75. Ciao Bella

Well I missed my usual update and its been almost 2 weeks.

Rome was exhausting, but I got to tick off a few things from my bucket list. Real Italian Gluten free pizza and pasta, eaten on a little table on the pavement outside a restaurant in the back streets of Rome, and stand in the centre of the Sistene chapel and stare up and see the creation of Adam in the flesh. I shed a few tears for that one. The Trevi fountain, lit up, but still swarming with people even at 10.30pm, and found the gluten free ice cream shop where everything is gluten free and ate the biggest waffle ice cream cone ever in one of the most romantic places you could be, ever, on a Saturday night at 11pm on a hot June evening. All things that without cancer I probably never would have seen or done, and for that, I'm actually grateful. Home is back to normal, although now the 'bum Dr' has given me the all clear, spotlight reverts back to the neck region, and the long awaited PET CT scan to check if the treatment has actually worked, or if it had even spread before we started it last December, is happening next Tuesday. My throat and voice have been suffering the last couple of weeks, eating has become a bit of a task again, and although there's no pain as such, everything feels a bit 'off' on that side. I'll be glad to get this scan and the results and then at least I'll know if its just healing or if its creeping up insidiously whilst my minds been on other things. I have a feeling its to do with my mouth being so dry at times, especially now the warmer weather is upon us, not having enough spit plays havoc with how sore my mouth is when I sleep and wake, not to mention being unable, and very definitely not motivated to eat a great deal if I keep feeling like I'm going to choke or get food stuck. My taste is still pretty good, the only things now which cause issues are water and ice which taste disgustingly metallic and chemically, and that seems to carry over into a cup of tea.... which I'm still hugely upset about as I hate coffee and hate it more that I can't drink it without sugar in it, more bloody calories!!! Its my birthday on Wednesday, and I'll be 59 years old. I know I shouldn't complain and I should be grateful, I could have been dead by now! Plenty of people diagnosed with cancer this time last year would be. My celebration, my trip back to Naxos, is also looming large on the horizon, and I can't wait to see Deb again and spend the whole week with her on her island in the sun, and swim and eat and feel like I've survived for something more worthwhile than doing another basket of ironing and cleaning the oven. I can remember standing out the garden with Lottie and staring up at the sky and the stars one dark night, waiting for her to wee, and thinking to myself , 'if I live through this I'm going to make sure I see some stuff before it gets me' Well I've seen Rome!!! So now its time start getting ready for the next adventure. Naxos here I come x