Living well without spending a lot - my favourite way to live :)

 

Greetings from a sunny, crispy cool day at Ahuriri Beach for another lovely dog walk 😊

Daphne and Chloe have their coats on. Micky still refuses to wear one 🤣 I tried it again at home just before we left and he took two steps in it and promptly sat down until I took it off him 😂

The sun was so pretty sparkling on the water like diamonds. I thought it was just in that particular spot but as I walked along the path the diamonds followed me... that’s when I saw that they’d always be there, it was the sun, not that piece of water 🤣 I do worry about myself sometimes! 

 

 

 

But still, being followed by sparkly diamonds is quite nice.

Paul spends half his life waiting for Micky to sniff the grass, trees, rubbish bins. There is so much a little dog needs to explore, and tussock, that’s his favourite.

 

 

 

And of course, we let Micky take all the time he needs to thoroughly check everything out since he’s an older boy and we want him to enjoy his golden years.

I love seeing the shag birds on the branch sticking out of the rock at sea. They often hold their wings open to dry them and it’s so cute to see. Of course, no-one was drying their wings today when I wanted a photo 😂

 

 

 

In the photo below you can just make out snow on the hills in the distance. There were children swimming in the sea, can you believe that when even the air temperature was chilly let alone the water? Kiwi kids are hardy creatures!

 

 

 

I love activities that are enjoyable and don’t cost anything, and that’s what these doggie waterfront walks are for us.

 

 

 

It just costs a bit of petrol to get there (I know, petrol prices, hardly a ‘free’ outing 😂) and if we can resist the cafes we’re good. The food and drinks always look so appealing, and the thought of whiling away an hour or two looking out at the view does too.

Can you imagine us turning up with three dogs though? We’ve already been turned away from one place, and that was when we only had two dogs. They wouldn’t even allow us on the outdoor terrace!

Oh well, home for a yummy healthy lunch and homemade latte 😊

 

~~

 

 

 

Yay, the audiobook is finished!

I really do enjoy recording my audiobooks, and I’m so happy you all told me that you didn’t like the professional lady who did my first audiobook and you only wanted ME 🤣

Maybe I’ve discovered my calling... being an audiobook narrator. Well for my own books at least 😊

‘Life Is Good’ is now available as an eAudiobook in my eStore here.

And within the next few weeks it will filter through to Audible, they always take a bit longer. I see it’s already available on Spotify. If you have Spotify Premium you should be able to listen to it for free.

And, you can ask your library to order it in!

I get so excited seeing one of my paperbacks or audiobooks on a library platform.

I have a few more audiobooks that haven’t been done yet so I will complete ‘The Chic Author’ and also my blog books too.

I hadn’t done ‘The Chic Author’ yet because I thought I might update it, but I’ve since decided to leave it as an early snapshot.

For an update, I have outlined a new author-sequel book.

I have so many good ideas for new books!

That must really mean I’m feeling better.

Hoorah for that!

Happy listening 😊 

 

~~

 

 

 

Winter skies on my walk earlier this week 😊

I have had a few enquiries about paperback copies of ‘Life Is Good’ for readers in New Zealand, and I’m happy to send out signed copies.

In New Zealand dollars they are $25 each, with postage being $8 (or $14 for rural delivery).

I’ve ordered ten copies from Amazon Australia (the closest printing facility to me), and can get more if necessary.

Please message or email me if you’re interested.

But apart from that I am keeping cosy, and mapping outlines for new books. I have three hatching, and think I know which one will come next ❤️

And, I went swimming! I’ve been going once a week to a local heated pool and it’s great for my lymphedema as well as general fitness and gentle cancer rehab.

I was advised to avoid school holidays, haha, it would be a ZOO there! So I had two weeks off and it was nice to be back this past week.

Plus my outdoor walk each day plus I’m doing yoga once a week plus 2-3 half-hour strength workouts each week.

It sounds like a lot but it doesn’t feel like it. I just go for a walk each day and do some other activity five days a week.

I’m really excited about taking care of my body who has been through so much. I’m still getting there but feeling stronger all the time. And more healed!

It’s definitely a long road though (this picture is appropriate!), much longer than I thought it would be.

But that’s okay. I have time. It’s the ultimate slow living lesson.

I hope you’re having a great weekend 😊

xx Fiona

PS. To find all my links in one place you can always go to fionaferris.com (And my Amazon link is affiliate, thank you if you choose to use it!) 

