Poppy has headed of for her first proper flight from the nest, with a one week long school trip to Holland, the house feels strange without her interacting with Holly, so Holly and I chum around doing things together which is nice. I guess that when kids leave home to go to college it must be a massive change in the atmosphere of a household and in the parents perspective on life.
Needless to say Poppy had nothing in her wardrobe that fitted her any more, and managed to persuade weak parents to fund her shopping for the trip, thankfully she is too old now for me to buy her clothes (I used to use my trips to the USA to buy very good value clothes at Oshkosh etc in the factory outlets north of our US plants, so unusually I bought a lot of their clothes when they were young) so poor Lee had to brave the shops with her. Poppy has good taste, which many young people, and myself, do not have, so we do not yet have the fights over the too revealing or impractical wardrobe selection.
Holly has her first horse "event" on Thursday, a kind of end of term show, so both Lee and I are keen to go along, as this is her real passion of the moment, and we know she will be delighted to see us there. I think all parents want to ensure they give good encouragement to both children so the horse show should, we hope, balance the justified praise for Poppy in the singing department.
On Monday I went to see my friend and leader in Gore, Andy Warrender, for lunch which was the first time we had spoken face to face since the start of my latest treatment. Andy, like all the Gore leadership, has been very supportive of my situation, personally covered my back when I had to drop out so quickly, and since has been keen to ensure that I took the time to get better properly before coming back to work. We had a nice chat about the things I might do when I come back, what had been going on since I had been "out of the loop" and other general chat about our own perspectives on life, he has just been to the north pole and has plans for other adventures with his family. Without realising it hours had passed, and I set off down the road my head buzzing with ideas (which was my normal state prior to treatment to be fair). By the time I got home I was exhausted, Lee took one look at me and headed me off to the couch where I slept for two hours. It is very strange to be mentally near 100% but not to have the stamina to be able to concentrate or keep going in body. I guess I just need to be patient and realistic, keep up the exercise, and slowly my stamina will grow.
Today I did turn on my work computer for the first time in two months, and I will make some tentative contacts with folks over the next few weeks on the telephone, just to gradually open up my radar to what has happened over the last months, and get a feel for what is going on. Its good to feel that there are opportunities and challenges out there waiting for my stamina, and my immune system, to catch up.
So a good weekend and few days, lots of interesting ideas for the future, but a good reminder of how I need to build up my stamina a good deal more before managing a 9 to 5, never mind the "full on" demands of the type of role I have done in the past. However a bit of chat with colleagues on the wireless headset for an hour or two, a bit of background research, and getting my radar off "pause" and on to "gentle sweep" all seems possible over the next month.
I even had my first shave in 12 weeks due to small white fuzzy stubble starting to grow again !
Cheers
Gerry
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
True Colours
All is well here in Edinburgh, in fact better than well. Last night Poppy sang a solo verse of the song "True Colours" at the school concert in the Queens hall, no mike or amplification, just stood out at the front of the 30 strong choir and belted it out to an audience of hundreds. Hers was the only solo singing in the whole concert, and I was bursting with pride at her great voice but specially her confidence to preform like that. We stopped for celebratory ice creams and rang Lee, who was stuck in a meeting near Oxford, to share the good news as we walked back through the park. The whole show was pretty good, both Poppy and Holly had good parts in different choirs, so we all enjoyed the evening. My bald head does make me stand out, even more than in the past, so lots of parents and staff were enquiring after my health, which was nice, if a bit repetitive.
Health wise things are still trucking along very well, I saw Dr Scott yesterday and, after a through check over, she announced that she does not need to see me again for four weeks. She is still supportive of the exercise I am doing, and thinks that is helping boost my immune system. I am now up to 17km bike, 5km rowing and 50 laps of the pool each session which takes about two hours, then I treat myself to a big fruit smoothie and a good fresh made veg soup at the cafe on the way home. One thing which surprised me is that I stopped to talk to four doctors and nurses just walking through the hospital yesterday, which shows how much time I have spent there in the last year.
Dr Scott has sent in the request for the CAT scan to check that the cancer is gone, as far as they can tell anyway, so that should be in about 8 weeks time. She is very confident, based on the clean CAT and PET scans before the transplant, that the scan will be clean, I am a bit more nervous as thats what they said the last time! It will be good to get a clean scan under my belt before going back to work, after that its just healing time and fingers crossed for the future.
So all is well and a quiet weekend is planned to enable us to catch up on some housework, rest and garden projects, I hope your days are going just as smoothly!
Cheers
Gerry
Health wise things are still trucking along very well, I saw Dr Scott yesterday and, after a through check over, she announced that she does not need to see me again for four weeks. She is still supportive of the exercise I am doing, and thinks that is helping boost my immune system. I am now up to 17km bike, 5km rowing and 50 laps of the pool each session which takes about two hours, then I treat myself to a big fruit smoothie and a good fresh made veg soup at the cafe on the way home. One thing which surprised me is that I stopped to talk to four doctors and nurses just walking through the hospital yesterday, which shows how much time I have spent there in the last year.
Dr Scott has sent in the request for the CAT scan to check that the cancer is gone, as far as they can tell anyway, so that should be in about 8 weeks time. She is very confident, based on the clean CAT and PET scans before the transplant, that the scan will be clean, I am a bit more nervous as thats what they said the last time! It will be good to get a clean scan under my belt before going back to work, after that its just healing time and fingers crossed for the future.
So all is well and a quiet weekend is planned to enable us to catch up on some housework, rest and garden projects, I hope your days are going just as smoothly!
Cheers
Gerry
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Cycling by lochs and glens
Things continue to progress well for me thankfully. My routine of gym and pool exercise has continued to get me out of bed and has trimmed my weight by about 2kg mostly by removing the excess fat around my middle which had built up as I lost muscle mass during chemo but was eating to try to keep my weight up. So although I managed to keep my weight constant at 85kg from Jan to May the proportion of muscle to fat did change adversely so dropping down to 82kg is just a part of rebuilding my muscle and losing some of that fat. It seems that I will probably be a bit "leaner" after the treatment as this is a common observation from other folks.
