I just ran a marathon

Reading Etty's last post is not easy for me. I knew that you had gone for an earlier infusion, and were not responding as quickly as you would expect, but I did not realise that you had increased neuro symptoms.  I am glad you are going to Denver this week.    If I were to be honest, it puts me in a slight panic which I have learned over the years to rationalise away with some kind of trust in medicine and doctors.  We talk too, just a little, around the edge perhaps, of the scary bits.  At times, the patient can become the comforter!
And I think of your wonderful husband.
It’s not as if Etty and I have always been close. I think as young ones at home, we irritated one another. There are 4 years between us, by the way.   I don’t really remember her to be born or much about her as a baby. Many of those moments come from pictures or the home movies Dad used to make.  One of my earliest memories specifically about Etty was when she was about 3, maybe 4, and we were still living in a housing estate in Cork city. There was a family down the road from us that intrigued me.  They went to a different school from us and I always had the vague sense that they were kind of ‘intellectual’ or something. I’m quite certain that I didn’t use that word, but I had a sense that they took the learning thing and school seriously. Perhaps, my parents can explain the origins of that notion. This is a child’s perception, you understand.  Anyway, I remember being allowed to take Etty with me to play in that family’s garden.  She had a gorgeous teddy bear coat in red and white, the kind with little pretend ears on the hood. I was so proud. I can still feel her little hand, pudgy with baby fat, in mine. I am sure I was all gushing protectivness, relishing my role as big sister for that little walk. Knowing children, it probably all fell apart once I got stuck into playing!  It took college years before our relationship has become more of a friendship ... more about that another time.
I apologise for the mixed pronouns in the above paragraphs, it’s not always clear how to go.
Anyway, I just ran a marathon ... over the last 8 days! I did my 5 mile run today in idyllic conditions (cold, bright and sunny) bringing my total mileage on this programme to 27. I have so far to go though - 8 days to run a distance I hope to do in 4 to 5 hours in June. It puts it in perspective.
I was on a slightly different route today which, for no particular reason, I ran in the opposite direction, along the East side first. It worked well. This was supposed to be a pace run, but I did not really up the tempo until half way through.  The slight climb out of the city and some mad readings on my heart monitor, kept me a little slower. Before any of you get excited about my heart monitor (Dad, this is to you especially!), it is an old, basic model.  I was also passing by a number of science buildings for the initial phase of the run and may have been picking up on esoteric devices in the vicinity. My ability to breathe lightly and easily, the absence of a pain in my chest, the regular pink/flesh colour of my extremities and a general sense of well being all reassured me that I was not having a heart attack!  And I was singing again. I did open up from the top of Kilmacud though and it was great fun.  By the way, not only was the Millenium Spire visible from the top of my route, but so too were a number of churches in the city and I could clearly see the hills beyond. I really want to know which church (assuming that it is a church) has the green dome.  And the world has clearly tilted or spun (or both) a degree or so in the last week. As I left home at 06.36 this morning, driving East, the light was already seeping through the sky.