Mixed News

Well, it's mixed news once again. On the positive side, tumours in my lungs appear slightly smaller. On the negative side, the main tumour in my pelvis is larger. The consultant has decided that my current regime has run its course and will be of no further benefit. So, I will be going onto the next 'combination' regime, which is much stronger, as and when there is any further growth in the pelvis. I am back in five weeks to have this checked out. If the pelvic tumour stays as it is, then I will stay off the chemo for now. However, as soon as it changes ... on I go. It is probably worth me upping my gym attendance to try and get as fit as possible in the hope that I might tolerate the new regime more than the doctor anticipates. He thinks it might help.

Mary and I are absorbing this latest news and in the meantime are getting on with things as normal. Little choice really. I have had a radically short haircut so that my children ( at home and at school)get used to me having next to no hair well in advance of the treatment. I think it's safe to say that my daughters hate it! (I'm willing to guess you don't like it either, mum ...) So I guess the next step is to leave photos of Right Said Fred about the house. (Martha stopped me on the stairs the other day as I jogged heartily down wearing shorts and sports vest, on my way to the gym. She eyed me for a moment and said, "I need to tell you dad ... that isn't a good look." Oooooh, she's such a tease!)

Thanks for visiting the blog. Stay in touch.

Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out.

I am interviewing for a new Deputy Headteacher on May 2nd and it is an important appointment for obvious reasons. We spent £920 on a national advert and had an astonishing thirty applications! The applicants came to look round, well-versed in the school's recent(highly successful!)Ofsted report and saying very kind things about it. So I am there - talking earnestly, brow furrowed, being modest, explaining the school's vision for future development - and this requires me to bring the small group to my computer to see next year's School Improvement Plan. Now ... the day before, I had changed my screensaver to the one which sends random photographs from the computer slowly across the screen. I was aware of the group staring silently at the computer as I was trying to explain our bid for new Foundation Stage outdoor provision;not one of them seemed to be listening! "Hmmm," I mused. "This lot aren't making the best impression on me!" I turned and followed their gaze. Oh how sad I was to see the screen filled with the photo of Mary and I on 'Children In Need' day, Mary dressed as Maria Von Trapp and me dressed as the Mother Superior. So, I quickly and forcefully said, "Yes, and we like to raise funds for charity ... "
What do you think? Have I got away with it?

Scan results and CEA results on Tuesday. Will Blog again next week.

Update ...

Well, there are new hurdles I'm afraid. My blood test that came back on Wednesday has shown that my CEA level, which had doubled between January and March, has doubled again. It was 17 when I was first diagnosed but is now 100. Not good. The oncologist is holding off putting me on heavy chemo for another three weeks, during which I will be scanned because he is concerned that it is all kicking off (my phrase, not his). I will also have more blood tests at that point. Wouldn't it be good if my scan showed stability and my blood tests revealed a decreasing CEA level? (... prayer hint) I feel okay at the moment - pain levels increasing a little but I am not on the full quota of painkillers yet and day to day life is normal.

Unfortunately, a girl at Martha's school who is in Martha's year has just lost her mum to liver cancer. The penny has dropped with Martha that these things do happen and we have had a few troubled conversations. It is very difficult, trying not to be evasive but also trying to shield her, at least for the moment, from the raw facts. If I go onto the heavier chemo and end up looking like Keith Richards' older brother we might just have to be a little more open about things. Naomi, thankfully, is too caught up with Andrew Lloyd Webber's search for the new Nancy and Oliver to notice much at the moment. As for Joel ... as long as he has Shreddies and Thomas The Tank Engine in his life, everything is okay.

On a positive note, I am off to London tonight to read poetry and I have another reading next weekend up her in Pocklington. It's a great distraction for me, and I love doing them. And, what with a couple of meetings at Betty's tearoom already in the diary for next week, life is looking a bit brighter!

I will let you know the scan results. Thanks for visiting the blog.