I have been very mindful lately that my core body strength is diminishing and even though my mind is telling me "I can do this", my body is not allowing me. For instance, we went to Bendigo to the movies on Saturday with 3 friends and then on to an Indian restaurant for dinner. We couldn't get parking near the restaurant so ended up walking 2 blocks, which was a considerable strain for me and I ended up paying for it the next day.

My feet are quite swollen now with excess fluid caused from a combination of my organs not working as well and lack of exercise. The very hot weather hasn't helped. Marg gives me a foot massage each day to try and help reduce the swelling. My stomach is also quite distended and very hard with the tumors.

Spending a lot of time seated in the lounge room reading and snoozing. The medication is continuing to have quite an affect on my day, but it is still keeping the nausea and pain at bay. Marg has gone back to work, tentatively, 3 days a week and I managed to make a steak bernaise with roast vegies for dinner tonight. I'm really appreciating the effort to cook a pleasant meal for the family - even if it takes me 3 times as long as it used to.

The girls start back at school next week, so we are gearing up for that. Sheila (my mum) will come up Mondays and Tuesdays to give us a hand.

Blessings to you all
Ray

Had a wonderful Christmas day with 10 family members here at home - we all mucked in for a prawn and salad lunch followed by a more traditional Christmas dinner later in the day. In the evening we flamed the Christmas pudding. The warmer weather meant some of us did some good old Aussie activities like swimming in the dam and catching yabbies.

I got up early on Boxing Day and cooked ham, eggs and hollandaise sauce for everyone, then the women-folk took off to the Boxing Day sales in Bendigo while the men stopped home and watched the Boxing Day Test.

Also enjoyed a very pleasant New Year's eve, firstly with some friends who had hired a B&B just out of town for the night - the attraction being a large heated spa which overlooked the hills and surrounding countryside. We then went on to some other friends (also our neighbours), who had invited us to their place for a swim in their pool and a BBQ dinner. I surprised myself and everyone else by staying up until 1.30am.

The last 4 weeks, my health seems to have improved immensely. I have no muscle strength and struggle to negotiate any more than 2 or 3 stairs at a time without assistance and can only do the simplest and easiest of tasks now, but I'm eating and sleeping very well and have regained some colour in my skin. There is no pain or nausea at the moment although I can feel the tumors enlarging and hardening in my stomach. My left leg is quite numb at times due to the compression of the nerves from a secondary tumor in my sacrum. I manage walking quite well, but sometimes need the aid of a walking cane.

At the end of the day it's all about quality of life and although I sometimes feel quite sedated with the affects of the drugs, I continue to enjoy the luxury of a normal family day.

As I have been feeling much better, Andrew (my son) decided to go home on New Years day to reconnect with his life in Perth and take care of his home maintenance and gardening business. He did an extraordinary job in looking after our property while he was here.

My next goal is a Men's Group get together on the 17th January and the wedding of a friend's daughter on the 21st January.

My prayers and best wishes to you all. Hopefully you manage to find some peace in all your deliberations as you enter 2012.

Ray