No update last week, as I did not think there were sufficient changes to make it an interesting read. This update therefore covers two weeks and I hope there are some items of interest.  

Health's main changes have been the increased back pain, as I work through the final stage of the physically demanding disassembly of the remaining racking in the warehouse. The pain feels muscular and I am hoping that is the case, rather than anything deeper. The week that has just ended, seen that same vein continuing, but with a marked increase in the pain, alongside my batteries feeling more run down; an accumulation of the last few weeks, I think. We are almost on the last few stages of the building shut down, so the strain should ease.

Had my next 3-monthly hormone injection this week, the one that suppresses the testerone. The last one was notably painful, when being administered, then left me with a large swelling on my arm, which stayed in place for weeks, followed by a painful arm for more than 2-months. I mentioned that to the nurse this time (same nurse that did the last one) and the administering of the latest injection was much less painful with my arm not carrying anywhere near the same pain levels. I suspected that the last one was not done correctly and so far, the difference in pain levels would back that up.

I visited with my close friend, Colin, last week and during that visit, I managed to secure two rare additions to my personal signed military photo collection; a nice surprise and good chance to also catch up with him too. We are both aiming to identify more militaria shows that we can present our wares at, which will give us the chance to extend our customer base, but we also enjoy the time together - always lots to catch up on.

The car hunt continued, with 2 further bookings, but we also squeezed in an additional one. So far, each test drive has been variable and the better cars have been good, but each one has its own niggle. Unplanned, we stopped off at the same location where Sandra acquired her car 18 months ago. I spotted one vehicle and went in there to get a better look. However, upon driving into the car park, a different vehicle caught my eye. We proceeded to have a look over it and also took it for a test drive. The first 20 yards of driving already had me ‘interested’, with the remainder of the drive increasing the interest notably. We left there to have the second scheduled test drive, which was average. I could not stop thinking about the unplanned one, and so much so that I advised Sandra to also drive the car. We returned and did exactly that, with the result that Sandra too was convinced that it was a very good vehicle. Her assessment was that it was the first vehicle we drove that ticked every box on my list of needs. We have driven a range of brands that come with very different price tags and reputations. None of them were providing what I needed, well up to this unexpected development with the unplanned test drive. A deposit was paid and we can now consider my search complete. The car choice has given me the ‘Goldilocks’ feel. Connected to that, we also have a sale, in principle, for Sandra’s former car, which is great timing; We aim to move on the current car and collect the new one next weekend, on the same day.

This week’s developments with the photo collection addition and also the car hunting, once again brought to the fore a key thought process that first reared its head at the very outset of this ‘cancer journey’. That thought process is, why bother collecting or buying anything ‘new’ at all. The shortened remaining time frame and follow-on thought of, when is my time up, has resulted in this thought process cropping up a number of times. I have managed to work through each challenge from that, but it does not stop the thoughts and the mental battle that results from the reality of the overall situation.

Sandra helps keep me on track and encourages me to continue with my passions, ones that give immense pleasure and excitement. The other aspect to balance, especially with the collecting is, at what stage do I stop and begin the process of moving the collection on to other people.

We stopped by Alanna’s after the test drives, then Alanna came over to us in the evening, for one of her ‘adult conversation’ evenings. We rounded off the week with a ‘battery charging day’, taking it fairly easy. This past week also saw me spending time with Karl and helping him through some short-term challenges, where he worked through them to good resolutions. The same was the case for Alanna and a good reminder that parenting never stops, irrespective of their age. I know that, after my time is up, both of them will feel my loss in a number of ways, providing support when needed, is just one of them.

Overall, progress in various aspects of my focus right now and on the horizon is the imminent stopping of work and subsequent retirement, but another week and a half to go yet.

Thanks for the continual tuning in and feedback, always welcomed.

Regards

Peter