Where Is Anne Frank? Animated film brings Holocaust diary to life

From jewishnews.timesofisrael.com

Oscar-nominated director Ari Folman's latest work attempts to reclaim the legacy of teenage diarist for a new generation

A disoriented teenage girl lies on Anne Frank’s bed as people swarm the family house. But these people are not Nazis; they’re modern-day tourists. And the girl on the bed isn’t Anne, but Kitty – the imaginary friend to whom she addressed her now world-famous diary.

Magically resurrected from the page and transported into modern-day Europe, Kitty is appalled by how society has fetishised her best friend, hawking cheap merchandise and endless inaccurate reinterpretations of her words. Eventually she takes it upon herself to reclaim Anne’s legacy by any means.

This is the bold reimagining of Anne Frank’s story found in the new animated film Where is Anne Frank, which premiered last week at the Cannes Film Festival. 

The film was made by acclaimed Israeli director Ari Folman, best known for his 2008 Oscar-nominated animated documentary hybrid Waltz With Bashir about the lasting memories of Israel’s first Lebanon War.

Now Folman has tackled what many consider the sacred text of the Holocaust — rewriting Anne Frank in order to interpret her true lasting legacy.

Made in partnership with the Anne Frank Fonds, the Swiss non-profit founded by Anne’s father, Otto, that holds the copyright to her diary, the film is aimed at younger audiences.

But it also enters surprising political territory, as Kitty comes to understand Europe’s modern-day immigration crisis and begins to consciously relate the continent’s millions of asylum seekers to Anne’s story.

“The main goal of the film is to help young audiences today connect with Anne Frank’s story in the way previous generations connected with the diary,” said Yves Kugelmann, a member of the Fonds board and a key producer of the film.

“That’s mostly how I look at the film. If this objective is achieved, then it’s a success.”

A fiery redhead with rosy cheekbones, Kitty is not just a silent observer – she speaks her mind, loudly, about the creeping commercialisation of her best friend as a brand.

“Anne did not write this diary so that you can worship her,” she tells Dutch police in a climactic scene, following an incident in which she heckles a stage production of the diary. “Or name bridges and schools and theatres and train stations after her.”

Kitty also begins dating a boy who pickpockets tourists at the Anne Frank House and later becomes a pro-immigration activist.

As he did with Waltz With Bashir, Folman blends spectacular fantasy sequences with a factually grounded narrative. 

Kitty’s journey through 2021 Amsterdam and a meticulously detailed Anne Frank House is paired with allusions to Greek mythology and the Roman Empire, both of which fascinated Anne. 

In flashbacks, the Nazis are portrayed as robot-like ghouls wearing death masks, patrolling the streets of Amsterdam with neither hate nor pity for the people they hunt and victimise – a reference to how Anne herself never met a Nazi prior to her capture and wrote about how she had trouble visualising them.

Folman told The Hollywood Reporter that his own mother, a Holocaust survivor from Lodz, Poland, was eager for him to take the project.

“I actually didn’t want to do it at all,” Folman said. “I thought there were too many adaptations and she was too iconic. But I read the diary again, the first time since I was a teenager, and I went to visit my mother (both my parents were Holocaust survivors).

She said: ‘Look, we never interfered in your choices, but if you don’t take this project, I will die over the weekend; you can come and collect my body on Sunday. But if you do it, I will stay around until the premiere.’”

While doing research for the project: His parents arrived in Auschwitz the same week as Anne’s parents, Otto and Edith.

Although Kitty continually decries the endless modern-day reinterpretations of Anne’s story that exist to burnish her status as a symbol rather than a person, it could be argued that the film is another such effort, keen on drawing simplistic parallels between the Holocaust and the modern refugee crisis.

The film differs from the text in other ways. Although Anne’s diary contains a good deal of humour, the film has at least one character in distress in every scene, be it in modern-day Amsterdam or during the Holocaust. 

Where Is Anne Frank also alleges, without proof, that Auguste van Pels, who also hid with the Franks, concealed an expensive vase in the house, conceivably to avoid having to sell it for food. But then Folman’s vision for the film was never about merely relaying the facts of the story.

“I was looking for a new dimension, a new way to tell the story,” he said. “And I tried to figure out how to bring it to the youngest audience I could. And when you start a movie with a miracle, like with this creation of Kitty, you build the fairytale.”

Folman also collaborated with the Anne Frank Fonds on a graphic novel adaptation of Anne’s diary, illustrated by David Polonsky and published in 2017. 