 

The writer returns - I'm feeling more like myself, yay!

 

Hey friends,

Join me for a cozy winter outing with the doggies! I mean, how cute is Chloe in her puffer jacket? And Daphne in her hot pink fleece?

Chloe loves standing up at the window, watching the world go by.

And Micky is just out of the frame and very much NOT a jacket guy. When I tried to put one on him on a freezing day he sat on the lawn and refused to go for a walk until I removed it. Okay then!

And as for me, I'm feeling better. Hoorah! I actually feel like I'm coming out of the tunnel. It was a longer tunnel than I'd anticipated, and had lots of dog legs and side tunnels lol, but I made it.

Since we were last in touch I've been WRITING too. So exciting. My mojo is back 😍 Of course I may still experience tiredness and lack of inspiration in the future, but for now I'm revelling in being back into the world of words. I truly couldn't be happier.

And that means I'll have a book completed soon. It is finished, but I'm just doing all the editing, which always takes longer than I'd like but I want it to be good so I curb my impatience.

At the beginning of the year, just after my surgery, I started writing down my experience. It was one long document with no chapters, and I just kept adding to it. I realised, reading back to it, that it’s really funny.

I know ‘funny’ isn’t a word you’d normally use to describe a cancer memoir, but it is, along with uplifting, and giving you, the reader, a front row seat to what it’s really like to deal with a cancer diagnosis.

I like to think it takes away some of the scary mystery, because it is petrifying to think about what you’d do if you were ever told you had cancer.

I hope you’re well, and thank you for your continued messages, emails and comments. I have not responded to many at all, virtually zero, because it feels like ‘a lot’, but I truly, truly appreciate them, and read every word.

And I have taken on your advice, even down to what books to read (I just finished Yesteryear, what a crazy ride that was!!)

Big hugs to you, and I’ll see you soon, maybe with a new book!

Fiona x

Yesteryear is here on Amazon at my affiliate link if you want to join the fun.

One day at a time! And Hawaii plans :)

 

Hello friends 😊

Paul and I are out for a walk at a local park on a cool but nice wintry day.

I'm learning to take things easy around here. I think my biggest lesson this year is going to be 'patience'. You can't rush healing.

I still have 1-2 medical appointments each week, even five months after my surgery. This past week I had an Aclasta iv infusion for my bones, and a session on an arm pumping machine for my lymphedema.

I do get down quite often, but then I put things in perspective and feel better again. I am definitely getting physically better though, just very, very slowly. I guess it’s been a lot all at once for my body.

I even had a bout of vertigo a few weeks back, completely out of the blue. It’s crazy times I tell you.

Thankfully I found a YouTube video that helped me fix that (it’s the displaced crystals thing), and I am 95% better. I’ll wait a few weeks more and go to a specialist if I’m still not 100%.

One fun thing we did was book a Waikiki Beach holiday in Hawaii for later in the year.

Paul heard of a special package deal from a local travel agent on the radio and one of the hotels offered was the one we stayed at on our belated honeymoon in 2013. We were married in 2008 but had a business to run and no money for a honeymoon at the time.

So we’ve just booked our honeymoon hotel and now have six months to look forward to it and also, for me to get healthier and stronger. It will be our fourth time in Hawaii, it really is our happy place!

We don’t do anything strenuous, just alternate beach days with shopping days, and eat some nice meals in between.

I’m still reading a million books and not writing any. I just finished the newest Freida McFadden ‘The Divorce’ on audiobook in 2.5 days, it was such a ripper! Would recommend 😊 It’s here on Amazon at my affiliate link.

I’m also reading ‘Woman Down’ by Colleen Hoover. I’ve not read any from her before. I’m about halfway through and don’t like to ditch a book. But I think she is more dark romance which doesn’t really ring my bell. I know she is mega popular though. That book is here on Amazon too. 

Wishing you a lovely weekend!
Fiona x
 

Rainy autumn days and bumps in the road, but life is still good!

Dear friends,

Yesterday we took the doggies out for a walk on a rainy, mild autumn day here in Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand. Micky’s (our white dog) favourite walk is around Ahuriri Beach so off we went. It was raining when we drove there, but cleared up just as we parked. Then, as we were getting back to the car it start spitting again. We timed it perfectly!

Daphne and Chloe love a walk too but are more nervous than Micky when we are out.

