Operation Organise

Is under way.

My office now needs to be turned back into an office. Papers need to be filed. Stuff that has been accumulating here for weeks, needs to be put away. Files need to be put back where they came from, equipment needs to be placed in more useful locations and so on.

My office comprises these days of just two PCs, two laser printers, a large ink-jet printer, TV, drawing board, trolley, two desks and a lot of filing cabinets and cupboards.

Neatly (in some cases) and rather more collapsed heaps (in others) papers, folders, magazines, software disks and other such detritus are each calling out for attention.

I need to get organised as soon as possible so that I can get ready to work out how I am going to now run three assignments at once and have my treatment. It should be a fun ride.

Another sort of planning

Deciding what to do next, how to celebrate being here at all. How to return to what is now how we view normality. Normal will now include treatment, review, continuing life style changes, pills for the rest of my life and dealing with the shock and the aftermath of the experience.

The new job is - the more I look at it - quite a change for me. It has all the normal things I do know about, including managing partners and general management. What is different is how bleeding edge this is and what it will mean once it is up and running. I'm glad that I've decided to do this as I need the change and the challenge. More than that it is a symbol of the changes that have happened to me in the past few months.

Then there is planning to make sure that I ensure the family are provided for. That mortgage can go for a start.

Finally - a holiday - something special, something different and something that will allow a celebration and some luxury and something that we wouldn't normally do.

Intensive Day

I've been working out my strategy for this new job and thinking through how I should approach and manage this. It is quite an exciting prospect I have to say. It will be hard work I am certain and I am sure that I will be able to bring some useful experiences to the job.

I'm going to give this a rest now as I haven't worked out how I am going to fit all the other stuff in at the same time :-) A nice problem to have I suppose.

And of course; this time next week I'll be recovering from my first BCG treatment. A day later I'll be off to Wales and Cheshire for my training. That should be interesting. That week will be absolutely manic as I have a meeting on the Saturday morning, no doubt people will be trying to get me and I just won't be around. I imagine that it will be quite a shock to many when I am not there to sort them out.

Dull day

It was pretty awful but at least everyone seemed much better today. I watched my F1 race it was OK. Not much of anything to speak of, barely any incidents and not a lot of thrills and spills, glad I didn't go down to see it.

I've been working on my contract for this new job - phew - what a lot of clauses and a lot of changes I want. It still surprises me to this day that people don't read these things properly. I was interested that someone has obviously added a clause as all the number sequencing was out so all the cross references were wrong.

I was talking to a friend the other day and I did a contract review for him. When he brought up one of my queries the chap said that they had never had anyone query it before but when they read it - it was obvious that there was an issue.

Let's hope I haven't gone overboard with it. Lots more to do tomorrow as I need to work out a strategy for covering my time over the next few weeks - all hell will break loose!

All surfacing this morning

Slowly but surely all are struggling out of their beds and feeling better all around - good.

It is a miserable bank holiday weekend it is raining and grey - mind you there is plenty to do and I have lots of things to sort out with work, leisure, treatment, hobbies and so on. Now I just need to work out how to fit everything in. This is a better headache than having nothing to do but now the worries of insurance and stage of my recovery are out of the way I should be able to shake off the apathy of the past and move forward, better to have too much to do than too little - the devil makes hands etc....

Monaco

My favourite Grand Prix? Maybe. Well last year I reckoned I might get to this one. Obviously that wasn't meant to be. Perhaps next year. I need to get to one of them soon as I haven't been for years and years. I'm a bit of a petrol head and loved my trip to Brands Hatch years ago to the see The European Grand Prix (I think) if not it was the British one.

Noisy as you like and I just had a fabulous day. Watching from the TV is fine but Monte Carlo is a great place to visit and people watch anyway and with a Grand Prix it would be a great fun weekend.

It has been a strange day. Oldest is OK - she went shopping, youngest has recovered but wife not been seen all day - too tired. So the house has been remarkably quiet. All seem to be recovering though.

