The week began as any normal week would; I get up with the girls with Lucia due to go to pre-school just after 9.00am. At 8.31am I realise that I am supposed to be dialled into a conference call with my colleagues to discuss all things business. At this point in time, Lucia is far from ready for school. At 8.55am I finish the call and looked panicked at a pyjama clad Lucia and down at myself, unclean, untidy and not fit for purpose. The mad scramble then ensues; Lucia dressed, faced washed, teeth brushed. I run upstairs ranting about being late to Hayley as I jump into the shower for a quick splash. I run downstairs and load Lucia into the car and off we go, just making it as the doors open to welcome Lucia and her classmates in for the morning. Even though I’m writing this now, there is every chance that I will be caught unprepared at 8.31am again tomorrow morning with no one ready for the day.

I was in London on Monday for a meeting at the film director, Ridley Scott’s company. I first had to meet my client in Carnaby Street for a coffee before we went in and as I stepped out of the Oxford Circus tube station I felt the unbelievable urge to wee. I knew that I was meeting my client in Pret a Manger at the end of Carnaby Street so I whizzed into the shop desperately looking for the signs pointing the way to the toilets; but there was nothing. I rushed out and into Starbucks followed by another two or three cafes looking for somewhere to go, but again nothing. I hobbled back to Pret a Manger and met with my client and forced down a cup of coffee whilst sitting in positions that didn’t disturb my bladder. As the pain became unbearable we made our way to Ridley’s office and finally I could use Ridley’s services.

I’m doing a few things for the charity at the moment that require some celebrity assistance/input, so imagine how excited I was to be in the office of Ridley Scott. I nearly fainted when one of his employees said that he was in the building as well. The problem is I was there on business and it would be completely unprofessional  and frowned upon, so as I left the meeting room to make way for Ridley and his meeting I looked on thinking “what I could do with your signature”.  So there was the opportunity to approach Ridley Scott about Camille’s Appeal and all I left with was a missed opportunity and a slightly aching bladder from the over exertion earlier in the day.

Camille was back in for chemotherapy on Wednesday and Hayley again stayed at my cousin’s house to save fuel costs and to prevent her suffering tiredness on the road. Now that Camille is not staying in overnight we don’t seem to see anybody. We haven’t really seen Amos for a few weeks, Mr Garnett for maybe more. Its strange not having that regular feedback that we’ve had for a year or more. We even found out that Amos was at Ipswich hospital for a clinic on Thursday; normally we would have been invited to but with Camille in Addenbrooke’s for chemotherapy we were probably overlooked. This week also saw Camille become neutrapenic again for the first time since she suffered her septic shock episode. Now, all of a sudden, we are using the hand gel, get really hot on sterilising syringes and just be really aware of any high temperatures. Camille has got a week off chemotherapy next week, so I am hoping we can get away with no high temperatures for some time.

I had been up in Manchester on business on Wednesday and Thursday and was really looking forward to getting home. Manchester is just such a long drive for us, lucking my colleague drove us from half way so I had a shorter journey than I would have done normally. On the way back we stopped off at the M6 Toll services and as we walked into the building a family we were walking towards. I looked at the man and he looked back; it didn’t take too long to realise that I was walking directly towards the king of New Romantics, Tony Hadley. Simon, my colleague, is still living in the 1980’s so I half expected him to start peppering Tony with hugs and kisses but he resisted. Again for the second time in the week I had a missed opportunity to approach a celebrity about Camille’s Appeal.

As I’d been away for two days, I made the trip to Cambridge with Camille on Friday for her final session of the week. It had been some time since I had last had to go in to hospital for Camille to have any treatment. It is amazing how quickly you can use to not going in. This new chemotherapy is quite a simple process to give and Camille is done after an hour. We of course are still willing for her kidneys to become strong enough again to be able to take her original chemotherapy protocol that was working so well before that infection and septic shock.

On Friday night, Hayley and I were laying on the sofa (separate sofas clearly, we’ve been married for some time) when I looked at my stomach, rising in front of me like the peak of Ben Nevis. It was time to do something about it. Hayley also felt that she could do with eating more healthily, so we looked into how I could achieve weight loss. Carbs are the enemy after all, so we toyed with the Atkins diet, but only for a few seconds. We have made big efforts to minimise our carbs but really focus on eating lots of great fruit and vegetables as well as giving up drinking beer for at least a month.  It’s been going quite well and although I’m freaking starving and really desperate to stick a potato or slice of bread in my mouth I have resisted. I’ve even resisted having a cup of coffee which for me is the mainstay of my breakfast.  We’ll see how next week goes, but all I know is that eating well costs a fortune.