As you will have noticed, I’ve not been blogging for the last 3 months. Unfortunately, I’m not quite as well as I could be just now. I was diagnosed with colon cancer in January and had a colectomy a couple of weeks later. The prognosis is good, I’m happy to say and I have just completed half of a 6 week course of radiotherapy and chemo at the brilliant Antalya Akdeniz University hospital. After that, I have to attend chemo one day every two weeks for four months. We stay in a great hotel weekdays so thats a bonus and the treatment here is state of the art. I also get on really well with the three department professors, to the extent of having their mobile phone numbers! So, despite a colostomy, the 250 mile round trip to the hospital and having half a litre of toxic chemicals hanging round my neck, things are looking up. The worse part is the drive, it’s dangerous, nerve wracking and exhausting.
Oh, I ought to mention I nearly died from pneumonia and an ecoli infection contracted after the op. The initial treatment was complicated by an serious allergic reaction to the antibiotic, Ciprocin. That was a very scary time!
Gina has been fantastic and her mum, Margaret, has been in Fethiye, house and dog-sitting for the whole time without complaint. My sister came over from the uk and we’ve also had loads of help and care from many of our new friends here. So, I’m living in limbo. I have managed to paint occasionally but I’ve not been out on the bike, the boat or in the hills and although quite hectic, 2014 has been a bit of a write off so far. it’s about time I made an effort to continue this project but it’s not easy to find the inspiration for daily painting
Because of the treatment schedule and it’s side effects, I won’t be doing much on here for a few months but life will be getting back to a normal again soon, I promise!