One year ago, I was admitted to hospital and spent 6 days there, being pumped full of intravenous antibiotics, with the sole aim of allowing my neutrophils to recover and my immune system to build. That was one of the low points in my journey to date and at that time, I was unsure of the remaining time I had, and how it would play out. Jump forward one year and things look very differently, thankfully. My hair has returned, energy levels are increasing all the time and I feel more able to once again do a range of tasks - see below for some of those. The back pain, hand stiffness and my two big toenails are the main residual aspects that are there now - an absolute world away from the uncertainty, anxiety and general inability to see the future that existed then.

We had our 3-monthly phone catch up with Dr Rahman. He will downgrade his catch ups to every 4-months, from the current 3-months. He has also opened up the chance to get my blood tests and medication every 3-months, but that will depend on the blood unit and whether they will do that. Overall, I continue to be less of a concern for him, as my bloods are showing nothing of concern / normal, or low, levels. He has advised me to start on Vitamin D as well as Calcium supplements, to help the bones some more; I sorted that straight after the call and have begun to take those supplements alongside my cancer-related medication. It is a bit disconcerting to think that they are doing minimal checks, as I am low concern right now, but again, it is a preferable position to the one I was dealing with one year ago.

I began the week very differently to how I ended it. Dealing with prostate cancer results in toilet visits during the night, with the knock on impact on sleep patterns and the ability to get a meaningful rest. In the second half of Sunday night / Monday morning, I had one of the deepest sleeps I have had for a long time. Sandra got up as normal, with her alarm and by the time that she was back in the room to get ready for work, I was still in a deep sleep. I was forced to get up and visit the toilet then and decided to stay up. However, it took me almost 90 minutes to eventually get into gear and begin to tackle what I had on my list.

The first of those was a continuation of the work on completing V6, which took up most of Monday and Tuesday, with progress staying on course, as per my self-imposed deadline / timeline; further focus on that carried on later in the week with one chapter left, plus the appendices. During the week, two more letters were translated and returned, for the Fritz Witt book.

My consultancy work day took place mid-week, then on Thursday, I woke feeling more energetic. The weather was good and forecast to remain like that, so I got up and made the most of it. By midday, I had painted the outside garage wall, which can be seen from the house, cut back some bushes that overhang our back garden fence, cut back the bushes that overhang the front of the house, plus cleared one of the drains. During that, Karl arrived to borrow something, but I hijacked his plans and roped him into helping cut the bushes from next door, then we moved into the back garden and mowed the garden between us (Alanna rang a couple of times, hence the switch over of who was mowing). I captured an image of Karl mowing the lawn, as it is a rare sight! After lunch, I painted part of the garage roof, in an effort to narrow down where a small leak is coming from. That was followed by three different house chores and all done before Sandra got home. That is without doubt, one of the busiest days I have had in a long time, but my view is that I will do what my head plans to and my body allows, for as long as I can.

During the painting of the roof, I had clearly applied pressure wrongly to my left foot, probably by placing too much weight on it as I was in different poses whilst applying the waterproof paint to the garage roof. I felt that on Friday, alongside many muscles aching. The were normal aches associated with overexertion on tasks like those listed above, rather than anything cancer-related. My logic was to replace my back pain with other types of pain, to give me something else to focus on! To counteract the new pain and stiffness, I took a walk up the steep hill near our home, then took a walk back down the side of that, through some woods; it did help. We had our usual lunchtime with the grandkids on Saturday, followed by a short shopping trip not too far from there.

Sunday was another busy day, with some of the activities unplanned. Another chapter completed in the morning (reformatting - not a brand new chapter!), I took a run out on my scooter in the early afternoon, soaking up the weather and stunning natural surroundings we have by the coast where we live, then soon after returning home, Karl phoned and suggested a catch up at Dover marina. We made our way there and were met by Karl, Rachel, Rachel’s mum, Alanna and the grandkids, plus the dog! A nice walk along the piers, together with the obligatory ice-cream, whilst enjoying time with the family - a great way to round off an interesting week, where I have pushed myself to see what I am capable of; well, at the moment anyway.

For those of you who have engaged in my tongue-in-cheek ‘Just Stop Custard’ campaign (enjoying the superb comments and growing interaction around this and thanks for getting involved), watch for some ‘roving reporter’ videos this week, with other reports and updates in the planning stages.

Your continued interest and interaction helps me immensely and I thank you for them.

Best regards

Peter