Have to wait 2 weeks for more news but in the meantime..

Saw Prof today – quite grumpy as Blackburn (ok, so it was Burnley, what do I know about northern footy teams??!)  beat Chelsea at home last night and everyone coming to see him taking the piss, always a bit of an uphill conversation when they've been beaten…..

Nothing much to report, which is good. He's happy with stuff, so I had the first round of chemo of this new cycle – a good one, back of the hand IV drip, doesn't tend to bruise so much there. (And no nagging this time about me having a central line fitted which I am trying to avoid – basically a permanent canula that they can shovel the drugs in through, but I who wants to have a permanent reminder of all this inserted in their skin unless they really, really have to?).

And it looks like there's just time to squeeze one more chemo cycle in before Xmas, making a grand total of 4 since diagnosis in Sept - it would end on Xmas Eve (nice!) so I suspect they might try and squash it by a few days so we're not all being shoved out the doors with a special festive plaster on our hands by Santa that night…

See Prof again on Mon 17 Nov and Thurs 20 Nov - he says he'll have something more definitive in terms of when to harvest the stem cells and when the stem cell transplant might be, prob by that Thurs, once more results are through. So its just a matter of biding time and keeping on trotting up there for more blood tests & jolly japes till then.

And beyond that, what other news? Met a good friend of Hawksey's last night – chap called Viv – over dinner in the Pig & Whistle – have always found that lager shandy goes so well with Caesar salad, well, ish. The lovely Swight & Woodsie are popping round for some kitten cuddling & a spot of nosh & beers this Fri eve after work, then H and I are off down to the coast for the weekend, pottering about and staying on the boat. If anyone's free, do come and join us! 

Spot of shopping and ambling around Sandbanks is in order, then we have our usual booth booked at Graze, the one very cool little place in Lymington (otherwise occupied by a major granny and wheelie trolley population) for their excellent fruits de mer & cracking cocktails on Sat eve. The Asian Martini is a winner – with its hint of lychee, which has even superceded passion fruit for me, and that's saying something… Back on Mon, allowing sister Cathy & hubby Emmanuel who are staying with us at the mo, to host a dinner party Sun eve in our pad. Better be some nice leftovers for us….

And late Nov/Dec/Xmas diary dates are starting to flow in, you can tell its November and we all want some top nights out to look forward to! More, more, more I say – do keep 'em coming!

S x