The exercise in the gym was supplemented this weekend by a fair bit of cycling as we all went off to the Trossachs with the bikes and each of the three days I cycled about 12 miles or so on average, with our family and a friend Ken and his daughter. Having two cars enabled us to pick routes which were a good length, but mostly downhill, so the level of exercise was not too much for me (and Ken who is recovering from a bad DVT clot in his leg). So for both of us and the kids this was a confidence boosting weekend, I even heard Holly say "that's not too far" when I told her we had five miles to go, so she is getting used to pushing on, even in the Scottish showers, which followed us from time to time on the routes.
The scenery around Callander is fantastic and most of the bike tracks are free of cars and run alongside rivers or lochs in the shadow of some pretty big mountains, so the views were tremendous. After three days we were sad to leave, but dancing rehearsals called for the kids, so we had to head back to Edinburgh for tea time.
I did manage my first outing to the local pub with my friend Nick for a few months on Monday night, which was very enjoyable and another milestone on the road to normality for me. A night out still has me sleeping the next day until 10am or so to recover, but the stamina to cope will come with practice. That can be my new excuse for going to the pub occasionally, I need the practice!
As the kids were on holiday today I took ours, plus two friends, to the pool and, while they played, I managed to do 50 lengths of the pool in an hour, which is a new post transplant record for me, so I am feeling pleased with progress each day, by the end of July I should be fit enough for family holidays and then work at the end of August as planned, fingers crossed, as I think I will begin to be a bit bored with domestic life and solitary exercise by then.
The hospital has sent me a "mental state" evaluation form, apparently a lot of my transplant buddies have developed depression, so they try to ensure we get the right mental support as well as the more direct medical stuff. Needless to say given my good luck and increasing well being my form will not trouble them too much!
So all is going well here, thankfully no infections or setbacks to report, lets hope it stays that way!
Cheers
Gerry
The exercise in the gym was supplemented this weekend by a fair bit of cycling as we all went off to the Trossachs with the bikes and each of the three days I cycled about 12 miles or so on average, with our family and a friend Ken and his daughter. Having two cars enabled us to pick routes which were a good length, but mostly downhill, so the level of exercise was not too much for me (and Ken who is recovering from a bad DVT clot in his leg). So for both of us and the kids this was a confidence boosting weekend, I even heard Holly say "that's not too far" when I told her we had five miles to go, so she is getting used to pushing on, even in the Scottish showers, which followed us from time to time on the routes.
The scenery around Callander is fantastic and most of the bike tracks are free of cars and run alongside rivers or lochs in the shadow of some pretty big mountains, so the views were tremendous. After three days we were sad to leave, but dancing rehearsals called for the kids, so we had to head back to Edinburgh for tea time.
I did manage my first outing to the local pub with my friend Nick for a few months on Monday night, which was very enjoyable and another milestone on the road to normality for me. A night out still has me sleeping the next day until 10am or so to recover, but the stamina to cope will come with practice. That can be my new excuse for going to the pub occasionally, I need the practice!
As the kids were on holiday today I took ours, plus two friends, to the pool and, while they played, I managed to do 50 lengths of the pool in an hour, which is a new post transplant record for me, so I am feeling pleased with progress each day, by the end of July I should be fit enough for family holidays and then work at the end of August as planned, fingers crossed, as I think I will begin to be a bit bored with domestic life and solitary exercise by then.
The hospital has sent me a "mental state" evaluation form, apparently a lot of my transplant buddies have developed depression, so they try to ensure we get the right mental support as well as the more direct medical stuff. Needless to say given my good luck and increasing well being my form will not trouble them too much!
So all is going well here, thankfully no infections or setbacks to report, lets hope it stays that way!
Cheers
Gerry
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Slogging it out, day by day
Things are still going well here at Mulligan towers, basically my health continues to improve and I have not caught any nasty bugs, the kids continue to expand their horizions with horses (jr) and singing (snr), and Lee is taking advantage of a full time home help (me) to move onward and upward with her business, which is actually looking quite good just now.
We had a funny conversation last night where Lee observed that I had not become depressed yet, apparently I am supposed to be depressed about now because I have not got my full health back and that I have not got a cast iron promise of an ongoing future. Its true that I have spent a lot of time summoning the energy to get out of a chair from time to time, just because I am puffed out, but the cause has not been depression as predicted by a lot of the folks who work with us "survivors". My reply was that I quite like my life, and so getting it back, even in this limited way is a hell of a lot better than Melfan chemo any day of the week, or dying, which was the alternative. So for me walking down the street to the gym is good, picking up a few ingredients on the way home for tea is good (stroganoff today), chatting to the kids about homework, what they will not eat for tea and what time they are going to bed at, is all good. Perhaps people who are depressed did not really think they were going to die, honestly when I had my relapse, and the consultant told me I had a 40% chance, I thought I was done for, thankfully I seem to have been wrong, and so each day is good, no space for depression.
I did get humiliated at the gym today however, I was on a ski machine beside some very cool looking babe, I felt good about keeping pace, more or less, with her on the machine - until I noticed that the heart rate monitor on my machine was reading a solid 145 while hers was reading 68, clearly I will never reach that level, but none the less it was a startling reminder of how much work I need to do to get fit. My gym and pool routine is now up to about 2 hours a day which I think is a good level, still at low resistance but that will crank up as I get fitter.
We had some friends around last night which was nice, so a late night, and a few glasses of red wine, knocked me out for today, I just managed to get up at lunch time, and get to the gym, in time for the kids coming home from school. No way I would have been out of bed at 7am for work so even though I am doing well, and feeling well, my stamina needs time to build up just as the doctors said. This is a strange feeling as my mind is just about as sharp as it was before, but my body overrules me all the time. I find myself in the chair at the kitchen table 15min after I have finished my lunch just thinking about what to do next. There is a big disconnect just now between mind and the body so when folks see me, and hence I make an effort, I seem fine and sound fine, but in the quiet times I am really still puffed out a lot of the time.
So steady exercise, and lots of rest inbetween, seems to be the formulae for success, I am determined to cycle to my next appointment with Dr Scott, which is a good way across the city, as a target for next Thursday. In the meantime we have a long weekend coming up as the kids and Lee have Monday off, so that could see the bikes come out for some family cycling as a way to get prepared for my run to the hospital later in the week.
Cheers
Gerry
PS for you cooks I discovered a french recipie for pork roast which involves steaming the roast over a stock of onions, garlic, shallots, carrots for 45 min and then finishing it in a hot oven for 25min which makes great juicy pork roast, not at all dry like my previous attempts!