How lovely does the sky look? Threatening but bright haha. This photo turned out so well with the tussock in the foreground. Very pretty and well balanced too! It’s such a lovely public area, and you can see the Napier Port in the background.

 

 

 

Since my last post I’ve been through a lot, again! It seems like everything is a lot at the moment. After my radiation treatment I felt great and thought I had escaped the post-radiation fatigue. But less than a week after we returned home from our Palmerston North jaunt, my wheels fell off. I’d felt good all day, been for a lovely massage for my arm and hand lymphedema, but when I got home and was prepping dinner I felt so down all of a sudden.

Everything seemed overwhelming and difficult, and it was like I was plunged into a deep depression where nothing felt good and I couldn’t even crack a fake smile let alone a real one. I felt so flat. Paul took over dinner when he got home from work. He has been a star taking over everything since I was first diagnosed, and I decided an early night would fix things. At least that part of my brain was working well, but not much else was.

But the next morning I felt just the same. Boo! Miraculously though, during the day I felt a little bit better, and then I was out of it. It was the strangest thing, 24 hours of awfulness. I think it was because I’d had this short, sharp course of radiation that it hit me hard and quick. And I got quite tired after that but am feeling a bit better now. I just didn’t realise the fatigue would be emotional as well as physical, but now I do.

Apparently just because I’d ‘only’ had one week of radiation it wasn’t less. It was bigger doses delivered daily, and from my research was the equivalent of a 3-4 week radiation course. Wow.

And I’m still doing self-management on my lymphedema hand and arm. You can see in the photos I am wearing a black compression sleeve under my shirt, and a beige compression glove. I also wear a little patch of bumpy fabric called MobiDerm under my glove on the back of my hand because that’s the area that is still swollen. MobiDerm looks a bit like bubble wrap, but it’s made of papery fabric. All the little bumps in it massage the back of my hand as I move.

I also do lymphatic drainage massage across my clavicle bones, into my underarms, and down my left arm and hand multiple times a day. Yeah, I’m over it, it really is getting me down, but I need to keep going as I want to resolve it, not have it be a thing I have to deal with forever. I think that’s the thing that bums me out the most, the not knowing how long it will last.

At least with my surgery, it was scary for sure, but then it was done. And same with my radiation. But the swelling that has already been there a month and a half, and sometimes looks improved, and sometimes looks worse, it’s ongoing. I do have to say though, in the last three days or so I am seeing continued if tiny improvement so I will cling to that :)

I do think it will get better, and I’m willing to give it the time and effort it needs. I’m saying to myself ‘April, May, June’, giving myself that timeframe to manage and resolve it. Positive thinking, putting it out there, and acting-as-if all rolled into one!

And aside from that, I have little shooting, zingy breast pains often, particularly on the left side, and that’s from all the nerve endings rejoining and healing. They aren’t debilitating, just unsettling, even if I know they mean good things. But still, I know I am one of the lucky ones. A lot of other people have far worse health prognoses, and I appreciate that.

But let’s get back to our lovely walk:

 

 

 

I’ve been really enjoying my curly hair! I wash it every second day and put a little product in (a light gel-creme) and comb it, then let it air-dry. It happens pretty quick since it’s still quite mild here, but in the winter I won’t want it wet for that long. By that time my hand ‘should’ be better and holding a hairdryer for a long time will be comfortable.

I’m sure I could do it now, it only takes around 15 minutes to dry my hair nicely with a brush and a blowdryer, but it’s nice to have the break and air-dry for a while. I’m enjoying doing Project Pan on my hair products too. I don’t use much at a time since my hair gets weighed down easily, so I have a few different products I’m working through. The gel-creme tube (a L’Oreal Professional product that I’ve had for ages) is almost empty and I think today will be the day, hoorah! Another product panned!

We had a nice Easter, just quiet at home. Paul worked a few days, being in hospitality at a local winery, and they were very busy with lots of people coming into Hawke’s Bay for the long weekend which is good for the local economy, yay.

We hadn’t really had any Easter eggs, so on the way home from our dog walk yesterday we called into the supermarket to get a few treats which was yum :)

 

 

 

How cool does the sky look (above)? I love the line between the clouds and the sea. Some call it the horizon haha, but it’s a beautiful contrast of blue-grey shades.

Paul normally walks Micky and I take Daphne and Chloe (‘The Boys’ and ‘The Girls’) but for the photos I took Micky because, you know, phones can get dropped when you’re trying to take a photo and your dog is heading off pulling the leash. Been there.

