Dr. Mulholland had fixed the next scan date on September 3rd, 2021. I had settled down in my ‘garden house’ and had started to create the second edition of my book, along with the Hindi version of my website bjmanch.in and made it available at https://www.bjmanch.in/hi/.
However, there have been a couple of minor issues that had upset my son Zoravar and eventually her mother and my wife Anu. Though the issue has been very minor, but I had ended up scolding him badly, that had upset him and consequently I had been warned by Anu that I do not know how to be a good father. That made me feel guilty for firstly, upsetting my son, whom I love dearly otherwise and feel immensely proud of, and secondly, upsetting my wife Anu, inadvertently, when I knew how hard she has been working since my illness, not only on her job but also looking after her family – including me of course, and not to mention both Zoravar and Nimrat. Anu was going to raise this family issue with Dr. Mulholland and she did.
Following the appointment with Dr. Mulholland on September 9th, my GP Dr. Gould received the following report from Dr. Mulholland:
It was a pleasure to review Mr Singh in clinic with his wife, Anu. I am pleased to note that he is well and there are no new issues. I am pleased to note that the most recent MRI showed stable disease. The patient and his wife are pleased with the result of the scan. Patient’s wife mentioned some issues around family dynamics. I recommended to the GP to discuss a referral for family counselling. I have offered the patient to be transferred to UCLH for further follow-up. Mr Singh is going to contact the secretary there to organise a transfer. I will see him there in two weeks’ time.
No doubt the report was a good news and I felt great that I am on verge of completing six years of illness on October 31st, 2021, given that my Craniotomy was performed on the same day in year 2015.
But, Dr. Mulholland had directed a pointer towards me to arrange for a family counselling, through my GP Dr. Gould. At the time of completing this post, I had made a request to my GP , via my surgery and was waiting for an appointment with him. The surgery (and Dr. Gould) otherwise provides fantastic services all the time, but this time due to COVID urgency, my request had been put in the queue. In the meantime, realising how difficult is for Anu to be patient all the time, I had stated to control my behaviour and had mange to stay calm and affectionate with Anu, Zoravar and Nimrat.
Another change in my treatment protocol has been my option to stick with Dr. Mulholland as my Oncologist, even if I have to travel into the city centre on London Underground trains to UCLH (University College London Hospital), instead of the outskirts of the city at MVCC (Mount Vernon Cancer Centre) in Northwood. I agreed to this arrangement because I felt that I have come a long way since 2015, and was feeling heathy enough to travel to the city centre during the ‘off-peak’ hours.