Good news, good news.

First C had her post-chemo cystoscopy and her bladder is clear. Which is excellent news. It’s not all completely over as bladder cancer has the nerve to keep coming back, and she has to have quarterly checks (next is late September) when they have another look. And they do that for the next two years. But it might have been so much worse. And … the message is: any blood in your wee, see your doctor asp.

Not to be outdone, I have had issues. I had a PSA test earlier in the year, which was high. I had a visual exam, which was fine, but a second PSA test was higher still. Ho-hum. Next was an MRI which found a growth, which led to a biopsy, which is not a huge deal of fun – with my feet in stirrups and a couple of needles to numb everything before there’s more digging around. The MRI also showed a fatty mass (‘lipoma’) in my abdomen, which needed a second MRI for more clarity. 

The outcome from the prostate was no cancer in the biopsy (hurrah!), but a confused expert (because of the growth), who wants a further PSA test in three months and maybe a further biopsy under a general. The fatty mass (different hospital – Birmingham, not Cheltenham) was also benign. They’re not completely done with that, either, but our sense is that it’s just one of things you live with until it hurts, or gets much bigger. 

Look for slow and multiple weeing; difficulty starting and stopping. And then, or just because you can, ask for a PSA test. An enlarged prostate is common for older men (mine isn’t), and that doesn’t mean it’s cancer …. but get it all checked out. Prostate cancer can kill you.

That’s the messy bit. 

The good news is that we’ve seen a lot of Henry (and Bex and Steven). We had a couple of days with them early on, and then they flew to the Maldives (someone’s got to, I guess), leaving Henry with the other grandparents. We were health focused, pretty much, also focusing on pals of ours who are also poorly. We continued with our walking/running regime, and added swimming, now we are more comfortable using the pool. C has continued to humour my ‘must have a coffee somewhere’ regime, normally aside a run or a walk. 

We also had one of C’s girls visit with her husband from Denmark, which was nice. And we did plenty of admin, including putting stickers on the back of all of our pictures and framed photos so that when we go (you might guess the sort of mindset we were in) the kids will know where all the stuff on our walls has come from – our study is a rogues’ gallery of stuff, much of it incomprehensible without a sticky note. 

And then Bex, Steven and Henry and us all went to Longleat, with Doris. The kids stayed at the local inn, and Henry remained with us. It was fab. Longleat was fab. Doris was fab. Henry was exceptionally fab. Other than seeing Henry and B&S – and all the animals – what was great was that we fell in love with Doris again. We can’t head off to Spain/Morocco/Spain in early September as we were originally planning, because of our various doctorial commitments. But we do plan to head off on that trip in late September, and Doris will be central to that.

That leaves mid-August, and a gap of over a month. I think the plan is to head up to Scotland in Doris, to see pals and maybe start a six-month detox regime of healthy food and even more exercise. There we will see pals and avoid the midges. 

Finally, we had a lovely weekend at a pals’ daughter’s wedding in Devon. No Doris this time. A rustic B&B with friends, and a super weekend at a very posh wedding.

How lucky are we? Especially as we’ve both had our eyes on the meaning of life and all that nonsense, and it seems we have survived that wobble. As my pal says, ‘we’re all in sniper’s alley now’. That leads to two things: let’s not try and talk about it too much; and enjoy every moment.

So … stay safe.