An eventful day in Bristol

As expected, today's consultation was anything but routine. I'll try to summarise as briefly as possible:

• The current chemo regime appears to be achieving the opposite of what was intended, which was to reduce pain. Based on two cycles, it seems to be responsible for a substantial increase, but no-one is able to explain why
• Whether or not it is helping to control spread of the disease elsewhere, the increase in pain is not acceptable, and could get worse with further cycles. We have therefore decided to discontinue it for the time being
• Xrays of my chest and leg taken today suggest that it is progressing very slowly in other areas (ie chest), but more quickly in my leg
• We decided to check progress in the other areas (head, trunk) by having MRI and CT scans in the next two weeks
• In parallel with these scans I have been referred to the Bristol Orthopaedic team to review what may be causing the increase in pain in my leg (loose pin?) and to review what options they may be able to offer as a solution
• When we have an up-to-date picture of overall disease progress, and the input of the orthopods, we should be in a better position to decide a way forward
• If the disease is progressing slowly then one option I have been asked to consider is amputation of my right leg above the knee. Apparently melanoma has been known to be particularly active in a primary location, whilst developing much more slowly elsewhere. Removing the primary area of activity can further reduce development in other locations, although this is not guaranteed.

We don't know enough about the amputation option yet, but the decision is clearly influenced by how much good quality time I am likely to have left after the rehabilitation process. If, say, it takes six months to recover from leg removal, and I only have a couple of months thereafter, it would not be worth the trauma and recovery associated with amputation. If the period could be a year or more it may be worth considering.

I'm sorry for the length of this post, and the amount of detail. As you can imagine, I'm trying to come to terms with what feels like a very big decision; writing this is helping to clarify my thoughts. If anyone has any knowledge or experience of this area, I would love to hear from you!

To end on a lighter note, we did make it to the Banksy exhibition and it was well worth going. After all, where else will you see a chicken nugget hatching from its egg, or a fish finger swimming around a goldfish bowl? Furthermore, the picture of MP's in the House of Commons is so timely one could almost imagine Banksy has second sight! Go and see it - you won't be disappointed.

Off to Bristol

Woke up this morning in considerable pain, and am mystified why this has happened. Yesterday was a very quiet day, with church at 5. Even Alastair quoting the Archbishop of Canterbury shouldn't cause an allergic reaction of this magnitude! I did sweep and weed the front path in the afternoon, but I did this in my wheelchair and definitely didn't put any weight on my leg. I'm not one to anthropomorphise but I do wonder if said limb knows where it's going and what's going to happen tomorrow - it does get poked and pulled about a bit.

We had hoped to make a bit of a jaunt out of the trip to Bristol, by arranging to meet our youngest for lunch, and then going to see the Banksy exhibition at the museum. If you have five minutes spare, do have a look at the website for this event - amazing, isn't it!

Tomorrow is quite a big day, because we should get the results of my x-ray and, more importantly, hear whether the consultant thinks the current treatment is showing promise or not; perversely, I hope it is, despite the side-effects. The prospect of trying different combinations, or of trundling around the country looking for relevant clinical trials, seem rather daunting by comparison. Anyway, I know you all wish me luck, and now seems like a good time to thank everyone for the positive comments about the blog; it certainly makes our life easier than trying to remember who we've spoken to on a daily basis!

I'm also pleased to report that I can end this post on a positive note - before I started writing I took a large dose of Oromorph, and backed it up with a quick 'glove anaesthesia' session - both of which seem to have worked! So, TTFN...

Back from the brink...

Evenin' all,

As you can see I've clawed my way back from the brink of technology oblivion (Windows 7, loss of data, backup not working quite as it should have) to be with you tonight. In fact this may be something of an exaggeration, but a little drama doesn't hurt...

Lunchtime found me in the Tuckers Arms in the company of Mike McAlpine and Gwyn Rosser, who had invited me to join them for a pint before adjourning chez Gwyn to watch the rugby on his new Sky HD set-up. I have to say the detail was amazing; when, two minutes in, a Springbok stuck his fingers in the eyes of a Lyons player you could SEE the tears exuding in appalling detail. Minutes later a fight erupted on the pitch, and blood pressures in Brook Cottage rose accordingly. I decided that it was lunchtime and repaired home before either of the others caused me further injury in their very physical expressions of support for the Reds.

