Now that's magic...

No, this is nothing to do with Paul Daniels, just musings on a few things that have been quite magical for mind, body and soul over the past few days.

The first magical thing has been the marvel that is modern medical science. One week after key hole surgery and I am pretty much back to 'normal' - always wonder what that is, but here it means I can take the dog for a walk, make dinner, hang the washing out and string a sentence together both verbally and in writing. An operation which, I've been repeatedly informed by my mother, used to lay women up for months can now be done in a day and has a remarkably quick recovery time. (Yes I am an optimist and firmly believe there will be no relapses... though the afternoon naps may still be in order!) As someone who lost interest in science about the time we had to dissect a frog at school but now marvels at the wonder of it all, it all seems really quite magical.

On Friday - my first outing post op - I went to see Derren Brown, who doesn't pretend that he is magic, mystical or anything but an incredibly intelligent human being and master manipulator. He is both and he is also amazing. Even when you know that it isn't, I know it really really isn't, he does such incredibly impressive things that it really does seem like it can't be anything other than magic.

My other trip of the week was yesterday, when a couple of friends and I went up the coast to a little fishing village near us called Craster.  The rain actually stopped for the day and I was desperate to get out after being housebound for a week in the house. We had a wonderful walk along to Dunstanburgh Castle, (the fact that you constantly trip over castles in this part of the world is another source of wonder) enjoyed the tastiest crab soup at the village pub and of course had the compulsory visit to the shop to buy some fresh Craster Kippers to bring home.

 All in all a pretty magical time!

My 60k in 100 days!

I know it's well after the finish of 100k in 100 days which kicked off my year of writing (33 days after the finish to be precise!) but I've only got round to reflecting on it - though to be fair my I think my hiking and hospital exploits are pretty good excuses for being a little late in the day with this…!

I was really keen to give it a go and, on breaking it down, my aim was to write 1,000 words a day, a seemingly manageable amount. I'm happy to try on anything that can help me get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. I also liked the fact that rather than just concentrate on one thing my total word count could include different pieces of writing. So... how was it for me? 

First thing is that no, I didn't reach my ambition of 100,000 words in 100 days. But I am pleased with my total word count which was (drum roll here………) 59, 427. The bulk of these - over 51,000 - were part of the draft book I wanted to progress. The rest were made up of articles, reviews, and, very occasionally (when I was feeling daring!), a stab at a creative fiction piece.

I'd say that yes it worked for me and it was a worthwhile exercise. I have 59, 427 words that I may not have otherwise have written, thought about or counted! There's more to it though - this year, after many years of writing for others (and which I still do as the 'day job'), I'm getting back into writing for me. And the 100k challenge has definitely helped put me onto that track.

I've learned a lot as I've gone along - some of which I've known about and perhaps just not acknowledged or done anything about... yet! In going forward I know that I have to be more disciplined, that I should prioritise the writing that I want to do not just the writing that I have to do and that I need to set plans and deadlines and regularly review these, especially when I'm working on several different things. I also now have a great little tool to record how much I am writing to keep track and give myself a pat when it's going well and a rocket when it's not!

What else? Well, there have been a lot of positives I've got from the last few months, including being more confident about saying that I am writing, and what I'm writing about, sharing ideas and progress. My main WIP is nearing a first full draft and I've also spent time working on how I might submit it, done some market research and have an idea for the next one, so making it into a series (but one step at a time!). I am now regularly writing and submitting non-fiction articles, ideas and reviews. And of course I'm now blogging and tweeting more which is helping connect with people and pick up some really good advice and help.

Finally, just a special mention and thank you to Sally Quilford who not only helped kick start my writing year but continues to offer great writing tips and tricks and all sorts of information as well as entertainment on her website, blog and twitter.

There’s only one last thing to say - #amwriting!

A bit of R&R

Although I am the world's most impatient patient, this post-op rest and recovery time is good for some things - it's the rare time I don't have to buy flowers for myself... I've had some gorgeous ones from lovely friends and family! Other good points I'm making the most of include:

• feeling that it's ok to settle down to listen to the Archers and immediately fall asleep
• not feeling guilty about spending a whole morning doing nothing apart from reading a book
• sitting on the sofa wrapped in my huge huggable cashmere blanket without caring that I look like a pensioner
• not cooking - as I was so fantastically (or fanatically) organised and made and froze loads of meals last week, all I have to do is take something out of the freezer and dinner is practically ready-made!

