A New Year....

So here we are a New Year is upon us and we are already coming to the end of January! Christmas is a distant blur and we are back into the daily routine.

We had a great time with the family, relaxing, eating and drinking far too much and generally enjoying each others company. All over far too quickly though!

                                          A winter robin at Blaze Castle-Bristol.

Christmas provided a great opportunity to catch up with a number of my PMP buddies. The one thing this cancer has given me is the opportunity to meet and talk with so many wonderful people whom otherwise I just would not have crossed paths with. All of them fighting their own battles with PMP one way or another. Be it undergoing treatment now for initial diagnosis, re-occurrence, recovering from treatment or just dealing with the scars left behind on themselves and their families from past skirmishes with Pseudomyxoma. 

 It was great to talk directly with many of them on the phone wish them Merry Christmas and to hear the stories of how well they were all were doing since having their treatment. Some have now got a few years under their belt and thoughts of PMP slipping away as they get on with their lives.

Others, having had treatment more recently telling me how progress is coming along, getting back to work on the stud farm for example and taking on new jobs on the railway! New beginnings, fresh starts full of opportunity and wonder as to what lies in the coming year.

  Cancer is a cruel disease. I also know PMP patients who have battled through treatments, undergone 10-12 hours in surgery, intensive care, a long recovery to good health only then to have a family member diagnosed with cancer. Roles become reversed, the patient becomes the carer and vice versa. The mental strain is tremendous, just when you think it’s all over...whammo...

 But with a new year comes the hope of new beginnings, since the 21^st December the short winter days have started to very slowly get longer with each turn of the Earth. The winter sun now full of promise for the spring days ahead.  The winter here in the UK has been very mild and wet with flooding a real problem in the south. In stark contrast to last year I can count the number of frosts we have had on one hand.

 Personally I am doing very well and have recovered from my last operation. I did have to break open the emergency antibiotics due to a nasty cold recently. Being without a spleen and classed as immune deficient I have to be very careful when it come to cold and flu viruses. Other than that I am doing very well. I have had a break from running over the Christmas period but back to it now and hope to be back caving soon. I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions but if I had one I guess it would be to try and get some more fishing done once the weather improves a bit!

 I plan to make the most of the summer this year and enjoy it as much as possible. For me the annual scan is not until August and who knows what that will bring? But between now and then we plan to crack on and enjoy the days ahead....