We had a funny conversation last night where Lee observed that I had not become depressed yet, apparently I am supposed to be depressed about now because I have not got my full health back and that I have not got a cast iron promise of an ongoing future. Its true that I have spent a lot of time summoning the energy to get out of a chair from time to time, just because I am puffed out, but the cause has not been depression as predicted by a lot of the folks who work with us "survivors". My reply was that I quite like my life, and so getting it back, even in this limited way is a hell of a lot better than Melfan chemo any day of the week, or dying, which was the alternative. So for me walking down the street to the gym is good, picking up a few ingredients on the way home for tea is good (stroganoff today), chatting to the kids about homework, what they will not eat for tea and what time they are going to bed at, is all good. Perhaps people who are depressed did not really think they were going to die, honestly when I had my relapse, and the consultant told me I had a 40% chance, I thought I was done for, thankfully I seem to have been wrong, and so each day is good, no space for depression.
I did get humiliated at the gym today however, I was on a ski machine beside some very cool looking babe, I felt good about keeping pace, more or less, with her on the machine - until I noticed that the heart rate monitor on my machine was reading a solid 145 while hers was reading 68, clearly I will never reach that level, but none the less it was a startling reminder of how much work I need to do to get fit. My gym and pool routine is now up to about 2 hours a day which I think is a good level, still at low resistance but that will crank up as I get fitter.
We had some friends around last night which was nice, so a late night, and a few glasses of red wine, knocked me out for today, I just managed to get up at lunch time, and get to the gym, in time for the kids coming home from school. No way I would have been out of bed at 7am for work so even though I am doing well, and feeling well, my stamina needs time to build up just as the doctors said. This is a strange feeling as my mind is just about as sharp as it was before, but my body overrules me all the time. I find myself in the chair at the kitchen table 15min after I have finished my lunch just thinking about what to do next. There is a big disconnect just now between mind and the body so when folks see me, and hence I make an effort, I seem fine and sound fine, but in the quiet times I am really still puffed out a lot of the time.
So steady exercise, and lots of rest inbetween, seems to be the formulae for success, I am determined to cycle to my next appointment with Dr Scott, which is a good way across the city, as a target for next Thursday. In the meantime we have a long weekend coming up as the kids and Lee have Monday off, so that could see the bikes come out for some family cycling as a way to get prepared for my run to the hospital later in the week.
Cheers
Gerry
PS for you cooks I discovered a french recipie for pork roast which involves steaming the roast over a stock of onions, garlic, shallots, carrots for 45 min and then finishing it in a hot oven for 25min which makes great juicy pork roast, not at all dry like my previous attempts!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Monster Pictures
These are the rocket men of our team, Alex and Ian, who finished the event in time for a last order at the bar 3 hours or more ahead of the best of the rest of the team, this is them about to go for the last 20 miles still looking pretty fresh.
Here is deputy blogger and Duncan setting out on the last leg to the finsh at 10pm. At this point the soles of duncans feet were no longer attached to his feet, lots of drugs needed to keep slugging it out with Lee to the finish.
This one is of the main group ready to go for the main push, the front row from the left is my brother Kevin, then Philip, then Jonathon my sisters husband. The back row is colin (soon to collapse), Cris and Robert all friends of Kevins - Philip already looks like he is being held up and they have 20 miles to go from here.
This one is of Poppy, Holly and myself sitting on the back of the Jeep waiting for Lee to arrive at the final checkpoint before the big push, at this point I was pretty tired, Jim took all these photographs. With my Gore Paclite Jacket and Aston Martin hat to cover up the baldy head all my sympathies are on show!
Cheers
Gerry
Graduation on Day 40 !
Well 40 days ago I had no bone marrow or immune system left that was the day the little miracle stem cells were thawed out and fed back into my bloodstream, somehow they have found their way to my bones, grown up and are producing a new bone marrow, blood system and immune system, keeping me alive, but not just that, hopefully alive and cancer free.
Today Liz the transplant nurse officially graduated me from the Monday morning "transplant club" as she and Dr Scott feel I am doing well enough not to need blood transfusions and regular twice weekly blood count checks. I was a bit surprised and pleased at the same time as some of the folks there on a Monday have had transplants as long as six months ago. It seems like the fact that I got my own cells back (rather than a family members), I had a good harvest of stem cells and my reasonably smooth, infection free, transplant has continued to combine with good diet and exercise to get me ahead of the normal recovery curve. So now I have to see Dr Scott next Thursday and after that I may be on monthly check ups until the dreaded scan in August.
I saw Gene Wilder on a chat show (Parkinson) two nights ago and he told his story of having a stem cell transplant just like mine five years ago, he told his story well, as you would expect, but captured the dilemma of this illness well when Parky asked him if he was cured. He replied something like "well, we don't say cured in this game, for a while you are "in remission" after about five years, where I am now, you are "in complete remission" and if you die from something else then you were cured". This captures very well the tension which will exist for me from here on in, as there is a chance of not being cured or the treatments considerable collateral damage leading to other cancers or problems in the future. So for me (and in reality for all of you) each day, month, and year is a gift from here on in, rather than the firm expectation it used to feel like.
So I need to build up my stamina and fitness now to keep up the good progress made so far and try to get ready for my hopeful return to "normal" life at the end of the summer. My daily gym and swim exercise will be kept up but around the house I am going to try to move from slouch to domestic goddess as practice for the stamina needed to fly around the world and work from 7am to 10pm in a different time zone (actually we did work some crazy hours in some very odd time zones in the past). Lee has helpfully compliled a "Honey do" list for me "if I have time" which involves gardening, carpet cleaning and decorating a couple of bedrooms, which will keep me busy through June... so I shall need a holiday by the time the kids break for the summer. Helpfully my doctors restrictions on when I am allowed to go back to work co-incide nicely with the end of the school holidays so we all will go back onto the treadmill at the same time at the end of August.
I am planning to have a couple of chats with leadership of Gore between now and then so that I do not just turn up to an empty desk and a computer and wonder what to do next! My mind is begining to turn in that direction now so those chats will be interesting for me, it will be curious to try to build back up my reputation and the confidence of the organisation in me (and my own confidence in my stamina and ability to focus, though I feel better about this as every day passes). I actually quite like the idea of "throwing the dice" in mid carreer and changing the direction of my work, not so much as to want to change company, as I really like working with Gore, but more to do something a little bit different with new challenges to keep life interesting. The guy who introduced me to Lee tried to put her off by saying "the problem with Gerry is he likes new things" that is still true today 15 years later.
