Long time, no blog!

Every time I write a blog I decide that I must do it more often!  I looked today to see when I last wrote and it was the end of January, nearly three months ago!  Where that three months has gone I do not know, I really must write more often (here's hoping)!

So what has happened in the last three months, well quite a lot.......and here we are, by the end of the week we will know again if Paul's Mesothelioma is stable or not!

At the end of February Paul decided that work for him was getting too much, mentally and physically.  He is not the same person he was before diagnosis and life has changed, priorities have changed.  After much thought and consultation with medical professionals he decided that handing in his notice at work was the right thing to do.  He finished work the week after making the decision and immediately felt a weight had lifted.  Having said that last week he went back for a day and a half to help out and he is there today.

Around the same time I mentioned to Paul that Mesothelioma UK in March do something called Moustaches for Meso in March to raise funds.  Paul decided that it was something he could do and it would be great to raise awareness and funds for them.  He succeeded with the challenge and raised almost £600 (including gift aid) which is fantastic.  He was in our local paper and the Nursery our son, Ethan attends saw it.  They are doing a sponsored garden obstacle course later this month with the children, also to raise funds for Mesothelioma UK.  This will be great as it will raise awareness amongst the children's parents and hopefully their wider families also. To sponsor Ethan (who is just 3 years old) please visit http://www.justgiving.com/obstaclecourse Thank you :)

As Paul finished work at the end of February he was able to attend our nearest Mesothelioma Support Group which he thoroughly enjoyed and met lots of other fellow patients.  Last Friday all three of us attended and it is lovely to actually physically meet people that are also following the same path as us.  As the majority of Mesothelioma sufferers are a lot older that Paul it is great to feel that we can help out and make it known that this is now not just an 'old man's disease' it can and does effect the young.

We had good news at the vet.  Our cat was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease but since being on steroids her condition has improved.  We have blood tests for her tomorrow to check her progress.

This week is busy with hospital appointments.  Paul's operation at the end of October 2013 was not fully successful and he has become anaemic again!  We never received his check up appointment which I had to chase to get at the beginning of the year, only for it to be cancelled and moved into May.  Once Paul was found to be anaemic again I rang and they were able to move it to this week.  Despite our GP faxing the hospital about 4 weeks ago now to ask for a more urgent appointment nothing has been done about it.  So Wednesday is his appointment at Addenbrookes to see what they have to say.  I will also be finding out how I can put in feedback on the above, as I really feel it is not good enough!  We have never even had a call to say they were unable to provide a sooner appointment.  This and our experience through chemo really makes me feel that unless patients at Addenbrookes have someone to fight their corner and check stuff is getting done correctly, nothing really does.

The 4th April was a year since Paul's final chemo session and 18 months since diagnosis.  This Thursday we will return to Papworth for Paul is have an x-ray and see his oncologist (or one of his registrars).  He says he feels the same as he did in January and visibly unless you know he has terminal cancer you would never ever guess.  Let's hope we get good news and another three months hospital visit free (well, at least for cancer appointments anyway)!

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