All continues to be well here in Edinburgh medically, my hair has moved on from stubble to tennis ball, to nearly looking like a marine cut now, so my body continues to recover well. I do still get fatigue a bit but the times when I feel pretty normal are stretching out and the fatigue tends to follow a late night out or a long drive so is becoming more normal in its pattern.
The highlight of this week was a trip I made to a car show at Goodwood House just near London, I had promised myself this trip since I had been in hospital for my stem cell transplant, as this is the premier car event in the calender and I had never been. It was fantastic. Every car I have ever drooled over in magazines was there, being driven by the famous racing drivers of the era, and the public are allowed to talk to the drivers, walk round the paddock, peer in the cockpits etc. It was petrolhead heaven, only enhanced by the supermodel quota being off the scale. At one point I saw four world rally champions chatting to each other before runs in the actual cars they won the rallies in!. Sadly I could only stay for one day as Poppy had decided to have her birthday party on the Sunday, so I headed back up the road for that - but I will be back!
Poppys party went well I took her and some friends climbing and then they all took turns on an Ariel assault course 150 feet up which excited and scared them in equal proportions. Tonight was her end of term dance so dad was pressed into getting the Aston out of the garage to take them to the dance - they even have dance cards and much angst about who will get the last dance!
I see that the fishermen have returned from the ritual break in the wilderness of Walleye camp and Bill has kindly sent me some photographs of big fish I did not let go, I am sure the average has gone up a lot in fishing pounds caught without me there. Never the less its one of my targets to get to Walleye camp next year if the medics will let me that far away from civilisation by then.
Needless to say after the trip to Goodwood and Poppy's party my energy levels fell well off but only for the morning I seem to be feeling OK again tonight so my stamina is really beginning to improve a lot.
As before no news is good news at this stage, just keeping you posted !
Cheers
Gerry
Monday, June 25, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Isolation and flowers
Just a low key update today as things continue to go well here. Poppy and Lee have both developed sore throats and general flu like symptoms so I have retreated to my study and segregated bathrooms, towels etc so that I avoid catching the bug from them. Poppy missed a day at school today from being too poorly to go but she seems much better now so my enforced isolation should not last too long. She is still very pleased with herself having won the school singing cup but is worried her throat will not have cleared up enough for her to sing at the award ceremony as planned next Wednesday.
I am still doing well medically with a visit to the doctors due next Thursday and my critical scan now set for the 26th of July, and then a week of waiting while they work out what the results mean, hopefully that will be the all clear which starts my move back to work in August as I am getting pretty bored with exercise, cooking and more recently a bit of gardening. I was not allowed to do any gardening other than push the lawnmower for the first six weeks out of hospital due to all the bugs in the soil etc. Over the last few days I have managed to clear the accumulated six months of weeds from our flowerbeds carefully using gloves and antibiotic hand wash afterwards, although I am not a gardener at all its nice to see things pretty tidy in the garden and sit outside for coffee in the sunshine after a day in the garden.
The news at the moment has me in despair as you may guess given my previous blogs in favour of a fairer settlement for the Palestinians - to see them implode as a group into factional fighting is just exasperating. As I have said before they have shown very poor unity and common sense as a group over many years plucking defeat from the jaws of many victories.
My first foray into stocks and shares happened this week, I have always been a bit wary of debt so have concentrated on paying back money owed on houses etc rather than investing, perhaps this is an overly conservative view but there it is. Anyway I had the chance to put a bit of money in a stock ISA (which is tax free in the UK so a good idea). After 24hrs I had managed to lose 100 pounds so not a brilliant start ! Lets hope things go in a more positive direction in the future.
We had two artistic highlights this week one was poppy's singing and dance role in the end of school performance of the senior school and the other was Lee's aunt graduating from the Edinburgh art school and being a part of the final year exhibit. She has taken up the art class since retirement and is doing really well selling some of the works she was showing. Well done Dorothy!
So no big news from here, no news still continues to be good news, hope you all are looking forward and enjoying the summer.
