Autumn Leaves

Well there is definitely a touch of autumn in the air this week. It is my favourite time of year – just love the colours of the trees as they change from green through a myriad of shades of gold red and yellow – beautiful.

I had a scan this week – it was back in May that I had my last one when I was taken off the trial because of disease progression. So as you would imagine it has been an anxious time knowing that a negative outcome would probably mean yet a third Christmas on chemo. I saw Jeremy Steele at St Barts on Friday who talked me through my recent scan and said he did not recommend any further chemo at this time as there was little change since May! Phew! We then talked about this and that (family, house renovations (his) how we are managing the chest drain etc ) -no wonder his appointments are always running late but he wished us a Happy Christmas and said I’ll see you again in the New Year!

We stayed up in London on Friday. Our son now has a flat in Greenwich so we took advantage of it. On Friday evening we met up with Bernie & Norma in The Old Brewery located in the Old Naval College. We then had a curry in The Mogul. I can recommend the red snapper and was pleased Alan packed a spare shirt (can’t take him anywhere!) A good evening.

On Saturday we were up and out early as we were going to the 7^th Mesothelioma Patient & Carer Conference at the Pullman Hotel St Pancras. The day was well organised and the venue excellent. There was a great deal of useful info about the disease itself and current trends in treatment – it would seem that the surgical option is regaining some popularity. Basically we are still looking for that magical cure and different research teams working on both sides of the Atlantic are doing their bit but from my perspective we don’t seem to progressing very much. We live in hope.

The afternoon session was more focussed on the wider aspects of asbestos misuse and legal issues.

The 3 speakers that stood out for me were:

Jan Egerton – a patient’s story – love you Jan you are a real inspiration to use all;

Christine Winter from Independent Asbestos Training Providers (IATP) who focussed her talk on asbestos in the home and schools;

Laurie Kazan-Allen, International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) – described so much going on globally to ban this killer substance.

Perhaps most importantly it was a day to meet new and old friends who are travelling the same difficult journey as me – Jan, Debbie, Mavis, Denise – you are all an inspiration and most of all give HOPE. It was great to see Rose again too - remembering your beloved Norman - keep strong x. Also not forgetting Ray who somehow managed to morph into Prince Harry by the end of the day.

Mavis, Jan, Debbie and me

So into another week. I have my flu jab to look forward to and a visit to my oncologist at Canterbury. Hopefully a couple of days out too. Need to plan a few holidays for me and my carer!

Tess x