Ups and downs but still having fun

I've had a few ups and downs since my last post. I've been experiencing more abdominal and chest discomfort and low level pain, I've also had a couple of days when I've had more severe pain and one morning when I had extensive discomfort in my chest that made walking quite a challenge. These problems are probably caused by tumours pressing on various organs and nerves in my back, chest and stomach. I've begun taking ibuprofen regularly to try and reduce any inflammation as this should help. On a positive note when I've had problems with pain my medication has done a good job for me.

 

Despite these problems the last ten days or so have been really enjoyable. Katie and I have spent a lot of time with friends and family and that's been very relaxing and good fun too. A lot of this time has been spent eating, drinking and sitting in various sunny gardens which are activities that never go amiss with us!  We also spent a night in Cheltenham and enjoyed pottering around the eclectic collection of the Wilson Museum. 

 

I've found it interesting to reflect on how I've been feeling over this time. I'm sure that if I'd experienced my recent issues during a period in which we had no social activities planned I'd have found myself focusing on my symptoms, something that would have made me feel somewhat down. This makes me realise how important it is to find pleasant things to do when feeling less than well, any enjoyable distraction is to be welcomed. There are, of course, limitations to this. I know that sometimes I'll be feeling too poorly to be able to do anything other than sit on the sofa or go to bed but at present such days are thankfully very rare.  

 

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Last week the Tour of Britain visited Bath for the start of one of its stages. Katie and I are big armchair cycling fans even though neither of us actually ride and we found a good place to watch the peloton flash past. Here are some photo's. First, this is Team Sky's Bernie Eisel, although this shot was taken near to the start of the stage he already looks to be working hard!

 

The leader of the race at the start of the Bath stage was Michel Kwiatkowski, here you can see him in the leader's yellow jersey.

I was hoping to get a good shot of Sir Bradley Wiggins or Mark Cavendish but I hadn't anticipated how fast the riders would flash by. On reviewing the photo's Katie spotted that I had got a chance shot of Cavendish, he's the ninth rider in this group immediately behind the first rider in a green jersey (click or double click on the image to see a larger version).