Later this afternoon we held a very much more sedate and seemly cream tea under the apple tree in Michael and Sue's garden. It was by way of a 'welcome home' to him after his stay in the Wonford, and I imagine he was as pleased to be back as we were to see him!

While I was out at lunchtime Chris had been catching up on medical news on the various cancer research and related sites, and had unearthed a potential treatment that I'm trying hard not to get excited about. It's not a cure, but rather a palliative treatment for bone tumours which is aimed at substantially reducing pain and increasing mobility levels. Basically, it involves injecting some kind of epoxy resin into the affected bones. This is allowed to harden, and then provides structural support instead of the current metal pin, which I think has become loose due to tumour activity around the fixing points. I won't bore you further by posting the relevant paper, but using a 'standard' pain scale of 1-10, it seems to bring a score of 8-9 (typical deep bone pain) down to 1 or 2; now that would be worth having! I'm looking forward to raising this with the consultant on Tuesday.

Famous last words!

Yesterday is the last time I post smugly about the need to switch off routers to protect equipment against the weather. I did of course follow my own advice, but that didn't stop my PC from refusing to play this morning. I've spent most of the day recovering my data from a disk that seems to have failed spontaneously, and the process still isn't finished:-( I may get round to reading my emails before bedtime, but it's doubtful.

On the other hand, I did have a very enjoyable and fruitful hypnotherapy session this afternoon. I'm learning a technique called 'glove anaesthesia', which involves deadening the hand through concentrated effort, and then transferring the feeling to other parts of the body which are less comfortable. Today is the first time I managed to overcome the soreness in my leg using this method, so now it's a question of practising so I can do it to order, and in a wakeful state.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you come across me in the village, watching my right hand sink slowly in the air, eyes closed and head drooping, you'll know that I'm still practising...

Have you heard the weather forecast?

I hope you haven't already gone to bed this evening? If so, you will of course have turned off and unplugged your routers, modems etc. Every time we get thunderstorms here I have to replace at least two or three of these through lightning strikes;-)

Not much to report today; the house is now fitted with ramps to enable me to get around in the wheelchair - from the garden room to the dishwasher, as Chris has smugly pointed out!

Dave's PC is now back with him and working, so the next issue of the Parish Mag is now safe, I'm sure you are all relieved to hear. And now I must go - things to unplug...

A mixed day

The day started really well, with me making it to Communion at 0930 - I think it's OK to be proud of that?! The main reason, apart from wanting to go, is that I had a leg x-ray booked at 1030 in Axminster. The rebuilt department there has only been open for three weeks, and it looks very spacious and welcoming. I did manage a peek at the pictures, but the screen was not really big enough to check anything other than that they were correctly positioned and exposed. They are immediately upload to Exeter for reporting back via my GP, but Bristol will also have access to them so I expect to hear the result next Tuesday at my regular pre-chemotherapy appointment.

Pain hasn't been too much of a problem today as I've spent most of the time sitting down trying to work out why Dave W's PC won't boot. Those in the know will realise that this is the machine that is used to produce the Parish magazine, and hence is priceless. Unfortunately the software on it is also complex and expensive, and has previously proved prone to problems. It is all backed up in accordance with the way I recommended earlier this week, but even restoring from that takes a lot of time and is best avoided if possible. Fortunately, I remembered late this afternoon that I had installed some software to back up the Registry (aka Windows brain). I've never had to rely on this before, but I took a risk and tried it - and it worked! By trial and error I figured out that something unpleasant had happened on 21st June, so rolling the machine back to 20th did the trick. This little piece of (free) software will appear in future on all my PC rebuilds!

The day ended so warm and fine that I decided to cut the grass with our tractor mower. This was not a smart idea, as it definitely upset my leg. I suppose the trick is to learn to live within the bounds of what I can now do, but this does require a certain amount of trial and error.

OK, so not all of it was true...!

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's piece about the information Google collects on us all. I'm afraid that the last bit about being able to see you on Skype was a wind-up - well, one must have a little fun:-). The remainder was real data from the blog.

I thought we had solved the pain problem yesterday, but it has continued to break through, so I'm having an x-ray in Axminster tomorrow just to check that it isn't broken.

