Week 11: w/e 13th September 2026

HI Folks, 

Welcome to another update and I will get straight into the health aspects. The first issue took place in the early hours of Monday morning, with a bad bout of insomnia, with around 1 hours sleep managed before the morning; no real identifiable cause for that one! The sleep pattern continued oddly throughout the week, but is a case of watching and monitoring. 

Ahead of starting Chemo, I wanted to do a final weight check at home, to determine the impact of the recent appetite suppression, but also then monitor any impact of the chemo and the many side effects that it brings. I am now almost down to 11 stone, which is around a half-a-stone loss in the past few months. Nice to be able to shift some of that unnecessary weight, but this is also something that needs monitoring, as it can be a detractor, when going through chemo - we’ll watch and see. 

Thankfully, the first chemo session was done on Monday afternoon. It took a little longer than usual, as they were not fully staffed. Psychologically, good to get it underway, but now it is a case of waiting to see what impacts and side effects come from it. My body is not feeling 100%, but it is hard to pinpoint what, or why and sometimes, exactly where. The ‘swimming head’ is there and was worse at the start of the week, with it settling down later on. The anti-sickness chemo meds were started Sunday and they are impacting the taste already. It is not very nice medication to take, but if it helps, gotta get on with it. My hair has managed to stay in so far, but I do not expect that to be the case, as more of that chemo junk gets pumped in. The week has been mostly manageable, with no real drastic impacts yet. My body has more pain and discomfort, which may be the meds fighting the locations of the disease spread? Tiredness is there, but again, variable. I had a pre-booked physio session on Thursday and my head was settled in the morning, but just after lunch, ready to go out the door, the ‘swimming’ was very prevalent. I do not like driving when I am like this (it was there last time around), but had no choice but to go and get the session done and get back home asap. I did some light moving round of boxes on Saturday morning, as part of sorting some customer book orders. It was not much, in my opinion, but by the end of it, I had to sit down and rest my body. I stayed awake for around 1 hour, but closed my eyes. I did eventually fall asleep and the overall impact lasted around 2 hours; an oddity and something to watch for. 

Besides my physical and psychological aspects during this past week, has been the very evident impact on Sandra, who is not in a good place at all. The impact of the developing disease, watching me deteriorate, then add to that the nonsense of the past week or so, has all hit hard. That is hard for me to watch and a difficult thing for me to try and help with, but we do. It is a stark reminder, every day, right in front of us, that the person dealing with the actual disease, is not the only person impacted or suffering, as a result of it. I am sure some of you in similar health situations can understand this and I hope my ramblings help. When I talk about this disease, I talk in terms of both of us ‘suffering’, as that is the reality of it. A challenging aspect to dealing with a declining health situation that you have no control over. 

After Saturday morning’s ‘odd’ nap’, we asked Alanna to bring the kids over, as we have not seen them much, due to everything going on over the past week. That coincided with Karl coming over too, to help sort some bits on both of our cars. The outcome was a nice couple of hours with both of our kids, whilst playing with the grandkids. That was a nice high point in this Week One of the new chemo regime. As often stated before, time with close family is the best medicine and I always look forward to time spent with them. For Sunday, I had the chance to take part in 2 events that were both scooter related. The first was the annual ‘Skabour’, which takes in Folkestone and an event I have supported since it began. I usually take part in the Sunday midday ride out and can be seen in every video of the past rideouts. However, there were 2 issues this time. The first was the weather, was not not good, but the second and more important aspect, was the health situation. Both of us were concerned that I may fell ill during the ride out, whilst being further from home, having to potentially get myself back, if that happened. The second potential was an indoor display event in Maidstone, which was indoors (we have went before), tied into the 80th year of Vespa celebrations. I was favouring that event, due to the weather and the health risks, but when Sunday morning opened, both Sandra and I were content resting and catching up on much needed sleep. Sandra had been concerned about both events, all down to the health situation, and she was anxious. However, I woke up first and was relaxed about the fact that we did not have enough time to sort everything and get to the event in time. It was great to see Sandra still in bed, and that visual relaxation meant much, much more than any attendance at any event. We therefore enjoyed a relaxed day, where we indulged in some stress free activities, alongside catching up on a few chores. A much needed relaxing end to a first week of the new chemo regime. 

The book work was one thing I could do this week, whilst working around the chemo and what was unfolding. The Münkemer and 117 projects were revisited and Münkemer took a further key step closer, thanks to the direct input of a fellow trusted historian (thanks Mike S!); we’re almost there and I hope to move to the proof reading stage imminently. Thanks for all of the WSS box orders, the first batch has been ordered and I will keep you all updated. Further batches are possible, but will sort the construction, delivery and dispatch of batch one (price impacted, hence the need for batches to be done). The 117 project now has 40 biographies completed, or one-third of the way there - a nice place to be and some fascinating individuals in there! That project is a key one for me and it has been nice to see it advance. 

In summary, chemo is underway and we’re watching how that unfolds. Around that, some normal activities that included family time. 

We both greatly appreciate everything you have shared and got in touch with us about recently. 

Regards, Peter