Ooops!

I mentioned in the previous post that I went and saw my GP due to my failing state of health.
I thought I might have an infection and he said if I did it was probably viral. I definitely had something as I felt like I had the "flu" but without the outward symptoms. Just the body aches and general Malaise.

It seems to have passed but my energy levels have dropped considerably. The Doctor had ordered some blood tests to see if I had something else that might be causing the constant fever. (I think it's what ever it is that's showing on my liver on CT scan)
Today I got an email from my GP. Here's what the tests showed..

"Hi Ron
Your blood count has dropped a bit (haemoglobin 121 and platelets 51), and liver functions are a bit up as well. Not sure specifically how to interpret all that. ?back to the specialists?"

I was a little concerned to see the low platelet count so I did some research...
What I found surprised me. Here's the background first... I'd been told by the doctors in Germany that I could safely take Ginkgo Biloba for the ringing in my ears (tinnitus) even though my platelet count has never been great. Then when I started running a constant fever six months ago I started taking one Ibuprofen every six hours to reduce it. Lately I've had to take two to get any improvement.

Ginkgo should not be used in patients with low platelet counts and Ginkgo and Ibuprofen should never be used in conjunction because they can cause serious bleeding/bruising or even brain bleeds. (That would explain the large bruise on my knee that I have no idea how I got!)

So with that in mind and coupled with my failing over-all health I've decided to go back on the prednisone as of today. This will remove the need for Ibuprofen and I'll stop the Ginkgo as well.
I'll schedule a blood test next week to see if that has improved things.
I'm expecting to be back to feeling 100% in about two weeks. (Ignoring the Lymphoma and Liver problems)

On a more positive note, The rebuilt engine was installed back in the race car on Monday night and dyno tuned on Tuesday evening by Andre at Speedtech. The power output is huge to say the least at 315Kw to the wheels. We will be running a modest tune for Targa to reduce the change of breaking something. If we need to run the high horsepower setup it's just a case of flicking a switch on the dashboard.

There's just eighteen days to go until Targa begins but there's still time to join the team and sponsor both the car and the Cancer Society. We have set up an account (below) in which people can donate directly into. The funds being split equally between the entry costs and the Cancer Society.

The account is "TLC" 02-0610-0058277-003 (any special instructions can be put in the reference fields)

Your support is appreciated ...Ron