Little else to report of note today, except lunch at River Cottage cafe. It's very pleasant and good value too; I did manage to smuggle home a small piece of Stinking Bishop cheese, so if you think the Lawrence pigs are out over this way, you may just be mistaken! I rang Michael Bradbury to invite him and Sue, only to find that I'd missed a text this morning say that he was in the Wonford for investigation into his back problem. As if that's not bad enough, their broadband connection is broken. He is able to send and receive texts, so those of you who know him pile in and help cheer him up please!

Big Brother IS watching you!

It has been a bit of a slow news day today, so I thought I'd let you know what Big Brother (AKA Google) knows about you - the visitors to my blog. These are statistics which can be collected for any website, not just my blog.

Since the blog started on 11th June there have been:

• 228 visits
• each person spent an average of 2 minutes 27 seconds on it
• there have been 110 unique visitors
• people are using five different browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera)
• Of the 228 visits, 118 have used US English as the default language, and 100 have used UK English
  
• Given that 210 out of 228 visits originated in the UK, this strongly suggests that several of you have your language defaults set to the wrong type of English!
• Of the 20 people running Skype with webcams plugged in, at least one of you needs to put on a little more before reading the blog!
  

I could go into much more detail, but I suspect it would only worry you more than you are already!

PC maintenance

My email has been very silent today, so presumably all of you are very confident about your PC's future reliability. I'm relieved about this, as I can spend time in various restaurants and pubs instead!

Fathers' Day and more

I got a call from my eldest son at the unusual hour of 0930 this morning - apparently he was on his way to a fund-raising event held in Bath every year. Local teams play boules in aid of a local charity and this time it is a shelter for homeless men and women in the area. I asked him what he knew about boules; he thinks he has to throw a big ball at a small ball. I'm not sure they will raise much this year!

Maintaining your PC's

Someone asked me recently if I could recommend someone else to repair their PC, because Windows had picked up a gremlin. As it happens I've been giving some thought to how your PC's can be looked after in future. I did a quick count and it seems that the number of people I help is now well over fifty - and yes, I was surprised too!

One of the general problems I face when someone's machine fails is that they often don't have backups, and taking them adds about an elapsed day to the repair time. I propose to kill two birds with one stone, and to suggest that in future if you'd like me to fix something, you will agree to buy some backup software and a hard disk which I will recommend. Then, your repaired machine can be backed up to your hard disk, and repairing it in future is a simple question of running the backup/restore program yourself. This will return it to a clean, working condition, and all you need to do is update the anti-virus. All other updates should be automatically applied. I will even provide simple instructions for the process. Not only this, but all your precious photos, music and documents will be backed up daily!

I estimate that the cost of the software is about £25, and the hard disk is about £50-60, depending on the size you choose. Given that the average cost of a Windows rebuild in one of the local repair shops will be £40-60, this seems like a good investment. Some of you already have external hard disks which can be used for the purpose.

Perhaps I can ask you all to think this over, and to contact me by email if you are interested in going down this route. I can then get this set up over the coming weeks, and hopefully prevent failures from happening.

Be aware also that if you need a PC fixed from now on, this is the arrangement I will want to use.

Trances, Flowers, festivals, and invalid buggies

It's been a busy twenty-four hours since I last posted, but that reflects the improved situation so is a good thing.

I left off the hypnotherapy appointment from yesterday's post - too much excitement isn't good for you all. I had to admit that my homework had suffered last week as the pain and medication had rather got in the way - which is why I'm doing the hypnotherapy in the first place. We've agreed to concentrate the learning in the next two good weeks, in the hope that I'll be good enough to apply the skills if and when the next chemo session happens. No pressure, then...

We were planning to pop in to the Axe Valley Festival today if I felt up to it, but it was proving difficult to pin down a time when we would go. Often, when this happens, the day somehow passes and the plan never materialises. All became clearer when the doorbell rang and a delivery arrived for Father's Day, complete with chocolates (being saved for when taste buds recover) and a beautiful flower basket, ordered by youngest son and his lady whilst he was in Vienna earlier this week. What is happening to me? More moist eye moments...


We were then free to visit the Festival, which was a much drier event than last year. We passed a pleasant couple of hours, partly due to hiring an invalid buggy a la Sue Giles (but without a lid). To be honest, even the Kath Kidston shopping bag in the front basket could do nothing to futher undermine my image, so complete was the transformation. Still, I could get around in relative ease and comfort, and receive not a few comments suggesting that I was the lucky one! If they only knew... Alas, despite taking the camera we forgot to take a picture, so you'll just have to use your imaginations, or ask Owain and Alison, whom we encountered near the beer tent.

