I am waiting to see if my blood count is high enough for my next treatment.  I need to keep on track if I am to get into remission and have a transplant.  Perhaps, naturally, I am trying to see how I got into this - I live healthily and I'm a non-smoker.  If it's not genetic is it caused or worsened by stress and how we have to cope with it?  I've started to look at some of the most stressful times in the past few years.  The first was when the convent school I was working in closed and we were left without jobs.

When I went for my interview at the convent school I went to the main door of the convent – there was no reception area for the school!  No one answered the door so I found a door to the kitchen in the basement and was taken up into the main convent.  I found out later that a deaf nun was put in charge of answering the door.  Similarly the school secretary was someone to whom administration/typing was comparatively new and this seemed to be the philosophy behind job allocation for the non-teaching staff.

It gradually became obvious that the school was also being run down.  Partly this was because the nuns were growing older but every difficulty was met with a withdrawal of services, e.g. hot lunches and ending of boarding for girls rather than finding a better way to continue offering good service.

Although the convent had been offered amalgamation with a local boys independent school, this was turned down and only 18 months later, staff learned of closure of the senior school.  The lowest redundancy terms were initially offered despite the loyalty of staff, many of whom had been there for years.  The most disturbing aspect was how we were to find new jobs.  We had expected help but actually met with discouragement – not something we had expected.