Cycling, yoga, and coffee in the sun.

Mixed feelings again this week following the results of my (one-month post-surgery) MRI scan on Tuesday. The surgeon called on Thursday and told us that he was happy with how the original resection site was looking, but that there had been "changes" to the lesion at the back of my head. He wants to biopsy but only after the radiotherapy is complete (probably mid-December). We'll find out more information when we meet him again next week. So, it feels a little like we're fighting on multiple fronts, but at least they're aware of it and have a plan to monitor and address it in due course. Apart from that, I'm feeling well, the scar looks like it's healing up nicely, and we have a slightly easier week ahead of us with less hospital appointments. The course of antibiotics will finish on Friday and we're seeing the surgeon and oncologist early next week with a view to restarting treatment.

This weekend I got back on my bike for the first time since surgery. I started feeling that a daily walk around the circle with Maxi wasn't quite getting me fit enough. So on Saturday, I accompanied Anna on one of her three-mile training runs (looking very much like a personal trainer and feeling like an asthmatic pit-pony!). Yesterday we did the same route but with us both on bikes we were able to pick up the pace a little. I felt very breathless afterwards, but the plan is to try and do something like this every day (recommended 30 mins daily exercise as part of recovery) and try to build up from here.

This week I'm also going to look into starting yoga classes. Many of the books I've been reading, as well as the excellent resources I've received from livestrong, have suggested that yoga can have great benefits to the recovery process - from simply helping to relax, to improving strength and flexibility, and can help to boost the immune system. More on this later, I'm sure.

(The image just keeps building doesn't it...Hannibal Lecter practicing yoga in a Steve Austin white pant suit!)

Anna's Mum and Dad are staying with us at the moment and sharing our enjoyment of the last few warm days of October. Here we are having coffee in the sun in Excelsior...