Health aspects to start with and the week begun with me restarting the use of the supplements recommended by Dr Rahman during his last phone call. I tried them initially for around 3.5 weeks, then stopped, as I felt that they may be causing me issues. A month of non-use followed and now I am back to taking them. This is part of the tests I am trying, then assessing as I go along. So far, 1 week in, they do not seem as bad as before. I have a different type of pain, but it is more muscular in nature, as before, but I appear to be coping with it better. Only 1 week, so a case of watch, monitor and decide.

I may have also mentioned previously that I had noticed a decline in my eye sight post-chemo, last year. That eyesight has declined further, so Sandra and I got to the stage of having a traditional and comprehensive eye examination. That was not through a ‘high street’ company, but a long established traditional optometrist in the town where we live. The outcome for me is that I need reading glasses. The examiner did state that he would expect that type of decline in someone of my age (it’s weird being the same age as old people……….), and he detected no other sinister aspects going on. Glad I had it done and we had a great deal of confidence in how he conducted the thorough tests. Now it's a case of picking some glasses and considering the amount of reading I conduct, when researching, plus then constructing the book projects, they should come in very handy!

On the personal front, this week was one filled mostly with family and friends. Half way through the week, Sandra, Alanna and I attended a retirement party for Kim, our friend of 20+ years. It was nice to help Kim say goodbye to the company she has been with for decades and helped them immensely, in her key role. We have met up with Kim and her husband Andy a few times over the past year and will continue to do so; work colleagues who became friends and part of that circle of contacts that we are happy to spend our personal time with.

I got to spend a lot of time with Alanna this week, divided between consultancy work, which included an AGM meeting in London and preceded by me undertaking key research for one specific aspect of their needs, and helping her look after the grandkids as she worked around some personal appointments and commitments. Retirement gives me the chance to help like this, at short notice and it is always nice to spend time together. That ran parallel to spending time with Karl and Rachel too. Part of that was with Karl during the week, where he was on hand to entertain the grandkids. That was followed on Sunday with a good chunk of the day spent together on a road trip, with some lunch and the obligatory ice cream for all! It is harder to spend time with Karl, due mainly to his work schedule, so a nice end to the week, one that involved quality time, with quality people.

The week culminated in a very personal conclusion to a key project for Sandra and I. In 2023, we celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary, which was less than 2-months into the terminal diagnosis being confirmed. I have devised a number of very personal gifts over our time together, but for this one, I wanted to raise the bar even further. I began a long and challenging journey in finding a bag maker that could undertake a personalised project (many people advertise bespoke capabilities, but failed to deliver). The journey included the initial concept discussions, moved onto the design from Sandra and I, then the challenge for the maker, to produce the end result. Inbetween, I had my chemo and the maker had some medical issues to overcome too, which delayed things. Towards the end of the project, both he and I injected some final surprises for Sandra and on Sunday we travelled about 1-hour to north Kent for the grand reveal and collection (Karl and Rachel joined us). Sandra was blown away by the end result and we now have a very happy person, who finally has her personalised bag. The design incorporates the colours of our 4 birthstones, plus coral for 35 years together. I designed a personalised logo too, which was embossed onto the bag, completing the project. The maker also made a matching make up bag and purse, following the same concept, both with the logo added. I cannot recommend Nelson Were enough, if you ever have a need for a quality leather product.

To finish off a packed week of activities, whilst I was in London, I had half-a-ton of books delivered, 2-days early! Whilst the early delivery was welcomed, being 70 miles away at the time, was not! They were sorted in the afternoon, with the help of Alanna and Dan, to move them under cover. Since then, I have been conducting all of the sideline required elements to get these advertised and ready for you all to acquire. The books in question were Volumes 5 and 6 of my multi-volume series. Keep an eye on the website and FB pages for information on these.

I will sign off now from this indepth update on the week and will thank you all for the continued interest in my story.

Regards
Peter