So with a nice celebration dinner with Lee on Friday night, and graduation from the transplant support club today I am feeling more normal than I have for a long time, and begining to look forward to the future, I hope you all are too.
Cheers
Gerry
Today Liz the transplant nurse officially graduated me from the Monday morning "transplant club" as she and Dr Scott feel I am doing well enough not to need blood transfusions and regular twice weekly blood count checks. I was a bit surprised and pleased at the same time as some of the folks there on a Monday have had transplants as long as six months ago. It seems like the fact that I got my own cells back (rather than a family members), I had a good harvest of stem cells and my reasonably smooth, infection free, transplant has continued to combine with good diet and exercise to get me ahead of the normal recovery curve. So now I have to see Dr Scott next Thursday and after that I may be on monthly check ups until the dreaded scan in August.
I saw Gene Wilder on a chat show (Parkinson) two nights ago and he told his story of having a stem cell transplant just like mine five years ago, he told his story well, as you would expect, but captured the dilemma of this illness well when Parky asked him if he was cured. He replied something like "well, we don't say cured in this game, for a while you are "in remission" after about five years, where I am now, you are "in complete remission" and if you die from something else then you were cured". This captures very well the tension which will exist for me from here on in, as there is a chance of not being cured or the treatments considerable collateral damage leading to other cancers or problems in the future. So for me (and in reality for all of you) each day, month, and year is a gift from here on in, rather than the firm expectation it used to feel like.
So I need to build up my stamina and fitness now to keep up the good progress made so far and try to get ready for my hopeful return to "normal" life at the end of the summer. My daily gym and swim exercise will be kept up but around the house I am going to try to move from slouch to domestic goddess as practice for the stamina needed to fly around the world and work from 7am to 10pm in a different time zone (actually we did work some crazy hours in some very odd time zones in the past). Lee has helpfully compliled a "Honey do" list for me "if I have time" which involves gardening, carpet cleaning and decorating a couple of bedrooms, which will keep me busy through June... so I shall need a holiday by the time the kids break for the summer. Helpfully my doctors restrictions on when I am allowed to go back to work co-incide nicely with the end of the school holidays so we all will go back onto the treadmill at the same time at the end of August.
I am planning to have a couple of chats with leadership of Gore between now and then so that I do not just turn up to an empty desk and a computer and wonder what to do next! My mind is begining to turn in that direction now so those chats will be interesting for me, it will be curious to try to build back up my reputation and the confidence of the organisation in me (and my own confidence in my stamina and ability to focus, though I feel better about this as every day passes). I actually quite like the idea of "throwing the dice" in mid carreer and changing the direction of my work, not so much as to want to change company, as I really like working with Gore, but more to do something a little bit different with new challenges to keep life interesting. The guy who introduced me to Lee tried to put her off by saying "the problem with Gerry is he likes new things" that is still true today 15 years later.
So with a nice celebration dinner with Lee on Friday night, and graduation from the transplant support club today I am feeling more normal than I have for a long time, and begining to look forward to the future, I hope you all are too.
Cheers
Gerry
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Poles, vaseline, the nine times table and special forces....
Evening bloggers!
Well we did walk 500 miles and still in one piece to tell the tale! What a weekend. Many, many thanks to all the blog team for their heroic efforts last week; Lorna, Alex, Ian, Tim, Mike, Alex, Duncan, Kevin , Philip, Jonathan, Chris, Campbell, Colin and Robert and our fantastic support team of Jim, Gerry, Nora, Michelle, Debi and Ivana.
G had sorted out all the logistics and got us all and cars and drivers to the Pasta party at Fort William on the Friday night where we got registered and stocked up on carbs and waited in anticipation for the safety briefing. It was worth the wait! We got shouted at by an extreme person called Fox-pit or fox-trot or something with fox or Pitt in it who over emphasised every 4th word and informed us that he had undertaken much more difficult challenges than the Monster. (Inspiring!!!not). Then he barked out all the essential equipment you would need in order to complete the Gold stage (strangely enough there was no mention of Cremola foam and Green flash shoes) and yes the dreaded walking poles were mentioned....along with a large tub of vaseline and drinking 4 litres of water every hour just to survive the bike ride. If you made it to the hiking stage you then had to run the gauntlet of highland doctors who might ask you general knowledge questions or even the 9 times table (to help weed out those who weren't taking it seriously). The doctors (according to Fox-Pitt) had the power to remove you from the event and put you in the black tent. In addition, we were also told that "Special forces" were operating on the overnight stage to Inverness and would be "helping people in difficulty" up on the mountains. This was all beginning to sound rather alarming (and we thought we were just on a staightforward charity hike!).
We bolstered ourselves with some team talk at Loch Lochy youth hostel that evening and decided that Ian should be the first to tackle the roving doctors as he was confident with the 9 times table and could say "Good morning" in Polish. Lorna and I did not get much sleep as we had some people in our dorm who apparently were not getting up at 5am to walk to Inverness and so felt the need to stay up all night giggling and chatting and going to the toilet etc (thats young people for you).... So up at 5am and to the start for 6am to get shouted at again by Fox Pitt who at least this time was only telling us where to get bacon butties. There were lots of rather fit looking chaps in lycra circling the car park, a bit like chariots of fire doing some quite exhibitionist things with a tub of vaseline (is that really necessary!). I have to say that there were not so many middle aged women but we tried not to get too intimidated. Then we were under starters orders and off..........
One of the things that Fox-Pitt failed to mention on his safety brief was to tell people which side to pass on with the bikes so inevitably there was a lot of bunching and crunching at the start and I think one or 2 early casualties for the diving team patrolling the canal. The blog team got a bit dispersed at this stage with most of the boys setting off at a good pace with Lorna and I taking our time to enjoy the scenery on the way. We lost Duncan at one point who was following a rather gorgeous lycra clad babe, apparently with visible thong, who turned out to be rather a serious mountain biker so Duncan made good time over this section. The off-road biking bit was bit more severe than we had thought and we did pass some casualties along the way. Lorna and I were quite glad to finish the biking section at Fort Augustus and Gerry and Jim were there with porridge and coffee and a change of gear.
