Update: July 2026

2026 07 02

All aboard the chemo merry-go-round!

We’ve just confirmed that my chemo will start tomorrow. Gail and I will have a consultation at 11:30 with one of Garth’s medical officers to sign consent, and then it’s straight to the chemo room for between 2 and 3 hours.

As before, the cycle will be a longer session on Day 1 (tomorrow), a shorter one on Day 8 (hopefully next week Friday), and a two-week break (with “quarantine time” for about the first week of the break). All going well with blood tests, each cycle will start 3 weeks after the previous start, for a total of 6 cycles. Last year, we saw the pronounced effect of having had chemo previously, and this will probably be the same. So the whole series could take up to a month extra to complete.

The next CT scan will probably be towards the end of Cycle 3.

I’m hoping to dance as much possible during my non-quarantine times, although there will also be days of post-chemo ‘crashes’. We’ll address it all, one precious day at a time.

Thank you for riding this merry-go-round with me!

May whatever merry-go-round you are each riding, of your own, play the best possible music and not make you too dizzy!

So much love to all of you. 🌹❤️

(Photo credit: Jagoda Lalik)

 

2026 07 03

Thanks for all the lovely messages of support!

It all went well today, and the merry-go-round played good music.

And both of the women I chatted with, today, had read and enjoyed the copy of my book that’s been circulating in the chemo room!

Although the day was quite tiring, I enjoyed demolishing a huge slice of carrot cake afterwards, and am feeling fine to dance – which is great, as Sunday is the 11th World Circle Dance Day and we’ll do the three selected dances tomorrow and next Thursday.

The Carbo-Gem that I’m having is a combination of two chemos: Carboplatin and Gemcytabine. On Day 1 of each cycle, I have both together – hence the longer session – and on Day 8, only Gemcytabine. So if the blood counts from next Thursday afternoon’s blood test are high enough, I’ll have the shorter session next Friday.

As you can see from the photos, after fetching Neria from doggy daycare we stopped at the water round the corner from home, as the sunset was pretty and Neria also enjoyed being there.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

 

2026 07 10

Hi everyone –

Well, the merry-go-round did make me dizzier than I would have liked, this week! 🎠🎠

Saturday was wonderful, with lots of dancing; Sunday was fine; but Monday onwards was not great, with a post-steroid crash that lasted and lasted. (After feeling so very well, my body just wasn’t used to being zapped by all those substances!)

By yesterday, I was convinced that I needed a blood transfusion, and said so when I went to the hospital for the blood tests I needed for today’s chemo. Astonishingly, the results were really good!

They told me to test again this morning, which I did. After the usual long wait for results: still fine, with some of the levels even better than yesterday.

So we were able to do the Day 8 chemo today.

I’m still feeling wiped out (with persistent itchy skin rashes that have been around for a while now – a common side effect of both the hormone injections and the chemo). Daunting as this is, there’s nothing actually amiss.

Now begins my time of high susceptibility ... so there will be a lot of rest and no proximity to anyone other than Gail.

I’m waving to you 👋🏼 from this merry-go-round and wishing you all the best for whatever your current merry-go-round 🎠 is.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

(Collage: sunrise on chemo Day 1, by Heather; Layla – watching over me – surprised when I threw the sheet over her by mistake on getting out of bed.)

 

 2026 07 20

 

Hi everyone –

Just a quick update:

This merry-go-round is a bit glitchy – my 🎠 got stuck in the down position last week, while other people’s were throwing them all over the place!

Gail developed a horrible cold/flu just over a week ago, just when I was most susceptible, and we had to isolate in different parts of our (quite small) house. She’s a lot better now, but not fully recovered. I appreciate her superhuman efforts to keep me safe, over the past week!

I’m now out of the susceptible phase, and several of the chemo side effects have eased – notably the horrid, itchy skin rashes, for which David Nye (my integrative doctor) send me an effective medication. Relief!

The other day, I looked back at my record of Cycle 1 of this chemo in 2025, and noticed a lot of things for which this cycle is a carbon copy! (Thank goodness, I had forgotten most of the nasty ones, which I won’t describe right now.) One thing that jumped out at me was that on Day 18, a huge amount of my hair had suddenly fallen out. Today is Day 18 of Cycle 1. So I stepped into the shower to wash my hair, with gritted teeth ...

Nothing happened!!!

🌟🤸🏻‍♂️🌈🤸🏻‍♂️🌟

That’s not to say it won’t yet happen, but this is a significant difference!

