It’s been an exhausting week. After the chemo last week I had a day or 2 of feeling ok (thanks to the steroids) then a slump, like someone had pulled the plug. I also had the pains in my body from the withdrawal of the steroids but that lasted only a day or 2.

There seems to be a pattern. If I exert myself at all (like taking a gentle walk to the park with Laila) then the next day I hit an energy low. I rest, then the next day I have some energy again, do stuff and the cycle continues. I have a new respect for energy. Things I would normally have taken for granted, like being able to go to the park or on an outing with my family, renders me useless the next day. I want my battery back.

My mum is here for a few months and having her here is a godsend. She is fantastic and a real help all round. She is getting used to handling baby’s again and is good with little Ruby. Laila is loving having Granny Merle here. Mum is really good in the garden too, so she is helping me sort ours out which is very exciting.

My hair is growing back and is a few mm long now. It’s white and hardly shows at all. My eyelashes and eyebrows have thinned dramatically and haven’t stopped thinning yet. My nails are doing ok and my fingers haven’t been as sore this time round (yet). My sense of taste hasn’t been affected as badly this time either.

I realise how important it is not to let this disease take over my life. Laith has been brilliant by not letting me forget that and not really allowing it to change our normality. Naturally there are exceptions occasionally but life goes on as normal and this allows me to feel and act normally. If I were to take myself out of my normal day to day life I would reinforce to myself that things are different and to be honest, I would proberly start to feel sorry for myself which can very easily spiral down into some degree of depression.

Here’s to life lived as normally and fully as possible.