lovely day at The Grand Hotel Torquay

first - hello to whoever it is in Portugal that is reading my whole blog. Feel free to comment - in Portuguese if you like! Or not if you don't want to.

Next - we had a super day today at The Grand Hotel in Torquay.

They put on a lovely lunch for us, the staff were really helpful at any query and the view is amazing from their veranda. Target Ovarian Cancer did a great job at organising us all and the workshops were interesting and valid. Kate was a delight, and YES Tracey, I did send your love! :o)

The afternoon workshop was particularly interesting, as it allowed us to comment about our various experiences of the NHS treatment we have received. These comments will be passed back to the staff of our hospitals. Which, happily, were majoritarily good ones. Of course no system is perfect, and with so many people involved in each persons care, there are bound to be foul ups and glitches. Communication being the most vital problem, as wires get crossed, people don't respond as you'd wish and information isn't passed to patients as it should be on occasion. Email seems to be a problem, as the NHS worries about security, but hey, surely it's up to us to decide if we want that or not? Personally, I would love to get my results etc by email - so quick! And accessible anywhere via the mobile phone.

Happily, I have had nothing but brilliant service from my Cancer Team, so I have had no complaints. In particular, my Gynaecology/Oncology Clinical Nurse Specialists, Gail and Jackie, have been amazing. They absolutely ALWAYS get back to me the same day. No matter how small or silly my query is. Can't ask more than that.

This is them! Jackie on the left, Gail on the right. Wonderful women who make a HUGE difference in our lives.

And -  lunch was scrumptious. Salmon and salad for me [still trying to lose that weight!] but we could have had lasagne, steak and kidney with dumplings or sweet an sour chicken. Cute desserts and lots of coffee.

See Target Ovarian Cancer website for information on when they will be doing something like this near you. Well worth going,the networking opportunities are great. Today I met Simon's auntie Jean again! That was nice! We will meet up again I hope when Simon gets back from his mammoth cycle.

And now I am retiring, as that massive scone with clotted cream was a bit much - eyes bigger than my tummy ;o)