Cough Improving..

Isn't it weird.. This darned annoying dry hacking cough is getting better by the day!
It's still there, I'm coughing now as I type.. but over-all it's much improved over what it was a month ago. At that time I was having violent coughing fits that often got so bad that I vomited. Yuk!

Now it's just when I talk or if I breath in water etc when I'm drinking.. something that I seem to do far more often than I'd like, no matter how careful I am. I've been taking Seravent and I think that's made the biggest difference. I always thought that a lot of the coughing was asthma related. The cough when I talk is a result of the radiation treatment causing damage to my bronchial tubes. My biggest fear was that the cough was because of lung involvement, but if that were the case it would not be improving like it is.

I've been getting out and exercising as often as I can. I went for a bush walk last week that would normally have had me stopping every 10 minutes or so for a rest, but this time I did it without stopping, even on the steep uphill sections.

So my over-all fitness is improving in leaps and bounds. I want to start running again in the coming weeks. The idea is to be as physically fit as I can possibly be going into the next stage of treatment.

What next ?

I just got back from my consultation with Dr D'Souza. There is no clear plan of attack at this stage. Basically he checked me over and we discussed treatment so far and I gave him the details of the treatment I had received in Germany.
He was very pleased to see that I was in such good shape, as he said that his greatest concern was that I would be too unhealthy to withstand further treatment.
I agreed with him and said that was why I have been pushing so hard for treatment now while I am still relatively fit.

He has scheduled another appointment in two weeks time. This gives him an opportunity to formulate a treatment plan with his colleagues and some idea of time frame. In the mean time I'm to have a raft of tests to ascertain my state of health. Blood tests, gated heart study and lung function.

There are a couple of possible treatment options, One is the high dose chemo and stem cell transplant. The other is more salvage chemo. Or possibly a mix of both. Having some form of chemo can be beneficial to stem cell harvesting in that there is a slight "rebound" effect in the bone marrow that can provide more stem cells in the harvest. Of course I may not need to re-harvest, the cells I have in Germany may be enough. Like I said it's pretty much all up in the air at this point in time.

I had one night sweat on the weekend but other than that I'm feeling really good and oddly my cough seems to be improving.

An appointment with the haematologist

It certainly does pay to be pushy when it comes to getting an urgent appointment with specialists. I'd had no word last week from Wgtn hospital with regards to making an appointment to see me following my GP faxing them a referral. However today I received a reply from Alwyn D'Souza after I emailed him on Friday asking that he see me at his earliest convenience. In it he said he would have someone call me today and schedule a time to see him this Wednesday. Sure enough within minutes of his email I received a call from the hospital informing me of my 11am appointment.

In the email he also mentioned that he is still waiting for the documentation from The Leonardis Klinik with regards to the storage conditions of my stem cells. Without that paperwork they cannot be returned. What annoys me is that I was assured on several occasions by the klinik manager that it had been completed and sent. If the stem cells have to be written off and left in Germany that will mean a re-harvesting of new stem cells. I'm not sure how well Wellington hospital would take that as the cost is huge.

Health-wise I feel good, but my breathing is pretty crappy. I feel asthmatic most of the time and get breathless easily.
The cough is still there and last night saw a return of the night sweats. The sooner I get back into treatment the better. Fingers crossed that's on the agenda, Wednesdays meeting will reveal all I guess. I'll update you on what we discuss in my next post.

..Ron

Admiral rd Hillclimb

We just got back from competing at the Admiral Rd hillclimb. What a fantastic day! The weather has been awesome. I think just about everyone that went is suffering from some degree of sunburn as a result.

The turnout was huge, over forty cars this year including NZ's top rally driver Richard Mason fresh from his win of the 2008 Targa (tarmac) Rally last weekend. As I have mentioned in an earlier post I set a new record for the event last year at 37.27 seconds for the 900-metre dash to the top of the hill. However it became evident from the first run that Richard Mason was there to have a crack at beating it. He posted a 37.7 on his first time up the hill, where as I put down a slow 38.98, taking it easy on my first run as I found my limits.

After seeing his time I decided to have a go at getting up the hill in 36 seconds. I lowered my tyre pressures for more grip and raised the turbo boost pressure for more power. Sure enough I laid down a blistering time of 36.71 seconds, where as Richard only managed a mid 38 second run. I was looking good for an outright win. (or so I thought)

For the last run I tried to improve on my earlier time, however I didn't get away from the start very well. The car snapped sideways under power as I up-shifted into second gear and spun all four wheels, loosing precious fractions of a second. They say Richard Mason doesn't like to loose, (who does?) it must be the case because he certainly managed to pull something out of the bag on his last run, putting down a 36.63 second time against my 36.75. Enough to win outright and set a new event record. (The next closest cars were over 3 seconds behind us)

I'm absolutely wrapped with my second place finish. To be swapping the lead with NZ's top rally driver in a car that is a lot older and of lower spec is a great achievement. Add to that the fact that he is extremely race fit having come straight from his win in the 2200+Km Targa event. Where as I have done just two short events in the last 6 months and am about as unfit as I've ever been.

A great day! Roll on next year!