The Best

I visited the Cardiology Dept this morning at the Royal Berkshire Hospital so they could check up on the ongoing progress of the 'stent'. The transformation is really quite amazing and I enjoyed telling the surgeon the differences it had made. I walked, with two grandsons, around a 2 mile lake last Saturday! Remarkable when you consider that I could not walk 100 yards without acute discomfort and had got to the stage where I needed to sit down after using my battery operated toothbrush!

I thought you might like to hear a some of his comments;

"It is the best one I have ever done. It is a marked success."

"It is the best one my colleague has ever seen."

"It will become one of our slides for future teaching purposes."

Of course, behind the surgeon's hand was another and I am genuinely grateful to both, and to you for your continued prayer.

Full steam ahead?

I promised to keep folks in the loop as regards by 'capella stent' procedure. It went very well and the procedure team were very excited at the instant improvement of circulation. I am still on a cocktail of drugs but am feeling stronger by the day. The last couple of days I have done my morning mile-walk with the dog whereas before I couldn't manage 100 yards.

A couple of Biblebase Second Thoughts blogs will tell you how I am feeling.

the red river of life
transformed... in a heart beat

thank you all again for love and prayer.

No news is good news...

From time to time in the last six months folks have 'complained' that these blogs have not been updated. My apologies but really there was just nothing to say.

When my intensive radio therapy came to an end the medics did a PSA test. In that I don't have the P(rostate) part of this the test ought to reveal a negligible PSA. This was also to provide a bench mark point for future PSA tests. It was hardly measurable. For the future this is how we monitor my condition.

I have just received the results of my 6 monthly PSA check and the results are that my PSA levels are 'undetectable', either zero or under the 'radar' of the the PSA test. This is the best possible 'test result'. It implies that there is no trace of my prostate cancer. While I am grateful to all the medical care that I have received, I am also conscious that I have not just been in the hands of the medics. Thank you so much for all your prayer and love.

As regards 'after effects', there are some. My energy levels are very much better although when I get tired I do get very tired! I take a nap most afternoons and I am doing well on this. I am back to pretty much my old schedules for preaching and have some extra tasks coming online soon. It has also left me with a measure of incontinence. This is mild and easily manageable but does mean that longer journeys take a little more organisation and I am not planning any flights for the time being.

I am feeling well and looking forward to lots of things I want to do. I am well advanced with my first book called 'The Better Covenant'. It is in the final stages of proof-reading and will hopefully be available on Amazon and with ebook and Kindle versions. Watch this space!

Again, my love to you all and my continual thanks for standing with us during these last 12 months. Surely our times are in His hands.

TWOC-ed

The hospital had a bed today so I was able to get in and have the catheter removed under test conditions. All went very well, and I am home... very tired but home.

I now have a series of pelvic floor exercises to do and possibly a fairly long journey to continency. The next event on the calendar will be an appointment with the surgeon scheduled for 6 weeks 'post op'. The removed tissue will have been subjected to lots of tests and I will receive the 'histology' at that appointment. Depending on what they found will determine what future treatment lies ahead.

Again, thank you all so much for your love and prayer avalanches of good wishes. My love to you all