Day eight - survived!

Well, here I am back from the brink of self-destruction (aka rebuilding Windows). It went reasonably well, but then I have done it a few times:-).

I also feel quite a lot better myself, as the chemo side-effects start to reduce. In summary, yesterday lunchtime was a real pain low-point - you know, the unmanly moist eyes stuff - but from then on the swelling started to diffuse, and so the discomfort eased. We managed to go out into the garden in the evening, during which I managed to dispense some horticultural advice; "is that a weed, there, darling?"; "why are you throwing that flower pot in my direction, beloved?". You get the idea. Anyway, as proof of my presence there I took a picture of the rose arch from the compost bin side - hence the arch!

Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of us moving the two tons of logs which arrived this afternoon, so you'll just have to take my word for it that Chris is stronger than she looks!

In times of stress...!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday and today have proved to be pretty much on forecast - tired and very sore. So, I'm going to do what all geeks do at times of severe pressure - rebuild my PC - more specifically, re-install Windows. However bad one feels, doing this is the quickest way to remind one that there are worse things around than one has already! In two days or so, when I re-emerge with a quicker, cleaner laptop than I started with, my new bete-noire will be $icrosoft. In the meantime, you really don't want to hear reports of events chez Honeysuckle.

For those of you (none) who really want to know, I've already junked Vista and have been using its early release replacement, currently designated Windows 7. It is quicker, cleaner, and easier to use despite not being due for release until October. I don't recommend that you all do the same however, because I don't want to spend all day and night supporting you all in the process!

On the subject of online shopping, which I wrote about recently, I should point out that by going to the Waitrose site via http://www.hotukdeals.co.uk/ you save £5 off your first shop, £10 off the second, and £15 of the third. This will of course not interest those of my friends who only shop at Harrods (Mrs B!)

More of the same...

...unfortunately not fast cars though. This day last cycle was a bad pain day, and it's the same this time. Still, at least I'm learning to keep my feet up and sleep through it.

We have had one small achievement today - thanks to Richard and Vanessa (again) I checked the Waitrose website and found that they have indeed started home deliveries in our area; the amazing thing is that I looked over the weekend and our post code was 'out of area'. Well, it's not exactly the done thing to have Tesco deliver so close to River Cottage, is it? Furthermore, I understand that Sainsbury are also opening a store in Chard, so soon we will be spilt for choice for home shopping.

If things carry on as they have been for the last couple of days I'll leave posting until there's something brighter to report - so here's hoping I'll be back soon.

Now how about this for a set of wheels?

I'll confine the medical update today to a couple of lines: more tiredness, and more bone pain, but both were as forecast. Oh, and no sense of taste - but then most of you knew that anyway!

Instead, I'll tell you about my ride in Richard and Vanessa's Ferrari F430 - now there's a way to get around! I had already decided that a wheelchair isn't my thing; had dismissed the usual invalid buggy (well, there are so many around already!); rejected a motor-bike, even though our trendy young vicar is set on bringing them into vogue amongst the Five Alive squad. I spent around a year in hospital following my last encounter with one of these; and settled on a quad bike as being the correct blend of speed, style and cool. But wait, doesn't every farmer around here have at least two? Even Jags are represented twice.

But then I remembered the Sharland's kind invitation to look at AND ride in their beloved new machine, so off I toddled in our grubby Golf to see it. The questions came thick and fast:

1. Could I get into it - yes!
2. Could we go for a ride in it - yes! Lyme Regis never seemed as close as it did today.
3. Could I get my drugs basket into it - no!
4. Would theNHS consider supplying it with a much smaller engine, down-rated suspension, and glove box? Probably not.

Ah well, it remains a superbly engineered piece of kit, and I have to admit that Richard and Vanessa suit it much better than I do. Still, my heart-felt thanks to them both for a very bright spot in an otherwise slightly wet and woozy afternoon.

And no, I did forget my camera. so I can't even prove I'm not hallucinating. Still, here's a pic of one quite similar!

