I have learnt so far that steak is the cure-all, the Dead Sea brings me out in a whole host of different types of rashes, going to a Dead Sea resort doesn’t actually mean you have to go into the Dead Sea and that I really look so much better with a suntan. Look and feel better.

And that I truly love my work. Apart from the genuine belief that I make a difference, I also get to work with and meet amazing people all the time. I spent the day today at the Dead Sea with a woman who has come to support the team here short term – she worked in the same town as me in Bosnia & Hercegovina, is odd in the same way so many of us are slight misfits, and who I could talk to today about having cancer. Along with discussions about work, suntans, spa therapies and all else. I think its that so many of us in this field have lived big lives in one way or another, and therefore cancer is one of those big things – not THE big thing.

Of course, the general madness of being in many of these countries also helps; I asked the driver today if we could stop to get bread. He very kindly obliged, and after we stopped at the restaurant, the chocolate shop and the petrol station, we finally got to the bakery – you try to explain bread to an Arabic only speaker. In the spa the other day (yes, my life really is that tough) I asked the woman if I could have an extra treatment. ‘No!’ she shouts at me. ‘No, you cannot!’ she reiterates, loudly. ‘No time, no!’ she carries on. I asked her if that was a no then. She said maybe. I ended up having the extra treatment.

Today I am Sonia with a suntan, Sonia who is kicking ass running an emergency response team, Sonia who back besotted with The Man, Sonia who feels attractive today, Sonia who is immensely grateful for another amazing day at a high class resort, Sonia who has cancer but feels confident about healing it and Sonia who adores her children but is truly grateful for the break she is having from them. I have not forgotten the excruciatingly painful low of Thursday night/Friday – but I have also not forgotten the laughs and the highs from so many other days, today included.