The film and the book will be part of a new educational package the Fonds will share with hundreds of schools worldwide to which it provides Holocaust-education programmes and materials.  

In keeping with the charter of the non-profit and Otto Frank’s wishes that none of the Fonds projects be commercial, any proceeds from the film will go to supporting the organisation’s work, which includes many educational programmes and projects with UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children’s welfare, Kugelmann said. 

In Kitty, the project hopes it has found its newest ambassador to a younger generation – straight from the 80-year-old pages of Anne’s diary.

https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/where-is-anne-frank-animated-film-brings-holocaust-diary-to-life/

The appeal of diaries and autobiographies

From thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views

By Shihab Sarkar

The style of conveying the Gregorian New Year's greetings has continued to change radically in the 20th century. Certain popular trends became prominent in the years in the decade of the 1970s. The changed vogue had replaced bouquets of fresh flowers in the morning kept on one's door. Books also no longer remained an appropriate New Year's gift. In place of these 'obsolete' items, the objects which made spectacular entry into public life were lavishly printed 12-page photograph or painting-based calendars --- and the equally expensive diaries. Both the gifts came from single companies. The calendars were regarded as a highly useful item. But when it came to the diaries, a debate could well have warranted to be sparked between those backing the usefulness of the deluxe diaries, their first few pages filled with assorted data and information, and those opposing. The latter would place their arguments saying when the educated people have veritably stopped reading, presenting them with diaries was sheer wastage of a company's money.

Surprisingly, and to the distress of consummately educated persons, the observations proved true. The diaries, finally, would end up being university and college students' class-note taking exercise books. Youth has always been considered the ideal time for keeping diaries. Although a major segment of the entries into the pages of diaries dealt with romantic broodings, lots of others used to keep diaries on serious happenings in a country. Personal or family events would also comprise a significant portion of the day-to-day chronicles. Dozens of celebrities in different areas of activities at some time of their careers enjoyed added reputation for their diaries. Some of these serially recorded accounts of their lives came to light posthumously. The most notable of them published in the sub-continent is, indisputably, 'The Osomapto Atmojiboni' (The Unfinished Memoirs) by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib wrote another autobiography titled 'Karagarer Rojnamcha' (Prison Diaries). It chronicles his life in different jails in the then East Pakistan as a political prisoner. As a born leader, Sheikh Mujib's couldn't remain a purely solitary life. Surrounded by other political leaders of his time, Bangabandhu was able to turn his prison wards into the platforms of different political struggles. The dominant of them was his unflinching mission for attaining self-rule for the then Pakistan's eastern wing, which later emerged as independent Bangladesh under his heroic leadership.

Politicians, statesmen, philosophers and social thinkers have kept diaries in different ages. In the modern age, viz. the 20th century, the world was gifted with several diaries in book forms and autobiographical works. They include the 'Long Walk to Freedom' by Nelson Mandela, 'Dreams from My Father', by Barak Obama, 'Wings of Fire' by A P J Abdul Kalam, former Indian President and scientist, and many others. These were preceded notably by 'Toward Freedom' authored by Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the leaders of the sub-continent's independence from British rule, 'An American Life' by former US President Ronald Reagan. Despite being a portrayal of the socio-political and intellectual state of India in the early 20th century, 'Autobiography of an Unknown Indian' by the Kolkala-based Bengalee intellectual Nirod C. Chowdhury, also deserves a distinctive place among these documentation works.

Hundreds of educated ordinary people nurture the habit of keeping a diary. These people mostly limit themselves to the circles of family, relatives and friends. Before going to bed, they would record in writing what had happened to them during the day. This practice pays off if the persons concerned are in need of knowing which particular person visited his home on a particular date. They can find the names of certain medicines written on a particular page of the diary. An interesting feature of keeping a diary is many people's entry for a particular day comprises just one sentence --- 'Nothing remarkable occurred today.' The opposite also occurs. Think of the days of the 1969 mass upsurge or other turbulent and historic days of the country like the 7th March in 1971, the great day of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib's watershed speech at the then Race Course Ground. Other equally important national days that deserve to be recorded in diaries include the 25th March,1971; the start of genocide by the occupation army in East Bengal; the 9-month reign of terror in this land, then already called Bangladesh; the formation of the government-in-exile at Baidyanathtola, later named Mujib Nagar; the operations of the Freedom Fighters; the victory of the Allied Forces, comprising the Freedom Fighters and the Indian Army, on 16th December, 1971; the formal surrender of the defeated Pakistan Army at Race Course on 16th December and countless wartime events.

