Picture taken 15 March: Nuria and me trying out the comfortable hospital bed, one day before the operation. Like me, Nuria was feeling quite at home there, and even suggested to jump from the window in order to be able to stay next to me. (Thank goodness no windows can be opened in Dutch hospitals...)

I must admit that my own bed feels better, even though it lacks these wonderful devices of lifting you up to the ceiling, folding you up like a concertina or driving you around the house. Of course these buttons and their effects were a major attraction to Nuria and Elias. To my relief, the nurses did not come in when they were trying out all technical possibilities...

Hip hip hurray, I'm home again since Monday, the first day of spring! I'm recovering at olympic speed. Had a vey encouraging talk with my gynaecologist who was genuinely impressed with the way I have responded to the various treatments.

To say the truth, I could do with a little bit of (preferably written) attention, so do drop me a line if you have time! You could use my personal gmail address, which consists of my full name with a dot in between the first and last name, followed by @gmail.com. If that doesn't work, simply use our chime address. Or send me a postcard... (Vliet 35, 2311 RD Leiden, The Netherlands)

Hi folks, just a short note to let you know I'm ok. The operation on Wednesday went well, and I'll be in hospital for another few days to recover. I'm being treated very well, have a quiet single room and already started eating light crackers and soup and the like. Am writing this on our new iPad, feel quite excited that this is possible!

The Kouwenhoven Quartet, Christmas 2010

Better late then never... this picture should have been here long ago. But I've no idea how to get it in the former message. So I use it to cheer up this one. Actually quite a rare picture to be honest, we haven't been practicing much lately... But my cello gets a lot of attention every day!

I feel as energetic as ever, and just got good news today that there were no new nasty surprises on a recent CT scan. Operation will go ahead as planned on 16 March, to get rid of a bit of unwanted material that was already visible after the last operation and did not disappear during chemo.

Thanks for keeping me in your thoughts!