All great adventures have an unexpected detour at some point

Today has been a hectic day. It started well when I woke up relatively pain free and fairly refreshed this morning. I then had a delightful morning in the company of S and KP who came for tea and cakes in the sunshine. The cupcakes went down well even though I did forget to put vanilla essence in the frosting which made them more like Philadelphia flavoured cakes but if anyone minded they were too polite to say so. We enjoyed the sunshine in the garden and gossiped away until lunch time when we retreated to Cafe Petit Chou for lunch.

In the midst of this morning's reverie however I received a phone call from Dr Beaney, my oncologist. As I have been politely badgering the lovely staff at the Harley Street Clinic to confirm my treatment start date I assumed this was the reason for his call. And it sort of was. He explained that he'd been reviewing my files along with some colleagues and they had changed their minds about the optimum treatment plan. He suggested it would be best if we met face to face to discuss it and he could do next Wednesday. I suggested sooner, and so at 3.30pm this afternoon Mr Man and I were at the Chemotherapy Day centre at the London bridge hospital meeting with Dr Beaney. Once again, if you don't ask you won't get.

Unfortunately to cut a long story a bit shorter, it wasn't great news. The disease is a bit worse than they had initially thought, and do the previous plan of simultaneous radiotherapy and chemo was not going to cut it. Instead I need to have a double dose of chemo first, and then a blast of radiotherapy to finish off the invaders in my body. The side effects will be a bit worse potentially but not unmanageable. Bugger. However, not one to be deterred by such a small detail I again focused on getting the new treatment plan started. After some charming negotiation from Dr Beaney to the staff at Harley Street and some sweet talking from him to the nurses and admin staff at London Bridge to take my blood there and then to get the ball moving we have a concrete plan. It starts at 9am Tuesday morning at the Harley Street Clinic Cancer Centre.

I will have three days of chemotherapy next week, the first is two types of the drugs and the next two days are just one type. I then have a further 18 days to recover and live a normal life before we do it all again. This cycle will repeat 4 to 6 times in total until they are satisfied that all of the periphery disease has been eradicated. Then I will have have radiotherapy to finish it off good and proper. Job done.

After the hospital meeting, Mr Man and I went home and we had a string of visitors this evening. Little sis came for a cupcake and a chat, and later my future brother in law (hereafter known as Bil) came by on his way home from work. G,S and baby A came by to say hello and get some cake, and last but by no means least The Old Goat herself came for an evening of good conversation and curry from the legendary Curry Cabin.

So today's positive thoughts come from a day of mixed blessings; less pain, great friends, successful cupcakes, and best of all when I took a sneaky peek inside the homemade collection box I made to put in donations for MacMillan from all my visitors, I see that there is about £25 in there. Not bad for some cupcakes that tasted of cream cheese.