Just a week to go..

It's now only seven days until the wedding. Most people would expect Sarah and I to be getting fairly excited about now.. or anxious, but after being together for such a long time, we aren't expecting a huge change in our actual relationship, just it's status.

We are looking forward to the big day, don't get me wrong. But here we are on a hot Sunday afternoon just seven days out and we both seem more concerned about keeping cool and having a lazy day in the shade than we are concerned about next Saturday's big event. Maybe once things start to wind up later in the week the nerves will kick in :)

It's been a month since I last posted, sorry about that. There's been a lot of new work done around the house. The biggest of which was the construction of a retaining wall and fence to support the steep edge of the driveway and give some measure of safety to people walking along the drive.  Previously anyone that tripped off the edge would have a steep 45 degree tumble of about 50 metres before they stopped.

Here's some before and after pics...

Most of the work was done by a friend of mine who volunteered his time, his digger and his truck for a fraction of what it would have cost to do normally. Thanks JP !!

Healthwise I'm feeling pretty good. Just one worrying symptom that I would like to have an answer for. I have an annoying skin itch, mainly at night. This can be a "B" symptom of Hodgkins Lymphoma. Or it could just be side effect of prednisone (although it's rare). I've been waiting several months now for another CT scan to be performed. So far there's no sign of it being scheduled any time soon. I may just pay to have one done privately so I can put my fears to rest.

I had another lung function test last week and the doctor was concerned that the results were worse than previous (which were really good). I found that a little odd as my breathing these days is excellant when compared to what it was last year. I have no cough or difficulty breathing. However I had stopped taking my steroid inhaler because of the improvement and that may explain the drop in the readings.
My respiratory doctor had not prescribed the inhaler, it was something I'd asked my GP to prescribe last year. So it never occurred to me that it may have been responsible for a large degree of the overall improvement in my lung function. I'm back on it again now. :)

I've stopped reducing my prednisone dosage too. I've leveled it out at 16mg a day and will stick with that until my lung functions have stabilised over several months of testing.

There's nothing happening on the motorsport front. Port road sprint kicks off the 2011 year for me and that's not till late January. I've set myself a goal of entering the Dunlop Targa in either 2011 or 2012 depending on finances. I feel I need to give it another crack with good health and taking in what we learned from last time. When you consider that I was able to run in the top five on several stages, and winning one, even with the car badly damaged, running on low boost (low power) and with me incredibly ill with pneumonia. You can see why I feel I need to give it another go! 

Lots of interesting projects coming through the workshop.. A Galant VR4 RS for exhaust and intercooler work. The owner was so impressed (his grin was a mile wide) with the work I've done so far that he wants me to complete the restoration of the whole car after New Year.
I have an Evo 4 in for the installation of a replacement Evo5 engine, plus a number of other jobs waiting in the wings.. Doesn't look like I'll be having a very long break over the Christmas period!

Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2011 !!   ..Ron