Pretty darn scary!

Yes, this last week was pretty and scary. On Tuesday evening we watched a program on BBC titled 'My Breasts Could Kill Me'. Very insightful. A young woman going through the motions to see whether she has breast cancer. Her own mom died at the age of 34 of this decease, which makes her a good candidate to follow in her mom's footsteps. Some interesting facts: from the time that the first cancer cell is 'born' until the moment you can feel the lump in your breast is about five years. That means that I have been sitting with this awful stuff in my body for at least five years - scary! Luckily modern medicine is so amazing that they can detect a cancer tumor 18 months before you can feel the lump with a mammogram and three years before with an MRI scan. Unfortunately these are pricey tests.

Now to the pretty part. I had my 'Look good, feel better' afternoon this last Wednesday, together with 14 other ladies - all ages, shapes and sizes. It was a real girly, fun-filled afternoon. Upon arrival we had some drinks (that is now tea, coffee or cappuccino), were taken to the long table and handed out a nice biggish toiletry bag. Inside we found everything you need to glamour up your face - names like Chanel, Clarins, Lancome and Yves Saint Laurent. Even a very nice bottle of Sarah Jessica Parker perfume. Stephen showed everyone the 110 steps to follow to look absolutely gorgeous - no, it was only 12 steps, but feels like a 110 if you are used to mascara and lipstick for special occasions only! I was the lucky one on whom he had to demonstrate all his tricks and I am sure I can't remember half of it (it must be my chemo-brain condition!). Everyone was very chirpy and all smiles by the end of the session.

Upon arriving home, I found three happy boys. Andries was on babysitter-duty and joined Hugo and Ivan playing outside. They also completed some puzzles and managed to build a dinosaur out of Lego - very impressive! (See the photo)

We are getting ready for our vacation in Egypt. Four more sleeps before we leave for Sharm El Sheikh. It is very close to the Sinai district. The great thing about this holiday is that it is all- inclusive. So the only work we have to do is to put up our arms and snap our fingers to order the cocktails (mine non-alcoholic obviously...).

On our return it will be just a few hours before we see Oupa and Ouma Kotzee. We are looking forward to their visit so much! They will be helping our for four full weeks. They have done it plenty times before and we feel so privileged to have them here. This will be Ouma's fifth visit to us in 13 months - I hope I am making other oumas very jealous that have kids living overseas.

Anyhow, I will be reporting back on the holiday after the 10th of November sometime, hopefully with a little bit of a tan. XXX