a busy week..

It's been a week since I last posted, There's so much happening lately I hardly manage to keep track of the days.

I've been doing a bit of a trial run with the prednisone. Yeah I know the doc said I could have it next month while on Targa but I wanted to do a test run and see what days I feel best and over how long to take it. I started on 40mg a day for 4 days last week and then dropped to 20mg a day since Sunday. I shall finish the course this weekend. That will give me a full month before I restart again.

The results: The fever stopped within twelve hours. By the next day my temp had started to climb slightly in the morning but dropped again once the steroid had kicked in (I take them at breakfast). It now never moves much from a normal 36.5C at any time.
The 40mg dose leaves me feeling a bit "wired" but by the time I started on the lower 20mg dose I felt completely normal and well. My cough has completely disappeared too. The small nodes on my neck have shrunk down to around half their previous size.

I feel so good, one has to wonder why I can't just take these things forever.... sigh .You can't imagine what it's like to be sick and feverish for six months non-stop and then suddenly become normal again. It's certainly makes you appreciate every waking second of your day.

Workwise, the week started with an interesting job. A Rolls Royce hearse that I had been commissioned to engineer new rear shock absorber mounts on. It took a whole day just to remove the old brackets from someone else's previous efforts some thirty years ago. Then the next day was spent repairing the cracked chassis and making the new mounts. Working on a hearse was certainly a bit different than the race cars I'm used to working on..

Things are still moving along at great speed with regards to Targa. There has been one major hiccup though. The engine in the race car has worn out it's crankshaft and requires a rebuild. Luckily this was found now and not on day one of the event! I have had a small team of helpers dive in and save the day. Big thanks to Mark from STM for helping me pull the engine out and also to Pete Zivkovic who is doing the rebuild.

We have had a raft of new sponsors come on board, mostly relating to help with accommodation costs. You'd need to visit http://www.targalifechallenge.co.nz/ to view them all.

Cheers! ...Ron