Steady as she goes...

That's it really. Settling into a new rhythm of on-going treatment. It's now half way through November, so I have another dose of Rituximab in about three week's time. So far so good - I am not expecting any obvious side effects (because there aren't any to speak of), but am on the look out for non obvious ones.

Principally, people receiving this treatment might get 4 or 5 times as many colds and other minor infections as someone who doesn't have a compromised immune system. Given that this is now the time of year when these things become more prevalent, I have reverted into "don't get swine flu" mode, by being careful who I stand next to on the tube, avoiding people with obvious colds, using a hand rub (for what that's worth) and so on. As I said, so far so good.

I haven't been invited for a flu jab yet this year though, which has surprised, me. Maybe I should call the GP during the week.

Attended a meeting of the Lymphoma Association for the first time in ages on Wednesday last week. I have missed the last few meetings due to work commitments, and it was very good to catch up with people there. Indeed, it's good to see people still there! There was a very good talk by one of the clinical research doctors from the Christie Hospital this time and it's great to learn that there are drugs and treatments coming along that are second and third generation monoclonal anti-bodies that are promising to be more effective than Rituximab is. Maybe that's what will be in store in the future.

On the same Wednesday, I went to a presentation of the Leica Book to members of the Blurb community in London (Blurb is the publishing house that prints the books). Bill Palmer had put the PowerPoint together and asked me whether I would offer some "wing man" support while he did it. Although it wasn't as well attended as we had hoped, it was an interesting lunchtime. So far we have sold around 240 of the books and the total raises is well over £10,000.

What else has been happening? The judging for the Venice competitions is ongoing - if closes on Friday. I'm not winning this year, but I'm not losing either, so that's fine with me. There are some interesting entries this time round and the Night Challenge was a great idea. I will post my two shots here when the judging is finished.

Still trying to plan what to do for my 50th next year. When I see my haematologist next month, I will double check with him about foreign travel (especially outside the EU). If he says it's OK, then I think that taking the plunge and going over to New England could be a really interesting couple of weeks. I do fancy watching some whales. Let's see.

Rebecca has bought her round the world air ticket, so three of us could be away at the same time. That could be interesting!

Now that the nights have drawn in - it's got beyond "drawing in" - I might think about putting together an album of my own stuff. I just started having a play with the Blurb software today and I have also downloaded an alternative that I might try out. Could be an interesting exercise going through all my old shots, rescanning and reprocessing to get them right for a book project. I will keep posting experiences here.