 

 

 

So that’s my little update. I hope you had a lovely Easter too, if you celebrate. Wherever you live I hope you are well and safe. I’m thinking of you.

And, I think, I will declare I’m ‘back’ now, and get into more frequent posting. The biggest thing for me is the collecting of photos. I can’t post on social media if I have no nice photos taken, and I have just not been taking photos lately. I have read a lot of books though!

 

 

 

My mum loaned me The Lady in the Van and it was so good. Just a small book which only took me a few days to read. I’d never seen the movie as the lady in it reminded me too much of a family member I lived next to for several years and I just couldn’t. Not that this family member lived in my driveway but she was ‘eccentric’ haha, and lived in her own style. May she rest in peace! (She was my great-aunt and died at 91 a few years back).

So anyway, I loved the book and now I’m going to hunt out the movie. Enough time has passed that I can watch it happily :)

If you haven’t read the book it is a fab read. It’s so dry and funny, and heartfelt too. Alan Bennett was a good man to let her live on his property, and is a hilarious writer. I am now searching out his other books to read.

The Lady in the Van is cheap enough on Kindle, or you might find it at your library. It’s here to download on Amazon.

Happy reading! And my thanks to you for being wonderful. I have received so many lovely emails and I’m sorry I can’t respond to them personally. Usually I do respond to emails but during my health convalescence there have been many more than usual and I didn’t have the energy. But I appreciate them all, I hope you know that.

xx Fiona

 

PS. I received this gorgeous review on my book The Peaceful Life just recently. I love it so much. If you haven’t read The Peaceful Life it might be just the ticket for times like now. Or a re-read/re-listen if you already have it. It’s here on Amazon on Kindle, in paperback, and as an audiobook too.

 

 

 Thank you so much for the wonderful review!

 

 

 

 [My Amazon links are affiliate, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase using these links. It’s no extra cost to you, so I really appreciate it if you choose to use my links for any Amazon purchases you might be making!]

I am radiant! Finishing up my week of radiation :)

Hi everyone,

Another little update in my breast cancer journey! I will get back to normal posts, but right now I guess I’m on ‘sick leave’ :) Last week I had my radiation treatment. Paul and I travelled 2.5 hours to Palmerston North, where we stayed Monday to Friday, and I had a treatment each day. They are short appointments, but we don’t have the big fancy machine required in Hawke’s Bay.

I’ll show you further down in the post, but in my first photo above and below, Paul and I went to the pub! Tuesday was St Patrick’s Day, so to celebrate we went to a local Irish bar for a drink. I had a cider, but totally would have had a Kilkenny if I wasn’t celiac gluten-free. And Paul had a Guinness, of course!

 

 

 

It was nuts in there and it was only 4.30pm! We were like the sober parents watching on with amusement. When we left Paul said ‘I don’t think it’s a place for couples’, which is so true. Not the sort of place you would go to on a romantic date or for quiet conversation. We couldn’t even hear each other speak with the band playing.

But it was fun to go, and to have one for St Patrick’s Day. I am 12% Irish after all :) And I’d even brought along a green blouse for my trip too. I’d like to say that was intentional… but it was intentional that I wore it on Tuesday.

The rest of our week was far more relaxing and quiet. We stayed in a beautiful residence at Ozanam House, which is a huge facility set up for people receiving cancer care. It’s far nicer and more home-like than a hotel, and is completely free, funded by donations to the Cancer Society of New Zealand.

 

 

 

We stayed in a three-bedroom home on the site, but some are much bigger, with 11 and 19 bedrooms. Each room has an ensuite bathroom, and the kitchen, living area and laundry is shared. In the kitchen everyone has their own mini-fridge and cupboard. A housekeeper visits daily.

 

 

It was such a nice place to stay, and we were so grateful for it.

And shall I show you where I went each day? I was allowed to have some photos taken, because why not. We went to the morning tea at Ozanam House on Wednesday and one of the other ladies receiving treatment told me they’d taken a photo of her in the machine, and I thought, ‘I want a photo in the machine too!’

 

 

 

 

It’s a very impressive machine. I did some geeky researching and one of these costs about $3-$5 million US, and you also need to build a reinforced concrete room to house it, which is another couple of million. The walls have to be 1-3 metres/yards thick to keep all the beams contained so that no-one is affected outside the room, especially the staff who are there all the time.

