We finally got some comparative results from Nadine’s last brain scans and they are promising: between April and June nothing has changed in her head.  There are still those nine metastases which remained after radiation treatment, but it seems that they are not growing anymore. It was the plan to reach such a kind of state and now it’s up to medication to keep it stable.

Nevertheless, Nadine needs a lot of rests and breaks. We experienced that yesterday, when we visited the birthday party of my former colleague Ben. We went there early but had to leave around 8:30 p.m., when all the talking, laughing and children’s noise became too exhausting for Nadine. So we missed the disco part, but that’s how life is for us these days. As long as her state keeps stable, you won’t hear me complain about that.

It finally started! No, not the European Championships in France, I’m talking about the Stuttgart City League in the Feuerbach valley. That’s the competition where nobody has to fear terroristic assaults and where the boys next door, a.k.a. me and my mates, are playing just for fun. For some long forgotten reason we’re named after Mexican outfit UMAM Pumas. And: We might not have success, but we’ve got fans. And very strict rules: This season, the referees aren’t allowed to turn up in flip-flops anymore and for the linesmen it’s forbidden to use their mobile phones during the game. Seems like we’re turning professional in our old days…

Primavera Sound in Barcelona, our most favourite music festival, started this week. We’ve been there for the last two years, once during a break from chemotheraphy and once after rehabilitation just before Nadine was reintegrated into employment.

This year it was unthinkable to go there. It’s a pity that Nadine’s condition doesn’t allow us to do such things at the moment. But compared to the last years, I considered the line-up to be a bit disappointing anyway. And we’re both fine with doing more slow and quite things right now.