Testing Times

The Lions lost the second Test in South Africa on Saturday. Disaster!

It looked like they were going to get a draw which would be the least they deserved until Ronan O'Numptie had a rush of blood to the heid and gave away a daft penalty after the hooter had sounded. Morne Steyn bashed it over from about half way and the series is lost.

Today was the day of my final CT scan. The one that will reveal all or hopefully nothing.

I seem to be getting better at drinking the contrast stuff and find that I'm way ahead of schedule - it was nearly finished with still half an hour to go. I had to slow down a bit.

The trouble is, that when you add this litre and a half of liquid to the litre of water you have to drink on the way in . . . . it doen't half make you burst! That's the point though. For some reason, your bladder has to be full.

The gowning ceremony was a good bit better today. The Chief Nurse of the Gown Chamber left me two, with strict instructions as to how they were to be applied. The first, as usual, goes on backsides foremost and the other goes on top, 'housecoat' style (according to the CNotGC). This is much better with zero chance of a wardrobe malfunction.

Anyway, everything goes according to plan and now it's just a case of waiting until next Tuesday for the result.

That seems a long way away and I'm counting the days already.

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It's Showtime! Not Just a Load of Bullocks!

Back in the dark days, when I had too much time to think dark thoughts, there were certain things or events that I thought I would miss due to illness, treatment or worse. One of the major events on our annual calendar is the Royal Highland Show. It's always the first day off that we schedule each year and I reckon that this could be my 35th show.

And it's today! And we're going! For the full day, as normal, 8.30am until 8.30pm. I should never have doubted it.

This is a real milestone, one that I had definitely written off for this year and it's a bit tough to keep emotions in check as we go through the gate. We're here and it's going to be great.

Now - Iain Munn can't see the attraction of the Show and thinks it's just cows and tractors and for some unknown reason, American style cattle auctions (!?!?).

So, if you're like him, let me enlighten you.

There's a huge Food Hall with lots of sampling and products to buy.

There's a shopping mall with . . . . well, everything from clothes and jewellery to furniture and carpets.

There's an outdoor leisure area - shootin' and fishin' or eatin' and drinkin'. (Try the freshly smoked Arbroath Smokies.)

There's a Forestry and Eco area - birdlife, wildlife and conservation. See the loggers climb the 90m poles or carve a golden eagle from a tree stump with a chainsaw.

There's a garden design and equipment area. Buy a shed or a patio or anything to put in either.

There's two big craft tents - full of very high quality and sometimes very high priced handmade items from wrought iron and fused glass tables to paintings and jewellery and clothes and hats and handbags and shoes and toys and . . . . the list is too extensive to mention.

There's cars and bees and goats and chickens and sheep and fruit and milk and supermarkets and horses and pipes and drums and sniffer dog displays and ferret racing and falconry and a 4x4 course.

Oh aye - and there's cows and tractors too!

And did I mention that the Queen and Princess Anne were there today too?

It's been really busy - more than 45000 people were in today and I learn later that one of the three big banks dispensed more than £1m out of its cash machine.

That can't all be going on cows and sheep can it?

It really was great to be back. We didn't stay until 8.30pm - the weather closed in so we left at 7pm. Early for us but long enough today.

Roll on next year - and make sure you don't miss it.

We'll be there on the Friday.

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Hi Ho, Hi Ho . . . . .

Being back at work hasn't been so bad.
I haven't really done anything constructive - just tidied up my email inbox and it's taken three days to get past all of the new security on my laptop. Also, I've only been in for about four hours on each of the three days so I've had a fairly gentle start. I got told I've to make an important presentation to the NHSS customer top men in a couple of weeks though. So that'll be easy!
It's been good to see everybody and everybody seems very pleased to see how well I'm looking.

Open and Shut Case

One of the benefits of having been off at this time has been that I've been able to watch the midweek afternoon games that the Lions have been playing. It's been quite good, if not spectacular rugby. On Saturday, they lost the 1st Test by 26-21. A good comeback after getting dumped on in the first half.

