Thursday and its new years day, the auspicious 1st of January. What a day to turned out to be. January 1st 2026 was the day that I became a grandparent again. The newest youngest grandson appeared in the world at 19:34, weighing in at a very respectable 7lbs 11 ozs. Mother and baby doing well. The new boy arrived after a day of me reading and resting and wondering how things were going, it was a great relief to get the good news. It will take time for everything to settle before we get to meet in person but hopefully not to too long, sometimes these things cannot be rushed.

I spent the evening with a quite warm glow feeling very happy that everything had gone well. At midnight I turned in for what I hoped would be a good nights sleep.

487
As the year comes forth 
so does Leonidas,
not for the hills 
this one. 
This one is for love 
and a modern world,
but in times to come
this king may need
to stand his ground
and face a world
more harsh 
than his parents time.
A brother for Maximus,
a son to Phoebe and
a grandson to Roland,
he follows in a line of 
mythical people, 
how can his life 
not be charmed?

					487 02-01-2026

My night was not the calm and peaceful one I had hoped for. Early into the night I found I was passing blood in my urine. So I spent the night testing urine samples as my body responded to the challenge. As the hours passed by my urine cleared until in the morning it was clear and back to normal. It seems very unfair that after such joy that my body could do this to me. In the morning I check my vitals and find my blood pressure is a bit up. I get up and make breakfast before reloading my drugs dosettes, one of my rituals to keep myself organised and on course. With my drugs rattling in their boxes I then update the family tree to include the new grandchild. The new generation of the wider family is growing and I wonder if they will ever all come together at sometime in the future. Having got myself straight I take time to start drafting the blog. There are an increasing number of things that need to be done but I find myself struggling for energy. I know it is the chemo that is draining me and I try to keep drinking water to flush it through me. I am hoping that I’m going to be through the worst by Monday as this coming Monday is a 28 day injection day. My intention is to rest for the weekend and hope to recover some equilibrium for the coming week. All I can do is keep going and see if I can make progress.