Hi guys. It’s been a long while since I posted, over a month. As a rule of thumb I get much slacker at posting where there is not much going on health wise, and that is the case here. It’s been a good three months since I was last in hospital (both good for me and actually three months) and so far I’ve been very lucky. (Touch wood). We even managed to go on holiday to both Ireland and Walton, which were lovely family vacations and saw many of our good friends we hadn’t seen since covid.

Health wise I did have a sore throat for a week, but it eventually disappeared, so I was happy with that, as previously that would have flared up. I also had another cat scan and will get the results in the next week or two. They haven’t rushed me in though, so experience suggests it’s not going to be catastrophic. I also got great news on my lymphocytes. these are the white cells that fight viruses they went up from 0.4 to 0.7 (normal is 1-4) and they had been depressed for a long while. This was a month ago too so I’m hoping they have continued to increase (and then stop at, say 2, it would be nice if they were slow to get to 50 again). But that was great news.

So all in all I’ve been very lucky to have a three month break. During that time it was my ninth year anniversary since I was diagnosed. (It’s easy to remember as it was two months after my 30th birthday). It really changed my mindset on life and made me very happy about many of the small things. It’s also been a surprisingly long time and makes me very thankful I have lived so long with cancer. Some people get it and then dont have long at all.

I’m that vein I wanted to post about a friend I knew online on my support group. (If you have splenic lymphoma, or care for someone who does its a great group for support. https://www.facebook.com/groups/150523202172237/?ref=share

She was very kind when I was going through my treatment and issues and had rituximab and bendamustine at the same time. She did have a ton more complications as well though. Anyway, she died of cancer in May and we found out today.

It’s a bit surprising it’s taken so long but people don’t post for a month or two sometimes anyway, plus I’ve been a bit quieter on the group than normal (although we all found out today). It’s very sad to hear about her dying, as most people seem to get through treatment ok. It did make me wonder if more people on the group had passed away during the years and we just hadn’t heard about it, as they just stopped posting. If I died and just stopped going online how many people I talk to wouldn’t hear? Is that what happened to at least one of the people I have on Playstation as, last online five years ago? Life and online presence are very strange. Accordingly I’ve asked Jo to post to the blog if this ever happens.

Still she was a lovely and kind person and always had a nice word to say, so raise a glass for Debbie Persinger Jeans, even if it’s a little late. It’s a true mark of her kindness that no matter how hard things were going for her she always had time for a supportive word to others.

Meanwhile the kids will be back at school (and off to school for the first time) this week and I’ll be back at work so I suspect I will get busy again, but I’ll try and post more often. All of you keep well and I hope you have a good September.