Saturday 21 January 2012

An ode to my work colleagues

Over the past 12 months I have had an abundance of support from my work colleagues. After family, they were the first to know of my diagnosis. I had to tell them, as the roster was out and I had to take myself off it to have the surgery. Well, straight away I was overwhelmed with the support. My shifts were quickly covered, but even more importantly was the night out organised to farewell my breast! We had a great night with a lot of laughs and wine, especially wine! I don't think other patrons at the restaurant could quite believe what we were "celebrating"!

After surgery and throughout the rest of the year there were the calls of support, the meals for the family and the visits. There was Joan, who hung my washing on the line for me (even though my pegs weren't matching colours); Kim, who, despite her own family problems, still came over with meals for us and took me out for coffee; Sally (been there, done that) reassuring me endlessly; Cecilia, who spent the day doing some interior decorating for me as I couldn't make a decision about anything. She gave me direction and helped me make that decision!

At work always the support and care. "Stay away from that room - some one coughing". Darrell & Caroline, the roster queens, who always gave me exactly what I wanted to fit in with my treatment. To the girls who willingly stepped aside from their regular shifts so I could work them and they slotted in somewhere else. And, of course, our fearless leader, the head honcho, who always checked on my progress and gave me leave whenever I asked, or indeed, if I looked like I needed it!

But mostly there were the laughs. "Veronica, you look different.""Oh No! I forgot my eyebrows again! Here, you put them on for me." (And they did).
"Sorry I'm late, got half way here and realised I forgot my hair" "Yeah, we figured as much!" Then there was the disappearing wig scenario, which I'm sure you well remember. All this carry-on jut made the months of treatment slide by.

As I was going through my treatment, Sue, our ward clerk, was also going through chemotherapy. Rather than a wig, Sue opted to wear scarves or bandannas. We were able to determine her mood for the day by the colour of her head dress! The darker the covering the more distance we kept between she and us! But mostly, Beware the Red! She also had a weekly competition of "Guess my Neutrophils!". Jodi seemed to win that one, although it was often a case of "How low can they go?"! They went low, but Sue smiled her way through it all (or grumped, depending on her headdress)!

Sue and I finished treatment about the same time so we decided to have an afternoon tea at work to thank everyone for their support, - and because we like to have afternoon teas. As you can see by the photos, the colour theme was purple.  All the Toxic Waste containers are purple so we decided that was the colour we needed! Amazingly, on the appointed day, the place was fairly quiet and we all managed to get to afternoon tea! Doesn't happen every day but we do enjoy it when it does!

Thy're a motley crew......

                                                                 We have hair!

.....But I wouldn't have it any other way!


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