First Indication That All Was Not Well - Cracked Rib Or Return Of Cancer?

I look back to June of last year and remember how excited hubby and I were at the prospect of living for a whole year in our favourite part of Ireland, Allihies in the Beara Peninsula, West Cork, with many return visits to family and friends in Dublin, of course. After all, we would be spending a lot of time with our son and beautiful daughter-in-law before and after the birth of their first-born.  We would become grandparents in August. Everything was set for the adventure of a lifetime, even the lambs in the nearby field seemed to share our joy.

Every day for the first three weeks we did as we always did in Allihies - went for two hour long walks across the rugged landscape and along the Ballydonegan shoreline.  One morning, on waking, I felt a fairly sharpish pain at the base of my right rib cage, definitely nothing to concern myself with, most likely a strain from all those rocky hills and climbing over the odd gate!  As time went by, the pain only presented itself every other day, definitely nothing to worry about.  Then, on the morning of Friday, June 28th, in considerable discomfort the thought flashed through my mind that this could possibly be the Breast Cancer spreading but immediately dismissed the idea, opting instead for a self-diagnosis of a cracked rib. Later that morning we decided that if the pain got any worse we'd head home on Sunday and have it checked out.  Saturday came and things weren't too bad, even had a G&T that night while watching the Rolling Stones strut their stuff at Glastonbury.

In the early hours of Sunday morning when trying to turn over in bed, it was so painful that I remained in the same position until finally waking at around 7.30am. The decision to head home was made when, even with the help of hubby, I screamed with every tiny movement as I tried to get out of bed. The five hour car journey was an absolute nightmare. Next day I would visit our GP.


Above image: Ballydonegan Bay, Allihies, taken by me, June 2013.


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Best Laid Plans....

My mother would always say "man proposes and God disposes" meaning, we make the plans but God decides the actions. Never has that been so true when, in June of last year, hubby and I made the life-changing decision to spend a large amount of our retirement years renting in Allihies, West Cork. As I mentioned many times before, we fell head over heels in love with this amazing little village the first time we visited back in 2001. Nothing could have prepared us for the bombshell that was to hit four weeks later - my breast cancer had spread to my rib-cage and spinal vertebrae, from neck to base of spine.

Having moved from our lovely rented bungalow in Skibbereen at the end of May to our gorgeous, proposed rental home in Allihies we decided that we'd like nothing more than rent this house for one whole year. I had so many dreams of having our family, including our first grandchild, and friends come visit us for long weekends, we of course, travelling back to Dublin every so often to visit them. This visit, would also for me, definitely include a spot of retail therapy!

Well, that's how these things go.  We're hoping my treatment will finish at the end of March and who knows, maybe this summer we may well return to Allihies for a couple of weeks, God knows, my hubby is in dire need of a holiday.

Just before I entered hospital at the end of August last year our beautiful grandson was born.  This little boy will never know how much he has contributed to my great improvement as shown by my MRI and CT scan in December. The love of my whole family, especially my beloved hubby and the constant contact and great love shown by our good friends has helped enormously in getting me through some really tough times, I can't begin to thank you all.

I'll be in touch very soon.......

Cheers!!!

Above image of me taken September 2013.

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