So we set off to Invermoriston, by this time an hour or 2 behind the boys where Alex and Ian were up front having set a blistering pace on the bikes. Invermoriston turned out to be rather hard to reach as the sound of the band playing in the town hall kept coming in and out of earshot and we seemed to be walking around and around it and never quite getting there, a bit like trying to find Brigadoon. Then on the way out we seemed to take forever walking on a zig-zag route along forest tracks and still we could see the town below. Eventually we put Invermoriston behind us and headed towards Drummnadrochit!
Luckily I have never been any good at reading maps so I had no idea what was ahead. However, Lorna and I heard a few expletives from Duncan who could read a map who would cheer us up with" Do you want the bad news or the really bad news!" He could teach Fox Pitt a thing or 2 on morale raising behaviour. So we climbed higher and higher (lovely views of Loch Ness) and tramped on towards Drummnadrochit having chats along with the way with some of the other Monster participants. A long slog into Drum at around 9pm and it was beginning to get dark and threatening rain. It was lovely to see Debi and the kids and the rest of the support team who were waiting to welcome us with hot drinks and some food. We also got news of the others as we were the back stops of the team. Alex and Ian were still upfront and had Inverness in their sights. The others had all set off for the gold stage and Philip had pushed on even though his knee was bothering him. We stopped to change gear again and get some food before setting off accross the hills to Inverness. Duncan got his blisters treated and managed to recite enough of the 9 times table to be allowed out again so we pressed on into the night with torches for the last 20 miles.
There was a real ****ard of a hill just outside Drum which was really steep and quite relentless. Luckily it was dark at this point and you could only see a few feet in front of you with head torches so you had no idea what was ahead. Eventually we got to the top and found the tent with Teas, coffee etc. We were told that that was the worst bit and that it was easy to get to Inverness after this (hmm... easy, comprised a 15 mile slog accross the hill top in the rain, wind and dark trying to avoid the Special Forces, wolves and several crocodiles that Duncan and I stumbled upon in our delerium. At this stage we would have quite welcomed sight of the doctors and the Black tent but they had all rather sensibly gone home for the night. In fact every time we got to a water stop they were about to pack up shop and head home and we were sure there were people still behind us! At this stage we had to force ourselves to keep eating and drinking as you were so tired you didn't feel like it at all. Duncan's blisters had taken over his whole foot and although I did offer amputation as an option (knowing the Special forces were at hand) he prefered drugs instead. Eventually, we saw the lights of Inverness in the dawn which lifted our spirits considerably. We walked on in a meditative trance for a few miles and then Inverness got closer and closer and the next thing we knew Avril and Jill were waiting to meet us before we got to the Aquadrome and THE END!!!!Hooray.
Avril drove us back to her house and we collapsed for a few hours sleep before catching up with everyone else later on and we had a great celebration that evening in RocPool in Inverness.
The fundraising has been fantastic and we have smashed through our original target and it is still growing! Thank you all so much for participating in this either by doing it or helping to support the team and by fundraising it is for a great cause. The biggest boost for the whole team was having Gerry there with us, just a few weeks post-transplant. He is keen to do The Monster next year...so if any of you want to sign up again......
9 x 3 is 29
good night
Deputy Blogger
Well we did walk 500 miles and still in one piece to tell the tale! What a weekend. Many, many thanks to all the blog team for their heroic efforts last week; Lorna, Alex, Ian, Tim, Mike, Alex, Duncan, Kevin , Philip, Jonathan, Chris, Campbell, Colin and Robert and our fantastic support team of Jim, Gerry, Nora, Michelle, Debi and Ivana.
G had sorted out all the logistics and got us all and cars and drivers to the Pasta party at Fort William on the Friday night where we got registered and stocked up on carbs and waited in anticipation for the safety briefing. It was worth the wait! We got shouted at by an extreme person called Fox-pit or fox-trot or something with fox or Pitt in it who over emphasised every 4th word and informed us that he had undertaken much more difficult challenges than the Monster. (Inspiring!!!not). Then he barked out all the essential equipment you would need in order to complete the Gold stage (strangely enough there was no mention of Cremola foam and Green flash shoes) and yes the dreaded walking poles were mentioned....along with a large tub of vaseline and drinking 4 litres of water every hour just to survive the bike ride. If you made it to the hiking stage you then had to run the gauntlet of highland doctors who might ask you general knowledge questions or even the 9 times table (to help weed out those who weren't taking it seriously). The doctors (according to Fox-Pitt) had the power to remove you from the event and put you in the black tent. In addition, we were also told that "Special forces" were operating on the overnight stage to Inverness and would be "helping people in difficulty" up on the mountains. This was all beginning to sound rather alarming (and we thought we were just on a staightforward charity hike!).
We bolstered ourselves with some team talk at Loch Lochy youth hostel that evening and decided that Ian should be the first to tackle the roving doctors as he was confident with the 9 times table and could say "Good morning" in Polish. Lorna and I did not get much sleep as we had some people in our dorm who apparently were not getting up at 5am to walk to Inverness and so felt the need to stay up all night giggling and chatting and going to the toilet etc (thats young people for you).... So up at 5am and to the start for 6am to get shouted at again by Fox Pitt who at least this time was only telling us where to get bacon butties. There were lots of rather fit looking chaps in lycra circling the car park, a bit like chariots of fire doing some quite exhibitionist things with a tub of vaseline (is that really necessary!). I have to say that there were not so many middle aged women but we tried not to get too intimidated. Then we were under starters orders and off..........
One of the things that Fox-Pitt failed to mention on his safety brief was to tell people which side to pass on with the bikes so inevitably there was a lot of bunching and crunching at the start and I think one or 2 early casualties for the diving team patrolling the canal. The blog team got a bit dispersed at this stage with most of the boys setting off at a good pace with Lorna and I taking our time to enjoy the scenery on the way. We lost Duncan at one point who was following a rather gorgeous lycra clad babe, apparently with visible thong, who turned out to be rather a serious mountain biker so Duncan made good time over this section. The off-road biking bit was bit more severe than we had thought and we did pass some casualties along the way. Lorna and I were quite glad to finish the biking section at Fort Augustus and Gerry and Jim were there with porridge and coffee and a change of gear.
