As you can imagine, with the death of Steve's mum late last Sunday, it has not been an easy week. Although you feel numb at the loss of a loved one, you still have to deal with the legal and practical requirements arising from a death - medical certificate; death certificate; funeral arrangements; content and order of service; the will and probate - as well as the emotional turmoil.
However, the wheels were put in motion last Monday in Bristol, when we met up with Steve's brother Martin and his wife Mary to collect belongings from the nursing home, visit the GP and talk to a funeral director. Steve's health has limited what we have been able to do since then in terms of running around, but he is designing the Order of Service and is coordinating input from family members for the eulogy he will give next Friday.
No doubt, stress over the last week has not helped Steve's health. He has been coughing more; he is becoming increasingly breathless and now gets puffed out just going up and downstairs; his appetite is variable, he is eating less and loosing weight; his energy levels are low, he is having afternoon naps almost every day and it takes a concerted effort to get on and do things.
His scan was yesterday and there is a follow-up appointment with the radiology team in two weeks time, frustratingly on one of the rare occasions when I will be away from home, on a work-related trip to Guernsey. I will just have to trust him to give honest and full answers when they ask him how things are going.
We know the scan results will not be good, but at least we will get an idea of how fast the cancer is now growing (as Lou, our meso friend in Australia says, it's not called an aggressive cancer for nothing...) and whether it has spread beyond the lung linings, liver and spine.
But for all the doom and gloom, life goes on and there have been happy moments. One of the highlights was a reunion with our dear friend Agnes, a fellow photographer we met in Budapest almost two years ago now. She is splitting her time between Hungary and the UK, working only a short train ride away from where we live. It was lovely to spend a couple of hours with her over lunch and we hope to see her again soon.
At long last, we have replaced the boring privet bush by the front door with something a bit more interesting- a star jasmine Trachelospermum jasminoides - which we hope will grow up and over the porch to give year round colour, with fragrant white flowers in the summer and seed pods in the autumn. That should make us happy every time we enter and leave the house!
Good news on the photography front too. One of my images is part of a collage of photos which will appear on the new Royal Photographic Society's pack given to all new RPS members.
I also have a print shortlisted for the Photocrowd/Alamy/Digital Camera exhibition which opens at the Printspace Gallery in London next week. That makes me happy, even if it doesn't make the final cut.
Trying hard to stay positive....
However, the wheels were put in motion last Monday in Bristol, when we met up with Steve's brother Martin and his wife Mary to collect belongings from the nursing home, visit the GP and talk to a funeral director. Steve's health has limited what we have been able to do since then in terms of running around, but he is designing the Order of Service and is coordinating input from family members for the eulogy he will give next Friday.
No doubt, stress over the last week has not helped Steve's health. He has been coughing more; he is becoming increasingly breathless and now gets puffed out just going up and downstairs; his appetite is variable, he is eating less and loosing weight; his energy levels are low, he is having afternoon naps almost every day and it takes a concerted effort to get on and do things.
His scan was yesterday and there is a follow-up appointment with the radiology team in two weeks time, frustratingly on one of the rare occasions when I will be away from home, on a work-related trip to Guernsey. I will just have to trust him to give honest and full answers when they ask him how things are going.
We know the scan results will not be good, but at least we will get an idea of how fast the cancer is now growing (as Lou, our meso friend in Australia says, it's not called an aggressive cancer for nothing...) and whether it has spread beyond the lung linings, liver and spine.
But for all the doom and gloom, life goes on and there have been happy moments. One of the highlights was a reunion with our dear friend Agnes, a fellow photographer we met in Budapest almost two years ago now. She is splitting her time between Hungary and the UK, working only a short train ride away from where we live. It was lovely to spend a couple of hours with her over lunch and we hope to see her again soon.
At long last, we have replaced the boring privet bush by the front door with something a bit more interesting- a star jasmine Trachelospermum jasminoides - which we hope will grow up and over the porch to give year round colour, with fragrant white flowers in the summer and seed pods in the autumn. That should make us happy every time we enter and leave the house!
Good news on the photography front too. One of my images is part of a collage of photos which will appear on the new Royal Photographic Society's pack given to all new RPS members.
I also have a print shortlisted for the Photocrowd/Alamy/Digital Camera exhibition which opens at the Printspace Gallery in London next week. That makes me happy, even if it doesn't make the final cut.
Trying hard to stay positive....
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