Round 2, day 4

You know you are becoming institutionalised when you start adopting the language of the institution in question - hence the title! Anyway, it has pretty much lived up to its forecast. Apart from church this morning I've slept most of the day, but during that time I've managed to lose my sense of taste; yes, I did once have one. Now everything I eat tastes metallic, or odd. I know this passes in a few days, but it's a nuisance while it lasts!

On a couple of occasions I have wondered whether yesterday's injection has caused the pain associated with 'tumour flare' again. I'm hoping not, as this was really unpleasant last time. I'm off to bed now, and hope this this passes overnight.

Goodnight all!

Chemotherapy round 2, day 3

Today consisted of a single injection of something designed to keep up my white blood cell count (and hence infection resistance). It has numerous side-effects, one of which is sleepiness - guess what I've been doing most of the day? The second, which I'm keeping a close eye on, is bone pain. I rather suspect that this might be the cuplrit that has put me into a wheelchair, rather than the chemotherapy itself. However one can't be sure as they are administered so close together. The waiting game now begins in earnest; the consultant will decide in three weeks whether or not this regime is working. I do hope so because there are few alternatives.

The sleepiness I referred to above may last a day or two, so I'm not sure there will be much to post about for a couple of days - however please don't give up checking on me!

On another note altogether, I don't know how many of you have seen the video of the motor-cycle cortege accompanying Simon Batten's hearse to his funeral. I've corresponded with Bren so I know she won't mind me pointing this out to you. It's an amazing show of support by his fellow bikers, who came from around the world. See the relevant story under http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/midweekherald/flatfiles/video/videos.aspx

Round 2, day 2, and hypnotherapy

Chemotherapy

Today took less than two hours, but the drug involved is the most scary of the three so the nurse watch me like a hawk - how is a man meant to concentrate on anything with that level of attention aimed in his direction?!

Side effects thus far are limited to tiredness and mild nausea, but it's a day or two early for the stronger reactions to manifest themselves. I promise to spare you the details if and when this happens!

Hypnotherapy

Today was my third session, and I had already briefed the therapist that I wanted to bring forward the work on pain control. I found it really interesting. Basically, the approach can be summarised as follows:

1. Change the label! Pain is after all, just one of a number of sensations. We are programmed to think of pain as 'hurt', so stop calling it that. I have a sensation in my leg? Well, you must admit it is a neutral term!
   
2. Using another part of the body (in my case the back of the hand) envisage it getting heavy and numb.
3. Place the hand on the painful part (leg) and envisage the sensations in the hand being transferred to the leg.

I don't recall all of the theory behind this approach, so won't risk mis-describing it now. However I will read up on it over the weekend and possibly post more on this topic. I'll also let you know how I get on in practice.

The therapist is dropping off a book over the weekend on the subject of how one's state of mind affects the healing process. This covers the second and possibly more important goal I have with this therapy. I know from past experience that attitude can be a powerful shaper of outcomes. I an not saying I can 'think' myself well, but I do believe that I can improve the situation by being realistically positive.

Day 1 of chemo round 2

Today was the long day - about eight hours of infusions. A lot of this is saline solution to ensure that the two drugs involved are flushed out of the system before they cause damage to the kidneys. Apparently mine co-operated well, judging by the measured amount I collected throughout the day.

As of this evening, the side-effects are minimal - just a tendency to fall asleep in the middle of a sentence! They usually start in earnest around day three, so hopefully I'll make it to church on Sunday morning, and then sleep for the rest of the day (if round 1 was anything to go by).

I now have another five drugs to take in addition to the eight I'm already taking for pain control et al. You won't be surprised to hear that this involves a second page on my spreadsheet!

I'm afraid I haven't got much to report about the rest of the day - it has largely been dedicated to researching a couple of technical issues that interest me - but almost certainly won't excite you all in the slightest. However, if anyone does want to know about running Ubuntu under Windows 7, or mapping wireless network adapters to a virtual machine under XP, just drop me an email...

Obtaining sympathy under false pretences?

Good morning campers!

After all the build-up of yesterday, I'm not now starting chemo until tomorrow. They forgot to include the main anti-sickness drug in the prescription, and won't start without it (neither will I, come to that). Still, your best wishes aren't wasted, as I'll just save them for tomorrow.

Instead I'll tell you about a mobility aid which every home should have - a shower seat! What unimaginable luxury it is to sit directly under the water, with no fear of slipping on the dreaded soap. The only downside is that it takes longer to shower because it's hard to tear oneself away from such a warm and comfortable spot! It occurred to me that you don't need crutches or a wheelchair to justify the use of such an item - merely a hedonist streak. Go on - spoil yourselves!

