Relative freedom

The fact that chemotherapy is over hasn't quite sunk in yet - possibly because the side-effects are still all too present. As such I'm not spending too much time worrying about the operation, which takes place next week. I had to go in last Wednesday for a pre-op evaluation - a complete waste of time but I guess it's got to be done. There's nothing to report there - everything looks straightforward. I briefly saw a consultant to check whether Vicky could still be detected - and she can, just. This saves me from having to undergo yet another procedure that would have enabled the surgeon to locate the mass.

I'm now confronted with a whole week with no appointments and relatively few side-effects. I've no firm plans - and judging by the forecast for this week I think it's better to see how the weather is on the day and make a decision then. Of course it'll depend on fatigue mainly. I'm a bit desperate to go out and do things - and food shopping remains a huge favourite. Don't ask.

I've now started to help on designing a basic gardening course but I've realised I'm not quite sure what is expected of me so I'll need to look into that. I have to admit not having done much in the past week or so - I'm spending a lot of time reading, and enjoying it, but I'm getting to a restless phase again. There are quite a lot of things I'd like to do but the ongoing treatment is preventing me from getting involved in most things. Talking of treatment - again - I received a bit of bad news. Nothing serious as such, just the news that there will be break between radiotherapy and Herceptin, which means that I probably won't be starting Herceptin until November. This is frustrating because when at uni I chose to go full-time in order to graduate last summer. The plan was then to get some work experience and move out of London this summer. When diagnosed I thought I'd just have to postpone my plans for one year, but now it looks like I'll have to wait two more years. Still, my time will come at some point, surely.

In the meantime I'm managing to get glimpses of wildlife - well birds really - with the use of bird food placed on the cherry tree in front of my bedroom window. Only great tits, blue tits and starlings are actually feeding on it but thankfully the proximity of Battersea Park and the Thames means that I've spotted herons, parakeets, black birds and other more common birds flying around. I even saw my first robin. I get very excited about such things these days - I hate to think what state I'll be in when in Dorset...

Hope everyone managed to get a glimpse of the eclipse.