Jahanara Imam, then a teacher at the Teachers Training College in Dhaka, had started keeping a diary after the day his two sons joined the Liberation War. One of them embraced martyrdom on the front. The mother shed tears in silence; but she remained undaunted by continuing her diary keeping, recording the major events centring round the Liberation War in East Bengal. Jahanara Imam's diary came out as a complete book in independent Bangladesh. It has sold hundreds of copies over the last forty-five years. The printed diary has been recognised as one of the most authentic collections of the chronicles of the happenings in Bangladesh, Dhaka in particular.

In the late1940s Tajuddin Ahmad, a young activist of Awami League, began writing a diary. In it he would record in detail the socio-political developments that took place in the state of Pakistan, newly created on the so-called two-nation theory. From the very start of the Bangla Language Movement in Dhaka in 1948, which took a decisive form on 21st February in 1952, Tajuddin got himself engaged in the movement demanding Bangla be a state language of Pakistan. The emerging leader used to note down almost all the events related to the Language Movement which left far-reaching impacts on the consolidation of Bengali nationalism and the 6-point demand, both spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. For his active role in all the nationalistic movements, Tajuddin Ahmad was picked by the party leaders as the Prime Minister of the Provisional Bangladesh Government at Mujib Nagar on April 17, 1971. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was declared as the President of the country in his absence.  He was arrested by the Pakistan army on 25th March after his formal declaration of independence and taken to West Pakistan.

After the independence of Bangladesh, the diary of Tajuddin Ahmad emerged as an authentic source for researches and lengthy discourses dealing with the political and socio-cultural movements in East Bengal leading to the start of the independence struggle. Diaries written in countries under the siege of enemy forces, like during the World War-II, were later emerged as highly authentic records of physical and mental ordeals endured by their authors. Although written by the adolescent Dutch girl Anne Frank while in hiding to escape Nazi persecution of her family, her 2-year diary became an extraordinary record of wartime trauma.

A similar piece of WW-II related writing is considered an autobiographical classic. Called 'The Pianist', it presents the nightmare-haunted life of a Polish-Jewish pianist and composer in Warsaw in occupied Poland during WW-II. While dealing with diaries, they inevitably bring to mind a number of autobiographies. Due to their not being written chronologically, these works are not commonly viewed as diaries. In a sense, they are set against a normally wide backdrop. Their protagonists vary, amazingly, in their identity. Thus the autobiographical works of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf', Agatha Christie's 'Secret Notebooks', Ernest Hemingway's 'A Moveable Feast' and Jean Paul Sartre's 'Words' on the one hand, and 'Baburnama', the autobiography of the founder of the Mughal Empire --- Zahir ud-Din Babur, 'The Greatest: My Own Story' by Mohammad Ali, 'Moonwalk' by stellar singer Michael Johnson or 'The Autobiography of Malcom X' keep the true readers equally spellbound. It's saddening to note that keeping a diary is fast becoming an out-of-vogue trend. In fact, the educated people, even those with a flair for writing, feel tired when asked to write something of their own choice. But still there could be rays of hope flickering somewhere. Optimists firmly believe that individuals living in far-flung corners of the pandemic-plagued world must be jotting down their traumatic times in one or another form of autobiographical notes.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/views/the-appeal-of-diaries-and-autobiographies-1626363415

How to Journal: 6 Proven Methods to Help You Get Started

From yourmoneygeek.com

Journaling is at the top of many self-care lists, and for good reason. Getting your thoughts out on paper can do wonders for your mental health and help you stay organized.

Learning how to journal isn’t always as simple as it seems, though. To get started, you will need to identify your reasons for starting a journal and what you hope to accomplish during your journey.

People keep journals for almost anything you can think of. The most common reasons for journaling are self-care, self-discovery, and memory keeping, but people also keep journals to keep track of their ideas and progress.

People use art journals to sketch out painting ideas, travel journals to memorialize their adventures, food journals to keep track of their diets, and various other journals for many reasons. Many people often keep more than one type of journal and use different ones for different needs.

One of the most common types of journals, and one that has hit the mainstream in a big way, is a bullet journal.

What is a Bullet Journal?

A bullet journal is designed to be a cross between your typical journal and a planner. While a standard journal is a book that contains lined pages for writing, a bullet journal contains pages filled with tiny dots, or bullets, arranged in a grid.

The point of a bullet journal is that users can design it to be whatever they want it to be. The grid layout makes it easy to draw out rectangles for planners, squares for checklists, and anything else you might need.

