For those of you who are frequent supporters and readers of this Blog, you may have noticed that this new one is Week 52, which begins a countdown of the final 52 weeks, based on the original prognosis. With recent developments (increased PSA), that may change, but as some of you will be reading this, I will be getting an update from the Consultant as to how he views that recent PSA spike. Whilst I am currently working through a challenging psychological phase, I have to frequently remind myself that I am 3 years into this nonsense and for that, I am very grateful. I have known a number of people who have had diagnosis of various medical conditions, then only had weeks or months left of their lives. A very short time frame to adjust your mind to what you have been told, to prepare yourself, your family and friends. The fragility of life is there for all of us, daily, we thankfully have many other things to distract us from that eventuality. For now, I am above ground, breathing and (almost) fully capable of a normal life; that is what I am choosing to do - getting on with it. The milestone of Week No. 52 is there, but it is just a number - let’s see where the rest of this journey takes me.

The health aspects this week centered around the ongoing psychological battle, ahead of next week’s consultant phone call. I kept myself busy throughout the week, as that is my preference, as opposed to wallowing. I managed 2 walks, the third was put off due to very poor weather; my timings were slow at 13:37 and 13:34. Keep them going is the target, whilst also dealing with a light cold, which was impacting the sinuses a little. Our very variable weather is not helping at the moment.

Monday night seen Sandra and I meet up with some of the girls, with Emma and Erin making this one. Great catch up on each other’s lives and nice to have some normality around the other challenges; this week’s photo is from that evening.

For me, the majority of the week was an intense focus on sketching the bulk of the remaining maps for Volume 7, with all of the complicated ones now done. So far, 10 existing maps will be amended, 12 brand new maps sketched and a potential 2-4 more, which will show the start and end positions of each formation fo the timeframe of this final volume in the series. Around that, also had a quantity of fresh customer orders to fulfil, as I loaded some new signed photo stock.

I went to the farm where we store our group owned military vehicles, on Saturday, where myself and a number of friends worked through a task list connected to the vehicle and other inventory. Another good social catch up, as we went through what needed doing.

Overall, a less intense week on the health front, with the key focus on the military history aspects - in various forms.

Thanks for all of your supportive comments from last week.

Regards

Peter