It looks like

I'm the only one fully fit and healthy this weekend. Wife lying down in a darkened room with headache from hell, Oldest daughter suffering post exam relief and hay fever, youngest with a sniffy cold.

I'm feeling quite good about things at the moment. I have to go and see the Doc sometime next week to get sorted on BP tablets. Hopefully he will have the results from the Hospital and realise that on Monday week I start the BCG treatments. That will screw any blood results badly as the BCG whips you blood into a frenzy and gets your immune system able to repel speeding bullets, see through people's clothing and all other stuff that Clark Kent can do! It is pretty cool stuff :-)

Calm Down

I have calmed down now. It really has been a pleasing week all things considered. I met up with some very good buddies tonight and we had a curry and a few beers (as you do).

We are still quite a way off the anniversary of my original symptoms but as someone commented tonight - it had been a pretty bad year up until this week. I managed to catch every bit of bad luck going. Well, let us all hope that things get better from now on!

A long weekend off and then I need to hit next week running. Lots to do and fit in. Life is going to get hectic and exciting all in one go.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Got the job, got the job, got the job,

Got the jo - ob, got the job,

Got the job, got the job, got the job,

Got the job, got the jo - ob


Yippee, yee-haa, great, stupendous, brill, fantastic, superb, wonderful (NO I am not using AWESOME) Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and so on.

Adjectives to the power of 10!!!

By the way - I am reasonably pleased with myself.

At last a chance to go for it without let or hindrance....

Sorry - how very un British of me, Ahem.

Well I got the job -


......................Obviously.....................

YEAH!

Pulling stuff apart

Nothing I like better than doing that. Some of the contractual stuff just doesn't figure - I think someone has had a go at a few of the clauses and one of them means absolutely nothing. I think someone has edited it and not re-read it.

Like many documents of this nature it is written by someone with knowledge of the law but not real knowledge of the job and so it doesn't really fit. Then, when someone queries it, a non knowledgeable person adjusts it which can result in hilarious consequences. Some of these include, in this case, terminating the contract for cause, without cause, with one week or perhaps one month and given due notice or not as the case may be? So someone hasn't looked at a previous clause before adding or amending another one. It should make for an interesting discussion later today.

Oh yes and there are some other anal bits in it too.

Up and about early

I'm going to get involved in the teleconferences today and then meet the CEO and talk turkey on the job and the opportunity.

I'm going to give myself the summer to get this done and if it isn't to be then I am going to set myself a new direction and follow that. The pressure is off and I really needed that. It isn't about the money, it is about what I want to do now and the money supports me whilst I come to that decision, plan and go down that route.

The strange thing about cancer is that it changes you in more ways than one and it does mean that you question things. The meeting I had yesterday was very much one of those meetings I'd rather never have for the rest of my life. Why it couldn't be done over the phone or to have been resolved by now, I don't know.

So - there we are - an interesting day ahead, a Bank Holiday weekend (with forecast rain - typical) and perhaps a new start next week or the week after that - who knows.

I must be pretty slow

It is taking an age to sink in still.

I was up in London today and at Kings Cross Station - it was fun to see over near to platform 10 there is a sign showing platform 9 3/4 with a trolley embedded into the wall - nice one Harry! That has nothing to do with this blog I just thought I'd stick that sort of comment randomly in here!

I have to say that Critical Illness Insurance is one of my better decisions. I don't make many of those so I'll claim that one.

I think I will sleep on this now and see what pops into my brain tomorrow

Pinch pinch pinch

No it won't go in that the prognosis is good, I have a job and the insurance has paid out.

The trouble with playing everything in a pessimistic way is that the delight (perhaps the wrong word) that I should feel I don't.

However the more I have thought about it, the more I am pleased that I can support my family now. I was really worried that maybe I couldn't do that 6 months ago.

