In a small way this delay is about convenience. I drove to Exeter early this morning for my blood test at 9. My liver enzyme ALT reading was 110 which was still a little high, but much much lower than the last reading of 382, and I could have gone ahead with chemo today. The trouble was that I’d have had to stay on in hospital all afternoon for treatment which takes 5 hours, and when that had finished they’d fit the chemo cassette early this evening, and I’d have missed the concert final rehearsal. And then I’d have to return to Exeter 24 hours later, i.e. tomorrow evening, to have the cassette removed, which would have meant I’d have missed the concert altogether (and I hadn’t even mentioned Sophie’s wedding on Saturday!). So Dr Toy suggested that we have a lovely weekend, enjoy singing in the concert, have another blood test on Monday and start the chemo on Tuesday. That would also give my liver enzymes a chance to fall right down to normal levels.

Neil and I are really happy with this (he’s singing a solo!). We are both looking forward to singing tomorrow evening, having practiced at home to catch up with songs we’d missed during the term, and I feel so great to be singing. The songs are from all genres and it’s going to be such an uplifting evening for singers and audience alike. And even more so for us, with dear friends Simon and Lorene driving down from Bucks to see us sing and stay, and my sister Toni and Dave driving from Dorset, and Neil’s daughter Tessa and Joe driving from Bristol. We have more friends joining us for supper before the concert, and everything has fallen into place.

We can look forward to a wonderful weekend.