Personal style as a tool to feel better

 

Hello friends,

Here I am heading out for family dinner at my aunty’s place ❤️💙

I love red with blue denim! Although it was so rainy and chilly - NOT like summer at all - that I got to wear my new burgundy/plum/oxblood ankle boots earlier than planned.

I have been stalking these boots since I saw them at the end of last winter and got them on sale after Christmas (recuperating at home by online shopping 🤣) and now have them ready for my autumn wardrobe.

I felt like journalling about a capsule wardrobe this morning and then was inspired to create a summer capsule, 21 pieces as per chapter 5 of my book 'The Chic Closet'.

I decided on a blue and white theme incorporating denim and navy, and then added a touch of sand/gold/beach to warm things up.

I came out with a good selection of jeans, tops/blouses, trousers and dresses, and ended up at 27 pieces which I am happy with. I have a good selection to choose from and am excited to get to wear my 'new' capsule collection even though I didn't buy anything. It feels new to me!

And in other news, I am getting back to myself. Still moving very slowly, not driving for a bit, maybe for another week or two. I am the diva passenger being chauffeured around 😊 Paul mostly takes me places and my mum has too.

I thought it was funny, my 78-year-old mother driving me to the library instead of the other way around. I often see older ladies being walked around the supermarket with one of their children helping them get their groceries. Instead it’s me getting the help 😊

And I meet with the oncology doctor next Tuesday to discuss chemo. It’s all so surreal! Like I’m watching this happen to someone else. Perhaps it’s healthy to have a sense of detachment and unreality…

In any case, I just have to keep telling myself it’s all preventative, the cancer is gone now. And if I have to grow some new hair it’s a small price to pay for future safety.

Thank you again for the continuing emails and messages, I truly appreciate them.

xx Fiona

PS. ‘The Chic Closet’ on Kindle, in paperback, and audiobook too here at my Amazon affiliate link here. 
 

 

My lab results - if you are interested :)

{Beautiful flowers delivered by a kind neighbour 💚}

 

Hello friends,

I have news! It's mostly good 😊

First off, from my lab results this week, the surgeon got all the cancer and the margins were clear, plus there was nothing in my lymph nodes. I am very happy with this, as you can imagine.

However, the tumour, though small, was grade 3, which is the most aggressive kind. I'm just so lucky it was picked up on a routine mammogram as I wouldn't have known it even existed otherwise.

So the cancer is all gone, but because of the grade, as a preventative measure for the future, I will likely have chemotherapy as well as radiation. I'll meet with our hospital's oncology department in a month or so once I am fully healed from surgery.

Apparently the chemo is done in six doses over four months, every three weeks or so.

Then radiation. Then hormone treatment (medication).

So. It's still big and I am trying not to focus on all of that. I am trying to keep bringing my mind back to healing, calmness, living in today, no cancer present anymore, and the surgery is behind me.

I haven't been writing much but I've been journalling, and reading (two books a week currently!) I would love to put my experience into a book because I think it would be helpful for others in my position to read. Or even if someone has a friend or family member going through a similar thing.

It's all very surreal though. But, it's like anything in life, you deal with it as it comes up. You go to appointments and do what needs to be done and put one step in front of the other. Just follow the path that thousands of other ladies have been on.

There are lots of things to be grateful for, and the lab results showed that my kind of cancer was the hormone positive/HER negative type which is the most common, and they know how to treat it.

That's what I was told: it is 'serious but treatable' so I just have to trust that. My surgeon also said that the grade 3/chemo news is 'a tiny negative'. If I have to have a negative, tiny is good.

Keep well my friends, and I wanted to update you. I so appreciate all the kind messages, emails, and comments. More than you can ever know 😊

xx Fiona

Rest and recovery - apparently it's necessary :)

 

Hello friends :)

Popping in for a little update! It’s now 2.5 weeks since my surgery, and I have to be honest, it’s harder than I thought it would be.

I expected to be feeling back to normal by now, but I’m not. Every day is hard. Sometimes hard-hard and sometimes easy-hard.

I’ve had setbacks such as a big bleed while Paul was at work last week, and the pain has been okay some days and quite uncomfortable on others.

So yeah, not the cheeriest of posts, but it is what it is. I’m learning to be patient, go with it, rest a lot and just... wait.

My dad always said never to wish my life away so I’m trying not to!

This is a really important time for anyone who has had surgery, the healing time, so I need to remember that and not conveniently forget and think I’m okay to drive (that was a mistake), or go for a walk around the park (also not good).

Even though I am a relaxed and calm person (or I try to be), I am also someone who is always on the go, so it feels strange to do... nothing.

But nothing is what I must do, along with hydrate, get good nutrition, and move a little sometimes (I’m still walking laps of our house multiple times a day). 

 

 

 

I know this too shall pass, like any difficult time, and by not fighting it now, I will make it easier for myself later on. Because that’s what I was doing in my mind, fighting what is, and it got me nowhere.

I wasn’t doing it on purpose, but that’s the energy I was giving.

So now is for healing and resting. Looking after myself and not trying to be a hero.

I meet with my surgeon next Tuesday for lab results. Let’s hope everything is good and clear.

If you are going through a hard time right now, whatever the flavour, I feel for you. It’s not an easy thing to. And the future uncertainty is also a factor that plays on your mind.

All we can do is make the best of this day and treat ourselves well, which probably applies to anyone, because life is not exactly easy these days!

But I also know when I choose to wallow in the yuck, it just brings me further down. And when I choose to think of the good stuff and make fun plans, that feels much better.

Hugs to you!

x Fiona

PS. This book was wonderful. So heartwarming and funny. Here on Amazon. 

 

 

 

(My link is ‘Amazon affiliate’ which doesn’t change the price, but I may receive a small compensation. If you choose to use my links for any purchases you might be making I am grateful :)