Following on from the positive meeting with the Oncologist, have emailed him to get some more context around any changes to the overall prognosis, plus the comment around the ‘bones repairing’ that he mentioned. Besides that, the only main issue from a health perspective is the finger and toe nails, which are developing at different stages / causing minor issues; keeping an eye on them, but manageable at the moment.
Following on from our trip to York, I picked up a head cold, which continued throughout the week and is still with me now. Has a tiring element to it, which is odd, but overall, cold and flu tablets helping. One residual aspect of York, was the feet and lower leg swelling, which did eventually return to normal mid-week. Clearly evident that my body was not used to so much walking after spending longs periods of time inactive / unable to do much, due to the chemo. Whilst the timeframe may not have seemed long, the impact is notable. The focus now is on continuing the build up of the stamina and muscle strength, especially in my legs. Will have to adjust for future trips and enure we have a better balance of resting and sight-seeing, rather than full on sight-seeing after sitting around for months!
The August Bank Holiday is always one where I attend a large multi-historical period show with my close friend Colin. We stall out in the main hall at Detling and both sell our wares (for me, the various history books I write). That is a full on show that goes on for 3 days, but the set up day for me if Friday too. Following on from York and physical impact, that has been tested further during the show. Whilst we have fold away chairs to sit on, there is very little chance to sit down due to the constant interaction with the public, other traders and friends. The impact on my legs and back continued, but no real way to stop that, other than not attend the show.
Attending that show was a mental goal I sat myself way back at the start of March, when the treatment commenced. I had mapped out the timelines and worked towards being able to attend the show as normal. It was therefore nice to be able to do so, just the physical impact was unknown / underestimated; another aspect to factor is for the future. One key aspect of that show is how many friends attend and it was great to catch up with so many of you, some of whom I have known for 29 years (nearly our whole time in England!). Some of you clearly did not know about my health situation and my physical appearance was surprising to some of you, as to be expected, as was the accompanying realisation of the cause. Great to be there and also have some more ‘normality’. Besides the daytime show activities, we also managed an evening event with some of my longest friends, which was great to do and an honour to be part of - thank you for organising that and asking me to be part of it.
Overall, another testing week physically, but also a nice milestone to reach, following the challenges of the chemo over the past months. A couple of quieter weekends ahead, where we can hopefully recharge the worn down batteries!
I will take this chance to thank every one of you who took the time to add comments and contact me directly, following last week’s positive update. Very heartwarming and humbling and they made a big difference to both Sandra and I. The support levels are immense and I appreciate the extent of them, as they stretch across the globe and cover a wide variety of people. Hopefully, we will continue to interact for years to come yet. For now, thanks for the interest and best regards.