Update 14 - 13th June, 2012

Just a quick update to keep you all in the picture.  We had a meeting yesterday with Emma's oncologist Gazza (Dr Gary Middleton to you) .  His view is that because the small spots in Emma's lungs appear to be slow moving, then he would like her to have another CT scan at the beginning of July.  That will give him 5 clear months since Emma's chemo/radio finished and provide him with a more accurate picture of what the cancer is doing.  Only after this is complete will he make a decision on whether to go ahead with chemo now or leave it for a while.
His analogy was if you are sitting waiting for the enemy with your machine gun, you don't empty your magazine of all the rounds at the first sign of that enemy.  You wait until the right moment to strike.  So we will need to wait about another month before we know what the next steps are.  In the meantime we will hope and pray that the result is that the chemo is on hold for the moment.
On the home front the children had an exciting run up to the Jubilee with lots of activities at school.  The last Friday before half-term involved dressing up as a king or queen, with a Jubilee tea party on the school field at the end of the day.

King James VI pre his Angliscisation, Queen Elizabeth I and Princess Rebecca of Headley Down.   

We had a lovely week with Emma's Mum and Dad (Colin and Alison) and brother and sis-in-law (James and Michelle) and their little ones Rachael and Charlotte in a beautiful house in Bembridge in the Isle of Wight, with a kitchen and everything! Ate and drank far too much and generally had a lovely time despite the ever present rain, wind and cold. The table tennis table was a godsend for little James who pestered everybody all the time for a game.  Uncle James and I had a nightly alcohol fuelled match which was pretty evenly matched until the last night - well I was very tired!!  Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned to Uncle James my regular appearances for Lomond School in the West Dunbartonshire Men's League Division 2.  Those intervening 31 years have not been kind to my table tennis skills.
Little James also mentioned that his friend Ryan's mum was good at table tennis.  Ahhh I thought - perhaps she was in the West Dunbartonshire Women's League Division 2.  It turns out she was UK and European Women's champion, ranked 18th in the world and represented Britain at the Barcelona Olympics.  Anyone for a game of badminton?    

Looking from the back door to the side door in the old dining room

Our kitchen is progressing fairly well.  The photo above will hopefully illustrate.
This blog should now be viewable on mobile devices as well.  That's all for now.  Love to all.  
God bless.
Andrew xx