4th July 2009

On Sunday, 21 June, Kate, Chris, Roy & I celebrated the solstice by eating lunch in the garden, although the sun soon retired & I had to put on a warm jacket. In contrast, today is a scorcher, as it's been for the last week, as you may have noted if watching Wimbledon tennis. Fortunately it really cools off at night, & with curtains drawn during the day & excellent cross-ventilation as you can get in these timber-framed houses there is no problem sleeping.

Once a month Roy & I have his & her hospital appointments together in Stowmarket: he a 2 hour infusion to replace lost bone calcium & I my 30 minute vinorelbine chemo. I also have a chemo session on my own in between. I continue with my daily anti-oestrogen tablets for the breast cancer. I see my breast consultant next week & my lung man in late August for routine checkups. Recently I had a severe attack of vertigo, which wasn't attributed to anything drastic & seems to have cleared up, & I continue to have a great deal of dry eye discomfort that none of the magic potions I've been prescribed have improved. Fortunately, carbomer (a gel) & hot water compresses enable me to get by. I may be able to change my anti-oestrogen tablets, as dry eye is one of the side effects of the letrozole I'm presently taking.

Roy's left knee (the really bad one) played up recently but has now improved. (He can't have a replacement because of his heart problems.) He walks everywhere with his stick, even around the house, & can't walk any distance. We talked of a French river cruise south of Lyon, as that would have given him a bit of sightseeing while lounging about (& maybe some good food), but our ages & health problems combined to make the two of us too toxic a package to arrange travel insurance & no tour will accept you without it. (I really worked on this but it defeated me; details on request.) At the moment we are talking of driving to the north Norfolk coast for a few days in the next couple of months.

Meanwhile, the tennis at Wimbledon has been especially good this year, & we are presently in the middle of a heatwave. Schools close the middle of July, when we look forward to a visit from Harry & family plus Janet & Margaret.

Have a good summer!

PS No interest in the house. Perhaps we'll have to let the shop & our living accommodation & rent a bungalow (single story) here in Needham. Gabriel (10 years old in just over a week) has had a short story of under 50 words published in a collection of school fiction! Thanks to those who sponsored Kate in her Cancer Research UK walk; she did very well in every way. Yes, I'm following the story of South Carolina's governor -- !