First the good news, the bad, then the very bad.

The good news is the water heater arrived at Christine's about 11 am. The bad news is that one of the fixing tubes was missing and, even with the delivery man and Ian checking the van, it was not to be found. The hope is that it will turn up in the depot and returned to Christine's on Tuesday. No use to us when we want to get going tomorrow!! Ian decided that somewhere amongst all his bric a brac in the garage he might have something that would 'do'. We made it back to Sandiacre by 11.45 giving Ian at least one and a half hours to install it. Unfortunately he failed. After finding a tube the right size in diameter it turned out to be to short. He needed to purchase another one and if the missing piece turns up tomorrow then that will have to become part of his 'bric a brac' for future needs. By 1pm Ian had gone as far as he could with it and then, with a quick phone call to our tenant with the promise of returning later that afternoon, we set off for the hospital.
Now this is where the very bad news comes in. The consultant told Ian that the MRI showed that the tumour had started growing again. Dam!!!! Three options were now open to us. First is to just have radiotherapy, second is to remove the tumour ( again!!) and then have radiotherapy, and third is to have the chemo ( again!!! ). None of these were what we wanted to hear!!! The consultant wants to discuss all three options with both the surgeon and plastic surgeon first, and then let us know, what in their opinion, is the best way forward. Another appointment was made for Ian at the end of this month so they can let us know their decision then. As we are already committed to help Colin on his extension in Milton Keynes we are still ( hopefully) leaving tomorrow and then we can decide what to do from there. Whatever happens we can say goodbye to any amount of cruising this year. All we need to think about is where around this area can we moor the boat long term. When Ian was on his year long ( weekly ) chemo in 2009  we stayed up at Langley Mill courtesy of the ECP&DA. There is also Mercia Marina if they can fit us in, and. we could be cheeky and moor back at our bungalow. I'm not sure how our tenant would react especially as we would want to plug into the electrics and be right on his doorstep. Anyway, we don't need to make that decision now. We will wait until after Ian's next appointment and then decide.