Invocal - Sex

I bought a video camera the other day and I used it to film an Invocal gig. Obviously cameras with Auto focus do you like candles flickering and the quality is pretty poor. Especially if you compare it to the video I recorded on my little mobile phone which is almost even better!




Needless to say I returned the camera to the shop and got my money back.

In the meantime Invocal are working on a nice video that should be ready soon. I mean like a professional one with real camera people and stuff....

How are things...

Long time no news. Things are going as well as can be expected I guess. JD is still on the monthly chemotherapy cycle and is about to start the 4th lot. We have decided to wait with surgery until the first 6 month cycle of chemotherapy is finished in January. they will then do a scan which may give us some idea if the tumour is actually being held back by the chemotherapy. we know there is no cure so long-term remission is what we are aiming for. For the moment JD is physically healthy and back at university to work on her PhD which is a great motivation.

In the mean time I am really busy with trying to get more Invocal gigs and publicity but I am feeling a tad out of my depth. They are absolutely brilliant and deserve a break and sometimes I feel I just won't be able to give them what they deserve. I guess it would be easier if they were just kind of average because hen every gig is a bonus. But because they re so good, it is frustrating that other people don't immediately jump on board and give them gigs etc. Perhaps it is time to realise I can not do everything and I should call in help neon a booking agent to help themget gigs. Agents have loads of contacts that I just don't have.

Selling Poppies

Selling poppies today in support of the Royal British Legion. They support veterans from all wars. Nice to spend a few hours for a good cause.

This week is International Brain Tumour Awareness Week. Will do some fundraising for them as well. Good karma.

my first ever!

cut my first ever pumpkin today. yay!

Glee.....*sigh*

Glee is my latest TV love fest. Good clean fun. With jane Lynch. If you liked Tracey Flick in the movie "Election", you'll love this. You have to skip over the music bits that are a little too High School Musical to my taste but the dialogue is great, witty, sarcastic (yay, Americans DO understand sarcasm it turns out).

Catch it online if you can. Really. There is never too much Jane Lynch. And I am saying this purely on artistic merit because she ain't pretty. Just damn talented. And funny.

I think.

To cut or not to cut?

Another doctor's visit this morning. JD is about to start month 3 of her chemo therapy (Temozolomide). So far she has tolerated the first two treatments really well. Things are going better all the time with her, apart from the tumour obviously. She is losing weight, she is fitter, back to fencing and back to university. She has taken on mentoring some students or something so it is all very positive. It seems she has finally recovered from the radiotherapy.

But then last week she had a headache. She says it was 'one of those' headaches that indicated pressure behind her eyes (which would indicate the tumour is growing or at least the brain is selling for some reason). It only lasted a day but obviously enough to get worried.

Today we met with the Neuro Oncology nurse who keeps track of JD's treatment. He said the Neuro Surgeon thinks he can remove parts of the tumour. Our initial response was: great news, cut it out, any reduction in tumour is great, right?

On second thought, things may not be so black & white. JD is doing really well at the moment. She is tolerating the chemo really well, is back on track with PhD and everything.

So, if the headaches are not returning (yet), why would she go through the surgery? Apparently it takes longer to recover from second surgery, especially after the radiotherapy. So that would mean delaying the PhD once more which may have impact on her funding. There does not seem to be an urgent need for surgery right away. We initially understood that they could cut away some of the parts that have turned from Grade 2 to Grade 3 but that is not the case. They can remove just some bits of the tumour that they can safely get to.

So the Neuro Oncology nurse suggested she has an Outpatient appointment with a Neuro Surgeon to discuss the options first.

I think JD is leaning towards no surgery at least until they have done another scan after the first 6 month Chemo cycle. Unless of course the headaches suddenly return and get worse.

Obviously this decision has nothing to do with the fact that surgery soon will mean no ski trip in January :-)

hat do other people feel about these choices? Remove it as soon as possible, or remove it only when there is a medical need?

Invocal in the Park

I think I am spending entirely too much time on Invocal. Things on my to-do list at the moment:

- Design new website
- Get website built & sort out hosting
- Organise photography session for new promo shots
- Sort out new promotional materials
- Get gigs booked
- Get more press coverage
- Update MySpace & Twitter with regular news
- Keep mailing list updated
- Organise a video shoot & manage creation of videos

Needless to say JD is getting a *little* bit frustrated with the amount of time I spend on Invocal. But on the other hand, she loves that I am doing something I enjoy immensely. And the music is nice: Acoustic, folk-ish, funny and from Northampton to boot :-)

This weekend, we went to The Racecourse in Northampton to take a few new photos. I took my camera along and then I shot a little bit of video. Since I don't have any decent video editing software, I used Windows Movie Maker (EVIL program!) to create a short film of a minute.

Invocal in the Park from Invocal on Vimeo.

This morning, Northampton acoustic group Invocal took to The Racecourse to have their picture taken. Things are never simple with that lot...

Julie and Julia

Just about to leave the cinema after watching Julie and Julia. What a wonderfully entertaining film. With nice food and harmless acting. I suppose it should make me want to cook but it made me want to blog.

She is shrinking! (but not the tumour)

Oh no! Someone come to my rescue. My wife is vanishing before my eyes! Since she has stopped taking steroids, there has been less and less of JD but in the past few days, things have really taken on a new degree of speed. Weight is now flying off. Yay. So much so that we went to H&M yesterday and bought a nice pair of jeans. After about 6 months in baggy trousers with elasticated waistbands, JD can wear a pair of jeans again and feel 'normal'. I am sooooo proud of her. She looks lovely and thin in the jeans. And it makes her feel better as well.

The irony in this is that she looks better and better and people are commenting on how good she looks and yet, she is in actual fact not getting better at all!

This week sees the second round of chemotherapy. Officially the course of Temozolomide is planned for 6 months, then a scan and then perhaps more chemotherapy. I asked the doctor what would happen if the scan shows the tumour has stopped growing after 6 months' of chemo. His answer was that JD would then continue to take the Temozolomide. So as long as the tumour does not grow further, she will keep doing monthly cycles. He said: I have patients who are doing really well and are already on their 38th cycle of chemotherapy.

When I think about the deeper implications of what he said there, I don't like that at all. So 3 years of monthly chemo and still alive is considered 'really well'.

Don't get me wrong, we are positive and will just continue to do the things we do as much as possible: play tennis, JD continues her PhD and stuff. But the fact that the tumour is not giving her any problems at all and yet it is apparently so dangerous that it requires the severely aggressive treatment is hard to take sometimes.

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