I'm allowing myself a little

yippee

Serious

I don't think I realised how seriously ill I was until perhaps last September when my Consultant explained in more detail what I had, why I needed to go back into Hospital again and how near we were to having something even more serious on our hands - like radical surgery. Even then, for me, these things didn't sink in that much. Even now I am still prone to forget to be careful or dismiss it. I often get told that I shouldn't trivialise my condition but I perhaps deal with it in that way to keep my control on things.

I looked at bladder cancer as something like appendicitis, you have it, they whip it out and give you antibiotics, follow up a couple of times and discharge you. Of course it isn't like that at all. Bladder Cancer just comes back and can keep coming back and that is why it is so well followed up and why you go on a rigorous regime.

So today, I pulled out the details from my Insurance Policy:

Cancer - is described and the description given fits what I had to start with a malignant tumour

What has been bringing things home to roost for me are that the policy covers:

• Coronary Artery By-Pass Surgery
• Heart Attack
• Kidney Failure
• Major Organ Transplant
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Permanent total disability
• AIDS/HIV
• Alzheimer's before age of 65
• Angioplasty
• Aorta Graft Surgery
• Aplastic Anaemia
• Bacterial Meningitis
• Benign Brain Tumour
• Blindness
• Coma
• CJD
• Deafness (full)
• Heart Valve Replacement or Repair
• Liver Failure
• Loss of independent Existence
• Loss of Speech
• Motor Neurone Disease
• Paralysis. Paraplegia
• Parkinson's Disease before age 65
• Terminal Illness
• Third Degree Burns
• Permanent Total Disability (Can no longer work)

There are some conditions attached to those but good grief - I wouldn't like to have any of those and yet I am lumped together in the same category - yeeks. Perhaps now I'll respect what I have a bit more?

Good things tend to happen to me in May

But only in May - the new job last year and this, the news on my cancer free condition and this morning, and I am still staggering around on this one. The Insurance phoned and they will pay out.

I don't know what I feel but the predominant feeling has to be one of relief. It has taken 7 1/2 months to get this far and I suppose that now we are finally going to get that paid out I can relax even more and concentrate fully on my new job, getting fit and staying well.

I am glad now that I took out this insurance - but then hindsight always has been one of my strongest character traits :-)

PHEW!

The Job

Well it looks like I will take the slightly riskier job. Nothing ventured and all that. I've seen the people, I've partly seen the service, the numbers look good and if it takes off it will be great. If it doesn't, well at least I will have given it my best shot!

They seem cool about the fact that I am not going to be able to do too much with the treatments but I can still work online and use a phone except for Monday afternoons and evenings when frankly I won't want to do too much except lying around.

So - on Friday the CEO is coming here on his way through and we will talk turkey. Early in June I'll be off and about on a training session and the launch party is in mid June.

Oh dear oh dear

I have just been out with a friend and I feel absolutely dreadful - I managed to squeeze down a fruit juice followed by a beer but when I had the second beer I thought that I might see it again :-( SO I quit and came home - I think I will now go and have a lie down.

I know - you have no sympathy for me whatsoever and I should know better but exceptional circumstances!

Right where is the hangover pack.....

Slow Old Day

Oh dear - well I haven't done that sort of drinking for a while and I ought not to do that for some time again either :-)

I have a feeling today is going to go very slowly for me. I also do not expect to get a lot done

Ouch

Only myself to blame. Good friends or not - too much drink gives you a headache no matter what you do.

It also makes you sentimental and write drivel. Must make a note not to drink as much next time.

As with all notes offering this sort of advice - they mysteriously disappear when you need them! Along with socks, IOUs and other important material - these things must inherit a life of their own. You never do find them.

OUCH

I have no sympathy for myself - who would have thought celebrating my improved condition would give me such a headache :-)

The previous blog

That is how a blog should be - totally spontaneous and not worrying about grammar and syntax!



I am just amazed that I survived and so thankful for the support I have received from my friends.



Cancer beats your friends up more than you would believe. I don't like the idea that I've hurt other people though :-(