Autumn

Just put a pot of coffee on. Bathroom cleaned, kitchen tidied-vacumm lined up. Feeling settled and quiet in the house. Gaz on the couch happily watching the footy and eating fresh egg and tomato on toast. He has his happy face on.
It has been a good week in many ways. Early last week Gary awoke with significant pain in his right side (chest). He told me 8-9 on the pain scale (out of 10) he usually sits at about 1 and needs extra relief at 3-4.So 8-9 is a an alert. It was in the same spot where we knew a tumour was sitting and it was the one that had him in Hospital last year -May on Ketamine (horse tranquilizer) so it was one to take seriously. Good news from my perspective is that I felt I had the tools to manage it and knew what to do. I felt confident with the drugs and understood them. Also had the telephone support of the hospice and local GP .
The best thing was that Gary trusted me and we stayed home and it was managed successfully. It took a couple of days as we had to see where it was all going but on Thursday morning Gaz woke and said the pain was everywhere again. Now this probably sounds nuts but its a good sign as it means the chest pain had abated back to join the rest. The GP came and checked in and increased his meds which at this stage again has sorted it.
Gary was going through these adjustments every week at the hospice until the last four which have been relatively stable.
Girls have been down to visit every few days since we have been home, lots of meals and warm bodies. Zach cruising about. We chopped and stacked wood yesterday with Gary supervising some chainsawing. Both boys did well..one teaching patiently and one listening :-). I hid in the Garage and popped out every one and then.

Since being home
Made; Tomato relish
Tomato Sauce
Strawberry Jam
 a mango chutney substituting pears
more jam
and some more sauce on the Go.
Hurrah for Autumn
Today for lunch we are looking forward to Mushrooms delivered last night from a savvy gatherer. YUM my favourite