a new week. Blood tests on Monday, intrathecal methotrexate under G.A and cylcophosphamide infusion on Wednesday, daily infusions of cytarabine Thursday to Sunday. Hopefully we will be back on course to finish off “Delayed Intensification no.1” as soon as possible.

I am now trying to get back into training for the Glasgow to Edinburgh Cycle ride in September which I am doing for our local charity “Its Good 2 Give”.  By the next post, I hope to have set up a sponsorship website (should you wish to contribute). In the meantime I’ll get back onto the turbo-trainer although watching repeats of “Inspector Morse” at the same time may not have a major effect on increasing my aerobic capacity.

Thanks for reading,

The Lawsons

Shingles and Spells

It has certainly been a hectic two weeks since the last blog update. You will remember that Tabby had been a little under the weather but seemed to be getting back to her old self. Two Saturdays ago, friends, Juliet and Sean hosted a Wimbledon themed charity afternoon tea. Loads of wonderful cakes and sandwiches and games and puzzles to play. Great fun in aid of “Its Good 2 Give” and “Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund”. Lots of money raised and still counting.

"How many tennis balls in the box?"

That evening, Donella and I had been invited out to dinner. Tabby had earlier complained of a sore ear. Before we left we checked her temperature - 38.6 C . Cancel dinner (5 minutes notice – sorry Mark and Kelda!) and off to the “Sick Kids”. In A&E until 10pm then back to wd 2. It is testament to the staff of Wd 2 at the “Sick Kids” that Tabby is never obviously upset at being re-admitted to the ward – old friends, great nurses and respite from those bumbling amateurs Mum and Dad. As ever, Donella stayed in Hospital with Tabby.  Ewan and Olivia sadly are never impressed with my home cooking.

Ewan with a day's supply of chicken nuggets

During Tabby’s hospital stay, the hospital radio station – “Radio Lollipop” held a competition for the best spell in “Sick Kids Magic Week”.  Given that Tabby has not yet relinquished her two loose front teeth, we concocted the “Loose Tooth in ma Mooth” spell and sent it in.  More later. Tabby had high dose iv antibiotics for three days then home on tablets. Oh well!  We had expected Tabby to be vulnerable to infections resulting in admission such as this to hospital from time to time. This was the first time after six months of chemo. Because of this episode her next round of chemo was postponed.

When Tabby returned home we noted she had a couple of red patches on her foot – a bit sensitive but not looking like an infection. Late on Saturday night (4days ago) the red patch developed a blistered “vesicular” appearance. Even an Orthopaedic surgeon can recognise shingles! Sunday morning  and we are back to A&E at the ”Sick Kids”. By this time not only were the lesions very painful and sensitive but she also had lesions on her knee and thigh. With a contagious condition Tabby was not admitted to Ward 2 with all those immuno-compromised children.

We are now in Ward 3 . The bad news is she is in a side room and not allowed out until the lesions have healed. The good news is that for the first time we can get mobile phone reception! Tabby is now on high dose iv Acyclovir through her “Wiggly”. This can be a bit rough on her kidneys so she also has a lot of iv fluids as well, which means a pee every hour or so – or so it seems. Her neutrophil white cell count was rock-bottom and probably  explains the onset of Shingles.

Last night he people from Radio Lollipop came up to ward 3 and told us that Tabby had won the “Spell” prize. They gave her a certificate and a  balloon craft game and read out her spell over the hospital radio.  She even had a request played over the radio - not that I had ever heard of the song she asked for. Tabby was absolutely delighted.

As you will see our first 2 weeks of school holidays has really not gone as we had anticipated. Despite 2 hospital admissions and the pain of shingles, Tabby’s mood has never faltered. Funny, inquisitive, cheeky and verging on the manic – she has really kept us going. Tomorrow heralds a change of plan. Up until now, Donella has stayed in hospital at night with Tabby – sleeping on a camp bed in her room.  I guess it’s my turn now. After I finish writing this, I am off to pack my bag - lap-top, videos for Tabby and me, fruit, sweets and sensible pyjamas. I hope I don't snore too loudly.  I may have the odd stroll to the “Earl of Marchmont” if all goes well – simply for a breath of fresh air of course.

Yet more trivial pursuits

 As ever, thank you all so much for reading this blog and a special thanks to everyone for their good wishes and support.  

 The Lawsons