Mi Goreng, Marriage, Motorsport and medicine.

OK firstly a word to the wise: Don't try and eat 2 minute noodles and write a blog wearing reading glasses at the same time. You only end up trying to type one handed and drip noodles down your clean shirt while struggling to see through steamed up lenses!

A combination of age and steroids has deteriorated my eye sight quite rapidly in the last year. I now have to wear reading glasses to use the computer despite a 19" screen, and I haven't been able to read a menu at a restaurant in quite some time. My long range vision is still OK, but if I wear my glasses there's a definite improvement.



Anyway.. On to more important things!  On October the sixth, while on holiday in Taranaki I (finally) asked Sarah to marry me. It's something I'd been planning for quite some time, but was waiting for my health to improve before taking the plunge. There was little fear that she would say no as she has been making subtle remarks and rumblings for a few years now. However she really didn't expect me to ask and was pleasantly surprised (read stunned) when I asked her as we lay in bed enjoying the Lake view from the little private chalet we were staying at on the shores of Lake Rotorangi, about 20km out of Eltham.

Sarah had spotted a beautiful little diamond ring in an antique store in Eltham the day previous and showed an interest in it but decided she couldn't justify the expense as an item of jewelery.

So for me that made choosing the ring easy :)  We just stopped off on the way home and I purchased it.

We are planning a quiet wedding at home on December 18th attended by close family, followed by a party that evening for extended family and friends in which we shall celebrate the new house, my good health and our new life.

As mentioned in my last post I've gotten back into my motorsport and last weekend I drove the Evo at the second round of the Port Road sealed sprint at Seaview. This is an event that I have done quite well at in the past, but have also done terribly at too! Crashing back in 1995, getting hopelessly lost on several runs a few years back and doing half the track twice... not good if you want to post a low time!

I first won it in 2006 and have won it a couple of times since including last weekend's event.
However my times, like at Shelly Bay were down on what I've been capable of in previous years. I put this down to a heightened sense of self-preservation and a little bit of rustiness (if there is such a word).

Back in 2008 when I was doing a lot of competing around the country I was right at home with the 320kw that the car produces on high boost and I set a number of records behind the wheel.

Last weekend the sheer brutish power of the car scared the pants off me and I never really felt comfortable. Perhaps with more time behind the wheel I'll get back my confidence. I hope so.

On the health front I'm pretty good. Well today I feel great. I have a couple of small niggles that remind me that there's a small lymph node in my left side pelvis that is sitting possibly dormant but ready to burst into life should it choose to. I get a few aches from that region every now and then and that unsettles me. My skin feels prickly/itchy all the time, but it's not a deep seated itch like typically occurs with Hodgkins. It's just annoying enough to remind you that something might not be right. However I feel nothing like as bad as when I definitely have active disease, so I just remind myself of that and go about life as normal.

The weening down from the dreaded prednisone however continues. I'm now down to 17mg a day. I should be off it in 18 months at this rate. The horrible thing about weening off is that my body aches constantly and some days the pain is quite severe. I seem to live on a diet of paracetamol and Ibuprofen. Today the aches and pains are quite tolerable. I shall enjoy the normality while it lasts.

Here's something vaguely interesting.. Take a look at these images of me taken over the last five years at various stages of my treatment and recovery. I can hardly reconcile some of them as being of me, the difference in my perceived self image and reality is that great.

November 2006 feeling OK



December 2006 stem cell harvesting



December 2006 realatively well






May 2007 chemo







Sept 2007 end of chemo



















December 2007 hair regrowing (again)



March 2008 prior to radiation treatment

















April 2008 Ravaged by Radiation Treatment





May 2008 post radiation







 





July 2008 recovered from failed radiation treatment.







August 2008 about to leave for treatment in Germany









 





Feb 2009 just prior to stem cell transplant







July 2009 weight loss due to BOOP (un-diagnosed)









May 2010 recovering from BOOP steroid induced weight gain.