Apparently it’s similar rays to an X-ray, but while X-rays are thousands of rays delivered for fractions of a second, Radiation beams are millions of rays for fractions of a minute. Let that sink in! With my cancer being on the left side, I had to take deep breaths and hold them for up to 20 seconds to protect my lung and heart. I know, scary, but the machine has millimetre accuracy and so even a deep breath can move the area to be radiated safely away from vital organs.

Of course, I had surgery before this and am cancer-free now so this is all preventative, to zap tiny cancer cells that still might be floating around my breast. I feel lucky that I only had to have one week in total. Many others have four weeks of treatment, and some up to 5, 6 or 7 weeks, five times a week, Monday to Friday.

So yes, it was a big week, even if ‘only’ one.

And I took a video walking in (the radiation oncology therapist let me). Let’s go through the double doors first, with the scary nuclear symbol on it…

 

 

 

I went through the left door to Rehua, which is my machine’s name. Cute! All four machines have Maori names. And here we go :)

 

 

 

I took the video on my last day, and Paul was allowed to come in to take a look at the machine too. He left the room before we started :) I love the ‘Beam on - ionising radiation’ red sign, like something out of a movie!

Each appointment was only half an hour out of our day, so for the three days in the middle of the week when we weren’t travelling to and from Palmerston North we looked around, went for a drive out of town one of the days, and rested ‘at home’ on the others.

I found a completely gluten-free cafe called Munch which did breakfasts and lunches and we went there three times. It was so delicious! And a real find for someone celiac like myself. Would recommend!

 

 

 

I did some lovely shopping too, the floral trousers already pictured, and a pair of black pleather trousers for winter, from a favourite shop called Blue Illusion (an Australian brand which has a store in Palmerston North), and a pair of knit shoes a bit like Vivaia or Rothys, neither of which we can get here. These ones are by a brand called Los Cabos. They are pictured with my relaxing satin trousers so they don’t really go! But I haven’t worn them properly yet :) 

 

 

 

 

So that was my radiation week! I’m glad to have it behind me, and fingers crossed plus touch wood that’s all the big things done. Now I can just settle in and keep healing, and taking my five-year Letrozole hormone therapy pill each night. While I was in Palmerston North walking to the hospital each day (Ozanam House is close), I decided that the radiation treatment was making me radiant from the inside out, and that all my cells would be enhanced. I am now a new person, haha! Fresh and revitalised :)

It’s nice to be back into my normal routine at home, even if I still have medical appointments - three this week alone! I’m enjoying writing too, reading lots, and spending time with our three doggies and cat. They all missed us! The doggies stayed with my mum, and our lovely neighbour Barry visited Nina cat each day twice a day for meals and sent cute photos and texts ‘from’ Nina’. Adorable :) He was late leaving work one day and didn’t get to our place until 6.30pm. He told me Nina was waiting in the kitchen just about tapping her watch!

I hope you’re doing well too, I know it’s a scary time in the world at the moment, and petrol is crazy. But we all just have to keep on keeping on.

Big hugs to you, Fiona x

Checking in - I'm getting there!

 

Hi everyone, I know it's been a few weeks! I'm still here, and definitely feel more robust now that it's ten weeks post-surgery.

However, from my infection which is now fully cleared, I developed the dreaded lymphodema in my biopsy arm (the same area that got the infection).

Your arm swells up, the fluid doesn't drain as well, and it's... puffy. Not majorly puffy, no-one could tell by looking at it but my hand looks very different to my normal hand. And if you don’t tend to it the puffiness doesn’t go away. So I am tending!

What makes matters worse is that I broke my wrist on that side twenty-five years ago. Let's just say I was out with my sister, having fun at fancy bars in my highest heels and my heel caught on one of the steps up to our house on our way home and I fell backwards onto my hand.

Not my proudest moment and now it's coming back to bite me in the butt! The oncology masseuse I've been seeing for lymphatic drainage massage said 'none of the bones are in the right place' of my wrist. She was quite perplexed and that’s when I remembered my wrist injury.

Honestly it's my full-time job at the moment worrying if it's going to be permanent, managing it with my compression sleeve and glove, doing exercises for my arms, going for walks to get everything moving. I thought I was out of the woods but there are still a few more trees yet!

