Last week my husband and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary (time has flown)! We spent it – with Mrs T – in northern Spain at a beautiful hotel surrounded by vineyards. It was a really special celebration and in complete contrast to the previous year which my husband has described as a “disaster”.
Back in August 2012, Mrs T was just two and a half weeks old and a month and a half prior Cal had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a blood cancer. The day before our anniversary he had his second round of chemotherapy. We had made tentative plans to go shopping, buy some pressies and have lunch. He had coped with his first round relatively well so we were hopeful we could have a leisurely day. Well, no. Any plans went out of the window very early on.
From the moment he awoke, Cal spent the whole day rushing to the toilet, vomiting. He felt, in his words “the worst I have ever felt in my life”. He couldn’t keep any food down. He was totally miserable. I felt utterly helpless. Seeing the person you love feeling so terrible and not being able to do or say anything to alleviate the pain is horrible. He couldn’t even talk to me he felt so sick (and for my husband that is mighty unusual). I kept myself busy looking after our daughter but all in all it was a rubbish day. We should have been celebrating and enjoying the day when all we wanted was for it to end.
Later in the evening, we were to realise this scenario COULD have been avoided – a solution had been staring him in the face all the time. It wasn’t until 8pm on the evening of our anniversary that he took a detailed look at the list of drugs he had to take (and there were a lot). It quickly dawned on him that he had forgotten to take one of his anti-sickness drugs! Within half an hour of taking the pill, the sickness subsided and he instantly felt better. Unfortunately our anniversary had pretty much passed without a hint of romance and not one glass of wine supped – let alone any champagne.
This year we made up for the ‘disastrous’ third anniversary (well, we were basically celebrating TWO) and went to a place where wine was pretty much on tap. After three hectic days in Madrid we hired a car and drove out to the Rioja wine region in northern Spain. The Marques De Riscal hotel provided us with a quiet oasis from the hot, crowded city. Designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry, the striking building of gold, silver and pink twisted steel sits in the midst of field upon field of vineyards: its shining wave-like structure glinting from afar in the Spanish sun, its bar looking out onto the small town of Elciego.
Coming from Madrid where we barely had enough space in our room for our luggage, a bed and Mrs T’s cot was a relief. She was happy, we were happy and the night of our anniversary she slept in her pram the whole time we ate dinner at the excellent Michelin starred restaurant at the hotel. Well done (and thank you) little lady. The food was delicious, innovative and perfectly put together with a smooth Rioja wine to compliment. Yes. This was more like it!
During the day we enjoyed the hotel spa – with Mrs T getting involved with some swimming action. The only error was the slightly early wine tour the next day. Visiting ageing oak casks in small cellars reeking of stale booze perhaps wasn’t the best idea followed by wine tasting but then… the hair of the dog and all that. This year, thanks goodness, that was as near as either of us got to vomiting.
As for my husband, well he is clearly on the mend. After the wine tasting he went, almost straight away, to the hotel gym. Those vomiting, chemo days are slowly becoming a distant memory.
