I hope everyone had a good Easter/Passover/Spring celebration. We had Matt's parents and sister here and had a lovely weekend - lots of eating, and more eating and chocolate and fun activities like the London Eye, and boat trips on the river and seeing Spamalot. And friendly competition over various sporting events.

It's been interesting over the last few weeks - I sent a campaigning letter for Jo's Trust off to some of our local press and MP's (both British and European reps) and it's been interesting to see the response I got. There's not been ANY response from Edward Davey, our local MP which I think is really poor. I know the guy is busy, but surely he has help in handling mail? It would be nice to get some acknowledgement. Most of our MEPs have been pretty useless too - I'd like to name and shame Robert Evans in particular.

BUT - a couple have been great. I quote:

Thank you very much for writing to me about the need for the Government to tackle the causes and incidence of cervical cancer. I have written to the Department of Health about this issue and will let you know when I hear from them. I hope, in the meantime, that you have also written to your Westminster Member of Parliament.

Best wishes John Bowis MEP

And

Thank you for your email addressed to Mary Honeyball on the subject of cervical screening and the new HPV vaccine. As a member of the European Parliament's Cervical Cancer Intergroup, Mary takes a keen interest in this issue and notes your concerns. She too has been very worried about reports that the number of women attending for screening is falling and she would like me to reassure you that she continues support efforts to increase this and is pushing for the early introduction of the vaccine.
Kind regards
Helen Hegarty
Assistant to
Mary Honeyball MEP

Plus our local freebie newspaper, The Kingston Informer, has been very supportive. :)

This time last year I'd just finished treatment and Col was here. This time I'm starting afresh. I still get very tired - just about everyone I know who has had the same treatment says the same - but at least this time the chemicals are not in my body and I'm able to exercise.

This month I start my Pilates instructors course - I have a few weekends of Anatomy for the next months and then in July I start my training proper. I'm so enjoying my sessions with Lisa, as well as my home workouts and am very excited to be embarking on this. It's scary to think that I'll be running my own business and seeking clients soon, but I'm sure it will work out. Lisa says that she thinks I'll be good at it - the dance training from years ago helps, but also my experiences of surgery and so on help me understand what other people go through from a rehab point of view, which puts me into a different category to the gym bunnies. I've not lost any weight, but can feel myself toning up and getting much stronger. I always feel so confident and good about myself after working out.

Hope the sun's shining wherever you are.

Z x