#Teambrown & cancer, our six month anniversary.

26 Jul #Teambrown & cancer, our six month anniversary.

We all like to mark occasions in hours, days, weeks, months and years.  I am acutely aware that the six month anniversary of Felix’s diagnosis is just around the corner which, of course, has triggered a period of reflection and contemplation.  I could use this time to document the intense treatment that Felix has undergone.  I know exactly how many days of chemotherapy he has had (it’s a lot), the debilitating side-effects of the steroids, the number of general anaesthetics, lumbar punctures, injections and blood draws.  I could talk about how it has affected him, our family, his brother and sister, our marriage, the grandparents, our friends, his friends, the neighbours; but I don’t want to.

When your child is diagnosed with cancer you think the world will stop, life will stop, it is the end.  But it’s not.  Life does go on and it goes on pretty much the same just with the addition of appointments, hospital stays and heaps of worry, pain and stress.  The other kids still need to go to school, people still get married, bills get paid, babies are born, shopping gets done, parties are organised, roots get done (eventually), trips to the tip take place, grass gets cut.  Life goes on and good things do still happen.

To mark the fact that we have had to welcome cancer into our lives for nearly six months, here are the weird and wonderful things that have happened to #teambrown since that day in January 2016:

1. Mr Brown has bought a new motorbike
2. Big Girl has introduced me to Victoria’s Secret
3. Eddie Howe came for tea
4. The kids feet are now enormous
5. We have appeared on Channel 5 news
6. We have been driven in an Aston Martin, Bentley and Dodge Charger American Police Car
7. Felix has blogged, I have blogged
8. Harry, Zac and Leo have been born (welcome to this mad world boys)
9. We have featured in local and national papers and magazines
10. We have met and kept in touch with some amazing footballers
11. We now have Sky Media instead of BT (not so good)
12. Mr Brown has been to work and the kids have had 100% attendance
13. We now have a Dandy Trailer tent
14. Our Zafira has not caught on fire
15. We have been to friends for drinks and eats
16. Friends have been to us for drinks and eats
17. We’ve attended and hosted parents evening
18. We still do our weekly shop with Tesco
19. Myself and the kids did the Race for Life
20. The kids still go to after-school clubs
21. There have been lots and lots of kids sleepovers
22. We have celebrated Valentines day, Mother’s Day, Easter, Big girls birthday, Wedding anniversary, Father’s day, Mr Brown’s birthday
23. We all got excited and disappointed about Euro 16
24. We shed a tear when the country voted Brexit
25. Mr Brown still fluffs the pillows and worries about running out of petrol
26. We still worry that we drink too much wine, don’t exercise enough and don’t spend enough quality time with our children
27. We still ponder what the meaning of life is
28. We still want to ‘jack it all in’ and move to France
29. We still do the lottery
30. We have met and been touched by so many truly wonderful and kind people
31. We have raised over £3000 for Cancer Research UK Kids and Teens

Felix still has just under 3 years of treatment to go, but over the next six months we hope for the following:

1. All of the above
2. We will have some sort of holiday/mini-break
3. We will celebrate mine, Felix’s and little brothers birthdays, Halloween, Bonfire night, Christmas and New Year
4. We will go away in our newly purchased Dandy Trailer Tent
5. I will go back to work
6. The children will go back to school in Year 3, 6 and 8
7. We will still shop at Tesco
8. We will still pay our bills
9. We will still entertain at ours and be entertained by others (hopefully)
10. We will continue to meet amazing and wonderful people
11. We will continue to raise money for Cancer Research UK Kids and Teens
12. We will try to help others as they have helped us
13. We will continue to try and think of weird and wonderful ways to be mortgage free
14. We will continue to laugh, cry and love with our wonderful family and friends

Cancer does infiltrate homes without invite or warning and at the beginning it can feel like the world is going to end but it doesn’t, life does go on, just a bit differently.  Our lives won’t be the same again but we are still going to live it the best we can.

Here’s to the next six months!