So we set off to Invermoriston, by this time an hour or 2 behind the boys where Alex and Ian were up front having set a blistering pace on the bikes. Invermoriston turned out to be rather hard to reach as the sound of the band playing in the town hall kept coming in and out of earshot and we seemed to be walking around and around it and never quite getting there, a bit like trying to find Brigadoon. Then on the way out we seemed to take forever walking on a zig-zag route along forest tracks and still we could see the town below. Eventually we put Invermoriston behind us and headed towards Drummnadrochit!
Luckily I have never been any good at reading maps so I had no idea what was ahead. However, Lorna and I heard a few expletives from Duncan who could read a map who would cheer us up with" Do you want the bad news or the really bad news!" He could teach Fox Pitt a thing or 2 on morale raising behaviour. So we climbed higher and higher (lovely views of Loch Ness) and tramped on towards Drummnadrochit having chats along with the way with some of the other Monster participants. A long slog into Drum at around 9pm and it was beginning to get dark and threatening rain. It was lovely to see Debi and the kids and the rest of the support team who were waiting to welcome us with hot drinks and some food. We also got news of the others as we were the back stops of the team. Alex and Ian were still upfront and had Inverness in their sights. The others had all set off for the gold stage and Philip had pushed on even though his knee was bothering him. We stopped to change gear again and get some food before setting off accross the hills to Inverness. Duncan got his blisters treated and managed to recite enough of the 9 times table to be allowed out again so we pressed on into the night with torches for the last 20 miles.
There was a real ****ard of a hill just outside Drum which was really steep and quite relentless. Luckily it was dark at this point and you could only see a few feet in front of you with head torches so you had no idea what was ahead. Eventually we got to the top and found the tent with Teas, coffee etc. We were told that that was the worst bit and that it was easy to get to Inverness after this (hmm... easy, comprised a 15 mile slog accross the hill top in the rain, wind and dark trying to avoid the Special Forces, wolves and several crocodiles that Duncan and I stumbled upon in our delerium. At this stage we would have quite welcomed sight of the doctors and the Black tent but they had all rather sensibly gone home for the night. In fact every time we got to a water stop they were about to pack up shop and head home and we were sure there were people still behind us! At this stage we had to force ourselves to keep eating and drinking as you were so tired you didn't feel like it at all. Duncan's blisters had taken over his whole foot and although I did offer amputation as an option (knowing the Special forces were at hand) he prefered drugs instead. Eventually, we saw the lights of Inverness in the dawn which lifted our spirits considerably. We walked on in a meditative trance for a few miles and then Inverness got closer and closer and the next thing we knew Avril and Jill were waiting to meet us before we got to the Aquadrome and THE END!!!!Hooray.
Avril drove us back to her house and we collapsed for a few hours sleep before catching up with everyone else later on and we had a great celebration that evening in RocPool in Inverness.
The fundraising has been fantastic and we have smashed through our original target and it is still growing! Thank you all so much for participating in this either by doing it or helping to support the team and by fundraising it is for a great cause. The biggest boost for the whole team was having Gerry there with us, just a few weeks post-transplant. He is keen to do The Monster next year...so if any of you want to sign up again......
9 x 3 is 29
good night
Deputy Blogger
Thursday, May 10, 2007
One step back
Nothing too serious but there was a few days of "payback" for my efforts at the Monster Bike and Hike. I thought I was doing well to do support from 5am to 10pm and then take the kids swimming the next day, before finally driving down to Edinburgh with my family. Actually it seems like I was overdoing it a bit, over the next two days I could hardly get out of bed, never mind stick to my gym routine, as waves of fatigue took over once the adrenaline of the event had passed.
However no harm seems to have been done and today my energy levels are returning to reasonable levels, helped by the good sleeps of the past few days, and a good diet which was a bit missing during the weekend. So organic soups, fruit smoothies, fish and lamb main courses have all been consumed and my stomach is returning to normal.
The hospital team are pretty pleased with my bloodwork as my haemoglobin level has gone up to 130 (was 100 for weeks but should be 180 when I am well) so is finally starting to recover while white blood cells and platlets are all about normal now. I saw Dr Scott today and she continues to be surprised at the speed of my recovery, she encourages my agressive approach to exercise, within the limits we have set, while preparing me mentally for possible complications. She remined me it is normal for folks in my position to have 2 or 3 short returns to hospital when infections or other complications take hold. I of course am hoping that my drive for fitness will make me the exception, but I know there is a good chance I will be caught out. In the meantime it looks like the medics are going to stretch out my hospital appointments to once per week and then in a few weeks once per two weeks which will be great (less needles).
Having got the immediate post hospital recovery out of the way ( ie got past sickness, upset tummy and sleeping all the time) and having got the Monster out of the way Lee and I are starting to open up our horizions to the future. Tonight we are looking at holiday cottages for July or August, tomorrow night I think we will try and go out for our first resturant dinner as a couple since the transplant to celebrate being home and being pretty normal. We did not feel like celebrating when I got out of hospital, basically because I still felt terrible, but I think a milestone has been crossed now and we can relax a bit into a more normal life with convalesance taking the place of work for me for a few months.
On the more mundane side I did, with some help, finally get my beloved MG going for the MG club meeting last night and enjoyed discussing the fitments for the new fuel pump with the guys there. Lee took the bluesmobile to Aberdeen so after that, and the Inverness trip, it is in need of some TLC once the showers stop (the weather has been terrible since the Monster hike in Scotland they were lucky to have the last good day for a week). It looks like Lee's business is finally going to go forward as we have agreement on the set up from her Research Institute and just need to get the legal documents sorted. So life is busy enough.
So this week was a good measure of how much I have recovered and how much I still need to recover but I am feeling pretty positive overall and looking forward to getting stronger day by day.
Cheers
Gerry
However no harm seems to have been done and today my energy levels are returning to reasonable levels, helped by the good sleeps of the past few days, and a good diet which was a bit missing during the weekend. So organic soups, fruit smoothies, fish and lamb main courses have all been consumed and my stomach is returning to normal.
The hospital team are pretty pleased with my bloodwork as my haemoglobin level has gone up to 130 (was 100 for weeks but should be 180 when I am well) so is finally starting to recover while white blood cells and platlets are all about normal now. I saw Dr Scott today and she continues to be surprised at the speed of my recovery, she encourages my agressive approach to exercise, within the limits we have set, while preparing me mentally for possible complications. She remined me it is normal for folks in my position to have 2 or 3 short returns to hospital when infections or other complications take hold. I of course am hoping that my drive for fitness will make me the exception, but I know there is a good chance I will be caught out. In the meantime it looks like the medics are going to stretch out my hospital appointments to once per week and then in a few weeks once per two weeks which will be great (less needles).