How Do I Use a Bullet Journal?

A bullet journal requires some creativity. The first step to creating your perfect bullet journal is to know what you want to get out of it. Are you using it for note-taking and planning? Do you want to have a section set aside for a daily food diary? Do you need space for a to-do list?

The advantage of a bullet journal is that you get to design your journal pages to meet any need that you want. The blank pages are blank slates, just waiting for you to draw out the perfect page for your journal entries.

What Other Types of Journals are There?

Bullet journals aren’t for everyone. Some folks prefer to keep their planners and journals separate, and others don’t want to design their own journals. The great thing about journaling is that there is something available to meet everyone’s needs.

If you want to keep a journal to sketch out art ideas or jot down your creative thoughts, you can get an art journal. Like a sketch pad, these journals have blank pages that let you use the space however you deem fit. The pages in an art journal are generally a little thicker, which allows you to experiment with mixed media art right in the journal without destroying the pages.

There are also traditional journals filled with lined pages. These journals are designed for writing, but you can use them to write whatever you want. A general, lined journal is an all-purpose journal. You can use it to write your thoughts and feelings, for mindfulness, to practice expressive writing, or even to complete writing exercises. It’s intended to be a one-size-fits-all journal that meets most people’s needs.

However, many people want a journal that’s designed specifically for a specific topic. If this describes you, you’re in luck because there are many journals available for various topics. Usually, these journals also include short prompts and writing ideas related to the topic.

You can get a gratitude journal that prompts you to write things you are thankful for, a travel journal that prompts you to make lists of your bucket list destinations, a dream journal that helps you remember to write down your nightly adventures, or a food journal that helps you count calories or keep track of reactions.

These specific journals are designed to inspire you to write about the most important topics to you. Everyone’s reasons for keeping a journal are different, and the different types of journals help address these different needs.

How Do I Start Writing a Journal?

Learning how to journal isn’t as easy as it seems. It sounds simple to grab a journal and start writing, but it’s not that easy.

The first step is choosing the journal that’s right for you. Determine why you wanted to journal in the first place and get a journal designed for that specific need. If you aren’t sure, you can go with the traditional lined journal and start from there. You can even get started with a simple notebook. All you need to journal your thoughts is pen and paper. However, choosing a journal that speaks to you will motivate you to write in it.

The next step is to make journaling a habit. Journal every day, even if just for five minutes. The important thing is that you write something down, no matter what it is or how trivial it seems. Getting into the practice of picking up your journal first thing in the morning will help you create a daily journaling habit. Building this habit is key to learning how to journal.

What Should I Write in My Journal?

Your fancy new leather-bound journal just arrived at your front door. You rip open the box and excitedly pull it out, then head to your cosy writing alcove. With pen in hand, you open your journal to the first page and put pen to paper.

Nothing happens. Your mind is blank. You’d think that ideas would flow through you, but you’re stuck. What should you write?

Here are a few ideas and journaling tips that will help you get started.

Brain Dump

Start with a simple brain dump. Transfer all of the information from your brain into your journal. Not only will this help you untangle your mind, but it will also give you a starting point for your journaling adventure. Use it to create your to-do list, jot down important tasks, and remember important dates.

Brain dumps are great tools for organizing your thoughts and clearing your mind of clutter. If you are journaling to improve your productivity, this might be a great way to start.

Self-Care

Journaling for self-care can help you feel better about yourself and your situation. It can make you happier and lift your spirits to put you in a better mood. But on the other end of the spectrum, it can also help you explore any negative thoughts you have and even help you sort through past trauma.

When journaling for self-care, try starting with gratitude. Write down three things you are thankful for. You might be surprised to find that simply acknowledging the good things you have in your life and writing them down can do wonders for your well-being. Next, set intentions for how you want your day to go. Follow up at the end of the day by reflecting upon the things you’ve accomplished.

After you’ve gotten comfortable addressing the positive parts of your life, you can explore journaling for cathartic reasons. That is still self-care, but now we dive into the negative emotions we experience and maybe even reflect upon traumatic experiences. Write down your thoughts, even the negative ones, and explore the reasons why you have them.

Face your inner critic and be honest with yourself about why you feel the way you do. Being mindful of your negative thoughts and emotions can help you overcome them, and writing them down in a journal is a great way to do that.

Free Writing

Freewriting is an entirely different type of journaling experience.  It’s the process of putting pen to paper and writing whatever pops into your head, whether it be a story idea, a to-do list, how you feel, or anything else. In short, it’s writing directly from a stream of consciousness.