It's the Monday morning blues again. This time for real.
As well as the prospect of going back to work tomorrow, we're getting new windows today which means that I can't go swimming. I've been swimming just about every morning last week - it was my new routine in an effort to try to get a bit fitter and I really enjoyed it. I went to four different pools in four days and in my view, Dunbar is the best. Not least because of the hourly wave machine!
Today though, the window man cometh. It's not entirely new windows - just the bottom sashes in the three living room windows. The old ones were rotten - very rotten - and wouldn't open.
The fitter was done by lunchtime and at last, after about seventeen years, we've got windows that work. Cool. Literally.

While the window guy is busy, I get my schoolbag ready for tomorrow.
Not so cool.

Food, Glorious Food

As it's the last free day of my last full week, I take Mum out to lunch.

We go to Merryhatton Garden Centre first, because there's still a few pots to be planted up, but then go to the cafe at Fenton Barns to eat. It's quite good there although a party of eight lady golfers got in just before us so service was a bit slow. The folk that run the place are 'foodies' so things are just a wee bit different. My advice is . . .give it a try.

Digging for Victory

I've been thinking about going back to work. No, really!!
I've really been spinning it out for too long and although Dr.Shand and Dr. Shepherd both said that I should remember how ill I had been while in hospital and that I was entitled to some 'me' time, I feel that I'm ready to go back. So I've decided - it'll be next Tuesday, the 23rd, five months after diagnosis. That's plenty long enough. I must admit, it's tempting to stay off for longer but I've got to get back into some sort of routine. It's a pity the final CT scan and result won't be done by then but the scan's not been scheduled until 30 June so that's too far away. If the scan shows that I need more chemo then we'll deal with that issue at the time.
My manager, Johnny and Lisa from HR are very supportive and I'll be going back on a phased return.
10-4 for only three days in the first week.

So . . . . better get the garden sorted!
The veg patch is looking quite good and is stocked with carrots, cabbage, onions, beetroot, peas, beans, pak-choi, turnip and radish. Oh aye - and there's tatties in the sacks. It's just like The Good Life!
My time on the skive han't been entirely wasted.

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Still on the Right Lines

A week on from the last clinic and here we go again - back to WGH but this time it's to see Dr. Shand in the GI clinic.
Same routine though - everything's looking good and my weight's pretty much back to normal and the chemo seems to be keeping my UC in check, for the moment at least. The plan for that is still to be decided because he explains that it's possible that the chemo may make some longer term physiological changes and that the UC may be better in the future. We'll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, some new tablets are to be prescribed - DEFINITELY no more azathioprine!!
Once again we chat about what might have been if I had come off them earlier but hindsight's a wonderful thing so there's no point in looking back - just forward to being better.
I'm even spared a blood test today!

With all of that good news and good will, we decide to spend the afternoon in Edinburgh. It's in the paper today that the first of the new tram tracks has been laid. This must be good news for the citizens of Edinburgh because the whole place is a mess at the moment. Roll on 2011 when it's supposed to be finished (if there are no more delays and nobody goes bankrupt) and then maybe you'll be able to turn a corner without the road being closed. The wee woman who speaks on our new Sat-Nav has a sore throat because she always has to tell us about one problem or another!

Dr Davies, I Presume - Wrong!

Today;s the day to go to what will be a regular haematology clinic and to meet Dr. Davies for the first time. He's been on a six month sabbatical to Australia which is why Dr. Farquharson was looking after me.
However, when my name gets called it's a lady's voice and even though I've never met him, I was pretty sure Dr. Davies was a bloke. Sure enough, this was Dr. Shepherd but there's no need to worry - she knows all about me. I seem to be quite famous in the cancer departments of WGH!
There's not much information for her to pass on to me though because I haven't had any scans or anything since chemo stopped. She checks me all over and asks the usual questions but everything's still positive so the next step will be a CT scan as planned. There's not much to add really. It's all routine - keep taking the tablets and keep getting better.