This morning the temperature is about 15° C, and it may only rise a single degree by mid afternoon. The forecasts says light rain this morning, but it is so light it could almost be called drizzle. It is certainly making it look very wet outside - maybe there was heavier rain in the night. It might take until 2pm before the rain stops, and the sun peeps out for some sunny spells. Tonight is going to be a lot colder with the temperature down to just 11° C by midnight. Tomorrow may feature light rain for most of the day, but the temperature should climb from 13° C at 6am to 17° C by 3pm.

   Yesterday was mostly a fairly bland sort of day, but it did have a few "exciting" moments, although "exciting" is not really the word I want. I want a word between very sad, and yet also uplifting. It was all to do with more news from Angela. It was the rest of the day that was very bland.

  After I had finished writing I spent a bit of time composing a reply to Angela as I had promised to do the night before. I emphasised why what Angela calls a mask, but is actually a sort of head clamp, was so essential to her treatment. I said that it was extremely important that the radiation beam for the radio therapy only hit exactly where targetted, and how any minute movement of her head could spoil the aim, and possibly do real damage.

  I also said that it was important to tell the nursing staff, before it is used next time, to do something about where it is apparently chafing her skin (maybe because she was fighting the clamp). Apart from the brief lesson about the head clamp, aka mask, I tried to be upbeat, and said if was possible I would offer to hold her hand during the procedure, but it would be impossible. Once the radiation is turned on, all the staff hide behind a radiation screen (at least I think they do).

  I got a very simple reply a bit later, and it just said "thank you xxxxx". What I didn't expect was that maybe half an hour later my phone rang, and it was a very tearful Angela on the phone. In between sobs she thanked me even more, and said again that I was the only friend she trusted. After a while she got the crying in check, and was able to say a bit more about her treatment. Her first actual treatment starts this coming Monday, and I think she said it was just chemo-therapy. That should not need the "mask", and hopefully the treatment may be a lot less traumatic, although the after effects of chemo are well known to be quite unpleasant.

  Angela has obviously not been in shock all the time because she was able to say quite lucidly how she had been told that her cancer is a very easy one to treat, and the outcomes are usually very good. Apparently the chemo is not absolutely needed, but they say it does help "soften up" the cancer, and makes it far more sensitive to the radiotherapy.  She still has to endure daily therapy (weekdays only I think) for six weeks.

  One of the curious things Angela asked me was whether, in an emergency, would I be OK about escorting her to and from a treatment. I said yes with a couple of caveats. One caveat being hopefully to be given notice the day before, and the second being my own health. For instance, if it was a morning appointment I can often be uncomfortable with what constipation like symptoms until I finally go later in the morning or later. With a day's noticed I can try to eat more lightly, and so have less need to poo.

  Angela told me that Miranda, her daughter, star of the late lamented Life Of Brian band, is going to go with her when she can. I find it suspicious that Angela tossed out the idea that her husband, a gardener by trade, has to work, and isn't always available., and all said in a single half mumbled sentence. I always thought that being married meant you had someone to care for you. I really do wonder what their relationship is really like. Sometimes, and I am thinking of the only time they mention each other has been the couple of short holidays they had this year, and it almost came across that they were just a couple of friends going together for company.

  As I said, hearing from Angela was both exciting and saddening. I hoped I have helped her get through some tough times, and can continue to do so in the future. It gives me a reason for being here. After all the "excitement" I felt sort of uninspired. Ideally I could have gone shopping, and in the afternoon, in the sunshine (or sunny spells) it might have been nice to walk to Tesco, but when it came down to it I could not be bothered. I could not be bothered to do much more than reading until the dubious, and often very variable pleasure of watching one more Star Treks.
  For my lunch I had a second helping of instant noodles. They must have done the trick because I had no significant snacks for the rest of the afternoon. Maybe it was also because I was looking forward to the "Produced in Germany" Chilli Bratwurst sausages. Legend has it that Germany know how to make sausages, but I am not so sure that is a false generalisation. I had three of the six sausages in the pack with some plain boiled potatoes.

  I was very disappointed with the sausages. It does say they were mild, but it was mild to the point on no real detectable heat or flavour of chilli. The consistency of the sausages was like a denser version of saveloys, and if they had been smoky flavoured they may have been far more enjoyable. Sadly I found that I didn't really care for them. I had cooked all six sausages in the packet, and was expecting to wrestle with my concious, or common sense, over the idea of going back to eat the rest of them.

  I think I'll be having those last three sausages for lunch today, and I suspect I will be eating them cold....although if I go shopping, and I need to, I might buy some finger rolls, and maybe eat the sausages as if they were hot dogs - with mustard for some extra flavour. Last night I had two small Jazz apples and a chunk of cheese as a dessert after the sausages and potatoes.

  After watching two and a half Star Trek episodes I retired to bed to read at 8pm. There seemed very little else to do. I read for almost an hour, and then with some difficulty, I fell asleep, but I only slept for maybe 2 hours before waking up. Although I did go for a pee, that wasn't the reason for waking up. It was because I just felt very uncomfortable. Depending on which position I adopted for sleep, different bits of me were uncomfortable.

  I did have a very small twinge of indigestion, but most aches were either/or muscular or joints. Despite being perfect the night before, my pillow was either too high or too low, and my neck ached. Depending on my position an arm or a leg would aches, and most unusually I would get some aches from my ankles. I didn't really get back to sleep again until gone 3am....at least I think that is right. There might have been some clues, that may have been dreams, that I might have got the odd  5 or 10 minutes sleep before 3am.

  I kept the heating on low almost all night so I didn't have to fight the duvet to try and keep between too warm and too cold. I think I spent most of the night almost completely uncovered. One odd thing is that I didn't seem to pee much in the night, and that seemed particularly odd because I had two bottles of beer with, and after my dinner. One was a nasty tasting porter, and the other was a much stronger, and delicious, barley wine.

  It was about 7.40am when I finally got up. That is incredibly late for me. By then I definitely needed a pee, and I though I needed a poo too, but sadly it was only wind. When I got on the scales I found I had either put on 200gm compared to yesterday, or lost 100gm compared to the day before - basically my weight, although always bobbing up and down, is staying at a lower average than a month ago, but not by any amount worth cheering for.

  My blood glucose readings produced three "cherries" again - all three readings in the rather good light green zone. The Contour meter read a spot on target 7.5mmol/l. The GlucoRX meter was a bit better with a reading of 7.4mmol/l. As is usually the case, the Sinocare meter read higher than the other two, but 7.7mmol/l is not a lot higher, and still very good.  My blood pressure is also good this morning, just 104/48.

   I can't say I feel all that great this morning, but I guess I expected to feel worse. There is not a lot I want to do today. In fact that only thing I definitely want/need to do is to go shopping, and I think I'll be going to Tesco for it. I have just one unopened bottle of Diet Coke in the fridge, and so that will be top of my shopping list. Although I don't think fruit from Tesco is all that good, I think I'll get a pack of apples and one of oranges. Some meat and a bit of veg would be handy, plus a top up of instant noodles would be desirable. There is plenty more that I expect I'll buy once I have actually seem it rather than trying to imagine all I might need.