Firstly I’d like to thank everyone for your encouraging words. I was a bit down last week, and I got even worse after that, but I feel like I’m on the up, and it’s getting better as the week goes on.

While I’m at the Hospice, as I am today, I sometimes take part in physiotherapy sessions with Anne and Zoe from the therapy team here. I was here on Tuesday for an extra session and, bloody hell, I feel like I’ve been through a round with Mike Tyson. Where does it hurt? Where doesn’t it hurt, more like! I did arm curls with half kilo weights (just half a kilo...that’s half a bag of sugar!), went up and down the stairs, some heel lifts and a short session on the exercise bike.

This is hardly a strenuous work out, but it left me feeling exceptionally tired. I know the sessions are selected to help me build my stamina and retain my strength, and it has been successful for me in the past, but this time it compounded my feeling of fatigue. I don’t think I’ll be doing this again, but I still want to get stronger, so I’m going to put a few more layers of clothes on, and build up the amount of time I can walk unaided.

It’s just another example of how my illness can be a total pain in the a---. Eighteen months ago, a simple job would be exactly that. So something like changing a light fitting would take me a minute...literally a minute. Now, I have to think about it as a major job. When will I be strong enough to go to the shop to buy it? When will I be able to get the stepladder up? Will I feel strong enough to support my own weight, and complete the job? Being sick makes you have to change what you do, every minute, every day.

There’s no shortage of help on offer. Friends and neighbours will always say that they’ll do anything for me and Jackie, and we really appreciate it, but I want to do it myself. Little bits of my daily life have gradually been taken away by my cancer, and that’s hard to cope with. My head tells me that I can do these things, even still, but the body isn’t on the same wavelength.

But, as I’ve already said, I’m on the up again, determined to get back to where I was, and feeling positive once more. This afternoon the sun’s shining, and there’s nothing I want more than to feel the sun shining on my face and on the back of my neck. With the sun out, you could almost imagine that spring is just around the corner, and that the cold, dark days are coming to an end.

So, just to show you that I haven’t been sat on my arse drinking tea and eating cake, here’s my latest painting. For my friends who’ve asked to see evidence that I do some work, it’s another sea-themed watercolour...and I hope you like it. I’ve got another one on the way, and I’m thinking about the one after that. What do you think?

For now, have a good week, and I’ll catch up with you again next Thursday.

Paul