Ollie and Gaily updates

Hi to you all our wonderful supporters, just a little update.  We had a lovely week at home last week, we kept it simple but did get to see some of you lovelies and as always, those connections are an immense pleasure for us, alongside being in our own home, garden and bed.  We got in a misty swim at Bigbury, Devon on Thursday, with the usual crazy, mermaid and merman gang and I got an extra one in on Friday in Plymouth.  The sea is really warming up and it absolutely has the capacity to take away tension and stress in the moment and leaves me with happy memories for days afterwards.  Gail did have a plan to meet up with some of her buddies but her tummy got the better of her and she was really disappointed not to make it. We got to go to our Luckett Village Duck day which was a lovely opportunity to see all our neighbours, get lots of hugs and some wonderful laughs.    I got in a load of dancing too, it was wonderful.   On our way back to Marple we ...

 Hi all our dearest, we hope this finds you well and enjoying the exceptional sunny days we are having!  Gail had her 3rd Chemo Wednesday7th May and it went well, supported by our amazing girls Ang and Emma, who have committed to come up from Portishead every 2 weeks to support.   Gail was more tired this time and today (Sunday) has not been the best day with tummy grips and tiredness, which we expect but its not nice as many of you beautiful people know from personal experience.  My heart goes out to her and to everyone ever having to have chemo, its necessary and we are embracing it, but its pretty shitty too!  We have an end game and so Gail is going to tolerate it with all her might and with everyone around us, its so much easier.   What's great is she has managed to get to 3 Man City Matches with her bro over the last few weeks.   I had a week at home last week, knowing Gail was in good hands staying with her mom and needing to have...

 Hi all our people, another little update as Gail has had her second Chemo which was Wednesday 23rd April.  The gap between the last and this one was 3 weeks as she needed time to recover from a bad reaction to one of the drugs in the infusion which has now been taken out.  She is on a combination of three and it was confirmed that she had been given the whole whammy that first one, I guess to see what she could tolerate as every one is different.  It was on the basis that she is really looking and feeling well, she is young and fit.    We were reassured that taking the offending one out did not necessarily mean that the treatment would be less.   More is not 'more' apparently, it all depends on what can be tolerated and administered safely and some clinical research has shown as good a result with the combo of the 2 rather than the 3 drugs.  That's what we hope for anyway. The difference in Gail following this chemo is marked and we are happ...

 Hi lovely family and friends, we just wanted to give a little update on how things have been this last couple of weeks.   We settled well in our lovely little cottage in Marple Bridge and it really is a great little place to be as an alternative to home.  Our little gits (doggies) are getting two walks a day as its so easy just to step out and walk around Brabyns Park or the Roman Lakes or the beautiful Marple Locks.  If we did not love Cornwall so much we could live here!    The thing that's missing is the sea of course and that's a biggie given we have both started to love going in with all the other mad hatters that we love. So Gail's first Chemo took all day for the infusions and then she came home with a slow release 48 hour pump.  She kept forgetting it was attached to her and her language was choice at times 😬  But she did well with it all until a few days later when it really hit her in the tummy and she had to be admitted to Hospit...

 Hello dear family and friends, we were delighted to be home for 8 days last week and the sunshine just added to the beautiful time we had.  We chilled, did some gardening, cleaned the decking and glass surround and we swam in the sea.   Gail got to meet my amazing chill swim group, with a turn out of about 18 of us, in the Sea at Bigbury, with supporters on the shore and afterwards, bacon butties, tea and cake from the Magical campa van we love and know called Scarlett.     As well as that wonderful day, I got to swim with friends at Devil's point 3 more times that week, it was cold but so exhilarating and I thank all the crazies who enter the cold water and give me the courage to do it too. We had a fabulous lunch, never to be turned down when Mark and Baz invite us and lovely dinner dates with our neighbours who are looking after our home whilst we are away.  We are grateful for all the support and offers of help from everyone we know.  Ho...

 Hi Family and Friends, well we have been given a weeks grace in between diagnostic appointments and Gail's Treatment which is now scheduled to start 2nd April.     Yes there has been a bit of a delay and we were feeling a bit low about it having to have another endoscopy which is now going to be tomorrow (Thursday 20th March) and not being able to get a PET Scan until 28th March which took us beyond the initial treatment date which would have been due to start next week.  If the dates are buzzing around in your heads, we completely understand, trying to keep track of what day it is when in this process, is hard work in it-self. Gail did some work on trusting the Universe and it has paid up, in that, the PET Scan has now been brought forward to Saturday 22nd and we can both come home later that day and not have to return until Monday 31st March.  This is the exact gap in our accommodation which we were going to cover with me coming home  alone with the...