Today was also my first relatively normal day in two weeks, and I was able to drive to an appointment, do some shopping, and even take Neria to the off-leash park close to us. I’m slightly tired now, but it’s “nice tired” and I think my 🎠 is getting back into gear.

May everyone’s 🎠🎠 move smoothly, too! And may you not experience a

.

Thanks to all of you for your love and support.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

Collage: Clouds and aloe, while walking with Neria: succulent in our garden; Layla using me as a mattress after we came home

2026 07 24

Hi everyone –

The merry-go-round is getting a bit wild, now!

Although I was feeling so much better, it turned out that my blood levels had other ideas.

Yesterday’s blood test, to check whether I was ready for chemo Cycle 2, showed that everything was too low – all aspects of both the red and white counts. They told me to try again this morning, to see whether or not we could go ahead.

The answer: since yesterday, some aspects (such as haemoglobin) had increased slightly, but the neutrophils aspect of my white count had actually decreased, meaning that I was susceptible again. There was no way chemo could go ahead; instead, I needed injections to boost my white blood count. They gave me the first one at CancerCare, and I must inject myself tomorrow. I’ve done these injections once before (last November), and their side effects are fairly dramatic – bone aches, fatigue, fever, etc. I have anti-inflammatories to take if I need them.

On Monday morning, I must have a blood test to tell us whether it’s chemo or a further injection. (I feel a flowchart coming on ... only joking!)

So ... no dancing tomorrow (I was hoping to be there, all pepped up with chemo steroids), but rather a quiet weekend. Perhaps I’ll devise another poll to send out (also only joking, but I did enjoy yesterday’s one – thanks to all who participated!).

With much love and appreciation, as always 🌹❤️

(Photo: Stephanie Guarini)

PS – For those who like all the details:

There was such a long queue for blood tests at Pathcare this morning that my results would arrive an hour after CancerCare needed them. I opted to try my luck at Haematology, using my ‘status’ as one of their patients, as they have a much quicker turnaround time.

While there, I was lucky enough to be able to have a quick chat with each of Danie and Sr Pat, both of whom had read my book. Danie also commiserated about how much one’s blood levels are depleted by having chemo. I so enjoyed seeing them again! 😊

 

 

Update: June 2026

2026 06 10

Hi everyone –

Yesterday’s blood test gave the go-ahead for the injection I had this morning (the sixth in the series of I-don’t-know-how-many). All going well, my next injection will be in four weeks’ time as usual.

Tomorrow is the next session of my Thursday morning circle dancing group. Dancing always energises me and I love the time we spend together there, so I’m greatly looking forward to it. 

A couple of my messages have included one of my ‘fun art’ pictures that I started doing in January (it’s a mixture of mindful art, neurographic art and Zentangle). Here’s the link to my blog about it, in case you want to see more – and please note that the bit about sending me the cost of a cup of tea, if you use one of the pieces as a greeting or similar, most definitely does not apply to my “Updates” people! (Please simply acknowledge me as the source.) I appreciate all the support you already give me.

https://yvonne-bulelwa-just-for-fun.blogspot.com/2026/04/yvonne-bulelwa-fun-art.html

Lots of love 🌹❤️

2026 06 17

Hi everyone –

(Apologies for sending this message at what is a rather late time of night in South Africa. It’s taken me a while to write it.)

Today, I had my latest CT scan in the long procession of regular scans.

I’ve been feeling well recently, and hoped that the scan would reflect this. Well, it both did and did not. (No comments about Schrödinger’s cat-scan from the peanut gallery, please! 😝 If you want to know what that means, there’s a lot of info if you google it.)

We can take today’s scan result as a score of “two-all”, which I’ll summarise in a moment.

For background, last week’s blood test showed that my tumour markers had increased quite a lot since last month, although they were still within the normal range. Garth had said that this could simply be a ‘blip’, or it could be an early indication of a change brewing, and the CT scan would give us more information and help to decide what – if anything – we needed to change.

Garth phoned me this evening with today’s results:

The two positives are that the injections have continued to help my bones to be stable and keep the pleural effusion right down.

The two components that are “escaping control – although not galloping away” (Garth’s words) are that the nodules in my lungs have increased in size and that two lesions in my liver have increased in size since the last scan, but at the same time the lesions are about 40% smaller than they were in August last year, just before we did the Carbo-Gem chemo series of mid-August 2025 to early January 2026.

