Maximum response

We were at the hospital yesterday and it is good news! FL has reached "maximum response" to the Chemo, with his m-spike now at 1.4 (1.6 and below is "normal"). The doctor we saw said that "if it was him" he would be recommending just one more course of chemo after the current one - so a reprieve in January. But he can't second-guess the consultant who may want to go for "the full 9 months". Obviously, FL has had more than enough of the chemotherapy, emotionally and physically, but we have to do as we are told. Either way, relief is on the horizon!

We had a different doctor yesterday. As we entered the consulting room, Dr Z noticed FL's waiting-room reading: "The Peloponnesian War". He almost snatched it from FL and began reading it, no devouring it! And then asked lots of questions about its author (Thucydides). When FL got over the surprise, he was delighted to have someone show such a keen interest (I do my best, but ancient history is not my topic!). When we got home, FL said he would finish the book and then parcel it up and send it to the doctor to thank him. In other circumstances, they might have been new-found friends! Funny old world.

It was odd in the waiting room yesterday. Fewer people. One old lady was sent home without treatment because they told her she was too ill to take it. Another very young girl (in her teens) had to wait over 2 hours for her prescription and was complaining she wasn't going to make it to the Disney Store for Christmas shopping before her flight back to Shetland! So sad that cancer brings such a diverse group together.

I started some seasonal socks for FL. Unexpectedly, from the Brown Eyes Blue yarn. More on this when I can photograph them.

And it was my birthday yesterday - hooray! FL bought me a new sewing machine! It is beautiful! A Bernina - oooh! A nice dependable mechanical workhorse to replace the juddery old Singer which has worn itself out over the years. No excuses now - I must stop buying clothes altogether and set to with the Japanese patterns and the Ebay fabric! The inaugural flight is this weekend with a black watch tartan over-dress - woo hoo!

In the post: Knitting magazine (Oct 2004) from Penny. She answered my request to identify the "Venus shrug" which another commenter, Marie, had recommended to me, and offered to send me the magazine with the pattern! I love the blogs! Thanks SO much Penny - I am sending you the latest Vogue Knitting in exchange - hope you like it! I do like the Venus shrug, but I am intrigued even more by other articles in the magazine. I realise that I was out of touch with the knitting world in 2004, so it is fascinating to read this! So recent and yet so different! I have lots of ideas to follow up - tattoo knitting, a graduate designer who was designing knitted wings - oooh!

Not quite in the post: my Woolgirl sock club package. It is waiting for me at the Sorting Office with a bill for £11.43 from Customs!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! How can that be right?!