Cheers
Gerry
I am still doing well medically with a visit to the doctors due next Thursday and my critical scan now set for the 26th of July, and then a week of waiting while they work out what the results mean, hopefully that will be the all clear which starts my move back to work in August as I am getting pretty bored with exercise, cooking and more recently a bit of gardening. I was not allowed to do any gardening other than push the lawnmower for the first six weeks out of hospital due to all the bugs in the soil etc. Over the last few days I have managed to clear the accumulated six months of weeds from our flowerbeds carefully using gloves and antibiotic hand wash afterwards, although I am not a gardener at all its nice to see things pretty tidy in the garden and sit outside for coffee in the sunshine after a day in the garden.
The news at the moment has me in despair as you may guess given my previous blogs in favour of a fairer settlement for the Palestinians - to see them implode as a group into factional fighting is just exasperating. As I have said before they have shown very poor unity and common sense as a group over many years plucking defeat from the jaws of many victories.
My first foray into stocks and shares happened this week, I have always been a bit wary of debt so have concentrated on paying back money owed on houses etc rather than investing, perhaps this is an overly conservative view but there it is. Anyway I had the chance to put a bit of money in a stock ISA (which is tax free in the UK so a good idea). After 24hrs I had managed to lose 100 pounds so not a brilliant start ! Lets hope things go in a more positive direction in the future.
We had two artistic highlights this week one was poppy's singing and dance role in the end of school performance of the senior school and the other was Lee's aunt graduating from the Edinburgh art school and being a part of the final year exhibit. She has taken up the art class since retirement and is doing really well selling some of the works she was showing. Well done Dorothy!
So no big news from here, no news still continues to be good news, hope you all are looking forward and enjoying the summer.
Cheers
Gerry
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Warp 1
This last week the boredom of being convalescent finally got to me and I sneaked into work for half a day to catch up with two colleagues who were wrestling with issues I could help with. I did have to face deputy blogger, who was concerned that I was taking unnecessary risks, but in reality I did not meet any more people than I would in the street, and I only went in for half a days chat, so the stress level was very low. In any case all went well, no infections were caught and other than feeling a bit washed out the next day I was fine. My plan is to ease into making connections with colleagues over the next 8 weeks, so that I am not starting from scratch when I go back in August. So this week I have having two pub meetings with other colleagues to continue getting in touch, and have a few email type interactions planned. So I feel pretty comfortable about the level and the progress on this front, and it breaks up the tedium of exercise, rest and household chores.
My recovery continues to go well, my hair is starting to grow back as stubble, which is now black instead of wispy white, shaving every few days is now necessary, which is not welcome, but in a paradox the remaining hair on my arms and legs (and other bits) has fallen out, perhaps pushed out by new growth starting under the old hairs. I am still eating well, and exercising fairly solidly, which means I have lost a bit of weight around my tummy, just from the exercise, which is not too bad. So far I have not got a set date for my scan but I will see the doctor next week on Thursday for the next check up and see what is happening there. I do still get "fatigue" days or half days where I just crash out, but the gaps between these are growing, and I feel basically well, as you would think of it, ie with energy and some enthusiasm for getting things done, about half the time. The other bits are taken up with resting, pottering around the house, or having tummy upsets as my body learns to cope with the normal bugs in the environment. Interestingly my hay fever has not yet come back, which could be a nice positive side effect, as my new immune system may not recognise pollen as a problem.
Family wise all is going well, Poppy has won the school cup for her singing and is off to the big school today for her induction. Holly continues to be horse obsessed and has plans for going riding everywhere we are heading this summer. Lee is worried about her business, which I think is normal for a start up once lawyers get involved, but should die down once the deals are signed and she can get on with selling and developing the products.
So overall nothing exciting to report in the blog, first connections with work have been made successfully but gently, health is on course for improved stamina, and family is muddling through life towards the summer holidays. I hope things are well in your part of the world.
