Two weeks ago, Merlin went out in the afternoon, and that was the last we’ve seen of him. We are devastated. We got him to take distract me whilst I waited between tests and results and then further down the road, treatment. It worked. He was such a wonderful, friendly, sparky cat.

We have leafletted, put posters up and rang round all the vets, but no one has seen him.

We miss him so much.

Leaving a Cat Sitter in charge of Meg and Mog, and instructions to let us know if Merlin turned up, we spent a week in Tynemouth with my family enjoying the last of the school holidays. We had a great time, I managed a couple of runs, lots of walks and we also did plenty paddling in the sea. Ross seemed to forgot that Tynemouth was beside the North Sea, and decided to take the bairns swimming in Cullercoats Bay. It was very cold, but they really enjoyed it. (Crazy people.)

We caught up with all the important people we haven’t seen since I was last up just after my diagnosis. It’s interesting how different people react and deal with my diagnosis in different ways. For example, some people will ask how my treatment is going, how I’m feeling, what the next step is, etc. Whilst others just ignore it completely. I know it’s difficult, but it just goes to show that there is no right and wrong in how anyone deals with things. Everyone just does the best they can to get on with it.

We were hoping to have Merlin home by the time we got back, but sadly not. Where are you Merlin?