Prague, Berlin and the last round of chemo

Having ridden the high wave of Ali's confirmation weekend with Godmother Linda staying and Godparents Errol and Debbi and the family joining us for the special occasion, the spectre of passports and suitcases seemed a bridge too far. However, there's nothing like a vitamin b injection to raise the energy levels.

Nic and I had the most marvellous week together. Prague has to be the most beautiful city I've ever seen. We were both so well and walked so far every day.

We went on to Berlin, where we met up with her Godmother, my bridesmaid and lovely friend, Jenny. We had one funny night together in a cheerful, dormitory like set up and went out to the best department store I've ever seen, Ka De We, for supper.

Nic headed off at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning for Wolfberg where she had been in invited to attend the Social Business World Summit, following on from her experience at the Yunis Centre in Bangladesh earlier this year.

Jen and I had a wonderful, interesting and at times, gut wrenching day, exploring Berlin and absorbing some of the tragic history of it, which is so well documented. The day ended with a heart-soaring rendition of Beethoven's 5th Symphony at the magnificent Konsert Haus, surrounded by a highly sophisticated audience of beautifully turned out Berliners.

After Jenny left, I made my way to Wolfsburg, where I joined the summit for a few hours, and proudly observed Nic competently networking among the people from all over the world, with whom she has so much in common. I particularly enjoyed meeting the Bangladeshi delegation, who have played such an important and happy role for her. We even had a photo taken with the revered Prof Yunis, who remembered Nic and said her desk in Dakar was waiting for her!

We had one busy and effective sight seeing day in Berlin before heading back.

Nicola started her new job at the Standard Bank on Tuesday and I went into round 8 of chemo, both enriched and fortified by our shared and individual experiences. Who could wish for a more generous husband and father?

Day 3, round 8, drip 24 today. The effects have settled in very fast and I'm anticipating a low week or more. My veins have been damaged by the DTIC and it has been a battle this week to find functioning ones which allow the drip to flow. It seems that the benefits of doing another round after this are questionable, so with Dr Mafafo, I have decided not to go ahead with round 9, which is a huge relief. She is very pleased with my response and I'm now in the 10% of 6 month survivors of stage 4 metatastic melanoma patients. Further testing in a few weeks will determine where to next.

We had a good consultation with the sister who administers the experimental drug Ipiliminab, which we've been interested in, and it remains a valid and hopeful possiblity for the future.

For now, there is more living to do. Ali is writng exams, James has just finished his, Nic is settling at work, Tim is stretched to his limit at work and the big volunteer meeting for Salvazione school, under the auspices of the Shine Centre, is on for next week.