Keep Fighting....

Well guys...

The sickness is beaten (for now at least!); the new pills mentioned in my last blog have really done the trick. Unfortunately I've added a rather troublesome and remarkably painful chest infection into the equation which saw me at the BEDOC service at South Wing hospital on Sunday evening. I'm on lots of anti-biotics for now but still coughing up nasty brown stuff - YUK! Other that this I'm putting on weight and the chemo scheduled now for the week commencing the 19th April still looks as though it will happen.

We had a great Sunday going to WNL in the morning and sharing the rest of the day with friends - fantastic!

We are off to the cottage in France on Friday for a week with the kids and adding a few business calls in for Teresa in the South West on the way to the Plymouth-Roscoff ferry. Tonight Teresa and I are spending our first night on the new boat which is really exciting. We are preparing the cottage to rent out and if you are interested we've still a few summer holiday weeks left.

Thanks for checking in my friends.

Dave

And I Think To Myself.....

......what a wonderful world!

OK, OK I have a short memory and last week (before stable 'meds') and with me me barfing up everything (even water) the world didn't seem too wonderful but what a difference a week makes. Health is fantastic. Appetite is back! Hungry again! Ability to blog in full sentences has vanished!

Seriously I am a blessed man. Seriously blessed. I have a wonderful wife, gorgeous children, loving and committed extended family. I have fantastic friends; too many to mention but especial thanks to Nick & Sarah Hearn and David Burrell who always have the right words to say.

Come on.... give us a smile!

All Sorts Happening

Hi All,

After 48 hours of throwing up everything I ate, drank or even thought about the oncologist decided that I wasn't up to the chemo and has postponed it until the 12th April.

To beat the sickness they've started me on two further drugs Levomepromazine whose primary use is the treatment of schizophrenic brain troubles but in low doses wards off sickness very well (so I'm told - by the oncologist not by any dubious alter-ego). Also Dexamethasone which is a steroid to help with appetite. This takes the grand drug total to 9 a day. Rattle, rattle. To be honest I'm glad for the delay. The thought of chemo next week was not sitting too comfortably.

The good news is that the nausea has 100% gone after just one dose. Hurrah! Off to Nick & Sarah Hearn's tonight (our good friends) for the evening. On Sunday a friend of mine is getting married and I'm off to the wedding. Perhaps I'll post a picture of me in my slim fit suit!

Have a good weekend everyone.

God Bless

Dave x

Good Days 'n' Bad Days

Well some days the food goes down and stays down. Other days it goes down and comes back to say hello which is VERY frustrating. I have barfed whilst driving, in just about every public loo in Bedford and even in the street (how scuzzy!) in Pont Aven, Brittany. The trouble is I get so little warning. Suddenly I'm hot and then woops seconds later the multi coloured rainbow appears. I'm on a drug called Domperidone which helps a little bit and (thankfully) my weight is at a steady 10.12 which is quite a new experience for a man who has been 12.5 (& + post Christmas, holidays etc.) all his adult life. I must confess to finding the sickness very depressing. The new slim fit 30'' waist suit does look kinda cool though - every cloud.........

I meet with my oncologist tomorrow (Friday) and he will hopefully give me the all clear to start chemo on Monday. That is dependant though on weight, blood counts and me wanting to go ahead. I'll let you know on all three counts.

Thanks for reading - you got nothing better to do my wonderful friends? I'm so glad you haven't or at least if you have that you still make time for me. Bless you.

Florence and I busy buying all the kit we need for the new narrow boat. I've posted some pics above. The dining room here has been turned into a riparian storage depot. Life jackets, crockery and lots of gin. Perfect.

Check in tomorrow for the latest.

Love

Dave xxxx

Update From France...

Hi everyone,

Greetings from France. Teresa and I are having a few 'kid-free' days at our cottage in Brittany and having a great time. We flew (rather than taking the ferry) which makes life easier and quicker - it's just a 50 minute flight into Brest from Luton. Flying out we experienced one of the scariest landings we've ever suffered - thanks Ryanair! Bounces, swerving, screeching all quite scary, but we survived to tell the tale! The weather is OK, warmer than the UK according to the forecast and remarkably for Brittany no rain yet (he says in faith!!).

We've just bought ourselves a rather fine 39' narrow boat for weekends and, with a view to selling France eventually. We have to be realistic and me being so ill at Centerparcs during half-term made us realise that if we'd been in France without the right medication we'd have been stuffed! We might try and rent the cottage out first and see how it goes but if anyone fancies buying 'Ty Carys' let us know. The narrow boat is currently called Shanghai but is soon to be renamed 'Florence' of course!

Health is sort of OK. The nasal feeding tube keeps being barfed up and replaced. The Fentanyl patches and buccal tablets are handling the pain but because thay are so strong and a 'controlled' drug you are only allowed a few at a time and I keep running out. A day without pain relief with cancer at this stage is not a lot of fun and normally requires copious post strop apologies from me to Teresa, the kids and anyone unfortunate enough to encounter an 'un-doped up' me. The chief battle at present is to put on weight and get strong enough for next week's chemo. To be honest I don't feel up to it at the moment but hopefully that will change. Still have to inject my belly every morning to ward off the pulmonary embolism in my lung and take a panoply of other pills for various purposes. As the saying goes 'keep taking the tablets'!

I don't know about you but I'm VERY ready for spring; the daffs are out here in France and it does feel at little bit warmer but aren't you ready for sunshine?

So my friends I'll let you know if I manage to gain enough weight and stay well enough for the four rounds of chemo to start next week. Hope so. Sort of!

Keep checking in and praying for us.

Love Dave x

A moment to reflect..

Today I looked back over some of the 2+ years worth of blog entries that David and occasionally myself and Chloe have made. If you get a moment today I suggest you do the same. It makes powerful and often moving reading. The scary thing is how fast the time has gone...and yet at the same time I almost struggle to remember what life was like before the big C came into our lives.

If I am honest since that time it has dominated our every waking moment and continues to affect everything we do. Yet it has also encouraged us to live life to the full and almost to live each day as if it was our last as a family together and that has been fabulous. Looking back on the last 2 years we have had some amazing times and wonderful experiences and I have treasured all of those good times and have found a strength through the difficult ones which I never knew I had and I am proud of myself and of all the wonderful people in my life who inspire and help me.

On a recent trip to the hospital one of the nurses who was treating David said that I had 'a hard calling'. Although I had never thought of it that way it struck me that it is a calling in so many ways and although it is not one I would have chosen it is one that I am privileged and honoured to try and fulfil. I am not sure what the next 12 months will bring...health or sickness...good times or more difficult ones but I do have the peace that comes with knowing that I am not alone on this journey and that I am blessed....I pray that in the madness of today you get chance to look back over the past few years or months and know that you feel the same.



Florence