Cheers
Gerry
My recovery continues to go well, my hair is starting to grow back as stubble, which is now black instead of wispy white, shaving every few days is now necessary, which is not welcome, but in a paradox the remaining hair on my arms and legs (and other bits) has fallen out, perhaps pushed out by new growth starting under the old hairs. I am still eating well, and exercising fairly solidly, which means I have lost a bit of weight around my tummy, just from the exercise, which is not too bad. So far I have not got a set date for my scan but I will see the doctor next week on Thursday for the next check up and see what is happening there. I do still get "fatigue" days or half days where I just crash out, but the gaps between these are growing, and I feel basically well, as you would think of it, ie with energy and some enthusiasm for getting things done, about half the time. The other bits are taken up with resting, pottering around the house, or having tummy upsets as my body learns to cope with the normal bugs in the environment. Interestingly my hay fever has not yet come back, which could be a nice positive side effect, as my new immune system may not recognise pollen as a problem.
Family wise all is going well, Poppy has won the school cup for her singing and is off to the big school today for her induction. Holly continues to be horse obsessed and has plans for going riding everywhere we are heading this summer. Lee is worried about her business, which I think is normal for a start up once lawyers get involved, but should die down once the deals are signed and she can get on with selling and developing the products.
So overall nothing exciting to report in the blog, first connections with work have been made successfully but gently, health is on course for improved stamina, and family is muddling through life towards the summer holidays. I hope things are well in your part of the world.
Cheers
Gerry
Monday, June 04, 2007
The joy of a tap-dancing Tea spoon......
I definately missed out when I did ballet and highland dancing when I was a child.....I so want to do tap-dancing..it is absolutely and definately, brilliant. Holly and Poppy wowed us tonight with all their friends in their dance show at the Churchhill theatre. The tap-dancing Tea spoons and playing cards stole the show.
I am inspired! and am going to contact my long-suffering girl friends to suggest some tap and jazz dancing lessons for us this summer.
G has turned into the domestic goddess with attitude......I'm rather enjoying the cooking obsession he has at the moment as I arrive home fom a hard day in the Dragon's Den to a chilled glass of Chablis with my cheese souffle and then a rather lingering and intense Merlot with a Morrocan lamb cassarole, finishing up with a rather indulgent Calvados with poached pear and a cinnamon and ginger compote. hmmmm I could get used to this.
I am planning to distract G a little to help me with some costings for our second product line for the business, I'm still on a really steep learning curve and am in need of Gerry Harvey Jones to
cut through the ..ap!! for me and be Mr Spock at a couple of business meetings at work.
Looking forward to the summer hols and some indulgent times! A few parties to organise first though....one for the Monster challengers and one for Poppy before the end of term...so watch this space.
Catering should be no problem now that I'm married to the Domestic Goddess.
Have a good night.
Deputy B
x
I am inspired! and am going to contact my long-suffering girl friends to suggest some tap and jazz dancing lessons for us this summer.
G has turned into the domestic goddess with attitude......I'm rather enjoying the cooking obsession he has at the moment as I arrive home fom a hard day in the Dragon's Den to a chilled glass of Chablis with my cheese souffle and then a rather lingering and intense Merlot with a Morrocan lamb cassarole, finishing up with a rather indulgent Calvados with poached pear and a cinnamon and ginger compote. hmmmm I could get used to this.
I am planning to distract G a little to help me with some costings for our second product line for the business, I'm still on a really steep learning curve and am in need of Gerry Harvey Jones to
cut through the ..ap!! for me and be Mr Spock at a couple of business meetings at work.
Looking forward to the summer hols and some indulgent times! A few parties to organise first though....one for the Monster challengers and one for Poppy before the end of term...so watch this space.
Catering should be no problem now that I'm married to the Domestic Goddess.
Have a good night.
