The Ongoing Saga of Ruby Trying to Own A Home

ruby_eskimo

Hello?

Long time no post. I do this every year, get really motivated at the start of the year and then just stop coming to the forum because…life!

Let's start with the easy bits - house is basically done? Every room has now been decorated, had all new carpets upstairs (although they did fit the completely wrong carpet on the first go!) and all new internal doors. Only things left are to get the parquet floors downstairs restored and refinished and then rip-out the downstairs shower room but that's a project for a few years down the line.

We are experiencing a bountiful harvest from the garden, thanks to Mr Eskimo's efforts so I won't have to buy peppers or tomatoes for a very long time at this rate!

Haven't made a single OP to the mortgage yet but that's about to change (more on that in a sec…) and financially we're doing ok for the moment. Really have to knuckle down a little soon because of rising utility bill costs, oh and the fact that we've been automatically re-banded up a council tax band so that payment increased by almost 50% each month 🤯 Don't worry, Mr Eskimo put an appeal in so we're now just waiting and hoping.

And now for the not so easy bit - 5 weeks ago Mr Eskimo was diagnosed with early stage bowel cancer. It was literally out of the blue as he only went for a colonoscopy because other family members had been diagnosed with a genetic form of IBD earlier on in the year and they advised screening for the rest of the family. Luckily it was early (can't tell staging until they get more results back) but this time last week he had surgery to remove the small tumour and a very large portion of his colon. Even if it wasn't cancerous he would have still needed the surgery, just probably in a few months time not 2 weeks after official diagnosis 😂 There's a possibility he'll need chemo in a few months time, but not as "treatment" more a prevention of future re-occurrence. Recovery so far has been…difficult. Things are taking a long time to "wake up" and get moving again. While what he's experiencing post surgery is very, very common, it's little comfort when there are other patients who are twice his age and have been for the same surgery and gone home in the same time that's he's been in hospital.

So that brings me on to the mortgage overpayments. Literally the day he got the diagnosis, our life insurance broker called to review the policy 🤣. Because everything has happened so quickly I didn't even think about our critical illness coverage or anything like that but turns out it's pretty good and they're going to pay him out the full thing. Financially we're ok at the moment because of his very good sick pay and the fact that things have moved very quickly so we can use most of the money to pay 10% off the mortgage and still have a bit leftover to cover mortgage payments for almost another year which is comforting to think about amongst all the chaos.

Hope all are well, will try and do some catching up on other threads because it's not like I'm sleeping much at the moment!

debtfreewannabe321

Oh Ruby, I'm so sorry about your DH, I hope he has a speedy and full recovery 🙏🏻.

South_coast

Oh wow, that is a BIG update 😳! Best wishes to you both and I hope you are as upbeat as you sound, and it's not "faking it until you make it". What a good job the screening was recommended 👍 x

Fortune_Smiles

What a year for you Ruby. Sending positve thoughts and virtual hugs to you both.

Fortune x

beanielou

That’s not so good but it has been caught and treated. Glad there’s a tiny financial benefit. Take care.

VintageHistorian

Your poor DH but also poor you, being support and having to manage everything so the patient can focus on recovery is hard. I hope DH starts to recover soon and that the cancer quickly learns its lesson and never returns.

Jessy103

Wishing DH a speedy recovery and best wishes to you both x

ruby_eskimo

Thank you so much everyone. @South_coast definitely feeling positive about everything. Keep comparing it to how I felt this time last year when my dad was in hospital and I'm not having the almost constant panic attacks so that's a definite improvement!

He's been in a week now and finally has a (female) doctor on rounds this morning who's actually listened to him and his concerns rather than just saying "this is normal". So he's got a fun day of scans and things ahead of him but I think we're turning a corner with his recovery now.

On the money front I've managed to pay off most of my credit card this morning, just have a few pending payments that won't clear till after the weekend and then it's payday on Monday. I need to pick up a few things from the supermarket but we've been spending less on food recently because DH's been on a limited diet which will continue once he's home - think the beigest of beige (white bread, shredded chicken, mash potato, mushy pasta, cornflakes, scrambled egg). This has meant I get to eat the things I like that he can't stand (mushrooms and sweetcorn to name a few) and meal prepping my dinners has been a life saver.

I also have a pile of things to list for sale and thought I'd have loads of time to do it while he was in hospital but turns out I have no time for anything 😂 Have made plans to pop into a friend's this evening after visiting for a cup of tea just to be somewhere that isn't my house or the hospital and to talk to someone who isn't through a screen or has tubes coming out of them!

Once again, thanks for the support, hope you're all doing well!

Watty1

Huge update - wishing you both well .

rtandon27

Sending you both lots of good vibes & healing ones to your DH!