DVT DAY 179

CHEMOTHERAPY 1st ANNIVERSARY

One year ago today I started chemotherapy. Here’s what I said at the time: https://prost8kancerman.co.uk/chemo-day-1/ .

I woke up today with the instant thought of “Fuck it the boiler needs sorting”. Reluctant to get up I got dressed and went down stairs in to the office where my partner was already looking at a full diary page. I retried to activate the boiler more in hope then expectation. No joy, its still fucked. I make coffee and breakfast egg noodles, then text the boiler man, who says he will come in the afternoon. I move a car off the drive to give him access and bring in the garden waste bin. So chores done for the moment I go on e-bay and look for Marshall McLuhan books so that I can research a debate that I am going to do at a conference in November. There is something about acquiring packets of knowledge and I am excited about their arrival. They will have to live in the shed with me. More coffee and I take my drugs before getting ready to trudge through the pouring rain to the shed to amuse myself till its time to host my open forum. I spent sometime playing with a craft kit with Christmas in mind, until it was time to get ready for todays open forum.

I have been hosting this forum for 22 weeks now and I still have moments when I wonder what I am doing on this impossible media. The participants are an interesting group and they seem to get a lot from one another and I get an insight into what is going on in the world of Enabling Environments in the criminal justice world. There is a part of society that lives in our communities that are attempting re-entry to the normal world. At this time re-entering society in its COVID state is a severe challenge to those trying to. I am full of admiration for those people who work through everything to try and provide the support that these people need. I finish the forum and before I write up my weekly notes I divert myself by updating the Tesco order due for delivery tomorrow. We are going to entertain for the first time in almost six months so there are some additional goodies to get. I miss cooking for friends, I like to see people enjoy fresh food that I have cooked, there is something primal and right about it. I guess sharing food is the most ancient of ways of expressing caring and acknowledging the interdependency of the species.

Tonight is my favourite meal of the week, tuna pasta, which will be followed by more Heros, I suspect, but of all of this is dependant on the boiler man turning up and doing his magic. So I wait with anticipation and a nervous lower half of my wallet.

• 

•