Having got the immediate post hospital recovery out of the way ( ie got past sickness, upset tummy and sleeping all the time) and having got the Monster out of the way Lee and I are starting to open up our horizions to the future. Tonight we are looking at holiday cottages for July or August, tomorrow night I think we will try and go out for our first resturant dinner as a couple since the transplant to celebrate being home and being pretty normal. We did not feel like celebrating when I got out of hospital, basically because I still felt terrible, but I think a milestone has been crossed now and we can relax a bit into a more normal life with convalesance taking the place of work for me for a few months.
On the more mundane side I did, with some help, finally get my beloved MG going for the MG club meeting last night and enjoyed discussing the fitments for the new fuel pump with the guys there. Lee took the bluesmobile to Aberdeen so after that, and the Inverness trip, it is in need of some TLC once the showers stop (the weather has been terrible since the Monster hike in Scotland they were lucky to have the last good day for a week). It looks like Lee's business is finally going to go forward as we have agreement on the set up from her Research Institute and just need to get the legal documents sorted. So life is busy enough.
So this week was a good measure of how much I have recovered and how much I still need to recover but I am feeling pretty positive overall and looking forward to getting stronger day by day.
Cheers
Gerry
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The Monster
It should really be the victorious deputy blogger who pens the update on the Monster Bike and Hike but she has zoomed off to Aberdeen for a two day work meeting so its up to me, who just watched, to do the updating.
Good news first, despite many trials and tribulations, all the team made it to the 50 mile mark at Drumadrochit and all but three (Campbell, Lorna and Mike) pushed on through the night to the 70 mile finish at Inverness which was amazing. Everyone found it much harder than expected as there was quite a bit of ascent and descent at the main stops, some of it quite steep, and the first bike section was much more narrow and "off road" than anyone expected.
Lee's brother Alex and his friend Ian set a blistering pace at the front, managing to finish the whole thing by midnight and even jogging into the finish, clearly some significant training had gone on there. Then a big bunch of folks came in around 3am including the badly limping Philip, who's old knee injury combined with a lack of training to make his walk very difficult, and Colin who promptly collapsed at the finish and had to have medical support to recover. Lee and Duncan slugged it out to make it in at 5.30am, delirious, but very happy to have managed the distance, specially with Duncan having massive blisters for soles of his feet. Lee did not fair too badly, despite the absence of poles, so her training paid off and you could see in the group the folks who had done the training clearly fared better than the no training (Philip) or "drinking red wine" training (Duncan) folks.
Our support logistics worked well and everyone was met at the checkpoints with a friendly face and gear changes/soup/coffee/porridge etc no one got lost or abandoned. I helped with Jim run one support car while Rose, Nora, Michelle and Ivana were in the others - unfortunately by 10pm I was so tired I had to go to bed, so I missed the finish, my stamina still has a long way to go! Sunday was a wipe out of sleeping bodies, injury treatment and war stories which we finished up with a nice dinner in Inverness, for those who could make it, to celebrate the achievement. Although all the money is not yet counted we stand to have raised around £15k for the Maggies charity so it was well worth while.
Monday was taken up with the long haul home for everyone and a very welcome bath and sleep under a home duvet, we all went to bed early and slept like logs last night. Today the normal routine of school for the girls, hospital check up for me, and work for Lee has intruded again - my check up was fine and the rest of my day is gym, shopping and homework with the kids.
So many thanks to all the Monster Team and the Support Team, and the family support team, for a great weekend which I think will be recalled many, many times when we meet again, even if only to say "never again" in some cases. Jim and I are toying with the idea of doing it next year as a team with Lee and Lorna in support. He has to see about his knee and I need to discuss it with my doctors before we decide - it may be a good "end target" for my get fit work, we will see!
No doubt deputy blogger will have a more humorous update when she returns from Aberdeen but for now we are resting up and recovering !
Cheers
Gerry
Good news first, despite many trials and tribulations, all the team made it to the 50 mile mark at Drumadrochit and all but three (Campbell, Lorna and Mike) pushed on through the night to the 70 mile finish at Inverness which was amazing. Everyone found it much harder than expected as there was quite a bit of ascent and descent at the main stops, some of it quite steep, and the first bike section was much more narrow and "off road" than anyone expected.
Lee's brother Alex and his friend Ian set a blistering pace at the front, managing to finish the whole thing by midnight and even jogging into the finish, clearly some significant training had gone on there. Then a big bunch of folks came in around 3am including the badly limping Philip, who's old knee injury combined with a lack of training to make his walk very difficult, and Colin who promptly collapsed at the finish and had to have medical support to recover. Lee and Duncan slugged it out to make it in at 5.30am, delirious, but very happy to have managed the distance, specially with Duncan having massive blisters for soles of his feet. Lee did not fair too badly, despite the absence of poles, so her training paid off and you could see in the group the folks who had done the training clearly fared better than the no training (Philip) or "drinking red wine" training (Duncan) folks.
Our support logistics worked well and everyone was met at the checkpoints with a friendly face and gear changes/soup/coffee/porridge etc no one got lost or abandoned. I helped with Jim run one support car while Rose, Nora, Michelle and Ivana were in the others - unfortunately by 10pm I was so tired I had to go to bed, so I missed the finish, my stamina still has a long way to go! Sunday was a wipe out of sleeping bodies, injury treatment and war stories which we finished up with a nice dinner in Inverness, for those who could make it, to celebrate the achievement. Although all the money is not yet counted we stand to have raised around £15k for the Maggies charity so it was well worth while.
Monday was taken up with the long haul home for everyone and a very welcome bath and sleep under a home duvet, we all went to bed early and slept like logs last night. Today the normal routine of school for the girls, hospital check up for me, and work for Lee has intruded again - my check up was fine and the rest of my day is gym, shopping and homework with the kids.
So many thanks to all the Monster Team and the Support Team, and the family support team, for a great weekend which I think will be recalled many, many times when we meet again, even if only to say "never again" in some cases. Jim and I are toying with the idea of doing it next year as a team with Lee and Lorna in support. He has to see about his knee and I need to discuss it with my doctors before we decide - it may be a good "end target" for my get fit work, we will see!