Journal writing doesn’t have to have any structure to it at all. When you are freewriting, don’t worry about grammar, coherent thoughts, or that you are jumping from one topic to another without any transitions. Let the words flow through you however they choose to. You may be surprised by what you come up with.

Journal Prompts

Sometimes it’s hard to come up with your journaling ideas. If that’s the case, consider using journaling prompts. Prompts are short questions designed to give you a little push in a particular direction to help you start writing.

There are all sorts of journal prompts available. Some are designed for self-reflection, and others are made to help you express yourself. Others still are just silly ideas designed to make journal writing fun. Many ask you to write a letter to your former self at a certain age or to describe an event that happened at a given time.

Some make you think about the world in different ways, asking you to use a different sense to experience the world, like what does the colour red feel like? You can purchase a list of prompts on places like Etsy and then write the answers in your journal each day.

Self-Discovery

Although journal prompts can help with self-discovery, you don’t need to use them. Many people use their journals for introspection and personal growth. Finding yourself is a huge part of journaling, whether that be discovering what you are passionate about, identifying the root of your fears or anxiety, or understanding why you behave the way you do in certain situations.

Writing out your thoughts, feelings, and emotions when they are fresh can give you deep insight into your psyche and help you discover who you are.

Creative Writing

Journaling can be a great way to enhance your creative writing skills. Use the pages to write a poem, start a story, or design your characters. The pages of a journal are a blank slate that you can use to write down all of your story starters and ideas!

If you are having trouble starting, you can use creative writing prompts. Like journal prompts, these are designed to give you a little boost and help you get started. But creative writing prompts are designed for fiction, whereas journaling prompts tend to be questions about yourself. Either way, using a prompt is a great way to get your creative juices flowing.

What is the Difference Between a Journal and a Diary?

There is no official difference between a diary and a journal. In my opinion, a diary is a specific type of journal, one that is generally used for memory keeping. Diary entries usually outline specific events that happened. A food diary outlines the specific things that a person ate, and a traditional diary is a memoir. However, this definition is subjective, and many people use the two terms interchangeably.

Build Your Journaling Habit!

Now that you know how to journal, it’s time to make it a habit. Make journaling part of your daily ritual. Write every day to build it into a routine and make it become second nature to you. You will be amazed at how much better you feel about yourself and your life when you start journaling every day. So what are you waiting for? Grab your journal and start writing!

https://yourmoneygeek.com/how-to-journal/

A cancer diary: Up to date without a conclusion

From edp24.co.uk

Back in 2019, north Norfolk photojournalist Maurice Gray shared his cancer diary with us.

Three years on from his original diagnosis, he’s been bringing us up to date with a series of features about his treatment for the ‘big C’. 

I am writing this instalment in my diary while having treatment, in the Weybourne Day Unit, at the Colney Centre at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, which brings me to the end of the first year of my ‘maintenance’, two-year planned programme. (It sounds mechanical!).  

I will then be booked for a scan to see how I am getting on and the results will determine my next year of treatment. 

I have kept an up-to-date diary while receiving my treatment after being diagnosed just over three years ago and kept as much detail, from day to day, as I could.  

Maurice Gray, who has been sharing his diary from his cancer treatment with us  Credit: Maurice Gray

With my wife, Margaret, we were determined to fight cancer from the time we contacted our GP, who spotted the signs while we sat in his surgery thinking that I must have a bad cold that brought out lumps in my neck and groin.  

But due to our GP’s vigilance, he was looking for more serious symptoms. “I need some blood”, he said (I thought, ‘don’t we all’), a sample he explained and added: “I’m making an appointment for an X-ray tomorrow”. 

My wife and I looked at each other saying, “Do you think it’s something more serious?”  

“Yes”, he said while tapping on his computer keys, then took a sample of my blood from my arm saying: “I’ve made appointments for an X-ray for you to go to Cromer hospital tomorrow.”  

Wow, we thought then, what’s next? 

An appointment came within days to be seen by an ENT (ear, nose and throat) consultant surgeon, and after examination, within 20 minutes a biopsy was taken.

The diagnosis eventually came back as Non-Hodgkin Follicular Lymphoma, Stage 3 Grade 2. Difficult to remember, but it’s a ‘bloody’ cancer. 

I was then referred to the fantastic haematology team in the Colney Centre where The Professor explained the chemotherapy suitable for me, to control the cancer.  

He mentioned that this particular cancer cannot be completely cured and would be likely to come back (a worrying thought). But he said: ‘If you don’t have treatment now the situation would be very serious.” 

