Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

First the health update. Phase two is complete. 20/20. No more RT. Got a chance to give a few more of the techs a hug and thank them for their fine work. After the penultimate session I had my weekly visit with the oncology doctor. We discussed how I was progressing and how I was feeling. The pain in my esophagus and trachea was again discussed. He prescribed some numbing gel, just in case I needed it, and some steroids (at a much lower dose than before) to reduce the swelling. We had some of the same steroid left over from before so we didn’t have to buy any more. I took one tablet late morning. By evening I was going hyper, talking way too much (totally unlike me), and overnight my mind ran up to 1,000 km/h. I slept little more than an hour. We checked with the doctor after the final session. He said the best thing was to stop the steroid treatment. I can take a few extra days of throat ache if I can sleep. A simple trade.

Wednesday evening we flew to Brisbane, picked up our hire car and drove to Manly picking up some essential provisions (somewhere more than 1 bottle) and having a bite to eat. Steve and Vickie from True Companions met us at the gate to let us in as we had left our electronic pass behind. We had hugs and a brief chat as we walked back to Dignity where they left us alone knowing we have a lot of time together this evening.

Sam appeared shortly after we did. We were up into the early hours chatting all over the place. He’s got some exciting things going with Greenpeace. I don’t think we’ve seen him looking happier as an adult. I went to bed some time after 1am and woke around 5:3am. The blasted steroid is still going.

This morning we had a date with our buyers. The long and the short of it is the deal is off. Probably every party involved will have their own idea why. At the end of the day I think it fair to say that all of us will benefit, each to our own degree, from being able to take the pressure off and take the lessons learned. We parted amicably.

Pressure off? We’ve already opened the doors to other interested parties. We know of one buyer who is specifically interested in our boat. Some may call us a mug for not letting others onto the boat while the current deal was in play. We actually wanted this deal with this couple to go through.

Would you be surprised to know that we think there could be something positive to be found out of this. Already, we know we’re going to get more time with our grand daughter and may get out for a sail on our own. Already priceless. We have a lot of thinking to do over the 24 hours. We’ve got as far as making a list of things to think about and kicking along a few balls already in play.

Back to the health side of things. Communications with the UK have really opened up over the last few days. We’re now in contact with the UK Lymphoma Society who have already given us some good information on hospitals / specialists and we’re getting into more detail. This will all become significant when we get into making decisions about where and how to live back in the UK.

For now. As a friend once said to me many times. Life is good.

Steroid has now just about run its course. It’s just gone 11am and I need, I really need, to sleep.