No doubt deputy blogger will have a more humorous update when she returns from Aberdeen but for now we are resting up and recovering !
Cheers
Gerry
Thursday, May 03, 2007
BASE CAMP
Today the Mulligan clan has set off en-mass for the Monster Bike and Hike base camp. Philip, Debbie, Mum and Matthew got on easyjet and flew to Edinburgh to meet up with our team and convoy up the road for the 5 hr trip. I leant Philip the Aston Martin so he had a lot of fun zooming up Glencoe and the side of Loch Ness with Debbie and Matthew. There was a moment when he managed to dismantle the key and stop the immobiliser working but thankfully he solved the problem before it became a crisis, he still has a fixed grin and a windswept look!. We followed at a more sedate pace in the jeep and are just settling into our nice chalet with a medicinal gin and tonic.
My sister brenda and all her crew shook themselves out of bed at 5am to get the early boat and cruised up through Scotland to the chalets so when little brother Kevin and Nora get here tomorrow it will be a full house of the Mulligan clan all decamped to scotland. We have an easy day tomorrow before the action starts early on Saturday. My job will be to offer coffee, bacon butties and porridge to the weary bikers and walkers from the jeep which is stocked up with cookers and gear for that purpose.
On the recovery front I continue to impersonate a gym rat but have to run all the machines at minimal resistance as just sitting on the bike in the gym gets my heartbeat up to 130 and I am only allowed to run at 140 target for my exercises. Anyway even at trivial resistance settings I am managing to do more than an hour a day at the gym and my resting heartbeat is coming down slowely which indicates that the exercise is working. I am fully off my anti-nausea medications now which is a relief so only am popping two types of pills in comparison to the seven or so I had when I left hospital. Onward and upward but carefully.
I think Lee may be making a speech at the opening party for the bike and hike tomorrow night as the folks at Maggies asked her to possibily be ready, I suspect it may be a tirade against poles ending in a mass throwing into the Loch! As we drove a good part of the route today I think the distance is daunting for them a bit, my brother Philip who has stood in for Jim at the last minute has done almost no training so he is a bit nervous about the whole thing. I am sure folks will have a good time and go as far as they can.
So goodnight from our luxurious base camp, we will keep you all posted as the event unfolds.
Cheers
Gerry
My sister brenda and all her crew shook themselves out of bed at 5am to get the early boat and cruised up through Scotland to the chalets so when little brother Kevin and Nora get here tomorrow it will be a full house of the Mulligan clan all decamped to scotland. We have an easy day tomorrow before the action starts early on Saturday. My job will be to offer coffee, bacon butties and porridge to the weary bikers and walkers from the jeep which is stocked up with cookers and gear for that purpose.
On the recovery front I continue to impersonate a gym rat but have to run all the machines at minimal resistance as just sitting on the bike in the gym gets my heartbeat up to 130 and I am only allowed to run at 140 target for my exercises. Anyway even at trivial resistance settings I am managing to do more than an hour a day at the gym and my resting heartbeat is coming down slowely which indicates that the exercise is working. I am fully off my anti-nausea medications now which is a relief so only am popping two types of pills in comparison to the seven or so I had when I left hospital. Onward and upward but carefully.
I think Lee may be making a speech at the opening party for the bike and hike tomorrow night as the folks at Maggies asked her to possibily be ready, I suspect it may be a tirade against poles ending in a mass throwing into the Loch! As we drove a good part of the route today I think the distance is daunting for them a bit, my brother Philip who has stood in for Jim at the last minute has done almost no training so he is a bit nervous about the whole thing. I am sure folks will have a good time and go as far as they can.
So goodnight from our luxurious base camp, we will keep you all posted as the event unfolds.
Cheers
Gerry
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
I would walk 500 miles........
Evening bloggers!
Finished a final training hike tonight over the Braid hills with a brief stop on the top to admire the sunset over Edinburgh, deck a bottle of champagne and a few roll ups with chief coach Ian. Did the decent thing and threw the poles from a great height onto braid hills golf course narrowly missing a couple of foxes.
We did an approx calculation of the fundraising so far and think we have smashed our target of £10K and moving on up..... Thanks so much to everyone who has helped to raise this sponsorship, it is for a great cause and will make a real difference..so be inspired and one step at a time to Inverness this weekend, coast to coast.
G has organised us all into cars, chalets, start times etc and Duncan has sorted out a party for Sunday evening in Inverness.
I have to confess to have really enjoyed the training for this event ! I love getting up really early in the morning and heading of up the Pentlands before the city is awake. On Saturday there was a bit of a har in and visibility was poor. However, when you got to the top of the first peak you were in bright sunshine and the other peaks looked like the humps of whales in a sea of clouds.
Have packed my tweed suit and brogues, green flash and trusty tin of cremola foam. Goretex of course! chocolate and Irn Bru. All set....
For anyone who still wants to contribute our web page is: www.justgiving.com/gerrysblogteam
Will update you on the event and post a few team pictures.
deputy blogger
xx
Finished a final training hike tonight over the Braid hills with a brief stop on the top to admire the sunset over Edinburgh, deck a bottle of champagne and a few roll ups with chief coach Ian. Did the decent thing and threw the poles from a great height onto braid hills golf course narrowly missing a couple of foxes.
We did an approx calculation of the fundraising so far and think we have smashed our target of £10K and moving on up..... Thanks so much to everyone who has helped to raise this sponsorship, it is for a great cause and will make a real difference..so be inspired and one step at a time to Inverness this weekend, coast to coast.
G has organised us all into cars, chalets, start times etc and Duncan has sorted out a party for Sunday evening in Inverness.
I have to confess to have really enjoyed the training for this event ! I love getting up really early in the morning and heading of up the Pentlands before the city is awake. On Saturday there was a bit of a har in and visibility was poor. However, when you got to the top of the first peak you were in bright sunshine and the other peaks looked like the humps of whales in a sea of clouds.
Have packed my tweed suit and brogues, green flash and trusty tin of cremola foam. Goretex of course! chocolate and Irn Bru. All set....
For anyone who still wants to contribute our web page is: www.justgiving.com/gerrysblogteam
Will update you on the event and post a few team pictures.
deputy blogger
xx
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