A week of POTs, plans and peeing

Last week as the days progressed I realised I was suffering from POT (Pre Operation Tension). This manifested itself as increasing irritation and crossness with everything and anything. I raged at the new parking system at the hospital when I went for the pre-op assessment - you now have to put your registration number into the ticket machine, and the only rationale for this I can think of is that it stops you kindly handing your ticket to someone else when you still have time left on it that's been paid for. I tutted at the dirty looking chairs and carpets in the waiting areas - and the fact that there was a whole crowd of other people there... waiting around in a waiting area where I needed to wait - the cheek of it! I was incredulous at the amount of time it took for a cheque to clear at the bank (SEVEN days - it's like living in the Dark Ages I moaned at the poor customer service person). I even shouted at the dog for just doing his doggy duty and barking, as he does every day, when he thinks the postman is an evil intruder intent on breaking in, burgling and bashing everyone over the head.

Once I'd self diagnosed the POTs, instead of taking friends' advice to have a relaxing few days before O-Day on the Friday, I came up with a plan to keep as busy as I could. I wrote myself a huge and unrealistic To Do list, which kept me distracted during the days, and on the two evenings before O-Day I went out and enjoyed great company and two of my other favourite things - good food and good music. Probably not what the doctor would order, as on the morning of the operation I was absolutely shattered, but it definitely improved my mood, reduced POTs and also distracted me from that other medical related danger - information overload.

Of course it is so easy to find out about anything these days thanks to the internet - and of course anyone can put anything on it which makes it both a blessing and a curse. The operation I was having was a hysterectomy and oopherectomy - not really due any current problems but as a preventative measure because oestrogen, something I used to give very little if any thought to, is now the Evil Enemy Within (my terminology not a medical persons). My gynaecologist Mr S (I now collect consultants like kids' trading cards - I also have Ms R the oncologist and Mr O'D the plastic surgeon in my hand) had been slick and salesman-like in his selling of the operation to me. The words 'quick', 'keyhole', 'in and out the same day', had sealed the deal. But as O-Day grew closer I was less confident and felt quite unprepared.

It had been a big decision, not just because I'm not currently 'ill' but also because over the past few months I have felt healthier and fitter than I have done for a long time. So deciding to have a quite major operation which potentially has long term effects and puts me through a very early menopause was not an easy one (despite also knowing of course the potential long term benefits). I knew that I could possibly talk myself out of it and if I started googling about it - again, for of course I have already done 'research' - it would give me more questions than answers and do nothing to dispel my doubts and worries.

So distraction and displacement activity were the order of the days beforehand and did the trick. On O-Day I was in a taxi at 7am boring the driver with tales of Peru. I was heartened at the hospital by being told I was first on The List and by Mr S's indefatigable cheeriness - 'you'll be digging the garden again in a couple of weeks' was his reply to my moan that my garden was still jungle-like due to the rain (one of the things on my To Do list that had never got done). I passed the morning in a blissfully unaware state of unconsciousness and came round to more Mr S positivity 'it went perfectly' - then spent the afternoon trying to convince nurses my bladder was in good enough working order to let me go home.

Being told you can't go home until you pee into a small measuring jug when you don't even want to go is some kind of torture technique. I sat, squatted, walked around, was told to 'jiggle to get everything going' and then I entertained the nurses with - yes - more tales of Peru, specifically about weeing in the open air, up mountains and on Inca tracks in the hope they would become so bored they'd send me home regardless. Whoever invented the term 'piss easy' had absolutely no idea and I was soon the last one left in the day surgery ward. Finally, at 7.30pm, we were all relieved in so many ways when I produced the goods and got a cheer from the nurses who must have been getting as fed up as I was. (Sod's law that once I got home this had literally opened the flood gates and I was up every couple of hours to go to the toilet during the night).

I am delighted to say so far Mr S's optimistic promises are being fulfilled. After a couple of days lolling around I'm now taking the dog for walks, albeit slower and shorter ones than usual, the brain is clearing (after an entertaining weekend talking crap and being able to blame the anaesthetic), and the tiredness is not as bad as it was although I may continue with an afternoon Nanna nap for the next few days. Pain has been pretty non-existent and needed nothing stronger than a couple of paracetamols.

