Hey guys, it's me again. I have made it to the library! Imagine, moi, at the library! I must be sick! Anyway, it's the only place with free (or not free) internet around here. Considering the size of Sutton, the library is HUGE!!!! and the floor I'm on has like some 100 computers for people to use for 45 mins (u can add another 45 "if there's no cue!".
So, it's Halloween tonight, or Halaween?! Normally I'd have been baking cookies in the form of skeletons and pumpkins and vats, rats, and bats. However, since I find myself Suttonly in Sutton, I will have to settle for a machine-made cookie from M&S, or maybe a little pumpkin pie! (Tammy, I will have the scones too, not to worry!)
Christina, tks for the pub list. I know some of them, and we've already tried The Cock and Bull with Fadi and Cyba. Interesting concept, the English pub, soooo, English!!!
As for the rest of u lovely people who have not stopped reading my blog, thank u, love u, keep reading and commenting. pretty soon i will be 'under the knife' so let's make the best of this now!
I had a few tests done yesterday at the hospital and tomoro I am having a 3 in 1 combo!!! A bone marrow aspirate, an LP, and insertion of a Hickman (central) line. Yippee! They want to sedate me for that, double yippee!!! I tried to tell them that never b4 was i sedated for these procedures, but they prefer it that way, so gr8, bring on the drugs!!!
Oh, and I finally have a land line and SKY TV! They connected them yesterday. Now I can watch as many channels as I want and not just BBC 1 ,2, 3, 4... (However, I found myself turning back to 'Eggheads'!!!) You do get addicted to them.
Tayyeb guys, I shall leave you now and go check my mail, if u don't mind.
from freezing Sutton, I give you my best,
mwah
Hala
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
I am sooooooo Surrey!!!!
Hey guys, it's me. I'm back. Well, not yet, really, I've popped into the hotel to use their connection. noone but them and the library give u that, and the latter is closed today!
Sutton is lovely, and the apartment we found as Fadi said (tks fadi) is just wonderful. thank God everything is falling into place.
I don't start my treatment before the 15th of November, but I have a few tests to take starting tomoro so I'll start to get the feeling of how it will be. All in all it seems very cool. It's a relaxed system, a bit too much if u ask me, but I guess they know what they're doing!
Otherwise, I am spending my days with Wisso, buying some stuff for the house, playing 'beit byout'! washing dishes, doing laundry... thank God for Marks & Spencer's, or else I would have had to cook too!!!
Fadi and Cyba were here but left already. We had a great time together. They will be back in a couple of weeks for the treatment (at least Fadi better be or there will be no treatment!).
Yalla gotta go now. I will get my internet connection at home end of next week hopefully (everything takes time here) so I will be updating u more often inshallah.
meanwhile, keep thinking of me and praying for me.
love u all
hala
Sutton is lovely, and the apartment we found as Fadi said (tks fadi) is just wonderful. thank God everything is falling into place.
I don't start my treatment before the 15th of November, but I have a few tests to take starting tomoro so I'll start to get the feeling of how it will be. All in all it seems very cool. It's a relaxed system, a bit too much if u ask me, but I guess they know what they're doing!
Otherwise, I am spending my days with Wisso, buying some stuff for the house, playing 'beit byout'! washing dishes, doing laundry... thank God for Marks & Spencer's, or else I would have had to cook too!!!
Fadi and Cyba were here but left already. We had a great time together. They will be back in a couple of weeks for the treatment (at least Fadi better be or there will be no treatment!).
Yalla gotta go now. I will get my internet connection at home end of next week hopefully (everything takes time here) so I will be updating u more often inshallah.
meanwhile, keep thinking of me and praying for me.
love u all
hala
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Greetings from Sutton!
Hello form Surrey, ah Sorry, Sutton, Surrey, yes, Sorry, Sutton! We are finally in Sutton, Surrey. We arrived here Sunday and have been running around from hotel to hospital to high street ever since. The town is actually very nice and cosy, with all shops u might think of (even TopShop!) and a whole lot of cute restaurants and greenery and a park and and and...
We are looking for an apartment to rent (can't tell u what a 'kartheh' the hotel is!) since we will be staying for quite a while.
We met the doc on Monday and again today, and he explained the whole procedure to us. He seems very nice and efficient, so I'm kinda relieved. We started undergoing tests, Fadi and I. they must have taken about 20 blood tubes from each of us! We have a few days off from hospital before I go in for some outpatient procedures next week, so perhaps we will be going in to London for some 'fun'!
It turns out there is internet connection at the hospital, so, yay, i will hopefully keep u updated.
I'm off to bed now, loooooong day. Will catch u soon for more details.
mwah,
H
We are looking for an apartment to rent (can't tell u what a 'kartheh' the hotel is!) since we will be staying for quite a while.
We met the doc on Monday and again today, and he explained the whole procedure to us. He seems very nice and efficient, so I'm kinda relieved. We started undergoing tests, Fadi and I. they must have taken about 20 blood tubes from each of us! We have a few days off from hospital before I go in for some outpatient procedures next week, so perhaps we will be going in to London for some 'fun'!
It turns out there is internet connection at the hospital, so, yay, i will hopefully keep u updated.
I'm off to bed now, loooooong day. Will catch u soon for more details.
mwah,
H
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Here it goes!
Well, guys, sorry haven't written in a while, but I have been finalising my trip to England. I leave Sunday, have an appointment with the doc on Monday and then we'll see what happens from there. He might keep me there for a few days, weeks or months! So, as u can probably feel with me, these few past days haven't been a piece of cake at all!
I'm scared, apprehensive, angry, sad, shivering,... everything! I am trying to take it step by step, but it's tough. Yesterday mom introduced me to Mr. Lexotanil !!! It kinda calmed my shaking body, but I don't know how far I can take it. I'm not one to pop pills right, left and centre, but yesterday, I needed it!
