Last day of February

Traditionally February has been my least favourite month, still wintry and often no signs of spring.  The excitement and conviviality of Christmas and the promise of the New Year are behind us.  However, this February has meant recovery which is slow but real.  On television there have been programmes which have been a real vindication of my decision to leave hospital and I hope they help other people who find themselves in the same position.

This has also been a month in which I have seen members of my family whom I have not seen for a little while and this has really been heartwarming.  Weekends have brought visits from Jonathan and Anna which have not only been wonderful for me but I can really feel that Raymond is having the support he needs.

This morning I am hoping that the tiling of the bathroom floors will begin.  I can never be sure until work actually starts.  We got up early and re-arranged the bathrooms and I think the ceramic tiles will make a difference.  Every year we have always had some project going on in the house to improve it and I think this one should cause the least upheaval.

Tomorrow is the start of March and I can’t help looking back to last year when I was in the Royal Marsden having the high dose chemotherapy.  Although the whole thing was a difficult and dangerous procedure, the nursing was so competent but always with time for kindness.  On 4^th March last year I received the donor cells which could have saved my life.  Naturally, I am dreadfully disappointed that in the end the transplant couldn’t work for me because some of the mantle cell lymphoma remained and has grown back at a very fast rate.  However, I shall always be grateful that someone quite unrelated, gave me a chance of life with her donation.  The possibility of its working also gave us months of hope.

But back to the present.  The tiler and his assistant have arrived and it’s still quite early so the project is underway.  The nurse comes soon to change my dressing and tomorrow I am at the hospital all day having pentamidine and blood transfusions.  So it is the start of another week.