The year in Woodbridge

9-15 hrs: It may seem strange to summarise a year as a graph - but hey  - I have a PhD in economic history - so can think graphs.

The source - I started to try to score how I felt on my own scale in December last year as a way of keeping track of progress (or otherwise). Each day I have put a number (which I decide on based on a list of definitions of things I think encapsulate my well being) as to how I feel in a spreadsheet - which allows me to draw lots of graphs - and stare at them from time to time. The black line is a 14 day moving average. 

The interesting thing is that it does reflect the year. The  three spikes down were (starting from March) a couple of days feeling ill, some hay fever and a finger infection. The big dip in July was when the chemo therapy stopped working. The rise was when the new medication (Tarceva) started to work, and has allowed my life to be more interesting and more varied.

It also shows that life was more of a roller-coaster in the earlier part of the year, related to fortnightly doses of poisonous chemo-therapy drugs. With Tarceva there is more of a plateau with smaller ups and downs (largely due to periods of 'overdoing it' punctuated by lazing around.) The best thing I have found to do of late is to write serious documetation for the Joomla! Documentation project - of which more in another post. This exercises the brain. I go to the gym and do a lot of walking around - which keeps the outer part of the body exercised.

I have not 'recovered' or been given my life back in the sense of living as I used to (ie having a large boat and going to the Shetlands!) or being able to rush around as I would like to do. But I have a small and nippy boat, and I have found a happy way of life here.

So - happy new year people - and thanks for reading my blog and for your responses at various times.