Jim and Asha

Jim and Asha had an argument last night which resulted in Asha travelling to her daughter's house in London today. While this was clearly Jim's fault, I find myself feeling sorry for him. It seems he's getting a rough deal, now living alone with cancer.

Jim has recently reduced his drinking and cut back to two whisky's a night (reduced from the 500ml of scotch that he was consuming). Possibly this, and the pain from the cancer has made him more irratble than usual (and he's easily irritated, even on a good day).

Jim on chemo

Jim's doing well with his chemo. He started last Friday (13th March) and he's taken to the first lot with no hiccups.
Sue was talking to him on the phone tonight - he has an appointment with the Oncologist on Friday 27th.

Sunday at Ebbw Vale

I visited Mam and Dad today. Drove down with Ella and arrived at 10:30, in time for tea and toast before setting to some repairs. Ella fixed Grandad's mobile and I looked at their telephone answering machine. Dad is playing Bridge Friday's with Michael Crump. We played a few hands after lunch, Ella has recently learned the basics. Both Mam and Dad looked well (Mam is 77 this year).

Jim with cancer

Visited Ashford hospital yesterday with Sue and my father-in-law, Jim, who was told that he has lung cancer. Jim was born in 1935 and has smoked for most of his life. He has small cell lung cancer and is considering chemotherapy - a mixture of carboplatin and etoposide.

He was finding the walking around the hospital tiring, and was clearly in a awful lot of pain every time he coughed. The hospital registrar was clearly surprised when Jim owned up to drinking a half bottle of whisky a day. He added thoughtfully, "I dilute it with a lot of water".