11th January 2016 - I'm So Tired, My Tired Is Tired

Okay, can I just say that this waiting is exhausting shit. Telling family and friends is exhausting shit. Waking up through the night and the first word that pops in your brain is that "C" word is exhausting shit. BUT today is Monday. Its back to work and I'm really looking forward to it because today we can start the ball rolling. I can find out what's next. I know Bruce told me stuff when he rang to give me the news and I even had pen and paper by the phone to write stuff down, but my brain took a right turn at Albaquerque after he said "positive" and I can't remember what he said was the next step. Damn getting this sort of news on a weekend. But today I should get an appointment to talk to the Doctor who will get the ball rolling to cut this bastard out. I've finally found information on one of the Cancer Council websites that actually tells me what the next steps are ie. scan first to find where this little bugger is hiding and confined to and then talk to the surgeon. Though after working within Queensland Health for the past 4 years I know that procedures and policies must be followed. Only thing that freaked me out last night was reading that a CT with dye is usually done to map the cancer. UMMMM nope not for me unless we want to go down the anaphylactic path again. (long story for another day but let's just say that type of contrast dye and me just DON'T get along) So it will have to be an MRI... ummm pretty sure someone said on facebook last week that the MRI was out of action.. Was on facebook so must be true right??? First thing on the to do list today is a quick phone call to my new best friends at FC Radiology. Can I just say that my family are amazing. They have taken the news with the same positive attitude we have. Makes it so much easier and not one of them turned into the crying mess I did Friday afternoon.#myfamilyisawesome!

Saturday 9th January, 2016 Time to Put The Big Girl Undies On!!

So today, Saturday 9th, Rick and I took the day to go for a drive in the country (our most favourite thing to do) We needed some quiet time together, to process this. He said to me tonight, that if he could take this out of me and put in him, he'd do it in a heartbeat. God love him. We've decided to describe it as follows. I have a little lump which has a bit of cancer in it. They're going to cut it out and it will be all better. It sounds so much better when he put it like that. I know that aside from a range of tests etc, I will probably be facing three outcomes. Just surgery, surgery plus radiation or surgery and chemo. I know that the treatment will depend on the type of cancer. I know that Bruce (my wonderful boss and gp) said something about it when he gave me the results... but for the life of me I can't remember exactly what he said. We'll go through it all again on Monday when I start work again. Tomorrow will be hard. I have to tell the family. Then it's onto telling my girlfriends. Sometime this week I'll also have to see a surgeon. Can it be the weekend already. I'll be so much more informed by the weekend.

9th January 2016 Such a Little Bruise Causing Such a Big Fuss

I have to say I was dreading the biopsy needles. But these guys know their stuff, and it was more discomfort than anything. The waiting for the results was definitely more painful.

The site is at 11 O'clock and truly just feels a bit like a glandy lump with a smaller hard bit to the centre. I seriously nearly dismissed it except it didn't match on the other side. Put it this way, the actual cancer is so small, they have to feed a guide wire into the area on the morning of the surgery, so the surgeon can find it easily.

It's been a while... but I'm still here

Wow, last post was towards the end of 2014. So much has happened, so much has changed and life has certainly been "interesting"   So why the delay.

Well, life and business didn't go quite as planned. So firstly to address that, let me say this. This blog will no longer be about building and construction. It may touch on it from time to time, but it will be more about our family. So for those following just for building advice, you might need to pop on some gumboots to wade through the boring family posts.  It will still focus on Rick and I getting our life together, or due to recent events, trying to keep it on just an even keel.

So... What happened to the shed!  Well that's become our home, or as I like to call it, our Cottage. We moved in late in 2014 with our gorgeous daughter, 2 dogs a cat and a fish. We completed a clients home around December, and since then we haven't built a new home. The residential building industry has been very tough. Rick has maintained his supervisors position with Manorgale Builders at Kingfisher Lakes and has done a few small renos for clients. It's in times like these we need to be flexible rather than break.