A day out in Bristol

Well, more a lunch with our eldest son (really nice, as we haven't seen him for a while), followed by a hospital appointment (nothing like as much fun).

On an irrelevant personal note, the place where we ate is now Brown's, at the top of Park Street. I lived in Bristol during my twenties, and for a short while had a temporary job at the University while I waited for my immigration visa to come through from Australia house; I never went, but that's another story involving a Swiss au pair... However, I digress. Back then Brown's was a much less salubrious (and expensive) University Refectory. Many a cheap meal was eaten there without me ever suspecting that I'd be frequenting it thirty years later in the company of wife and grown-up son!

The main purpose of the hospital appointment was to check my blood count and readiness for the next round of chemotherapy, which starts tomorrow. Since I haven't heard to the contrary I think it will be going ahead as planned. We did learn that it should be possible to tell after this round whether or not it is working, and therefore whether it is worth continuing. That is quite sobering, as the next step would probably be to try to get me onto a clinical trial of something which has a very mixed press at present. Good results are reported on some people, although the side-effects (not specified today) can be considerable. All told, a collective prayer, or positive thought, would be most welcome at this point.

I don't know if I'll be posting for a couple of days as there may not be much to report - being attached to a drip is not the stuff of which great blogs are made; however, one never knows.

TTFN.

George

Have you seen 'An Inconvenient Truth'?

This is a TV program which I recorded not long ago featuring Al Gore talking about global warming. Quite frankly it is both riveting and truly scary. I've spent a couple of days working out how to get a copy off my Freesat box onto my PC so that I can burn a DVD. Having finally achieved this, if anyone would like a copy please drop me an email. I thoroughly recommend both the content and the presentation.

It's off to Bristol for us tomorrow for blood tests and a meeting with the consultant before chemo on Wednesday. It's not my favourite past-time as I never know what news to expect. Still, it has to be done.

TTFN

PS If anyone reading has lost an Enya CD which was in a PC I fixed recently could you please let me know - anonymity guaranteed!

Two very useful websites for saving money

I thought that today I'd give you all a break from medical news, and tell you instead about two websites that I use regularly to save money whilst shopping online. If you are lucky you can combine them and save even more!

The first is HotUKDeals, at http://www.hotukdeals.com/. This site has two main features. Members of the site post deals that they have come across for a wide range of goods, so if you are looking for almost anything it's worth checking this site first, as all the research leg-work has already been done for you. However, deals which feature on this site do tend to run out quickly, so you need to be prompt! The second aspect of this site is that it lists voucher codes for a range of suppliers. To give a simple example, I was due for an eye-test last week so I looked on HotUKDeals and found a half price discount code at Dolland & Aitchison. I printed it out and took it in and saved £13.50 just for taking the time to visit this site.

The second site worth book-marking is Quidco, at http://www.quidco.com/. Quidco is a really clever idea which makes use of the fact that every time you use Google or another search engine to find something which you subsequently buy, that site is paid commission (called referrer commission). It is basically one of the main mechanisms that search sites use to fund themselves. The neat thing about Quidco is that it acts as a member's co-operative and the commission earned is paid to you, less a small annual fee (about £5), which is deducted from your earnings to cover costs. I was staggered to find that last year I saved over £380 from using Quidco. That's quite a lot for a small amount of effort, I think you'll agree?!

Musical Vicars, Relaxation, and Fish and Chips

Sorry not to have written anything for a couple of days - I offered to rebuild Windows on a local vicar's PC. I've never met anyone with over 70 days' continuous music! I've no idea how much it's worth but I'm not about to lose this collection, so it has been carefully backed up. Anyway, the job was almost done by this evening so we ventured out to Lyme Regis for fish & chips a la wheelchair. There's a lot to be said for a soft seat and a cushion rather than sitting on the new concrete front!

I did take some time out this morning for my second hypnotherapy session. The focus of this one was a self-hypnosis technique. I have to practice this two or three times a day for the coming week. Next week we will be practising a pain control method - that can't come soon enough for me!

We had confirmation today that round 2 of chemotherapy will take place Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week. If things follow the same pattern as last time, 'side-effect week' will start the following Sunday, and 'avoid infections week' will follow the week after. Ho hum.

