Monday, Monday...

Good afternoon, all. Well, I'm still in bed and it's 12.25, but there it is.

Not much to report as ever. I made it to the Fair Service, which was very enjoyable en plein air (very warm and with the odd wasp for added spice).

My main purpose in posting today is to wish the Corrydales the best of luck with the show, which is this evening until Thursday. We have decided not to try and attend as I know only to well that I will sleep for most of the evenings, and I'm sure it's far too good to miss:-)

Good luck also to Michael, and to Jason, with the filming and with the sound. Thanks to Michael , and to the availability of the technology, we should be able to see it in High Definition this year. Can you imagine close-ups of the cast in five times greater definition than last year? It doesn't bear thinking about!

Fair Day

Made it! Well, only for a while. It was good to see some of you, but I admit that I'm paying for it now:-( Well at least the weather didn't hit us for a third year running, which is a relief! To all those that I didn't have a chance to speak to - apologies. Ruts and butts in wheelchairs don't really go too well.

I'm off for a very early night tonight, in the hope that I'll be clambering up the other side of the treatment soon.

George

Still sleeping...

Sorry folks, but the sleepiness is still increasing. I spend a couple of hours or so 'awake' each day, during which I read. I'm not really cabable of interaction or any demanding intellectual pursuits (such as writing for such a high-brow audience). I just need to sit it out - sorry.

I had in mind all kinds of technical titillation - let's just hope I remember the ideas when I wake up - or perhaps not!

George

Update Monday 10th

A relaxed weekend

We passed a pleasant weekend, with a visit by Theo, our youngest, and his girlfriend Hayley. He is currently studying a foundation OU course and is doing very well. Hayley has joined Thames Valley Police and is part-way through her training. She loves it - "I didn't know you could get paid whilst having so much fun".

They were very accommodating about my constant sleeping, and Chris managed to sort out some very divergent dietary requirements - I have no idea how!

Medical update

It feels to me as though practically all my hair as come out now - judging by the shower filter! However Chris tells me I've still got more than most men my age. I'll wait until the end of the week before updating the photo, and you can all be the judges.

One slightly less welcome development, which is probably due to the R/T, is that my typing has become rather more erratic. The consultant believes it is probably due to swelling in the brain, and that it should be possible to relieve it with steroids. However there seems to be a conflict between the need to take it for this purposes and the need to take it for pain control in my leg. I've trying to co-ordinate views between the various parties to get this sorted out.

I'm shy, hairy melon, I'm shy

As the song goes. Anyway, this melon is getting less hairy by the minute. This may have something to do with the fact that Christine has ministered to me with the hoover, and also with a length of parcel tape. Of course, looking at it from her point of view I can see that piles of the stuff around the place is not ideal:-)

Other than this, I've become even more tired, and it's not even the end of the first week after treatment. If they are right and the symptoms will deepen until the end of week two then there really won't be much point in 'watching this space' at all!

On an unrelated note, I had a completely unexpected and welcome visit from Dr. Hodges. I had had to ring the surgery to arrange a change of medication, and he had kindly arranged this at nil notice. I gather that our own doctor, Sarah Ellis, will be away for a while and he thought it would be a good idea to put a face to a name (for both of us). Well done, Dr H!

Wednesday 5th: No change

Sorry all, this is more of a Tweet than a blog: All I'm doing at the moment is being awake in the morning (If one can call it that); having lunch, and then sleeping until tea time); followed by an early bedtime; even I can see that this is less interesting than paint drying. If I were to guess I'd say that this symptom is rapidly deepening, so don't expect much real news in the next few days. Sorry about this.

George

Day 10: Finished!

It's still a case of no news is no news really. This round of radiotherapy is finished, and there's little to show for it apart from increased tiredness, more loose hairs in my keyboard, and an odd red rash across my forehead:-)

The consultant popped down to see me in the treatment area, mainly to answer face-to-face an email I had sent her over the weekend. She really is a nice person. Anyway, the question was about medication and flying (yes or no). She thinks we will be fine if we stick within the EU, and advised a short course of steroids to counteract any swelling in my brain as a result of pressure changes during take-off and landing.

The EU point is a good one in case we had a medical emergency, and casts doubt on St Petersburg as a destination unless it's a stopping point on an EU-based cruise. What a nightmare!

Looking ahead over the next few weeks looks something like this; for the next two weeks the symptoms will deepen (tiredness, hair loss); from then on energy levels should improve - call this weeks 3 to 9; week 10 is Cromwell week. Apparently the procedure I'm having is "Stereotactic ablation of tissue of brain". If you don't use the word ablation every day, you may want to look it up. Anyway, the point of this forecast is to alert you to the fact that I sincerely hope to be boring for the next little while, so anyone who is an adrenalin junky is likely to be disappointed. However I'll do my best to include some riveting technical news, which I know you all love:-)