PET scan done

I continue to be impressed by the speed of our national health service here in the UK when you have a really critical, and somewhat time dependant, illness. Today I was in Aberdeen getting my PET scan done (this is the only scanner in Scotland) from a diagnosis which we just got on Thursday last week. I think I was slotted in over lunchtime, in reality due to the good work of Dr Yulle and her secretary. So it will take about a week for the results to be assembled, looked at by the PET experts, sent back to London for double check and then ready for a discussion with my team in the Edinburgh cancer centre on Thursday 7th december. I guess in the USA you may get things quicker that than but I feel comfortable with the checking here as we did get a mistaken all clear last time, which was correctly caught by the experts. So by the end of next week we will know if I am heading down path A (radiotherapy to the affected node, easy street) or path B (stem cell replacement plus maximum chemo, opposite of easy street). That will be a big day in the whole story and I think Lee wants to come along as it is such a critical discussion.

Until then there is nothing I can do, I feel fine and I have a lot of stuff to sort out so I am heading off to the USA at 5am tomorrow to try to work through what to do with my backup for my job in either path A or path B. In the first part of the trip I will be with the IT community in Gore and the manufacturing leaders of the other divisions to cover our new IT system project and the plans for operations in China. Then I should have a days break in Manhatten just to indulge in a bit of shopping, cocktails and a broadway show - kind of a last extravagance before getting back into the closed world of hospitals and recovery. On Monday the leadership team of our Fabrics division, were I work, is getting together to discuss the plans for the next six months and some big investment decisions, so I am really pleased to be able to join them for that and a discussion about what to do about my work over the next months depending on path A or path B.

I am however feeling lucky again today as I spotted the police car lurking in the bushes before he managed to get a lock on my speed, and more importantly just caught a flash of movement in my mirror as he pulled out after me in the far distance. I guess these guys really wanted to bag an Aston Martin, because I sat right on the speed limit for 15min, in the dark, with cars speeding past me until finally he got fed up hanging back for me to let rip and cruised up beside me, pulled in front of me, and just sat there for a few miles.... before pulling off and setting up a new trap.

I had a nice trip up to Aberdeen in the car as it constantly gets good reactions from people, I think because they are rare, pretty and an English icon. In my old Porsche or the faster Impreza turbo I had guys would race you on the road to cut you up. In this case I was in busy traffic with an Impreza and a souped up clio all with 2-3 young guys in, so we played tag in and out of the traffic - no silly stuff just accelerating to about 85 when there was an opening in the traffic. I could accelerate more quickly than them, so was in front, but did not want to go too fast so they caught me up. Much to my surprise they just pulled up beside on an open road and made "go for it" signs - they just wanted to hear the engine and see the car squat down and go ! As it was a dry open road I did drop to third and boot it up to about 110, then dropped back down to a safe 80 when the others just tucked in behind and we went about 20 miles in convoy until they pulled off. I have never had a reaction like that on a road before I must admit it did make me smile.

I had a nice time up at Lee's parents house, Lee was so worried that I might miss the scan that she insisted I went up the day before. Her parents live about 200 meters from the scanner as her dad was a consultant at the hospital before he retired. She calls them Silvia and Gengus after a far side cartoon which featured Silvia and Gengus Kan at home, but actually her dad Dr Innes (or Sandy) is a great character who has a load of insightful stories about his time as a doctor, Silvia is a bit of a hippie, in some ways, who really has done a lot of research and gained qualifications in alternative medicine through a lot of study, so together I get a really nice balance of advice, crystals, books, diet, good conversation and good wishes from every trip up to see them. This was no exception and I feel emotionally built up by my conversations with both of them over the last two days.

When I returned I found that the missing windows for our loft conversion have finally arrived and they look excellent, I think Tim (the builder) and the guys, who have been with us now for about four months, have kind of become part of the extended family. They have done an excellent job on the work and also in interactions with the family. Hence the news was leaked to one of them and now everyone is being very kind and supportive, specially to Lee. To be honest I think this has been a really tough blow for Lee, I understand, as I think it is actually harder to be the partner in this type of situation, as added to all the issues you have the problem of powerlessness to deal with. At least I can chose how to face the music so I have some feeling of control, but for Lee she sees all the potential consequences and yet cannot herself grab any of it and make it different. I would be useless if our roles were swapped, and I feel terrible for the trouble I am causing her. She tried to go to a work event on Monday and could not get past meeting some friends to go together before the stress popped up in tears and the guys covered the base and sent her home. I hope once we get a plan for the treatment some of the uncertianty can be resolved and we can plan even in the short term to have some oasis of calm just for a few days to enjoy some of the normal things of life along with all this fuss.

So in summary, the scan is done, I feel fine, and all the sensible things to prepare for the next months and weeks will be put together in the next six days, and I will tilt my hat to the world with a trip to manhatten while waiting for the A or B decision. In the meantime Lee will go to a conference, kids have sleepovers with friends, homework will be done, decorating will be finished and life will go on much as before - which is how it should be. My feeling is that even in these extreme circumstances there is no where I would rather be based than here, with the occasional adventure to China or the USA just to remind me of how much I like being home, but also how much I enjoy working with such interesting colleague from all across the globe.

Well thats enought for tonight I am sitting down to watch a program about the Tusanmi disaster in a few minutes. I can remember getting off a plane from a skiiing holiday in heathrow and seeing the news (at that point a day or more old) and ringing the plant in China and colleagues around the world to see who was there, fortunatly Andy and Karen who were in the region had other plans, none of the Shenzhen team were there, and the UK folks Gordon et al were all right having moved hotels the day before (this was confirmed as we saw him on the TV news arriving at the airport in Edinburgh). Just goes to show how wide our team is spread and how your thoughts turn to the team in those cases.

So see some of you in the USA, thanks to lees parents for their hospitality and advice, and lets see how the consultation goes next week.

Cheers

Gerry