KiwiCat's updates

my cancer journey, and other stuff

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  • October 2026
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    Domestic stuff

    It’s been a very normal last few weeks. My energy levels are improving, I’m doing longer hours at work, and I’m having fewer medical appointments.

    Speaking of which, I do have a scan bioked for Wednesday, but it’s in Thames, so a 3 hour round trip rather than 3 hours one way, so that’s good too. There will be another oncologist appointment sometime after that but I don’t have the date for that yet. I’m hoping that might also be in Thames this time. We’ll see.

    In the meantime I’ve been doing some spinning in the hope of having a dyeing day (that’s dyeing with an e) in a few weeks. I’ve done some thin yarn, niw I want to do some skeins of thicker yarn.

    My husband, though, has been busy at work on the laundry and outside. Here are a few photos of his progress.

    Destroying the old hot water cupboard to make more room in the laundry
    Putting on the framing for the wall
    The wall is up and lined, it’ll be stopped and painted later
    Rubble in the alcove of the toilet room, ready for conversion into a broom cupboard
    The new broom closet is cut into the wall to the left of the laundry
    The broom closet door from the inside,  with tiles cut away
    New wall between toilet and broom closet taking shape
    The glasshouse with all intact glass panes in place (over half were already broken before the move)
    Glasshouse steps taking shape, first plants inside and a new Meyer lemon planted outside to the left
    The new washing line with planning for the cobbled space beneath still in planning

    As you can see there’s plenty still to do, but he’s getting a lot done.

  • October 2026
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    Kitty update

    It’s been an interesting week.  The other day I spotted a new fruit tree on the property, a red guava half buried in the flowers at the top of the driveway.

    But I titled this post for the kittens because I haven’t posted any photos of them in awhile.

    They’ve grown significantly, now at 6 months. One or both of them tend to join me at work, usually in their beds bit sometimes making an appearance during video calls. They now go in and out at will, and are involved in everything. Here’s a small montage of recent moments that prompted me to take photos.

    As can be seen in the photos, Leroy enjoys a cuddle. Daisy likes my lap when I’m crafting which is never a good time for a photo.

  • October 2026
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    All is well

    Those in NZ will know but for the rest of my readers: sorry, I should have postedon Monday to confirm that all was well. The storm ended up veering east and did far less damage than it might have done if it had stayed on track. We had a couple of strong gusts that made the roof creak and the town got cut off again by flooding, trees down and slips, and some areas lost power for some hours, but overall it wasn’t too bad.

    lumpy mid-tide before the storm hit
    Westerly winds were worse than the earlier easterlies

    We stayed inside and kept busy. The laundry renovations started with the demolition of the old hot water cupboard

    Meanwhile I bottled some more pears, made some feijoa chutney and some home made tomato salsa.

    I’ve got about 3 batches of pears to go though we’re now just eating them fresh, too. It’s a good sign my stamina is improving because a few weeks ag I couldn’t have managed so much, even with breaks between.

    So it was a safe, happy and oddly productive weekend ignoring the weather outside.

  • October 2026
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    Storm warning

    Red sky at night, cyclone nearly in sight… that’s how the rhyme goes, isn’t it?

    Seriously, we’re well prepared for the coming chaos so I think we’ll be okay, though I fully expect road closures and probably power cuts. The biggest worry is the garage because the builder has been delayed and therefore hasn’t fixed the hole in one corner, but we have sand bags in place.

    Sunday will be the worst, it’s pretty much all over by Monday.

    If the power stats on I’ll probably do some baking. If it’s off, I’ll be spinning. Plans for every contingency 🙂

    Stay safe, everyone.

  • October 2026
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    Happy Easter

    An unexpectedly industrious long weekend here. The posts are in for the new washing line…

    …the glasshouse retaining wall is up and the frame established…

    …and the old wardrobe walls in Nathan’s room have been demolished (further work required)


    Anyway it’s Sunday morning and time for church on the most important day of the church calendar, but there’s been enough time to make fresh hot cross buns for breakfast. Yum.

    Happy Easter, all, He is risen!

