Morning to you all and hope you made the most of Easter Monday. For us, Sandra’s cold continued, but we did go out to Dover Castle for a couple of hours, where we met up with Karl and Rachel. After those 2 hours, Sandra was well and truly done, so we returned home.

Regarding my health, the discomfort continues to fluctuate. I stayed away from the walks, as a precaution, but I did a leisurely bike ride with Davy (my scooterist friend). That was on the very warm Wednesday that was like a bolt of summer, which we made the most of and really enjoyed the cycle. On Thursday, I started to feel the symptoms Sandra has, then she got a a relapse on Friday morning. We had a planned weekend away and decided to go ahead with that (more below). Whilst in that destination, we had a call with Dr Rahman, which was a follow up to me chasing them for any news. In that call, he confirmed that they cannot do the higher-intensity / shorter duration variant of the radiotherapy, but instead will do the lower dosage type, over 5 days; he thinks that should be within the next couple of weeks, so now it is a case of waiting on confirmed dates. When we arrived home, there was a letter for an ultrasound to take place on Sunday the 3rd of May.

The phone call with Dr Rahman is what I was waiting for, since we last spoke to him, but I had a surge of emotion straight after that. It is a reminder that what is going on is out of my control, also that the treatment will have an impact on me physically (Dr Rahman went through what to expect), but also that whatever comes next is also an unknown, regarding actual physical impact in the short term, but also the impact on the development for the disease on my body. The next rollercoaster ride is underway…………….

Back to mid-week and the very warm day we had here, following the bike ride, I then washed and cleaned the inside and outside of my car, then when Sandra got home, washed hers too. I followed up the next morning with completing the inside cleaning of hers. That day equated to my ‘outside day’ for the week.

On the book front, I signed off the main front cover for Volume 7 and the printers have everything green-lighted, with no further holds ups. I hope to have the finished book by the end of the month? Watch FB and my other usual locations, for updates on delivery and how you can obtain your own copy to complete the series for you. Alongside that, further work was done on the ‘117’ project, which included some new files and potential personal material from one of those soldiers, as well as a very detailed biography completed on one of the more interesting former members and thankfully one where I have a lot of info to draw on. I also laid down more photos on the Münkemer book project.

We ended the week with our planned trip to Stratford Upon Avon. That is somewhere we had on our list for a while, but it came with the added bonus of meeting up Sammy and Sheila - friends of ours from the historical group - as they moved to that area last year. The car journey up was challenging and the M25 was jammed up for the whole length of our journey along it. We were very glad to get out of the car at the other end! By the time we got there, then had the call with Dr Rahman, that only gave us an hour or so in the town, before most places closed. Saturday was the main focus and we had a good walk around the town with Sammy and Sheila. The weather was variable, but we missed the showers, thankfully. We took a boat trip down the river and spent some time with Sammy and Sheila at their home, which is in a very nice area of Stratford. By the time we got to the early evening, Sandra and I were wiped out. The impact of our now (shared) cold, took its toll. We made the decision to leave Stratford after breakfast on Sunday morning and get home. Thankfully no hold ups on the way down and after getting home, both us spent the afternoon relaxing and charging our bodie’s batteries.

In hindsight, it may have been wiser not to undertake the trip. However, we discussed the trip on Friday morning and despite Sandra’s obvious relapse, we both agreed that we did not want the health situation (hers and mine) to dominate our lives and prevent us from trying to do some things. This is part of the journey we are in now - trying to do things / get out and about / enjoy new places, but that has to be worked around how I am (mostly), with how Sandra is too (remember, the impact is not solely on me). Nice to see Stratford Upon Avon and its beautiful historic buildings; a place we can recommend. For us, that added bonus of time with Sammy and Sheila made the journey even more worthwhile.

In summary, another very varied week, with lots of ups and downs, but one where we went somewhere new, had time with friends, but also obtained insight into what comes next.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, we are very grateful for that time of yours.

Regards

Peter & Sandra.