A mammoth undertaking

It’s been another relatively quiet week, so this post will be quite short.

The week started with a short outing to a local castle called Goodrich. We’ve been visiting it on and off for about 17 years now, so I know it quite well, and was happy to sit in the courtyard while Gillian clambered up and down all the stairs. We did walk around the moat though, and look up at the very imposing red sandstone walls. They’ve been built directly on the rock, and in some places the castle looks as though it has grown out of the rock itself. It’s a lovely place. The sandstone has weathered into beautiful rounded shapes, where every block looks different. I really like it there and was glad we managed a short visit. But that visit was combined with the long and arduous weekend ended by making me very tired, and I was glad to get an early night.

On Wednesday I got the results of the MRI scan that I had the previous week. It confirmed that the reason for my continuing back pain was that there was another small bone metastasis that hadn’t been picked up by the earlier, less sensitive CT and bone scans. The consultant had suspected as much and was pleased to find his suspicions borne out by the facts. I shall have some more palliative radiotherapy soon.

The next day I met up with a former colleague for a coffee and to look over his photos from a recent trip to Sardinia. We spent so long chatting over the photos and old times that we had to break for lunch in the middle of the session. Graham and I had a really good time, and I greatly enjoyed our natter.

The back pain seems to be making an unwelcome return. It’s more prominent when I exert myself, which is a great pity, but it does seem to respond to the Oxycodone, so I’ve been treating it with that. Not my favourite drug as it tends to make me constipated and nauseous, but when it becomes necessary, I really have no choice. However, I’m told that the nausea passes after a few days, and I can treat the constipation with Movicol, so it’s not all bad.

Here’s looking forward to a better week next week.