13 May 2009

Thanks to all of you for your queries about how Roy & I have been getting on. Remember that when there are no major headlines I tend to write nothing, so keep assuming that no news is good news. Also, for the past 3 weeks we have been quite busy with a steady flow of visitors from the UK, US & France, so I've been having too much fun to spend time at the computer.

The house is still on the market but we've had only one viewer since January. Because we're both feeling much better at the moment, selling it doesn't seem as pressing a matter as it did 4 or 5 months ago, thank heavens.

After a recent bone scan Roy saw his oncologist, who thinks the current pace of his prostate cancer is not as aggressive as a few months ago. He is benefitting enormously from a weekly 2 hour balance clinic (one to one with a physio) that's improved his muscle strength & taught him a lot about walking & falling safely . We have had occupational & physio therapists all over the house sorting out hand grips at doors & steps & supplying a perch stool to sit on in the kitchen while preparing food & a support at the side of the bed to help in getting up -- all supplied by the National Health Service. We are both having another neck & back massage tomorrow in the alternative therapy section of the oncology unit at Ipswich Hospital.

I saw my breast oncologist 2 weeks ago & she is very pleased with the decrease in the size of the tumours & hopes that the medication will eliminate them. By the way, my medication ( a daily pill) is not oestrogen as I thought it was but an oestrogen inhibitor (an aromatose inhibitor that blocks the production of oestrogen in the body) called letrozole. Unfortunately, one of its innumerable side effects is an increase in dry eye problems, a condition I've had for years that's been steadily worsening. If worse comes to worse, another inhibitor may be necessary but the consultant wants to stick with letrozole for the present.

The next scheduled appointment with my lung oncologist isn't until early September. Until then I continue with my chemo sessions of 45mg of vinorelbine every 2 weeks. I feel fine generally but I need a lot of sleep at night plus little rests during the day & a proper nap as well. I can handle a gentle walk of about an hour (in a lovely bluebell wood several weeks ago & in a gorgeous nearby woodland with 15 ft high rhododendrons & azaleas, the end of the camellias, & other spring-flowering things) & a stint of 2 to 3 hours sorting books at the charity shop where I help.

So things are looking pretty good at the moment. We had hoped to have a few days on the continent in the spring but now we'll probably have to wait till the autumn. We hope to have more guests here before then, so come see us. We can do lunch, tea, even full board & local excursions for willing workers!