This edition of the blog covers two big days, a recovery day and very hot day. The exciting times were on the Friday and Saturday when my son brought his partner and my two Swedish grandchildren to see us us. At the same time my youngest daughter brought her son, my youngest grandchild to see us and to meet his Swedish cousins. For the first time all my children and grandchildren were sat around the same table eating together and later playing together. There was a visit to the the local tropical bird garden and the making of the acquaintance of various parrots and macaws in acts of bravery. There was a water fight of mammoth proportions although I have no idea where the water pistols came from or who first grabbed the hosepipe. There was an appearance of the paddling pool, bubble machine, ice cream and of course more food around the table. Its been a while since I had to rummage around for spare chairs to get everyone seated but we managed. Here are a few pictures just to give a flavour of two glorious days of my family being together.

It was a glorious couple of days which I hope sticks in the memories of everyone. By coincidence the summary letter from my oncologist arrived on the Saturday morning and confirmed my understanding of the conversation we had had at the review. It was unexpected good news in that the scan could find no metastasis in my back or lymph where it had been before and my PSA had held constant. So its a holding and monitoring strategy for three months, which I think is a good result. I put the copy of the letter here because after all this blog is supposed to be about my journey with prostate cancer and this letter says two things, firstly you can fight and have victories on the nhs and second if your rich enough there are other options outside the nhs

So there you have it in a nut shell. My progress it good news as long as I can stay metastasis free. It gave me a great lift along side seeing all my grandchild at the same time. My stance of fighting has been proven right and so it needs to remain in place. I cannot afford distractions from the routines that I have tried to maintain, both physical and cognitive. I need to keep on rowing and feeding my brain if I am to travel again, see all my grandchildren again and live a life that feels it has joy in it. I have a birthday coming up and somehow getting to this one has been important. I did not think I would be able to sit with all my children and their children in one place but this weekend I did and that is the best possible birthday present I could have wished for. At last I have a sense of wider family and a renewed sense of a place and a role to play beyond being a cancer patient being palliated.

They had all gone their various ways by Saturday evening leaving my household to rest and reflect. I had managed to find some things to send the two Swedish grandchildren away with, seem to have gone down well. Of course I started on putting all the photographs together and editing some of them for use elsewhere. Inevitably it came time to pack away the fun toys and to take my night meds and get myself to bed. Sunday just saw my partner and I clearing away things so that we could get fall back into our routines and settle down in the early evening to watch the England women’s football team thrash Jamaica, before continuing to watch Suspicion on itv-x. After a couple of bewildering episodes it was time to go to bed but not before catching a glimpse of the headline acts at Glastonbury, perhaps one day I will make it there but 2026 is going to be a fallow year to let the farm recover so I will need to stick around until 2017 at least.

Monday and its hot, very hot, unseasonably hot so as my partner goes off to have coffee with a friend I hunker down in the lounge, have a cold breakfast and set about catching up on the blog, which means a lot of picture downloading and editing. I beaver away at this till gone 1pm interrupted only by the post delivering recycling materials, the dentist calling to remind me that I am due a filling tomorrow, messages from Tesco telling me todays order is ready for delivery and the sporadic visits to the bathroom. Of all the things I need to do most it is to knuckle down and write letters to all the friends that I have failed to write to recently, they must be feeling neglected and abandoned by now. It has been cruel how “things” have got in the way over the recent weeks that seem to have prevented me from maintaining my correspondence, it is however a serious part of how I feed my brain and keep the relationships with my friends alive and nutritive. Its time to get back into the Shed and rehabilitate my pens and inks and put ideas and thoughts on paper and make my regular trips to the post office to send those parts of me on their way.

First there is a thirsty garden to tend and ease through this hot spell, new plants are required and a trip to the garden centre to be had. My Monday evening sees me dip into Wimbledon and finish the Suspicion series. Its still hot as I take my night meds and make my way to bed anticipating the joys of visiting the dentist tomorrow for a filling.