2015 came and along with it, not one but 2 beautiful grandchildren. We went from a small noisy family to a big noisy family. Our lovely Lilly was born on October 19th to our daughter Kiah and her partner Luke, and then December 21st saw the arrival of Master James, to our son Michael and Samantha. Amongst that, to my surprise, somehow I turned 50. Apparently I'm now middle aged, and a grandmother, twice!  2015 was one of those lovely quiet years that we spent close with our kids awaiting these beautiful arrivals. It had its ups and downs, but was for the majority a quiet year. We developed our veggie gardens, and took great delight in working out what works and what doesn't. We had a family reunion in the beautiful Bunya Mountains and generally rolled along.

Then 2016 arrived. While I was on my 2 week leave from the practice, I found a lump in my right breast. Co-incidentally I had my referral for my bi-annual mammogram and despite trying to put off booking it and trying to go away and have a little holiday, the universe conspired to ensure I couldn't go anywhere so in the last week of leave I booked my mammogram/ultrasound. That was the Wednesday. I explained the lump to the mammographer, and to the ultrasound radiographer, who called the big chief boss person, who then went and rang my boss/gp... Ummmmm I hadn't told my boss/gp about the lump. Ooops. So big chief boss decided I would return first thing next morning for a core biopsy. Righto... bit stressed, but I remember he said something to me that would make me feel better. "Donna if this is the worst case scenario, it's tiny and we've got it early" I left feeling pretty confident that it would just be calcification or something like that. I've been part of fund raising for breast cancer for the past 4 years so I knew the statistics were on my side. I even headed off for an appointment afterwards with a client. The best bit about working for a gp is that you get direct access to info. So instead of waiting all weekend for the results, I got the call late Friday afternoon. "Sorry Donna, its positive."

So that's how we've started 2016. Next week I start chemo. I've already been through one lot of surgery, and some serious low points. But I made a public album on my facebook page to keep the family and friends up to date. But I still have a few friends and family not on facebook (Gasp!! I know its a shock to me too ;) ) So I've decided to take this blog on the journey with me so that all can keep up with it. I will take the photos and posts I've already made, and post them in here to catch everyone up to date. My journey will be another 6 months of chemo then radiation and returning to work. So settle in... we're in for a long ride.

Its All Happening!!!

6 WEEKS!!! That's how long I've given hubby to get the job done. Poor love also has a clients house to finish in that time too, but its all under control. I, however, am not!

We are getting going as fast as we can because the owners of the house we're renting are wanting to move back in. Nothing like the thought of living in a caravan on site with no running water, shower or loo to motivate you.

So to that end, we are on the go. 7 days a week on the go. I have given him today off though, to be nice (and as I'm fighting the dreaded lurgy and cant bring myself to traipse back and forth carting food).

Upon inspection, I was so very thrilled to see the bones of the job coming to life. The frame is up, trusses are up and the lean-to off the side is up. Next week should see the insulation paper, windows and a roof on.

Once thats done, the little kitchen can be measured (always a good idea rather than just going off the measurements on the plan) and the electrician, phone, plumbing and gas rough ins can be done.  Rick assures me that we will be done in 6 weeks (we hand keys back in 7)

So I better get off my butt, and get started on the cleaning and packing... Anyone want to help??  Or have tips on beating a nasty persistent cough would be much appreciated!

Happy Sunday All, stay tuned for weekly updates.

Side view of the shed. Some bracing sheets still need to go up on external walls and internal walls. The blue timber is the chemically treated pine that help to prevent termites. We also use a termite barrier called Kordon (thanks to the guys from Hervey Bay Maryborough Pest Control) which is put between concrete slab and the base of the frame. The BEST way to help protect yourself from termite attack is VIGILANCE - visual checks, keep gardens and especially things like timber mulch and taps away from the perimeter of your building. Termites need water, so taps and plants up against homes and weep holes is the BEST way to invite them in. 

Walls meet roof

Lean to, home of Ricks truck and trailer for the duration of shed living.

So from left to right, the first room will eventually be my office once the main part of the house is finished. to the right of that, you can see the frame of the cupboard and behind that is the bathroom. Then there is the door and window and where Ricks standing will be the workbench which will host the kitchenette for the duration of the shed living. It looks small but trust me its not :)  During construction, the size of the house and the rooms can often be deceiving When a base or slab goes down, we often see a look on clients face that says "ummm Are you sure thats the right size, it looks so small?"  It's so deceiving to see without walls up. This optical illusion keeps changing during the construction. Rooms can often look smaller when the gyprock sheets go up, but once painted often looks spacious again. I put it down to the dark greyish colour of the sheets. The kitchen is the same. Unitl the cabinets go in, it can often look out of proportion. Kitchens going in is one of my favourite times of construction as it gives the owners a big lift to get to that stage, and generally they can really start to visualise the final product which is so hard to do when you are looking at drawings on paper.