So, although Garth is not yet concerned, he does not want to arrive at a point where he would suddenly be concerned. In the light of all this, he has recommended that my “holiday” from chemo should now be over. So in July, instead of the next injection, and because Carbo-Gem worked so well for me last time, we’ll start a new series of this chemo (all going well, and once the medical aid has authorised it). I’ll let you know the date, as soon as I know it.

What is encouraging is that this time round, I’m entering the chemo process in a much healthier state than last time, where pleural taps, salmonella, and the oral chemo that I couldn’t tolerate had all taken their toll. I’m hoping to be able to continue to dance fairly regularly (and to keep my morning group going if possible!), to go for walks, to drive myself around, to finish my “Funky Hats” sequel, and to spend time with people who mean a lot to me.

At the same time, I haven’t simply forgotten the low blood counts, skin rashes (although I get these with the injections as well), under-tongue ulcer (but now I know the natural remedy to take for it), neuropathy (which has just worked its way out of my feet 🙄), hair loss (I still have my favourite hats, though, plus a new one with sparkles and lights since my book launch), and cycles of low immunity.

I don’t yet know what treatment we’ll do when we finish the chemo series – we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Special appreciation to Garth for ensuring that I had the scan and the results by today, because …

Gail is flying to the UK tomorrow, for a brief visit to our family there! This is the trip that was delayed for more than a year, due to all the weird stuff that was happening with me last year. Tomorrow’s trip was almost derailed again, when Gail fell outside our house on Monday evening, and we spent more than four hours in the emergency unit at the hospital. Most of the time was spent waiting – for X-rays; doctor feedback; cleaning of grazes. (We got home just before midnight.) There was a possibility that her left hand had a fractured bone, but today the hand surgeon she consulted said this wasn’t the case and she could remove the (rather expensive) hand brace she’d had to buy that night. She’s doing much, much better now.

I’m so glad that Gail is going on this visit at last, and I hope that she and the family will have the most fantastic time together!

Lots of love 🌹❤️

So that you can see that I’m truly feeling fine, here’s a video that Gail took at circle dancing on Saturday, of us doing a dance choreographed and taught by Bernard, age 100, of the Fernhill House Care Home in Worcester, UK. It’s not specifically a circle dance, but it works well as one!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/yGeukooLeJYM4PSJ7

 

2026 06 18

 

Thanks for all your wonderful messages to both of us!

Here’s an update from Gail:

Believe it or not, this text arrived from British Airways at 01h00, just as I’d at last got to sleep!:

 

We’re sorry the BA56 on 18 Jun 2026 (19h30) JNB-LHR is cancelled. You are rebooked on BA54 19 Jun 2026 JNB 21h15 LHR 07h30. Please accept flight on {link} or call {phone number}.

 

I got back to sleep at about 02h30!

 

Have just managed to change today’s Safair flight to JHB to leaving CT tomorrow, to catch revised BA booking tomorrow night. 😅

Oh, the havoc caused by global events! And the domino effect on the family arrangements!

Anyway, I get to have a little more time with Gail before she leaves.

Much, much love and deep appreciation to all of you 🌹❤️

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: May 2026

2026 05 13

Hi everyone –

After the hectic storms that buffeted the southern and western Cape over recent days, Gail and I were relieved that our home came through it all so well, but saddened by the devastation and losses suffered by so many.

What I saw yesterday afternoon summed it up well: the road to the parking area of Sunrise Beach was under water (that little “island” on the left is actually the middle of the smaller traffic circle at the beach). So I couldn’t drive to the edge of the beach to photograph the rainbow I had spotted from Prince George’s Drive, but there it still was, over the sea. One of my main symbols of hope.

Yesterday’s blood test gave the go-ahead for today’s injection (the fifth in the series of I-don’t-know-how-many). My tumour markers were a little higher than they’ve been recently, but still well within the good range. All going well, my next injection will be in four weeks’ time as usual.

If you want to, please let me know how you are!

Lots of love 🌹❤️

2026 05 26

Hi everyone - I hope that all you are doing and being is treating you well.

Today I'm sharing with you the podcast that our journalist friend, Mariette Snyman, has recorded with me. I hope that you find it (and possibly some of her other podcasts) interesting.

