Wednesday 16th November 2011

Check-up and House Group
  The first stage of the treatment cycle is a blood test and check-up. Sue got me to the pathology department just after 9am. Every time before that I have been before there was a long queue. This time, there were only 2 people before me.

My appointment with one of the consultants was at 11:15. That started a little early. Everything was find. The consultant said that I was doing "fantastically well". My blood count is normal and my hip is healing quickly (but not yet healed). Her advice was not to try to push things too quickly, because of the risk of aggravating the hip fracture. I asked whether I should be driving and her advice was not if I don't absolutely have to.

This time is now getting a little frustrating. While all the indicators are good, there is no way of measuring the extent to which it is getting rid of the cancers. I am reminded of the job of cooking a soufflé. Once if it is in the oven cooking, you cannot open the door ro check progress, because the result is that it would sink. The only real way of measuring the success of my treatment is via a CT scan, but those involve a dose of X-rays which themselves in excess cause cancer. So I have to wait for a scan at the end of the final cycle of chemo-therapy, sometime around Christmas.

I spent the afternoon on a continuation of the webinar training that started yesterday. Happily my role was to monitor questions not to present any material.

In the evening Sue and I went to the house group bible study where we spent 90 minutes continuing a whirlwind study of the book of Ezekiel. Don't worry, I am not going to summarise the topic here.

What was most rewarding was the prayer time at the end. House groups are small groups where individuals really get to know one another and can pray for each others need.

The father of the teenager with the stubbornly infected would was there. Things have progressed rapidly over the last 4 weeks and there is no longer any infection, but there is still an open would which will take a little longer to heal. This final stage is frustrating because the girl involved cannot embark on her physical rehabilitation until there is no risk of re-opening the wound. We prayed that she would achieve her next objective of sitting at the table for Christmas lunch. Given that he wound is in the area of the coccyx, that would be a major step forward.

Two of our members are being made redundant by Sony-Ericsson as their unit is being closed down. They are facing a career change and both have a dependent family. We prayed for their future. Anyone know of jobs going for experienced ASIC Designers?

We thanked God for my illness and successful treatment so far and  prayed for my long term recovery.