After four cycles a scan (on 30 April 2009 ) showed that it was working so I had another four cycles.
A CT scan on 21 July 2009 was not good – the treatment had stopped working again.
On 14 September 2009 it was suggested that I start a course with just the standard chemotherapy irinotecan but after four cycles a CT scan showed that it was having no effect and I stopped having any treatment on 16th December 2009.
I am writing this on 23rd May 2010 and have had no treatment since December 2009. I have had some ups and downs since then – most notably I have learned not to over exert myself physically. The numbness in my hands and feet (due to the many infusions of the dreaded oxaliplatin) has spread to my mouth which means that I am unable to enjoy much food.
However, during the last three weeks I have felt much better! As long as I pace myself and find things to do and occupy my mind I am able to go into Yeovil to do a little shopping and able to do some chores around the house such as ironing and dish washing. Jane and I have booked a holiday with our two daughters and four grand-daughters on the Isle of Wight at the end of August. Who knows?
I was diagnosed with terminal cancer three years ago and have lived to see the result of the 2010 general election!  Mike Edwards 23 May 2010.  
Addendum on 6th June 2010.
In all of the above I have forgotten to comment on my many, many visits to the Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Douglas Macmillan Oncology Unit.
These visits on some occasions required me to sit with an intravenous drip for longer than four hours. There is a routine that patients usually have to go through. On entering the hospital the first place to go is to the blood test department. Here you will be given priority ( you can jump the queue ) and you then take the phials of blood to the oncology department where they are taken quickly to the analysis laboratory. This is necessary because chemotherapy interferes with the ability of the blood cells to divide and you may not be given any further treatment until the blood count has recovered. It will usually take at least an hour before the results are sent through to the oncology doctor.
Update on 31st July 2010
On June 28th I visited the oncologist and she agreed that I should restart treatment. It would be a course of capecitabine ( orally taken tablets ) and I started on the 5th of July.
Soon after this, on 12th July, I had  a CT scan .The side effects have so far been minimal, but when I went to see the doctor on 27th July she informed me that the CT scan showed that during the 7 months of no treatment the tumour  in the lining of my stomach had grown as had that in my lungs. The cancer has also spread to my liver. I can only hope that the capecitabine works. I am now on the second cycle.
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