You have a rather nice face :-)

I couldn’t make it to @pupout.london this month due to what I thought was a slipped disc. Unfortunately the reason is far, far more serious and will dramatically shorten my life to several months before I succumb to the affects of neck, liver and bone cancer

I feel that the 16GB/1TB and 32GB/1TB option should be for both SteamOS and Windows. This makes the cost of a Windows license transparent to the user who, IMO would be more likely to buy the SteamOS version. Instead, to a layperson, the SteamOS version looks like the cheap alternative

I couldn’t do this also without Richard and Janet, Ezra, my parents, Michael and many who wished me well. You all mean a huge amount to me and I look forward to 2025, whatever that may entail

I do wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that I’ll be more online from the new year and be out more often

This Christmas could easily be my last but just as easily I have many more years ahead. It’s a strange feeling but I remain optimistic. One’s ability to remain positive plays a huge role in how we challenge things like cancer, kidney failure and transplant surgery

I still have a terminal diagnosis and will learn the whereabouts of any cancer that remains or spreads. I don’t think it’s spread but I also don’t know

We remain very close, in love but not in a romantic way for now. Maybe the romance won’t come back, and to a large extent that’s ok. What matters now is my continued recovery and Leo succeeding and learning about himself

My speech is still affected noticeably by this but that too is gradually improving. Leo, who I’m incredibly proud of found a graduate position and I’ll miss him hugely but it’s time for him to move onto a path that will kickstart what I am certain to be a very fruitful career

It’s been about a month and ten days since radiotherapy finished and thankfully I can taste a limited range of flavours. My tongue and gums remain painful and tender but are generally improving. I still have some thick mucous caused by a lack of saliva but that too is far better

The person I helped with his depression, who I helped I helped to instil belief in themselves and their own abilities stayed by my side throughout and without him I probably wouldn’t have made it

The pain got worse after every session and for a week or so after I completed the therapy. Ensure ensured I could keep going and water was all I could drink. Everything else felt like an acid or alkaline burn

Radiotherapy was a thoroughly miserable time

I also maintained the ability to swallow. Radiation pointed at the lower part of my, generally around my pharynx and lower to my neck caused a huge burn both internally and externally. Swallowing anything was like swallowing shards of glass.

Stupidly painful

I did however hop onto a bus followed by a Piccadilly line train and a short walk to and from the hospital throughout treatment. I don’t know how but I have always been a person who will do the maximum possible despite circumstances. This is also sometimes to my detriment

Radiotherapy was awful. I lost all sense of taste after the fifth session and developed extremely thick saliva that made it especially difficult to talk. In addition I had no energy and struggled to consume calories, with 800 being the most I could manage in a day

The meeting with the doctor from the medical trial gave me hope that in fact I had longer than 12 months but I was and still am under no illusion that my life will cut short my the underlying condition and at some point cancer will get me again

I have an underlying condition caused by medication where my immune system is suppressed with tacrolimus. That makes it *fat* more likely that the cancer will spread and was the basis for the terminal diagnosis

Due to the this the tumour was allowed to grow for one and a half months longer compared to starting as originally planned

I proceeded to tell them that they would prescribe “maximum attack” radiotherapy.. deliver a standard six week in four weeks

“Yes, I guess we could do that”

Consent papers signed and we can begin the therapy. Except there was another two week delay

I got to the end of the appointment and introduced the topic that radiotherapy can be very effective against the tumour. The oncologist was looked shocked like someone was had been caught out. Let’s just say that was somewhat unnerving

“Well, yes.. I guess we could that too”

The follow up appointment with my oncologist that basically put me on a path to certain death wasn’t fun. I let them again reiterate that I was terminal; that palliative care was my best option and that was that

The initial appointment was interesting. There I learnt that actually my tumour was very treatable with radiotherapy and once completed I should come back to the experimental treatment

I did some research and learnt about a new experimental treatment for solid cancers. It’s in injection which causes the cells to die and necrosis to happen throughout the tumour. It’s been a success in doggo’s so I guess it’ll work in pups?

This was a horrible thing.. I had helped someone very special with depression, struggles at University and in the process fell in love with him. I just wanted time to see him succeed, get work in a field that he studied in and be content that he could was on a good path

Without any discussion I was put onto a palliative programme for a little radiotherapy to ease the symptoms and then, when the time was right, decline and eventually succumb to the cancer within 12 months

Radiotherapy was booked for the beginning of September which was unexpectedly cancelled. Confused, I went to an oncologist appointment where I received perhaps the worst news possible:

Cancer is aggressive, will continue to grow and radiotherapy will be largely ineffective

I had surgery, a partial glossectomy, at the end of July which was fine. A little bit painful but nothing compared to the cancer itself

I had August and September to recover which I did very well. I learnt to eat, talk and drink fairly rapidly and things were good

2024 has been a quite year for me that started with a ulcer like pain in my tongue. Unfortunately that later became cancerous and delays and frustrations with the NHS led to its growth consuming about 40% of the left side of my tongue

Radiation burn from radiotherapy on my right shoulder and lower neck

Warning: image shows a radiation burn
This is a burn from an intensive course of #radiotherapy and treatment is both delicate and painful. It is getting better, as with everything else but at a very slow pace

I’m curious about what your older Intel system could do that a newer M-based system cannot do?