RichardHerring.com - Warming Up

Thursday 2nd July 2026

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 12:37:00 +0100

8615/21534The treatment (or maybe the post treatment drugs) has finally caught up with me and after a disturbed night's sleep I spent most of the day snoozing. So aside from half-watching a couple of Voyager episodes and getting back into playing Civilisation II, I didn't really do much.
The worst bit about all this is all the stuff I am missing, especially family stuff and how much that means Catie ends up doing. Phoebe had a day trip to France with her school today and needed to be dropped off at 5am and picked up at 11pm.

Wednesday 1st July 2026

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 16:59:00 +0100

8614/21533I went down to the kitchen without a shirt on and the kids pointed out how sunburned I was. I had sat outside reading for half an hour last week and my arms had gone a bit pink, but I thought (at least on that occasion) I'd been wearing a shirt. I went back to the bedroom and looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I had a rash covering a lot of my back and upper arms.Was this just a harmless side effect of the treatment or might it be a sign of sepsis? Luckily I had the handy mnemonic to remember the symptoms of Sepsis.S is for sore back?

Tuesday 30th June 2026

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 11:40:00 +0100

8613/21532Disappointingly the injections don't seem to be affecting my appetite this time. So I might not lose another 5kg, but I guess that's a small price to pay for it all essentially going OK. So far. Fingers crossed.The queue to get into the hospital car park stretched back so far today that we decided I'd just get out and walk in and Catie would park the car in Sainsburys.

Monday 29th June 2026

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:36:00 +0100

8612/21531I hate the car park at the Lister hospital more than I hate anything on this earth. As you may have noticed, I resent that whoever runs this facility is making money off of ill people (and I presume hospital staff) and also that they profit from any (inevitable) delays in the hospital. On the day that I ended up having to stay overnight they hit the bonanza, partly cos Catie had to go home and come back again. I don't know what percentage goes back to the NHS but I am going to hazard a guess that it's zero or thereabouts.

Sunday 28th June 2026

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 12:28:00 +0100

8611/21530Tomorrow I resume my chemo treatment, so today I made the most of having some energy and an appetite and did housework, gardening, mended a loose bit on the shed and even attempted to paint the kitchen ceiling which was slightly damaged by a leak from the bathroom above. I think I have just felt so useless for the last fortnight that I wanted to do something to contribute and after so much enforced lethargy it just felt amazing to be doing anything.

Saturday 27th June 2026

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 10:41:00 +0100

8610/21529In an attempt to stay up long enough to watch the England match, I watched tonight's episode of the 1% club. As a fan of quiz shows (who would like to come up with one of my own) I admire the format and Lee Mack is the perfect host. Obviously I wouldn't mind a go, though I suspect a celebrity version might prove a bit expensive and you wouldn't even really see 80% of the contestants. I am not sure I'd succeed though, because (maybe due to my aphantasia) I can't do those puzzles where you have to make a 2D object into a 3D one.

Friday 26th June 2026

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 16:24:00 +0100

8609/21528I am not a fan of Threads. It's a place for ninnies, which seems to be full of banality and clickbait and people asking ridiculous questions like "Would you agree to be locked in your house for a month for $750,000?" Is there anyone in the world who wouldn't take that offer?I think they are designed for engagement farming, but it's hard not to engage and try and do glib jokes. And as I have time on my hand and not much to do I have been engaging and doing glib jokes.