I have wheels!

As you can see, the temporary chair arrived as planned today. Being able to sit with my leg up is a considerable relief, as the pain usually occurs when I'm standing or walking.

We've had to reduce the amount of furniture on the ground floor, as I need quite a turning circle - hopefully I'll improve with practice.

Over the last day or so I've been playing with web albums - a way of uploading photographs to the web. Invitations can be sent to friends and family , who can view them when and as often as they choose.

The tool I've chosen to use is Picasa, as it has all the facilities needed to take the pictures from the camera, upload them an album, add a caption, and reduce the photos to web size without any technical knowledge on the part of the user. I can have multiple albums covering, for example, holidays, family, the garden, and so on.

If this isn't enough, each picture can be 'geo-tagged'. This is just a fancy name for noting where it was taken. However, the feature which I could hardly believe exists in free software is the facial recognition. Ask Picasa to scan the album for faces, and it picks out all photos of each person in turn, and asks you to name them. Where a photo contains multiple faces, these are also picked out as a separate group. Once the photos are named, hovering the mouse over a face displays the person's name!

I'm sure that this is a facility which many people will find useful. Friends who would like a demonstration are welcome to give me a call. I would love to let you all see the album I've created as a test, but at present I haven't worked out how to do anything other than send single invitations! I rather think you'll be hearing more about this topic in future posts.

If it ain't broke...

Audrey C asked me if I'd have a look at her printer. Expecting this to be a simple job - probably cleaning the print heads - I popped down late on Monday afternoon. As I sat down I noticed a surge protector on the desk, unopened in its packaging. It's the type that also protects the phone line, and she has a good quality wireless router, so it needing fitting sooner rather than later. Would she like it done while I was there? It should only take five minutes. Yes please.

As is the case for most folk, the wiring under the desk was doing a fair impression of spaghetti, so it took about half an hour to trace where the router was plugged in. At this point an alarm sounded in the house, and a disembodied voice said "Are you OK, Mrs C"? Weird, but nothing to do with me. This happened twice more, and I had visions of ambulances screaming sirens as they kicked up the gravel on the drive. Perhaps it did have something to do with the fact that I had my hand of the phone socket each time the voice said "Are you ok"? It seemed increasingly likely.

Unfortunately the socket for the phone alarm is behind a big bookcase. Undaunted, we moved the books, but all appeared in order at that end.

Back in the study, closer inspection of the suspect socket showed that that one wire was loose. Waggling it set the alarm off! As I said, if it ain't broke...

By now my timetable was completely wrecked, but at least I only had to fix the printer. Cleaning the heads did nothing, but it was asking for a change of cartridge, which Mrs C had helpfully provided. Read instructions (yes, really). Remove tab at top and tape from underside. Tab removed. Turn over to remove tape, and wonder why hands feel wet. Turn back to reveal pools of ink in several colours. Recover just in time to prevent drops wrecking carpet...

Condemned printer and offered to obtain another one. Now all I need is someone to pop down and fit it for me. Anyone fancy the job?!

Weekend update

It has been quite a good weekend, partly aided by the gorgeous weather. I managed to get to morning communion on Sunday at 0830, to the surprise of other celebrants, and myself. Furthermore, I was still in good shape into the evening! Overall it felt like the nearest to a normal day since I started the treatment.

This morning started well with a visit from an occupational therapist with two catalogues of goodies to solve a number of practical problems; a wheelchair with leg support AND laptop (as in PC) tray; ramps to get in and out of the house; a seat for the shower and a step to get in - have you ever tried using crutches on a soapy surface? - no, I thought not! One of the more appealing objects available is an adult version of the child's training walker. Parents among you may have seen them - a sit-in pouch on a spring where the baby can just touch the floor. They spend ten minutes bouncing up and down like crazy, get exhausted, and then fall safely asleep for half an hour. I can just see one of these hung from the oak frame in our garden room...

To continue my return to childhood, Squire B offered to get some shopping for us, including a baby's toothbrush with which to clean sore gums. He came back with a superb brush which incorporates a red flashing light and some coloured gooh/water mix in the handle. It flashes for a minute to make sure one does a good cleaning job, and the gooh creates moving patterns in the handle. I always thought he was a man of singular taste...! Anyway, must go - time for my nap.