It shouldn't be permanent and I'm clinging to that hope. I only had one lymph node removed, others have all removed. I'm not having radiation on the area. It was caused by infection not other things. I have full movement in my arm. So fingers crossed.

I am writing though! I'd love to get my writing flowing regularly again and I've been doing that all morning today. I'm working on my breast cancer book and I promise you it will be more uplifting than it sounds haha.

So it's nice to pop in and see you, and if you’ve had lymphodema I feel for you. It's not nice. It's not painful, just a little bit uncomfortable as swelling can be. It's just the worry that I will have to manage it for a long time. Even ‘temporary’ is measured in months, not weeks or days.

But I’m keeping on keeping on.

Hugs to you, Fiona x

#positivity

Positivity and looking ahead

 

Hello everyone! Daphne and I are outside enjoying a coffee on this late summer day. It's starting to feel a little like autumn.

And I am feeling so much better! Officially past the eight weeks post-surgery mark and the infection is gone too. I'm still taking it easy but it's so nice to feel a little bit more normal.

Soon I’m travelling to Palmerston North, which is a couple of hours drive, to attend a planning meeting for my radiotherapy. And then not long after that I will be booked in for a week’s worth of treatment.

I’m grateful that all my other treatment, surgery etc has been local, but we don’t have a radiation department here in Hawke’s Bay.

And after that I should be finished up with all the big stuff, just my five-year Letrozole medication to take. I’m sure it will fly by. The years do now 😊

I had my hair trimmed too. When I thought I was going to have to have chemo and lose my hair I thought it would be nice to try a bob before that happened.

Once I found out I didn't have to have chemo I still decided to give it a go so now I have a long bob. There is only a little bit of colour right on the tips so most of the colour is mine now.

My greys provide natural highlights in my beige blonde, yay! It's so lovely and healthy compared with the coloured hair too, and I can wear it wavy/curly if I air dry it.

I’m pleased to say I have been feeling a bit more creative too. I still get tired easily but I can feel the excitement for my writing coming back.

I always have multiple books on the go, but I’m writing about my breast cancer experience currently, and will be covering three broad areas:

1. My journey with breast cancer
2. Helpful tips if you are going through a tough time health-wise too
3. Encouragement and support for those who have a loved one with a health challenge

So hopefully it will be an uplifting read for anyone, really. It won’t be doom and gloom but it will be ‘real’.

And, I think useful for anyone facing a health crisis, because I knew nothing about anything before I was diagnosed and now I reckon I could be a health professional I’ve learned so much over the past four months! 🤣

Hugs to you!
xx Fiona

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

Happy and healthy new year :) To all of us!

 

This is how you fit three dogs and one person on a single bed :) Amazingly they arranged themselves like that. A perfect lineup!

If you don’t know the doggies, from L to R they are Chloe (12), Daphne (10), and Micky (14).

For the first two nights home while I still had drains in, I slept in this bed (without dogs, they just join me during the day). Thankfully now I am free of the drains and back in our own bed.

And I am so glad to be home! I haven’t been far, just from bed to sofa to bed to other sofa to bed, and I go for walks outside circling the house multiple times a day to keep my circulation healthy.

Paul walks with me in case I fall over :)

At night I wear compression stockings, which are fun to get on 😊 Maybe one day I’ll get to wear them on a flight and go on holiday. That would be nice, something to look forward to!

My satin loungewear pajamas have come into their own at the moment, they are my all-day clothes. I switch between my black and hot pink sets. 

 

 

 

I have just about finished the excellent Camino Island series by John Grisham, with only a handful of pages to go in the final book (here on Amazon if you are interested), and I’ve read ALL the library magazines on Libby on my iPad haha.

Plus I’ve been writing inspiration in my journal (and the pink folder in the top photo).

Sometimes I like loose leaf paper for the freedom of writing what I want. I can move previous pages to the front of the folder if they are inspiring to me at a certain time.

All the reading and writing is in between naps of course. I’ve had a LOT of naps too, often before dinner. 

 

 

Head nurse Nina overseeing her patient

 

So I’m slowing getting back to normal after my surgery (today is one week).

For the past couple of days I’ve put a little makeup on, just because I felt like it.

Although on makeup day two what I thought was taupe eyeliner I actually applied pinky-beige lipliner to my eyes. I didn’t realise until I’d finished the second eye.

Oh well, pile on the mascara and do better tomorrow!