I now have a very different understanding of 'Through the Keyhole' than I used to, and I'm a fan. There is very little scarring and a far quicker recovery period than there would be otherwise. The trick with feeling quite so good so quickly may be just remembering not to do too much too soon...but I'll definitely leave the digging for another couple of weeks.

Up a height in Peru

There is so much to say I really wasn’t sure where to start with this! In summary, I have been trekking in Peru, suffered from high altitude sickness, camped in remote isolated mountains in the Andes, tasted fruit and veg I'd never even heard of before, nearly got run over by Llamas, had hairy scary bus rides on roads closed due to landslides, experienced the several thousand steps on the old Inca trail, reached Machu Picchu, wondered at the magical mysteriousness of it all, tasted the best chocolate in the world, and celebrated with too many Pisco sours (*takes deep breath*)! 

I'm going to be writing more detail about different aspects of the experience over the next week or so, as there’s too much to put in one post, but here are some of my highlights.   

It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience - though some things, like being in hospital on the first night due to altitude sickness - I will be happy to never repeat! We climbed to heights of over 4,500 metres and I really felt the effects of the altitude on the three days we were trekking at that kind of level. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before, you are forced to walk much more slowly than a normal pace (frustrating for someone like me who likes to march onwards!) and even then have to stop every few minutes. 'Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth' become one of our medically approved mantras!

It was amazing trekking through these isolated, quite barren but breathtakingly beautiful mountains – and we’d often see a spot of bright red on the horizon. As it got closer we would see it was a person dressed in the colourful traditional clothes, often women and children, who’d be walking along – seeming to appear out of thin air and be heading absolutely nowhere. Women would always be carrying something on their back - firewood, fruit, vegetables or cloth to sell, or often a child. They would scuttle past us half our size and twice as fast.

 

Even in these most remote, hostile areas there is life, unchanged for probably centuries, small patches where crops or vegetables are grown, everything maintained by hand, stone built thatched roofed houses with families of three generations all crammed into one room, a fire in the middle for cooking and heating - no chimney - the smoke filling and bellowing out of the house. The local mountain people we met mostly don't even speak Spanish, they speak their traditional language of Quechua. We were on a little used trail and visitors are rare - so goodness knows what they must have thought of us with all our equipment, huffing and puffing up their mountains. They were quiet, shy, very dignified people. At one point a few of us had fallen behind (we’d had a toilet stop – with no bushes or rocks to go behind you just had to wait for others to get past then squat!) and had even lost sight of the guide in front of us. A little lady appeared and walked with us, at a slight distance and without saying anything, just giving an occasional smile. She would wait until we were all safely across a boggy bit or a stream then carry on walking with us. She accompanied us for miles and I am sure she was making sure we were all right and safe until we caught up with the rest of the group. When we did she just disappeared.

Camping was not my favourite thing (never has been, never will be), everything got damp and the sun disappeared very suddenly so it became very cold very quickly. But the guides and crew we had, all local men, looked after us wonderfully well. They would wake us up with a cup of tea and bowl of water, with a cooked breakfast on the go – which made us forgive them for the 5am starts. When we set off for the day’s trek, the crew would stay behind, take everything down, clear away, then set off, overtake us and by the time we got to the lunch stop or that evening's camp they'd have all our tents up, the dining tent set up, toilets dug, and would be cooking up a meal and greet us with tea and cake. We were amazingly well fed, with three cooks rustling up cooked breakfasts, lunches and always a three course dinner. They catered for two vegetarians, one gluten free diet and someone who couldn't eat onions! Our local guides Tony and Paco who were with us all week took great care of us, they were also so passionate and informative about the area, and incredibly good humoured - essential for them to survive a week with a group of 15 females!

