Things are very much looking up as far as food is concerned. In the summer I was finding it increasingly harder to eat. More and more things became impossible, until I got to the point where all I could manage was Weetabix and soup, and then I couldn’t manage Weetabix any more and could only handle parsnip, carrot & coriander or tomato soup. I had dropped about 20kg before getting confirmation that a tumour was blocking my oesophagus.

At its worst I was only having Weetabix drink and tomato soup and had to have Fortijuce drinks and  drip feed through a tube just to stop the weight loss. And then I started chemotherapy. I am due to have three three-week cycles. Today I just started the second cycle, but about two weeks into the first cycle I started seeing improvements.

I have now reached the stage where I can eat just about anything, with some caveats. I have to chew a lot. A real lot. So much that it takes ages to eat and hot food is pretty cold by the time I get to the end of it. If I don’t chew enough, the food gets stuck and I have to do something quite disgusting to clear the blockage, but that is happening less and less.

In the last week I have had: banana, corn flakes, Special K, cream crackers with camembert, ham, egg & chips, chops with roast potato and mixed veg, bubble & squeak made from the leftovers, sweet & sour chicken with rice and today I had boiled egg and tomato sandwiches as a packed lunch. Already 2019 is a lot less miserable than the end of 2018.

As soon as the nausea from today’s chemotherapy has passed, which should be a few days, I might be in a position to have my Christmas lunch. We have a turkey crown, goose fat roasties, pigs in blankets, sprouts and some other stuff in the freezer just waiting for me to be ready for it, and to make up for my actual Christmas lunch being a tin of cream of tomato soup. I find it hard to believe that two weeks can make such a difference, but I am not complaining.

I will not be overdoing it and putting all that weight back on. I did need to lose it. So I am not going to grow back into my clothes. In fact I may lose a little more, but in a controlled and intentional way. It expect it will be March or April before I know what my new size is and can go out buying new clothes. Until then I will have to dress like a tramp, but I will be a very happy tramp!

Even the person who won the £115m lottery jackpot will have their work cut out to be as happy as I intend to be this year.