And now it’s New Year’s Eve, in New Zealand at least. I certainly won’t last until midnight but I do plan on having a glass of champagne, we have Veuve Clicquot in the fridge 😊

Sante! And all the best to you my friends!

xx Fiona

PS. Find out where to read or listen to my books at fionaferris.com, or click the images below (I use Amazon affiliate links 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!)

 

 

 

 

Out of hospital :) I made it!

 

Hello friends!

 

I made it! This was my Christmas Day, 24 hours post breast cancer surgery.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have my operation in my rear-view mirror, and I’m sure it’s because I was given the good drugs, haha, but the pain hasn’t been too bad either. So grateful for that.

I couldn’t have picked a better time to be in hospital with the special festive meals (see my menu). Everything was extra cheery with decorations for miles, festive scrubs on the staff, and even though us patients were hobbling around, it had a nice atmosphere. 

 

 

 

I got a bit bored in my room so while doing my walks I found a sunny spot in the elevator bay, with views over the hospital carpark :)

 

 

 

I’ve been enjoying John Grisham, he accompanied me to my sunroom reading sessions (Camino Island series: Amazon affiliate link). I accidentally read the third book first, then got books 1 and 2 for my recuperation. Currently on the ‘final’ book 2 and they are excellent stories. I thought John Grisham was more an author for men and only did legal stuff, but apparently not so!

I came home yesterday after two nights, and feel good in myself. The surgery went well, and I find out more in a couple of weeks when I meet up again with my surgeon and the lab tests have been completed.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I really do feel quite ‘normal’ considering what I’ve been through. I know other surgeries are bigger, but mine was still 3-4 hours long, and involved both sides (cancer on one side and symmetrisation on the other, which just means making them the same size :)

It’s SO nice to be home, although excited doggies had to be kept away from mum not to knock anything!

I slept in our guest room last night in a single bed since I still have drains on both sides and they could drape down either side of the bed, and also so any pets wouldn’t climb on me in the night.

Daphne was determined though and broke in this morning when I was getting up. She pushed the door open haha but luckily Paul was hot on her heels!

So this is just a little update, and to say THANK YOU for all the lovely messages, emails and comments. You are so kind and I appreciate every word.

xxxxxxx Fiona

Merry Christmas! ~my final post for the year

 

Merry Christmas friends! Here Paul and I are at his Christmas do. The venue and the tree were just gorgeous.

I’m wearing my Lauren Ralph Lauren dress I bought from Macy’s last time we were in Hawaii a couple of years ago. I love it!

 

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The Cat Coach Cafe podcast I was on last month with the lovely Monie, has a Christmas special out where me and other guests share their Christmas favourites and how they celebrate with their cats, plus our New Year’s wish for them and Christmas wishes.

How cute does that sound? Go here to Monie’s Substack for links if you’d like to take a listen. 

 

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When I held my Black Friday sale a weeks back, I included a code for 50% off anything in my eStore.

Unfortunately I didn’t see that it had an expiry code from this time last year from my previous annual sale, so didn’t update it.

I’m so sorry if you went to purchase and the code didn’t work!

I’ve fixed it now, so have extended my eStore sale for another few weeks just in case you want to get any eBooks or eAudiobooks for the holiday season.

The code is HALFPRICEHAPPINESS and you can find my eStore at payhip.com/fionaferris.

Happy reading and apologies again! And thank you to the kind reader who emailed me with the error 😊

 

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{Summer evening sunshine on the hills, view from our lawn}

This is my last post for the year, and I’m going to take a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year.

I’m actually having a bit of a unique Christmas. On Christmas Eve I’ll be going into hospital for breast cancer surgery, so Christmas day will be quite different this year.

I’ve been told my cancer is small, and it was caught early through screening. Fingers crossed that remains the case after surgery.

So yes, a bit of a clanger to end the year on!

But I’m also so grateful. Grateful to live in a country like New Zealand with fully funded healthcare (and where anything to do with cancer is fast-tracked).

Grateful that it was found before I even knew there was a problem, through regular public health screening systems.

And grateful for the care I’ve received so far.

So I’ll be resting up on Christmas Day happy to have my surgery behind me. I am apprehensive, but also optimistic and feeling positive.

If you’ve had a big health diagnosis this year I’m right there beside you, and if you haven’t, yay for that. Health is the real wealth 😊

I’ll see you in a few weeks and I hope you have a fabulous and wonderful holiday period. Please have a glass of champagne for me on New Year’s Eve!

