Kath Lewis

It has been busy and tiring few weeks, a birth, a short break, a family birthday, and a return to work.

I am very happy to announce that we have become proud grandparents for the first time, to a gorgeous baby boy, born on the 7^th August to my youngest daughter and her husband, Arthur James affectionately known as Arthursaurus👶🏻He took his time getting here, and was obviously to comfortable where he was, but definitely worth the wait😃 We are all in thrall of him, and he is a happy and contented little chap. So I am now brushing up on my knitting and sewing skills.

Following his arrival, in fact within hours, we were off to Snowden in Wales for a walking weekend. We had been very reluctant to leave without knowing that he had arrived safe and sound, but he arrived just in the nick of time. The bonus being that we were able to introduce ourselves to him before we went!

This year we were celebrating a 60^th birthday. Last year we had gone to Snowden to celebrates a friends 50^th, and I was upset that I couldn’t make it to the summit, I nearly got there but couldn’t finish it, the batteries ran out and I was very upset with myself. I was just so fed-up of my body letting me down in what I had considered ordinary situations for me. So when this years trip was originally planned I was hoping to make a second and successful attempt, as at the time I didn’t know that I really did have a good cause for not getting there last time.

We were booked into the same hotel as last year too, which was also the one used by Edmund Hillary and his expedition team as their training base before the first ascent of Everest in 1953. So we knew we were in good company, so to speak! However, for me it was now going to be a less strenuous walk, or so I thought…

Altogether there were 10 of us, and on the Saturday morning after a hearty breakfast 7 went off to do a walk around Snowden, and my husband and myself set off on the scenic route down into the town of Betgelert, a walk of 2-3 hours.   When we got to the end of the track, we needed to decide whether to carry on by road, or cut across the campsite and go around the lake. We were already an hour in and it would take another two.

As it turned out though my husband had an alternative, which involved a different walk that would take us back to the hotel, it would be a bit more challenging than our current walk, but nothing on a par with Snowden. Or so he thought, but our two or so hours gentle walk turned into a seven hour hike.

I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was not happy. Once we got above the tree line, it soon became clear that the path we were supposedly following had disappeared, and we ended up scrambling over rocks, walking through bog, crossing a stream and climbing barbed wire fences. Needless to say there were tears at times, periods of not talking, as well as a few choice words said.

There also had to be plenty of stops as my stomach was not happy either, needless to say I paid for it over the next few days. I also missed out on the singing and revelry in the evening as I was so tired when we got back, I had to go to bed after the meal.

But as it happened the others had a bit of an epic too, which was quite ironic as the leader of that party was my husbands old scout leader (his wife didn’t speak to him for a while either), so take from that what you will!!

Luckily, I had recovered by the following weekend as it was my oldest son’s 30^th birthday, and there was a party to attend. It was a great party, and we got to meet up with lots of his old friends that we have not really seen since he left university, and to catch up on their lives too. When your children are young it is hard to think of them as adults, never mind 30-year-old adults.

Finally following my second lanreotide injection, I decided to put my toe back into the water of working. The side effects were fairly similar to the first one over a period of about six days.  The injection was last week, and I have done a couple of days this week, and the plan is for two days next week.

Boy was it a shock not only to my system, but also to me. I realised how many times sheer will power and not wanting to let people down has got me out of bed in the mornings and into the office. I had got used to waking up tired (although it frustrated me), but a shower, a cup of tea and breakfast usually got me started, but driving in I would often feel sleepy. My drive to work takes about 45-60 minutes depending on the traffic, it is not an unpleasant or strenuous drive, lots of country roads, and thankfully no motorway. Luckily I can also do some home working to reduce my travelling, but to do my job properly I need to be in the office and with people. Also I enjoy my work, and many of the people I work with are also good friends.

So going back has, more than anything, made me realize just how much I have been unknowingly fighting my body rather than listening to it. So I still have a lot of thinking and re-prioritising to do, and also a new definition of normal to get used to.