(Photo: the most recent time that Gail and I saw Mariette, in 2024 in Joburg)

https://www.mariettesnyman.co.za/blog/cancer-journey-surviving-by-outgrowing-old-opinions

Lots of love 🌹❤️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Update: April 2026

2026 04 02

Hi everyone –

The books arrived in the printer’s colourful van yesterday!

Gail and I had three people from Sydney with us, to share in the excitement: my sister Rosemary and cousins Martin and Jenny Jaffe. Thanks, Rosemary, for the photos, and Martin for taking a video (from which I used a still).

Wishing those who are celebrating, Chag Pesach Sameach and Happy Easter.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

 

2026 04 15

Hi everyone –

After yesterday’s blood tests gave us the go-ahead, with good blood counts, I had my fourth monthly injection today.

The one missing part of the blood test report was the section on my tumour markers (which had vanished overnight, after briefly being included late yesterday afternoon). 

When it has been reinstated, Garth will let me know what it says.

In other news:

It was good to have Rosemary visit us, her Cape Town family, briefly from Sydney – on her way to a solo trip in Europe. She landed up staying in Cape Town longer than intended, as she wasn’t well (I guess I can best describe what she had as gastric flu) for much of her time here. She rallied in time to be on her postponed flight. Bon voyage, Rosebud!

I’m currently busy with “all things book and launch”, and feeling so appreciative that I’m able to do this! If you haven’t received a confirmation of the launch from “the world of funky hats” yesterday or today, this means that – as far as I know – you’re not intending to be at the launch. If I have missed a written or verbal confirmation from you that you do intend to be there, please put me right ASAP!

Thank you.

For the people who intend to watch from afar: I’m waiting for the Zoom link to send you, hopefully very soon.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

2026 04 20

Greetings from cold and wet Cape Town (after a phase of glorious weather)!

I’m thrilled to let you know that the report on my tumour markers was eventually reinstated. The result is really good – even lower than last month! (For those who like numbers, the level is now 12.)

Lots of love 🌹❤️

 

2026 04 21

Hi everyone – I’ve just sent out the link to see my launch online. 

If anyone wants it and hasn’t received it (via email or WhatsApp), please let me know. 🌹❤️

 

 

2026 04 26

Launched my book! 

2026 04 27

Wow.

I think I used up all my words yesterday – I’m not yet finding the words that are needed to express my appreciation of all that happened yesterday. But I’m going to give it a try.

It was fantastic to see everyone arriving yesterday, to greet as many people as possible (apologies to anyone I didn’t greet!), to experience the festive clothes and a few notably funky hats, to know that people had driven through pouring rain from near and far (including Somerset West) – and were still smiling – and to have our friend Anne from Durban with us for the weekend, specifically for my book launch.

People from all the overlapping parts of my life were there, in person or on Zoom. Family and ‘adoptive’ family; friends – from school, university, work, various organisations, circle dancing, other dancing; neighbours; doctors; also friends and family of friends!

To backtrack a little: when we started planning the launch, several people offered to help with various aspects of the logistics of the day. And help they did – above and beyond! Each person did so much to prepare before the day, and/or set up, and/or clear up afterwards, that it would take an essay just to describe their contributions, so I’m simply going to list them in alphabetical order: Anne, Gail, Gail B, Jonno, Nina, Odette, Tevya, Toni and Tricia. Thank you to all of you, from the bottom of my heart!

Anne, thank you for flying from Durban to stay with Gail and me, to help us, and to be part of it all. It was wonderful to have you here.

Odette, thank you for your thoughtful planning of our conversation and the way you facilitated it. I could not have asked for better!

How amazing to have Garth Davids, my mensch oncologist, at the launch! He was on call for the weekend, but we were blessed with nobody calling on him! He joined in some of the dancing and also managed to speak with several people. My integrative doctor, David Nye, was there with his wife, Sandi. They also joined in the dancing. It’s great to have doctors who are prepared to experience the things that give their patients joy!

Backtracking even further, the person who helped me birth the book, my editor Liz Mackenzie, was there. Liz and I have been friends since we met at high school, 55 years ago, and she has supported me throughout my cancer journey. I have always known her to be an excellent editor, and she was the only person I was prepared to have edit the book. She exceeded all my expectations – surfacing and helping me examine every layer of meaning, impact, thought and emotion. Thank you, Liz, for all of it.

We’ll soon have a link to the recording to send out, as well as an album of photos to access.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you!

Lots of love  🌹❤️

PS: About two hours after starting to write this, I think we can now say that I found some words!