With all my love, Fiona

Black Friday book sale on now!

 

Hello friends,

My once a year Black Friday sale is on now with all Kindle books priced at $3.99 USD (they vary in price according to length, but many of my Kindle books are $8-$9-$10 usually).

So if you’ve recently discovered me and want to stock up, or have a few gaps in your Fiona Ferris library, I hope you find something to inspire your 2026 plans.

My way of living is to have things be easy and fun, and any improvements I’d like to make be breezy and relaxed.

My style is thrifty elegance, soft glam, luxury living in a low-key down-home way, head-in-the-stars-feet-on-the-ground, and creating my life in exactly the way that suits my sensibility.

And you get to do the same!

It’s within the reach of all of us to live our life in a way that makes us the happiest - once we work out what that is of course. But that’s the fun stuff: asking ourselves what pleases US most, and what WE would like to do, wear, eat on a daily basis.

I have found it’s not the people-pleasing that makes others like us, it’s us living in an authentic and interesting way. Have you ever met someone self-possessed who makes their mark on you simply by the way they choose to live?

I have, and they are magnetic – and inspiring.

I’ve written 25+ books and counting, so I often get ladies ask me which title they should go for first. All of my books can be read standalone, so I say go with your intuition.

Choose the book that jumps out at you, or scan the sample and table of contents and see if it is the one you want to start with (or read next).

You can’t get it wrong 😊

Browse all my books are here on Amazon.

And if you’d rather shop my eStore for an Amazon alternative, use the code HALFPRICEHAPPINESS for 50% off anything including all of my eBooks and eAudiobooks.

I hope you find something fun, and thank you for being a happy reader. And please forward this on any friends who likes the same kind of things! 

 

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Lunching in style 🥗

 

Part of living my ‘luxurious life’ is dining outside as often as I can. Here on our patio I have a salad with our own avocados, and air-fried chicken thigh fillet strips coated in seasoning. So delicious!

And for my second course: pear and Greek yoghurt with coconut and sliced almonds.

Shoutout to my ladybasket which accompanies me wherever I am at home. In it are items I like to have to hand: the current book I’m reading, Kindle, iPad, reading glasses, a velvet scrunchie for when I want to put my hair up, lip balm, two journals and a few pens.

Yesterday I noticed it was getting a bit full so I tipped everything out and only kept in there what I was using.

I think I’ll have to do the same with my everyday handbag (it’s a slouchy tan leather Michael Kors bag that has held up well; I bought it in 2019).

It has curated contents but is getting rather heavy so I’ll do the same thing by emptying everything out on my bed and only putting back what I use regularly. My left shoulder will thank me!

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These are just a few of the ways in which I live a simple and luxurious life.

💫 Eating meals outside when weather permits

💫 Making myself delicious and healthy meals

💫 Taking time out to eat my lunch and read a book

💫 Collecting together favourite items in my ladybasket

💫 Cleaning out my handbag regularly

💫 Having gratitude for ‘the little things’ and everyday pleasures

💫 Making mealtimes a pause in my day 

 

 

 

 

For more tips, see my book ‘100 Ways to Live a Luxurious Life on a Budget’.

It’s on Kindle, in paperback, and as an audiobook (read by me!) too.

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Whatever you are up to today, I hope you get a chance to take a little time out and do something nice for yourself. 

 

 

 

I don’t have my big tree up yet, but have put my mini tree out, and a few other small items, as well as the Christmas wreath on our front door.

My sister gave me this cocktail ornament the other day - it’s so cute! A Cosmopolitan perhaps? And until the big tree is ready it’s hanging out by our tiny tree looking festive.

I’m loving all the YouTube videos showing shop windows and Christmas lights. I have a ‘Christmas Vibes playlist’ on YouTube that I save good ones to. They make lovely television wallpaper for doing things at home, and also when guests are around for a bit of background glitz.

This is my Christmas Vibes playlist here.

I like to mute the sound and play Christmas music like my Jazzy Lounge Christmas playlist on YouTube Music. And I put it on Shuffle to mix the songs up 😊

It’s so nice to ease into the festive season feeling don’t you think?

Happy start of the holiday season to you!

xx Fiona 

 

 

 

 

[My Amazon links are affiliate, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase using these links. It’s no extra cost to you, so I really appreciate it if you choose to use my links for any Amazon purchases you might be making!]