Just to give you an idea on size, hubby (on left) is 6 foot... And I cleaned up what he was really thinking!!

There's Been Movement at the Station.......

For the word had got around.. Donna wants to moooooove!!!!

We're finally underway. Albeit a bit stop start but the clients must come first so I'm re-learning my patience skills.  Anyhoo, the slab is down. Both the main slab for the shed and the awning slab. Posts are in to support said awning. Now its time to order the timber for the frame. We're opting to construct the frame ourselves, or also known as a "stick frame"  That way we can plod along at our own pace and not have prefab frames sitting exposed to the elements given that our place will be worked on during weekends. So here's a little preview of whats been happening so far.

Main slab put to bed with plastic gift wrapping :) This slab is for a Class 1a building because we have set it up suitable for a habitable room   i.e Shed or Granny Flat. This sort of slab requires stiffening beams and is set up as though it was a normal dwelling, therefore will look different at this stage, to a standard shed slab that wont have habitable rooms.

Aaaaaand we have a slab.

Like my work boots???  I think we need a little rain.

Stage 2 boxing for the awning slab. This one has no beams in it because its not set up for habitable rooms. However it does have a thickening beam around the perimeter because the engineers say so. 

All hands on deck. Rick was "chute boy" The posts had to be in place before the concrete could be poured (see the big uprights at the front) This is to ensure that the shed has the correct bracing. Good thing those clouds went around. It did make the concrete supplier a bit nervous, but twas all good.

TADA!!!!!!! we have a slab. Now get that timber ordered Rick!!!!!

The Day has Finally Dawned!

It's finally all happening. Tomorrow, the footings will be prepped, inspected by the certifier and made ready for the slab to be poured next week.  Of course, this all happens on the day I'm also manning a cake stall at a local buy swap and sell. LOL excellent planning on my behalf.

So just to clarify, this is the first part of the building process that we start tomorrow. "The Shed". This is stage 1 and where we'll live for probably the next 12 - 18 months while we work and play and find the time and finances to start the house.  The plan was always to have minimum debt and do as much of the work ourselves to minimise costs. So this will take time. But not to fear, "The Shed" will be made very comfortable. In the design, there is a permanent room that will eventually be our work office, a proper bathroom and loo, and benches and washing machine and laundry tub will give us a pretend kitchenette for now that will later be Rick's workshop and Kiah's horse blanket/dog blanket washing area.  The floor will be sealed, and obviously the walls lined and ceilings in to not only keep us comfy while we're in there, but for when it turns back into a workshop (a man needs to be comfy in his man cave).

I guess it gets a bit real now. We need to organise the septic treatment system, order the plumbing fittings, tiles and oh my lord, select colours. We want "The Shed" to compliment "The House" and this hasnt been an easy task for me. Normally, I can pick colours in my sleep. But for some reason, I had a real issue with it this time. I don't know whether it was because I was restricting myself to Colorbond colours, or that I was trying to do something different but I had a heck of a time choosing.  This weekend, that will be done. I'm going to contact a local Colorbond rep to see if the main wall colour has been installed locally so I can go view it for myself. I find this the best way because trying to select colours on a computer screen tends to lead to a total and epic fail as the colours simply are not true. So if you are having issues with your colours, talk to your paint specialists or as I'm doing Colorbond experts and ask them if they can recommend where you can see your colour in real life. If its paint, you can also talk to your friendly painter, and get them to paint a board for you. One more tip, if the colour is for a wall, dont look at it in a horizontal position. Go and prop it up, put it outside (if its an external wall) and stand back and look at it in all lights before you decide.

Well that's me done for the day, I'm off to prep my cup cake toppers for Saturday.  In the meantime, I've made a little video of our journey so far.  Hope you like it :)

Donna.