All is going well so far. Unlike last time, Isita hasn’t lost weight since she came in. She also hasn’t needed any morphine or other painkillers, for the first time in more than a month. We take this as an indication that things are heading the right way and that the chemo is working. 

As I have said before we are very moved by the number of people who are praying for Isita. I managed to get to church this morning and Will, the vicar at St Matthew’s Bayswater is praying. So is Carol at St Michael’s Betchworth. My dear friend Bella has nominated Isita as the person her prayer group is praying for. Hristo and other friends in Bulgaria are lighting candles.

We have been given Zam Zam water from Makkah to go along with the Lourdes water. I’m not quite sure what to do with that, but I ‘m trying to persuade her to eat the excellent ajwa dates from Al-Medinah.

My Christian Science upbringing makes me pray for Isita as a perfect expression of God’s creation in which sin, disease and death have no place. Of course, I also find myself praying for everything to be alright, that we get the breaks we need, the tumour responds to treatment, that she is cured. And at more introspective moments, I simply ask for the strength to deal with whatever we have to deal with. It is not exactly consistent, but I doubt God minds about that.

• L