Deputy B
x
Ferrari in the dust
Things generally continue to progress pretty well here, the big event of the week for me was our annual classic car show at Thirlestain castle. I have been going to this show for a few years with the MG club who compete for the best "single marque" display with the Triumph and other clubs however this year as well as having the MG at the show the Aston was pressed into service in a special forecourt in front of the castle. This was the "Dream Rides" section of the show where members of the public pay a donation (£30) to a children's charity in exchange for a ride in one of a number of exotic sports cars round an 11 mile street circuit. The Aston Martin lined up with racing Ferrari's, modern Ferrari's, Lotus sports cars, Bentley's and TVR's in a special paddock and I was kept pretty busy blasting around the circuit with a string of customers. Although it was overcast, the rain held off, so the roof was down the whole time, of course we were sticking to the speed limits and under no circumstances did the Aston complete a four car high speed pass on the straight to leave a pursuing modern Ferrari in the dust (I think he was in the wrong gear when we caught the other cars as his car is actually faster). Anyhow lots of folks from an 8 year old boy who was mad on James Bond, to middle aged housewives, seemed to get a kick out of the run, and a good deal of money was made for the charity. My friend Craig, who's MG is under restoration drove my car down but despite this effort we only got third in the club stand trophy.
By the end of the day I was quite tired out so took it easy last night, however, apart from being tired I seem to have picked up a tummy bug, probably a bad sandwich or meeting too many people, anyhow today will need to be spent in close range of a toilet! This is OK really as my body has to learn to cope with bugs gradually, so it is normal to push on a bit, like going to the show, and then to get a bit of an infection, as long as its not to serious and the body can cope it means it will be stronger for when I am travelling again and I need to be able to concentrate and turn up reliably for things. This is all part of the immune system re-learning its defenses against common bugs we encounter every day.
According to the doctors I am about one third through this process, they are recommending pretty strongly that I do not go back to work, other than for the odd meeting or phone call, until early August and so far I am sticking with their advice in the hope that when I go back in August, after a few weeks holiday, I can sustain a pretty normal working pattern. However I do feel the itchiness of boredum niggling at the edge of my mind now so I will just have to try to keep my discipline for another 8 weeks or so. I think a few lunch dates with colleagues when they are in the UK and the occasional phone call will start my reconnection to work during that time in a low key way.
So apologies to the readers as the blog continues to be a bit boring, this bit of the treatment process is in reality a bit boring, if it is going well, so I am happy to be unexciting and working through the daily routine of exercise and rest in a low stress environment. Long may it continue ! I am probably sticking to weekly updates now so do not worry if not much happens on the blog, if anything does go wrong I will let you all know so for now no news is good news.
Cheers
Gerry
By the end of the day I was quite tired out so took it easy last night, however, apart from being tired I seem to have picked up a tummy bug, probably a bad sandwich or meeting too many people, anyhow today will need to be spent in close range of a toilet! This is OK really as my body has to learn to cope with bugs gradually, so it is normal to push on a bit, like going to the show, and then to get a bit of an infection, as long as its not to serious and the body can cope it means it will be stronger for when I am travelling again and I need to be able to concentrate and turn up reliably for things. This is all part of the immune system re-learning its defenses against common bugs we encounter every day.
According to the doctors I am about one third through this process, they are recommending pretty strongly that I do not go back to work, other than for the odd meeting or phone call, until early August and so far I am sticking with their advice in the hope that when I go back in August, after a few weeks holiday, I can sustain a pretty normal working pattern. However I do feel the itchiness of boredum niggling at the edge of my mind now so I will just have to try to keep my discipline for another 8 weeks or so. I think a few lunch dates with colleagues when they are in the UK and the occasional phone call will start my reconnection to work during that time in a low key way.
So apologies to the readers as the blog continues to be a bit boring, this bit of the treatment process is in reality a bit boring, if it is going well, so I am happy to be unexciting and working through the daily routine of exercise and rest in a low stress environment. Long may it continue ! I am probably sticking to weekly updates now so do not worry if not much happens on the blog, if anything does go wrong I will let you all know so for now no news is good news.
Cheers
Gerry
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