Apologies for the late blogging. This is mainly due to my busy schedule since the daily radiotherapy started about four weeks ago. I have also been busy with my social life, going to see some live music, and meeting up with friends. On Friday it was my dear friend Hala’s birthday, and her partner Rene had booked two lanes at the Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes. It had been years since I last did bowling. I think it was at school… To my surprise, I was pretty good at it. Actually so good that I won! I even beat the boys. It was so much fun.

Radiotherapy has been easy. The actual treatment does not take long, maybe 5-10 minutes. It is the trekking from Hackney east London to South Kensington in west London that takes a big chunk of my day, and is quite tiring. I have not had any side-effects to mention. The daily hospital routine, Monday to Friday has made me feel like I have a part-time job. I have not minded the radiotherapy, it is like a walk in the park compared to chemo!

My blood counts have been good. As a matter of fact, they have not been this good for a long time. My white blood cell count was 5.5 and neutrophils count was 4.52 this week! Platelets are still quite low, but apparently nothing to worry about.

I had the appointment with Dr Kassab at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital. She mentioned the referral letter that my GP had sent her. She said that it was the nicest referral letter she had ever received. Apparently my GP had written something like he could not think of a more deserving person to receive this treatment. Dr Kassab was very thorough in her assessment and prescribed me Silica Terra for physical and emotional wellbeing and anxiety; Radium Bromatum for fatigue; and Calendula Cream for eczema. I have not noticed a massive difference in my fatigue levels since I started taking these remedies, but then again I have only been taking them for about two weeks now. I am going to see Dr Kassab again in January.

Liisa, the Finnish receptionist at the Royal Marsden has been a great support to me since I started going there. It is lovely to see a Finnish friendly face the first thing as I enter into the building. Recently she said that she wanted to help me by giving me some money towards a warm coat for the winter. She knows I feel the cold easily and that I am about to travel to Finland for Christmas. Yesterday I purchased a vintage leather/sheepskin aviator jacket from eBay. I cannot wait to try it out. It should be mega warm, and very much in fashion this season. THANK you so much lovely Liisa!

I only have two more sessions of radiotherapy left. After that, I have one more clinic appointment before I go to Finland on the 16^th December. The dreaded PET scan has been booked for me on 17^th January 2011. I guess it means I will be on holidays from Tuesday onwards until the scan.

My hair has grown. It looks a little bit like Emma Watson’s (Hermione from Harry Potter) new short hair cut.

I am feeling good physically, which is great. I can really enjoy this time off. My birthday is coming up soon, and we (Suzie, Minna, Lisa and I) have a weekend of fun, music and dancing ahead of us. We are off to All Tomorrow Parties (festival) in Minehead, Somerset on the 10^th December. And, then after that I am off to Finland, Funland!!!!

Emma Watson