The drugs didn't work

I almost didn't bother with this bit, but decided to do so nonetheless: apologies for the big gap before posting this update.

Thanks to my friend Gary for alerting me to the app for updating the blog. No promises, but I hope, using this, to provide more frequent, though probably shorter, updates.

Talking of updates: I'm very sorry to say that my first chemotherapy treatment was not a success, which means we have to start again.

I'm due to start my next chemotherapy treatment either later this week or early next week. It'll be seven solid days of chemotherapy, which, despite my desire (and everybody else's desire for me) to remain positive, I expect will knock the wind out of my sails and leave me becalmed.

After that, there'll be an approximately three-week recovery period, after which I'll know if the treatment has been successful. There is a fifty per cent chance, I'm told.

I'm doing my best to take things a day at a time, which is the best advice I received and came from a very wise nurse on my second day in hospital; I sometimes forget, of course, but it's advice that has helped me through thus far and will continue to do so, I hope.

Thanks for all the good wishes, the messages, the gifts, the phone calls and the visits. It has been a tough time, with further tough times ahead, but they'd be a lot tougher without my family and friends supporting me.

Finally, please bear in mind that, especially as I undergo treatment, I'll have good days and bad days, which means I might not reply to you straight away, or even for a few days. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate the support and love I receive: I do, very much, and hope one day to repay, though it's a huge and growing debt.