Giving my face a new outing.....

This evening, Neil and I are off to my Institute's Regional Annual Dinner - one of our flagship events and one which I have attended for many years. I was invited as Chairman's guest this year and Neil has been invited to support me, as the organisers realised that arriving on my own and dealing with people who haven't seen me for a while might be quite daunting. It makes a huge difference having him with me as I feel protected from people staring and commenting (not worried about the people at our Dinner doing that, but more about travelling on the underground on a busy Friday evening!).  So I am using today to steel myself to show myself to people whom I haven't seen since last year, in many cases, and who won't know about what's happened. I am in a bit of a quandary about whether to try using some make-up or not - normally I would for a dressed-up event, but with uneven sized eyes, I am worried it might make me look more lopsided and accentuate the difference between them. And how can I disguise my wonky mouth? Should I even bother? At least I have chosen my dress and I am being a bit daring compared to normal, with a rather funky dress that shows off my newly slim (probably temporarily so!) figure. Maybe people will be looking at my legs and won't notice my face ;-)

Had a lovely phone call from Adam this morning, telling me about his course and how it's going - it all seems to be "good in the hood", as he would say. I do miss him, although I know he's having a great time and was very ready to leave home and be independent.

Neil went to Carl's funeral yesterday and was one of about 100 people who had to stand outside the crematorium chapel, as there were so many people there. He had a great send-off - his daughters were incredibly brave; one sang and the other read the eulogy. Overall, it was a fitting remembrance of a life well-lived and leaving behind many happy memories. Amy was also at a funeral yesterday, for a beautiful 14 year old girl she has worked with for a few years at Disability Challengers. So sad when such a very young life is lost and every parent's worst nightmare.

I am going to try and post more regularly on here - although the cancer treatment is finished (for now! - see, I am still not counting my chickens!), I still have the facial palsy to deal with and that, in some ways, is going to be much more difficult because it's up to me how I deal with it and any medical intervention won't be for a long time.

More over the weekend. Usual thanks to everyone and especially to Neil, Amy and Adam. My rocks.