You may remember that in August I went down to Sussex to stay with my ‘living-with-cancer’ friend. I am going to call her ‘Patsy’. Absolutely Fabulous Patsy.  We were meeting for a photo shoot for health and hygiene. Photographer from Sweden. The wonderful awesome ‘Pippi’ as in  Longstocking.  Pippi had the unenviable task of capturing our stories in celluloid. Just to add to the pressure, Patsy had just heard she had gone from ‘living with’ to ‘ dying with’ cancer. So I opened the fizz, we swore like troopers and got on with the shoot. Of course it was all meant to be about the big ‘C’ as in CONTINENCE but the big Cancer way more massive a story. We promised ourselves we would go to the opening of the photographic exhibition. Patsy promised she would stay alive ( the  story is  here DragonTattoo )

So guess what? She did. We did. It was awesome.

We wedged flights in between hospital bloods for Patsy. Chemo for Patsy. Appointments for me.   We organised assistance at airport. We were yelled at by the Gatwick assistance team . They said we were late. They said ‘disabled needed to check in 3 hours before the flight’ FFS speeding from hospital to Gatwick, only hand luggage, checked in online….do not shout at us. Just get the bloody wheel chair and golf buggy thing out. We managed somehow . We maybe didn’t look like we needed assistance. We actually bloody well did. Our combined medical accoutrements and metal implants set all the security buzzing! Good job Eygpt was not in our sights the amount of painkilers we need would not be safe there!

We tweeted a complaint. Gatwick answered . Such is the power of twitter, they rolled out the a red carpet on our return!

We were whisked from Stockholm airport to car to hotel. Our upgraded rooms could have fitted all our families!

Drinks in the bar. Coats collected for us from our rooms. Little stagger to a recommended restaurant … lager, schnapps, and shrimps. What more could we possibly want? All the groovy people of Stockholm were there. Turns out it was a sort of Soho style, edgy epicentre trendy meets sultry beatnik bastion. We loved it. Bet Stieg Larsson went there.

We were met next morning by our lovely host Mr B. We have decided to adopt him. He is Danish. He is utterly wonderfully open, direct, funny and bucketfulls of emotional intelligence. He whisked us by taxi and lift, to the tallest building in Stockholm.  He had fixed table for lunch. There you see, he said. All of Stockholm from the comfort of your seat. What a hero. We would never have made it otherwise. Our creeking bodies…trying to keep up.

Then off we whizzed to the opening of the exhibition. Patsy’s photo was up there in big focus. She moaned about the fluid, she moaned about the light…we loved it…we love her…fluid and all. She did her interviews she smiled radiantly she looked amazing.

Pippi arrived. We hugged. We cried. Her parents, husband, tiny daughter. They hugged us too. So you are the famous English patients… her mother said….We grinned. We laughed. We showed off our best Swedish: ‘Tak’ ‘Hey’

When we were not sure we went for ‘ Hurdy Gurdy’

Then after the compulsory fizz…we let rip with our knowledge of  ‘the Bridge.’  Then just to show off…’ Where is the girl with the Dragon Tattoo?’

Just when we were really becoming crazier than normal…we announced we must leave for the airport. Oh no…they implored…the speeches?… the panel discussion?…the canapes?….we need you.

Ever direct…Patsy pronounced: Sorry got to go….chemo in the morning…got to dash ….

So off we whizzed….barely 24 hours after our arrival. Back to Gatwick and the red carpet. Asleep by midnight. Back to our various hospitals next morning. Aching screaming bodies. Pewking and hurting. But bugger that…. We had a ‘blast’. We will be back…Patsy has promised to stay alive…we look forward to the New York opening. See you there…Hey Hey!!

Messages:

 HOPE AND POWER From ‘ Pippi’

Dear ***  and Jacq, It was such an honor to have you coming to the exhibition. It ment a lot to me, I would have loved to spend more time together. Thank you so much for your lovely words and for you letting me picture you. So kind of you to bring a gift for Ines, she said the night after ”I want to read Winniw the puh” and Gustav translated! My parents really enjoyed meeting you, and they told me they think your both are lovely. They are not that good in english but really appriciated your chat!

I am so happy I had the chance to get to know you both! You

 give hope and power!

 Warm regards and love,

***

WHAT A BLAST From: Mr B our new adoption :

Ladies! What a blast I had with you and I was super happy that you came. Hope the flight went well and they treated you like princesses this time!  Our CEO mentioned your images in the panel debate and also the chat you had with him. I will send you the video compilation and also later on the digital exhibition but that will be in December. And then we stay in touch for sure, these meetings are worth a lot. And all the best tomorrow and onwards with the chemo’s and treatment. I count on good progress reports!!

 

 Big hug from me and super nice to meet and spend time. We’ll stay in touch! ****