A very old friend of mine made his way to our house, managed to get access to our postbox and dropped a few lines and a necklace for Nadine. I’m not that much into eastern religion but even I can see that it’s meant for protection. What a good thing that Nadine is already wearing it…

We were talking to the doctors yesterday and Nadine is going to be released from hospital tomorrow. It will take a few weeks until it is possible to rate the effect of the radiation therapy but the experts are in good hope. Chemotherapy will also start soon, an initial talk is scheduled for next Tuesday. During the first weeks at home Nadine shouldn’t be alone too long and is not allowed to leave the house on her own.

So our plan with friends, family members and colleagues coming arond on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays turned out to be good thinking: she definitely needs company. Therefore, I now officially withraw my embargo on visits. She felt very happy in station D6 of the Katharinenhospital, now its our turn to find the perfect way to keep her so!

P.S.: Somebody unknown sent us a parcel via DHL. When I went to the post office yesterday to pick it up, they were not able to find it. If they do, it will be returned to sender. If they don’t, it’s simply lost. The delivery number is JJD14454004072745001, the sender can enquire by phone under (0228) 4333112.

Our friend Valerie advised us to find moments of calm and happiness in the midst of this whole thing, for example a nice meal. That’s exactly what we did yesterday: Nadine took a leave from hospital and we both jumped on the bus that would take us home in about ten minutes. Okay, we didn’t make it that far yet, but we went about two thirds of the way and visited a nice little restaurant.

While I enjojed my vegan curry Nadine almost went wild about her chicken tandoori – that’s what four weeks of hospital food can do to you. Significantly, the place is called Lumen and they serve regional and natural food there. That’s why the little Cartesian in me decided to think about the place als ‘lumen naturale’…

However dark it gets, there’s “Always The Light”, that’s a thing we are told by the long gone British pop band The Weather Prophets and learned by going out together yesterday:

Nadine’s former teaching colleague John, who survived a tumor himself,  wrote her a longer letter which included the drawing pictured above. It shows a certain part of the Danish coast where he and his partner bought themselves a farm house. Well, me and Nadine were fabulating about similar things sometimes, although we mostly fancied a place somewhere at the Mediterranean Sea.

But if you are diagnosed like Nadine, your perspective on life changes drastically. All that counts now is the near future, and this means three more sessions of radiation therapy until Wednesday. On Tuesday afternoon we are going to talk to the doctors about further treatment which will almost certainly include another chemotherapy. Nadine is supposed to be relaesed from hospital on Thursday and will have a short break first in order to regain some strength.

I am returning to work in part time next week, so I will be out of the house on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday mornings . We are currently arranging that friends or family members come along on these days and join Nadine for cooking a meal together or take her out for lunch. I wouldn’t be comfortable with her being alone for eight or nine hours and having to do all that stuff on her own – not yet.

P.S.: When Nadine is returning home and I start to work again I won’t be able to maintain my frequency of a daily post – take this as a good sign and a step towards normalcy.