The past week started as the last one ended, working through some of the Zometa side effects; the sternum and spine pain remained, but the most prevalent was the head fuzziness and slightly increased tiredness - it does not take much now, for me to be active, then have to stop sooner than I would normally. I have adjusted and am doing smaller tasks for the moment. I kept things to a minimum, as a result, for at least the first half of the week. The main impacts over the past week have been: head fuzziness, increased trips to the bathroom, muscle and bone pain in the evenings, increased tiredness / lethargy in the evenings, broken sleep, appetite suppressed / changed, temperature fluctuations and the need to ingest some pain relief tablets. Impossible to determine if the above list is connected to the radiotherapy, or the Zometa. It does not matter really, as my focus is on working through them, rather than what may be causing them.

I spent Wednesday with Alanna, where there was part mutual person-sitting going on. Thursday seen me having my 3-month hormone suppressant injection, so the needles are very much part of my life at the moment, and not done yet. Over lunchtime, my friend Graeme called in for an hour or so. He has been a close friend for decades, from the history side of things and it was great to catch up, as he was on his way through and back up home in the Midlands.

Sandra and I managed a 30-minute sit by the sea session, on Monday late afternoon - 2 weeks indoors has not been very enjoyable. That was nice to do, and was followed later in the week with more activity pushes. On Saturday, I done the first walk for a number of weeks, which was challenging to complete and slower than the previous one, at 14:07; I have maintained my bi-daily exercise routine. The fuzzy head remains the main issue, alongside getting the leg muscles moving at pace again. We had a Nerf war on Saturday, with Alanna, Dan and the grandkids, as I felt that would give us activity, but nothing too strenuous, and the ability to stop and take a break, which we did, before completing the war a while later. On Sunday, I went to a militaria fair with Sandra, about 30 mins from us, which was nice. I had a few tasks to cover off there and alongside that, I even managed to pick up a few nice items. It gave me a chance to catch up with some good friends from the group, which is always a worthwhile expenditure of time. We followed that by a trip to one of our favourite haunts, to indulge in some waffles and a bit of retail therapy. We were both ready for home, by the early afternoon and our batteries ran out earlier in the evening, but nice to get out and do some normal things.

Volume 7 arrived, together with the Index booklet. There are some issues with the final print, around the tint / tone of some of the photos, maps and a handful of pages. Not ideal, but no choice. I begun the task of advertising that on the website and the end part of the week was spent fulfilling global orders, which came in thick and fast. Thanks to all of you who have ordered your copy (and other books), they are flying across the globe as you read this.

As mentioned previously, the completion of Volume 7 is much, much more than the completion of another book. It is the fulfilment of a vision that I had 20+ years ago and one that interested me (and clearly interested many of you!). It has been a huge undertaking, but I have increased my understanding of that conflict, immeasurably, as a result. With the changes of the AD world, it is a project that I thought may not be completed at all - but it’s here and Sandra and I are very pleased; the double pleasure is that it has been a truly family involved project, with me, Sandra, Alanna and Karl all feeding into it over those 20+ years, to make it a reality. This week’s photos shows Sandra and I enjoying a celebratory meal, to mark that milestone (we were out much less than we normally wold have been, but we wanted to ensure we marked the occasion).

The rest of the week has felt ‘bitty’ and less focused. That is not normally how I work through my tasks and I am trying to determine if it is treatment related, or just the nature of the tasks. I have worked on a number of small, necessary items, but I am more used to focusing on bigger tasks and getting them checked off; hoping that side of things is temporary, as I am well an truly immersed in the ‘117’ project.

Your time on these Blogs is appreciated and thank for that.

Regards

Peter