Midweek miscellany

A big day, somehow. Der Fisch and I dropped the Camry off to be serviced at a local garage, and we walked home (about half a kilometre). This was my first walk since coming home. I have been a bit slack about this, but I guess the increasing sensitivity from the catheter, and uncomfortable temperatures, made this difficult. I was running out of inner pads, ascertained that the local pharmacist had some, then went and got them and some more cash out of the ATM. This was my first drive since coming home.

The internet is a boon to those recovering mobility, as before. I got the second lot of pads (which arrived while I was down the street). I ordered a bunch of T-shirts and a little bluetooth speaker (for listening to music while sitting in the courtyard). I also emailed the co-ordinator of a local Prostate Cancer Support Group, read a reply to a message I had sent to a prostate cancer survivor, whom I located through YANA (see below), and caught up with events via The Age, Guardian, and Facebook. These things were all done online.

The 'net was also the source of  A strange place, a 30 page information guide to prostate cancer, from a terrific site, You Are Not Alone . (This site is included in my External Links.)  YANA is maintained by a bunch of prostate cancer survivors, the Australian wife of one of whom did the design. So it is a super functional site, fast loading (hooray!), with a huge amount of information available. The emotional impact of the PC diagnosis on sufferers and their partners is addressed. All is very non-sensational, and there is no pretension that the authors are medically qualified. The quality of the information reflects the fact that the site is built by survivors, so that they can share information and experiences with other survivors. They are entirely self-funded, so I was happy to donate them a modest sum for their web hosting and postage expenses.

The good old-fashioned phone also featured large today, communicating with family and Jeremy, my urologist. When I have spoken to everyone I will put an update here about some new information from the last of these. It was heartening to see marriage equality get up decisively. The hot weather which had kept me confined to barracks yesterday has lifted. There was quite a storm, replete with a huge crack of thunder, and an ozone smell from accompanying sheets of lightning.