Anyway, we logged everything, including the helpful and kind reception staff, nurses caring with a smile, doctors, consultants, surgeons, volunteers, and diagnostic staff who are all so caring too and devoted to their professions. 

We noted everything we experienced, as well as that of others in similar situations, finding those who were more than willing to explain how they coped, family and friends. 

We have made many visits to the Colney Centre, Weybourne Day Unit attached to one of the best hospitals, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, famous for its care, teaching and team work. It’s almost becoming a family on first name terms. 

During the three years, we met so many people, patients’ volunteers, doctors and we are both so very grateful to them all, including the hospital’s communications team headed by Janice. A big thank you for all their help. 

We also thank the EDP and Evening News for allowing us to publish our experiences during treatment as well as mentioning to readers and encouraging them to get checked out if they’re concerned about feeling ill and/or find any lumps and bumps. to contact their GP or medical centre as soon as possible because it saves lives.  

We have met lovely people, but in some cases, sadly their treatment came too late. That is why our gratitude extends to a very high level to all medical people involved in my care, keeping up with the hurdles but not jumping them: consultants, doctors, nurses, laboratory personnel, chemists, those who deal with diagnostic imaging, secretaries who work their fingers off tapping the keys and solving problems, therapists, volunteers and many more personnel who work on the front line and often behind the scenes (have I missed anyone)? They all work very hard. 

We are very fortunate to have our NHS, thank goodness. I understand that the cost of my treatment to the NHS to date is well over £20,000, and rising. 

While being treated, during a period of three years, I said I would record as many procedures and conversations as I could and do some research about cancer and the great deal of information that comes out.  

Some stated very strongly about various suggestions, such as laughter producing ‘endorphins’ from the human brain, a substance very much like morphine - the body’s own type of anaesthesia/relaxant which helps human beings to sustain pain. 

There has also been research into the effect of intensive states of depression, of brief anger and/or fear on cancer. And there has also been research into the impact of creativity and how having hope, faith and love can contribute towards healing and wellbeing. 

A positive outlook is so important. So, go for laughter. Yet another good tip is that as we become older the memories seem to get lost, but we discovered by ‘humming’ favourite music/songs, once that settles in the brain, lyrics or words will come back. It could also help to avoid dementia and/or memory loss. 

So keep up the laughter and humming, of course!  

We picked up more good tips. For example exercise (not too heavy) is important and cutting down on the booze, which does not go well with medications.  

While using a bath or shower regularly, for hygienic reasons, you can exercise at the same time with just a single towel. Using both hands, after stepping out of the bath, hold on to each end of the towel and pull tight while drying back, front, and under the arches! 

We also mentioned a helping hand by using olive oil, cider vinegar and honey and don’t forget to eat  fresh fruit and vegetables and drink plenty of water. 

Here are two things to consider. Firstly chemotherapy. I had to accept that what goes in has to come out in some sort of way or other, but, once the cannula pumps the cocktail medications through the veins, which travel all round the body including the head and brain, this affects that area and I for one have experienced scrambled brain commonly known as ‘chemo brain’. 

Also the treatments often make me ‘pee ‘more, so I am always on the lookout for the vacant signs or find an alternative! 

I think by doing all of these things, it helped, along with my treatment, to keep me on the planet! And, Id like to give a big loving thank you to my wife, Margaret, who has certainly helped to keep me going, whilst continuing to deal with her own medical problem: an undiagnosed bone disease in her sacrum, complete with a large tumour on the inside of her sacrum, christened Charlie.  

To date, she is still undiagnosed and has to be scanned regularly to check on the condition.  

However, she continues, in spite of the pain, to carry on as normal and certainly looks after me. What a wonderful ‘nurse’ she is. 

Although cancers seem to get at us, as well as the plagues that are nibbling at us all causing worrying times, there are various improved equipment and better diagnostic techniques nowadays.  

Especially for checking and treating prostrate problems, which are less intrusive. But it is very important to check, with the GP, if in doubt.  

For the ladies, breast screening is more refined now and less uncomfortable. More procedures are quite simple and the robotic systems are taking over. 

All of us must press on, laughing and humming which keeps our endorphins going and throws some determination and creativity in. 

A very big thank you to all the haematology team who have looked after me, and I will be back later this year with the outcome of my scan after my first year of my two-year planned maintenance treatment. Fingers crossed it will be a good result. 

Bye for now! 

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/maurice-gray-cancer-diary-part-9-8132206