Harvest Festival postponed…

If you’ve been following this blog, then you might be expecting an update on how the stem cell treatment is going. Unfortunately, the test results from the last cycle of induction chemo and the bone marrow biopsy showed an increase in the hostile Myeloma cells. This means that I have not been able to progress to the stem cell treatment at this stage.
After a break from chemo and also a further operation on my spine to fix another dodgy vertebra, today Tuesday 28th October is the start of my new ‘consolidation’ phase of chemotherapy. This brings a new and more sophisticated drug into the battle: Velcade® or bortezomib to give its generic name. This is given by injection at hospital four times in each three week chemo cycle, in combination with cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone in tablet form and a selection of other tablets to combat side effects etc. Normal treatment is 4-6 three-week cycles. If my response to this VCD chemotherapy is good, then I can progress to the stem cell treatment as previously described. The fight against cancer is a long one, but I have not suffered too badly so far with side effects from the chemotherapy…
I’d like to say a big thank you to all friends, colleagues and customers from around the world for their support and kind words through this difficult period, as well as for the numerous generous donations to my charity appeal for Myeloma UK at www.JustGiving.com/Richard-Ednay. This is now over 75% of the way to meeting my target of raising £10,000 for this excellent charity.
We are also very pleased with, and proud of, the care I have had from our National Health Service in the UK and their wonderful staff. This means that all of my healthcare has been delivered at no personal cost.

OTT Update
I have been working from home and we are getting on with converting CONE from a live course to an on-line certification programme. There is a lot of work involved in doing this and getting it right, to the very high standards that our customers around the world expect from OTT. We anticipate it will be running by the middle of 2015.
It is also good to see our other certification programmes (CFCE, CONA etc.) being run under licence by our partners in the UK, USA and Australia; and possibilities for other territories too.
I have also completed a couple of consultancy projects and have some ongoing consultancy work.
I am following the developments with the various standards bodies remotely and I wish everyone at the upcoming IEC General Meeting in Tokyo a productive and enjoyable meeting. Thanks also to Mike Gilmore of the FIA for stepping in to fill the Chairman’s role of the BSI committees GEL86 and GEL86/3.