 

 Update: March 2026

2026 03 16

Hi everyone –

Here’s my book!

This is the proof copy, so it’s the only one in existence thus far – I fetched it on Friday, and today we sorted out a small printing problem so that it can finally be printed! An exciting moment ...

In other news, I’ve been at 10 of the 11 Saturday circle dancing sessions since the beginning of the year, and also taught a reunion session of my Thursday morning group on 5 March. Some of us hadn’t seen each other since June last year! It was wonderful to dance with everyone again.

I’m having my next CT scan tomorrow (it’s the routine three-monthly one), and will get the results from Garth on Wednesday – will send out an update after that. I’m generally feeling fine, and hope the scan will reflect that! When I went for the pre-scan blood test this afternoon, I realised that this was the first time in a whole year that I had been away from Constantiaberg  hospital for this long! (Two days short of four weeks.)

I hope whatever scanning of aspects of your life that you’re doing, is giving you the results you’re hoping for.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

 

2026 03 18

(Collage: the first iceberg rose of the new season, in our garden today; a rose with a bee at Chart Farm; the centrepiece at our recent circle dancing reunion; my current work-in-progress fun art.)

Hi everyone – I’m thrilled to tell you that yesterday’s CT scan brought all good news at today’s consultation with Garth!

The current treatment is still holding strong, and everything is stable, with all nodules either the same size or slightly decreased, and nothing new.

The pleural effusion has decreased even further – to almost nothing. (Yay – no pleural taps!)

My blood counts are good, which meant that I could have my planned monthly injection after seeing Garth, and my tumour markers are the lowest they’ve been in two years.

I’m so glad that the scan results reflect how I’ve been feeling. (It doesn’t always happen this way, which is why I do get a bit nervous in the days leading up to scans – phew!) Your fantastic support plays a huge part in my well-being – thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lots of love 🌹❤️

Update: February 2026

2026 02 04

Hi everyone!

Thanks to good blood test results from yesterday, I was able to have my second anti-oestrogen injection today. (Actually, it’s a pair of injections, as the substance is so viscous that they split the dose in half. It’s quite something, having two nursing sisters approaching one from behind with needles, like that! 😄) All going well, my next injection(s) is in two weeks’ time. After that, they will be monthly.

I went to all five Saturday circle dancing sessions in January! I’m still pinching myself to see if this is actually happening! Thank you for egging me on, every step of the way!

Lots of love 🌹❤️

(Appreciation to Gail for the photo)

 

2026 02 10

Save the date!

We have a date for my book launch! It will be on Sunday 26 April, 14:30 to about 17h00, at the Fish Hoek Civic Hall, and you (plus whoever you wish to bring along) are invited!

There will be some talking about the book and my cancer journey, plus circle dancing and light refreshments.

If you already wish to reserve your place(s) at the launch, please email funkyhats.hope.love@gmail.com, with your name and the names of the people you’re bringing (or forward this message to them and they can reply for themselves). You are welcome at the launch, whether or not you buy a copy of the book.

For those who do want to buy the book, it will become available some time in March, in three formats: print, PDF, and epub (for use on Kindle etc). I’m happy to say that all formats will be in full colour, at reasonable prices (soon to be finalised).

Nearer the time, I’ll send out the final invitation with a last date for RSVPs.

To the people who won’t be in Cape Town at the time: we’re going to try to do a live stream. If that doesn’t work out, we’ll do a recording.

Lots of love 🌹❤️

 

 

 

2026 02 18

Hi everyone – thanks, as always, for all your support, and thanks to the people who have already reserved their places at my book launch!

Today I had my scheduled injection, which is now monthly. It followed a consultation with Garth, where he told Gail and me that yesterday's blood test showed further improvements for everything, as my levels continue to stabilise after the chemo.

I had been concerned that the pleural effusion might be coming back, so Garth referred me for a chest X-ray after the injection. His medical officer phoned a couple of hours later, to say that there is actually less effusion than the last time it was checked! This means that the slight congestion I’d wondered about was probably just a result of a side effect of this treatment, which sometimes generates mucous.

So I continue to seize the day, dancing, playing with art, and being more available to see people. And I had my first "swim" of the season yesterday – actually a short dunk at St James beach, where the tidal pool was freezing!

Garth told us that it’s usual for people to respond well to the chemo I've just had, so it turns out I’m not quite the unicorn I thought I was! But it still feels like a miracle to me!

Lots of love and appreciation 🌹❤️