  • October 2026
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    Quick update

    I said I wouldn’t update until tomorrow but we’re home beore dark so I’ll do a quick one.

    I travelled okay, slow going on wet roads but overall the traffic was steady.

    The scan shows absolutely no growth in my organs, so that’s wonderful news. The oncologist is going to get back to us after Easter with next steps but it’s likely to be another scan in about 6 weeks. Close monitoring is the plan here.

    To finish the day we’ve arrived home to a house without power. Seems it’s a local fault, and it’s being worked on, so glad it isn’t already dark. We’re off to locate the candles and torches in case it persists longer than expected.

    Overall, though, a good day.

  • October 2026
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    Whatever the weather

    We had more rain last week; 200mL in 24 hours overnight Thursday. The photos don’t really catch it, but it was certainly wet.

    And then without warning the weather cleared up, the sun came out and it was summer again.

    Late Friday afternoon
    Saturday morning

    So we’ve had a nice weekend overall, if rather hot and humid. Mind you, the roads took a beating. Saturday several were still blocked completely but today they’re being managed.

    Tomorrow is my last scheduled travel date for a bit. We’re off to Auckland to see the oncologist for the results of last week’s scan. It’s going to be another full day trip and with a trip a week fr 3 weeks I’m dismally sure I won’t enjoy it, but I’ll get through it.

    I’m planning to update here on Tuesday afternoon.  I’ll be exhausted on Monday, probably arriving home around dark, and then I’m doing a few hours at work in the morning before having the rest of the day off, starting with a massage.

    So expect news later on Tuesday.

    In the meantime, here’s the kittens deciding they actually don’t need to go out in a storm after all.

  • October 2026
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    Fingering work

    Six and a half weeks ago I had the second  hand surgery. Since then I’ve been healing up and going to the hand physio regularly.  While I’ve been disappointed by the limited range of movement, I’ve been pleased with the removal of pain and the nice way the scar has healed. I’m back to over 80 words per minute in touch typing, with 98% accuracy – at least in short bursts, I tire after about 3 minutes of continuous typing and slow down – so overall I’m happy with where we’re at.

    Today I had my 6 week appointment with Simon, the hand surgeon. He took one look, frowned, and basically said ‘we can do better’.

    With some local anaesthetic in place he has done a bit of prodding and pushing and has confirmed that the problem is a particular tendon. He thinks it’s caught on or by some scar tissue. He wants to give it a few more months for the scar tissue to settle down, then see me again, potentially looking at another surgery to free up the tendon. In the meantime I need to be carrying on with the physio and it might free itself and save me another operation.

    In other unrelated news, I want met curtains in the office to handle the light coming in from the side or reflecting off the neighbour’s window behind my sreen. And while of course I could uy them, I’ve decided to make them myself.

    It’s a folly but it’s making me happy and it was done quicker than I expected.  On to the bigger window next.

  • October 2026
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    Actually…

    I keep catching myself forgetting to do things. Or doing things that in retrospect don’t make as much sense as I initially thought.

    Case in point: it is *not* 30 years since 1997. It is 29 years. Next year will be 30 years, but not yet.

    Mind you, no-one pointed this out, of the various people who congratulated me. I just suddenly thought of it in the middle of the night.

    So. I have just had my 29th anniversary.  I guess I’ll just have to make sure I’m around to earn those 30th anniversary congratulations next year 🙂

  • October 2026
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    Happy anniversary to me

    Today marks 30 years since my first day of paid employment as a public servant. On 12 March 1997 I began working 3.5 hours a week as a library assistant for a take home pay of $60 which used to be handed to me in cash in a small brown envelope.

    How things have changed.

    I rarely carry cash anymore, and certainly wouldn’t want to receive my pay that way. Not to mention the fact that I’m almost never in the office and the post is always slow now they’ve cut delivery days.

    When I started that job I knew I wanted a career in libraries but not that I would basically work for only two institutions over a 30 year period.

    That sounds tedious, but it absolutely hasn’t been. Thirty years on I still love my job.

    Here’s to many more anniversaries to come.