Health updates first and this week was not the best for that. I had my bloods on Monday, followed by the results on Wednesday. My PSA has jumped to 2.6, from 0.6. Those results hit me like a brick and I had (and am still having) a notable emotional reaction. You may recall that Dr. Rahman stated that he will watch the rate of increase, so to have a jump like that, in less than 4-months, has left me very concerned for what that may mean for my overall health situation. I have to wait for another week, before we talk to Dr. Rahman once more. I am awaiting that conversation with a very large degree of trepidation. Something is driving that and we await what he may say.

I went to the tablet collection / results with Alanna, who had an appointment soon after, nearby. I returned to the car very subdued, but we carried on. As I awaited Alanna finishing her appointment, I walked around some of the shops in the town where we live, as i had some small items to get. The psychological impact of seeing those results was instant and it has hit deep into the core of this whole situation. Whilst walking around those shops I found it challenging at points, as I just felt like standing still and trying to digest what had unfolded. I even went as far as to mentally tell myself to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not just stand frozen to the spot.

Overall, nothing has ultimately changed. My end point is still there, these results may mean a change to the timeline - who knows? I have a long week ahead and the past one dragged on, frequently interspersed with bouts of anxiety and absolute dread. I have stated before that the twists and turns of dealing with this disease present as much of a mental challenge, as it does physical; this past half week (results were Wednesday) is amongst the hardest to date. The debilitating impact of the sight of those results impacted just about everything for the remainder of the week, including my walks, which were partly affected. I only managed one (Tuesday) with a time of 13:15. My next one was planned for Thursday, but I simply was not in the mood to do that. A mix of the weather and other things, prevented my usual weekend walk too; I will aim to rectify that this coming week.

Around that, I continued with my focus on the maps sketching, with good progress made overall, in and around working through the blood results. I also received a batch of scanned images from Andrey in Kiev, which have helped reduce the photo ‘gaps’ immensely. I will take time this coming week to determine who I still need. Forward progress on the book front, but I had to motivate myself later in the week.

Karl and I (then Sandra and I at the weekend) undertook some more car test drives, with a potential winner being lined up. Part of the test drives seen us returning to the idea of a Volvo XC40, but after driving 2 of those, both Sandra and I have put that potential to bed, forever. They are certainly great looking cars, well spec’d and drive well. However, their achilles heal is their overcomplicated and very uncomfortable seats. We focused on ex-dealer, higher mileage, versions, to see if the seats would be better after some use - they weren’t! We both felt sore afterwards, so they are off the list completely. We followed that by test driving another wheelchair adapted VW, almost identical to the one we drove a number of weeks back. Both Karl, Sandra and I (over 2 visits) agreed that the car is a great drive and the adaptability of the rear section provides a lot of versatility. The potential to use for the bicycle, scooter, books and maybe other uses later on (when the health situation worsens) are all there. I have decided to hold off for a week, until we have the Consultant call, see what that brings, then see how we have to move forward after that.

On Friday night Sandra and I travelled to London, as we had tickets for the Patrick Christy show on GB News. In our opinion, he has a no-nonsense approach to the world and his panel gives a good cross-section of opinions. The tickets were free and we felt it may be a bt of craic. We adapted the trip to allow us to visit the German Gymnasium, across the road from St. Pancreas, which is a traditional German food restaurant. We have been there a number of times and we were able to have another great meal there, before we had to get across the city to the TV studio. Due to the late finish time of that, we had booked an overnight hotel and that turned out to be a good choice, with great views.

During the show, I got to ask a question / pose a challenge to Patrick (if you watched it, you will have seen that). That challenge was to see if he wanted to use his show / platform to begin the process of building a people’s manifesto to help fix the issues that Great Britain is facing. Neither myself or Sandra have any political leanings. We grew up during The Troubles and got to see political extremism and all of its worst aspects, for the first 25-years of our lives. We have always stayed away from politics and I regard politicians as liars and thieves - something they continually prove, with a shocking consistency. I am as frustrated as millions of you, as I watch our great nation be led by inept, incompetent and completely incapable people - of all political persuasions (and none of the newer contenders show any signs of promise). I feel it would be a novel idea to gain insight from the people of Great Britain into the problems we face and then suggest solutions. We can then thrash out those solutions with the help of known experts (Liam Halligan is one of those people I would love to have involved), stress test them and maybe get the chance to implement them when the time comes. We have millions of citizens who are impacted negatively, daily, and who can help turn the fortunes of this nation around. I know that sounds like politics, but to me it is not; it is a desire to play a part in realising the potential of Great Britain.

We rounded off the week by catching up on the household chores, alongside briefly getting time with Karl & Rachel, then Alanna, Dan and the kids.

In summary, a very challenging week for me, due to the blood results, but one where I continued to forge ahead with other things; the TV show was fun and let’s see where that goes, if anywhere.

Thank you for the unrelenting support you give, as I work through the impacts of this unrelenting disease.

Best regards
Peter