Cyba is coming to Beirut tonight so we can all go together tomoro (with wiss), and fadi is meeting us at Heathrow, then we all drive down together to Surrey. I wish I could at least look forward to seeing London. Maybe when i get there and talk to the doc and he tells us what exactly will be done, perhaps then I can relax and enjoy a little UK.
Ok, people, wish me luck. Hope all goes well and start praying.
love,
Hala
Monday, October 15, 2007
The making of Mish Maamoul in pix!
Sorry guys, that's the only picture I could upload tonight. Connection too slow! So, we made the Mish Maamoul in full family tradition. Even Wiss chipped in! They turned out yummy. It was fun seeing Zee stick the pistachios on the cookies (many fell off, hehe!!!) Yalla, a demain. mwah, Hala.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Mish Maamouououououl!!!
HAPPY EID, YAY YAY YAY. MAAMOUL B JOZ, MAAMOUL B FISTO2, MAAMOUL B TAMER, CHOCOLAT, KNAFEH, 7ILOU MSHAKKAL, KOL W SHKOR...etc.
It's the Eid, and unfortunately, I got to spend it at home (or my parents'), behind a mask, eating none of these yummies and coming close to no fresh fruits or veggies! AND napping in afternoons, eeeewwwww!!! I even managed to have an interlude at the hospital yesterday, and for a 10 min procedure, I had to spend 3 1/2 hours there! keef hal nizam?!
But, MAALEESH, I am planning to celebrate it again tomorrow (if the counts shoot up!) I shall make some of my 'mish maamoul', (as in mish maamoul shoo taybeen!!!) and feast on them!!! (This feed yourself strong is really getting interesting! Last night, I asked mom to send me some dessert for after dinner, I got a bowl of mhalabbiyeh, a bowl of mughli, and a bowl of custartd! Midnight Feast!) (The decadron is not making it easy either, u crave sweets on it).
Today, after having not slept most of the night (too many thoughts going around in my head in preparation for my departure end of month), I was in the kitchen at 8:30, decorated a 'football' cake and some 'engagement' cookies and now here I am writing to you, waiting for mom to call to see what the plan is today. We might venture an open-air restaurant since it's Sunday and it's practically still Eid and I am feeling better.
Keep you posted,
have a nice day everyone,
mwah,
Hala
It's the Eid, and unfortunately, I got to spend it at home (or my parents'), behind a mask, eating none of these yummies and coming close to no fresh fruits or veggies! AND napping in afternoons, eeeewwwww!!! I even managed to have an interlude at the hospital yesterday, and for a 10 min procedure, I had to spend 3 1/2 hours there! keef hal nizam?!
But, MAALEESH, I am planning to celebrate it again tomorrow (if the counts shoot up!) I shall make some of my 'mish maamoul', (as in mish maamoul shoo taybeen!!!) and feast on them!!! (This feed yourself strong is really getting interesting! Last night, I asked mom to send me some dessert for after dinner, I got a bowl of mhalabbiyeh, a bowl of mughli, and a bowl of custartd! Midnight Feast!) (The decadron is not making it easy either, u crave sweets on it).
Today, after having not slept most of the night (too many thoughts going around in my head in preparation for my departure end of month), I was in the kitchen at 8:30, decorated a 'football' cake and some 'engagement' cookies and now here I am writing to you, waiting for mom to call to see what the plan is today. We might venture an open-air restaurant since it's Sunday and it's practically still Eid and I am feeling better.
Keep you posted,
have a nice day everyone,
mwah,
Hala
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Oh, Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Oh, where have you been, charming Billy? (he answers): I have been to seek a wife, she's the joy of my life, she's a young thing who sth sth sth... (Does anyone know the end of the sentence? something like,) she's a young thing who cannot leave her mother?!
Mother, habibti! Just having her next to my bedside makes me feel everything's gonna be ok. Although she hasn't been able to be around much this time (back problems!) I know she is with me and praying for me and that she won't let anything hurt me!
Where have I been since Sunday? Getting accustomed to being at home! Monday was tough. Tuesday better. Visited my 'friends' at Faire Face: A lovely group of ladies in support of people with cancer. They were nice and 'supportive'. We chatted for a while then I went down to the ahweh for some fresh air, however too hot and humid, but ok.
Today, an LP was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (LP= the prick in the back). However, upon arrival at hospital, we found out that I needed 2 units of blood for my RBCs were loooow. I hadn't felt any weakness, that's why I felt extra pissed off when I learned that they had to admit me, and that I couldn't take it in the outpatient ward! So, there I was, room 920, for ten frickin' hours! Baseeta, I'm home now, hamdillah. And I can truly say: HOME SWEET HOME!
Mother, habibti! Just having her next to my bedside makes me feel everything's gonna be ok. Although she hasn't been able to be around much this time (back problems!) I know she is with me and praying for me and that she won't let anything hurt me!
Where have I been since Sunday? Getting accustomed to being at home! Monday was tough. Tuesday better. Visited my 'friends' at Faire Face: A lovely group of ladies in support of people with cancer. They were nice and 'supportive'. We chatted for a while then I went down to the ahweh for some fresh air, however too hot and humid, but ok.
Today, an LP was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. (LP= the prick in the back). However, upon arrival at hospital, we found out that I needed 2 units of blood for my RBCs were loooow. I hadn't felt any weakness, that's why I felt extra pissed off when I learned that they had to admit me, and that I couldn't take it in the outpatient ward! So, there I was, room 920, for ten frickin' hours! Baseeta, I'm home now, hamdillah. And I can truly say: HOME SWEET HOME!
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