My favourite trek day was the fourth day when we were due to reach Machu Picchu itself. We had come down from the very high levels we'd been at and joined the old Inca Trail. This is literally a stone path clinging to the side of the mountains, so you always have a sheer drop at one side of you. But as it was much lower altitude I could breathe! Instead of quite barren mountains with no insects or birds, they were green, lush and rich with plants, flowers and trees. We saw huge butterflies, poisonous millipedes, humming birds and wandering llamas. After a day of walking through spectacular waterfalls, Inca ruins and the humid jungle feel on this part of the trek we finally passed through the sun gate and got our first sight of Machu Picchu. Well - we would have if it hadn't been covered by clouds! The clouds made it all the more mystical and when they did go – there is was - the classic sight of the ancient city that you see on all of the pictures and programmes. It isn't until we walked down towards it I really become aware of the size and complexity of the ruins - which actually are in an unfeasibly good state.

We celebrated that night in a colourful lively restaurant in Aguas Calientes, the town near to Machu Picchu. After several days of not being very hungry (a positive of high altitude) we tucked in like we'd never seen food before - I had the most marvellous melon starter - a whole melon scooped out into balls and the inside filled with an Andean liquer (I don't know what - only that it was red and very very delicious!). I also had the best beer ever - freezing cold liquid gold - just what the doctor ordered (or should've done) after the week we'd had.  

The day after, our final full day, our trekking was over and we were just tourists. We went back to Machu Picchu and Paco who used to work at the site led us round on a really informative tour. We were then taken to lunch, grabbed a bit of shopping in the markets, and had a train and bus ride back to Cusco.

Our final night was party night in Cusco at a local restaurant - with the meat eaters trying the traditional dish of guinea pig (verdicts included: salty/ gamey/ like nothing else ever tasted/ yuck). After several Pisco sours and bottles of celebratory wine we took over the restaurant and ended up dancing until the early hours.

The next day we had a few hours to spend in Cusco before setting off for the long long journey home. Slightly worse for wear, I managed to make it to the Chocolate Museum which had been on my ‘must do’ list for ages. This is the most gorgeous smelling museum I have ever been to, the scent wafted through the air on the approach to it, and this is where you can get the best chocolate I (and others) have ever tasted. So our final last hour was spent chilling (the first opportunity we'd had!) in the sunshine with coffee and chocolates on a colonial style balcony watching the world go by in the main square below.

This was a much anticipated experience, and a real adventure into the unknown - it's like nothing I've ever done before. I booked it a year ago, spent 12 months fundraising, faced last minute plane cancellations and then spent the first night ill in hospital in Cusco wondering if I was actually going to be given the ok to do the trek. But it was all worth it. For me personally it's been a real adventure and achievement, I’ve got some amazing memories and made some friends for life. And of course what got me into this in the first place, is that the charity and other women facing breast cancer will benefit. Between us our Peru posse raised over £50,000 for Breast Cancer Care.

Here today...

Gone tomorrow... Or strictly speaking I'll be gone later today as its now past midnight. After a year of planning, plotting, fundraising, tomorrow I'm setting off for Peru to trek up Machu Pichhu in support of Breast Cancer Care.
As ever the organised, sorted, well planned out couple of weeks beforehand id dreamt of having turned out to be frantic, chaotic, ridiculously busy ones. And as ever writing including this blog, my WIP that I'd started to actually get 'in progress' and totting up and reporting back on my result for the 100k words in 100 days challenge are the kind of things that fell off the list. But will all be here for me to do when I get back!

I am a little bit too excited to sleep and have a real mix of anticipation and trepidation about the next ten days ahead. So much is unknown and hard to imagine - how I'll cope with the altitude and sleeping in a tent in freezing temperatures, how we'll all get on as a group of strangers being together 24 hours a day, how will I feel having done it... But it is the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm so glad I'm doing it (I'll remind myself of this when I have the squirts halfway up a mountain with no bathroom for a 4 day radius..)!

So a temporary adieu from moi - though if I can work out how I may try to post an update while en trek... Watch this space!

On my doorstep

Whenever I go anywhere new, on holidays, short breaks or visits to other parts of the country or world I always do my research, find places I want to go, have a list of things to do, get to know a bit about the place. 

This year I am definitely going to do more of that in my own home county.

I hate the word 'staycation' and I am a sun lover which is often the one thing you don't get right up north, but have vowed I will go out and about much more this year much closer to home. 

I am lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the world, with oodles of history, amazing countryside, fabulous beaches and gorgeous places to go. 

So now is the time to start making more of this I've decided - and this week I took advantage of the sunny weather.

All this just over half an hour's drive up the road from where I live. Sometimes you forget what's right under your nose.