A low day today

I don't like taking time off work but I know I must do it. It would have been useless me going in today like I was - I'd have been a asleep on the train and potentially at my desk too.

I've done what needed to be done today whilst I have been sat here at my office desk and apart from one thing that I hadn't banked on (forgetting where I stored a document - which is very unlike me) no one died!

I tend to work in the charity sector, much as I worked in Financial Services, IT and business; at breakneck speed, everything was resolved as quickly as humanly possible. Generally the customer was the one who needed things working so they could make the money which eventually meant that you got paid too.

It is a LOT different. No one expects that things get turned around in minutes as we have finite (not infinite) resources but I still do my bit to my old speed and often it isn't needed, no one was expecting it and other people who have to input have their schedules too. I haven't learnt to slow down. Not a bad thing as tomorrow I can catch up I suppose :-)

Why else do I feel low? Letting other people down is one but I'm not really and if I don't work I don't get paid so it isn't as if there is any sick pay involved. No one has been let down and I think it is just me, being - well - me really.

Others? Grey old winter day outside, inside not particularly warm either, the tasks are getting done but it is drudgery not enjoyable. I think it is just like that at the moment there isn't much to brighten up my day and the day of reckoning is on its way - 2 weeks tomorrow.

Back to the pile of paper on my desk which is going down slowly.

Another day off work

I cannot believe how tired I was this morning, I woke at 5:25 and had a thick head and was so lethargic. All I wanted to do was go back to bed which I did after e-mailing the office.

I still have dull aches over my eyes - perhaps I have a small part of this cold everyone in the house has had and I'm just having partial symptoms because of the Immunotherapy?

Maybe I was just battling with the post before and battling things out in my head?

Anyway, I'll do a little work from home today but other than that take the day off - I can catch up tomorrow as long as I keep my eye on the ball. That is that I have 10 working days left before I go into Hospital.

So how are you feeling?

Strange would be the nearest thing to say about how I feel. I am not sure - I feel quite peculiar - I think it is to do with the letter actually rather than anything else. It gets you to thinking again about what is going to happen - my left hand started throbbing as it knows it is going to get a cannula shoved into it.

My dreams have become very real again recently, long coherent and most life like although they aren't particularly worrying they are extremely realistic and I can wake up imagining that these things have actually happened.

It is a most unusual feeling - sort of not ill, not right, a little light headed and light bodied (if that makes sense) and I wonder if there isn't a little bit of fear in me. There are always terrible thoughts going through my head when I stop to think about things and being wheeled into Theatre is a pretty bad time and so there is a nag going on in there as well - there must be some doubt and I'm guessing it is just the build up of emotions the nearer I get towards the event. There'll be the worrying afterwards, of course until the results are known and who knows, dare I think of having no further maintenance - that would be the best result ever.

As I typed this I thought of what I said about the terrible thoughts and they aren't as bad as they used to be but they are still there. The voices still nag at you and taunt you, your mortality and your equilibrium. I've said many times before that I am far more emotional these days than I ever was before and to stop and think can be almost tearful, certainly a choking feeling and I'm still not strong when it comes to sad stories and tragedy despite dealing with it at work it still shocks and upsets me far more than it ever did.

Anyway, off to bed and see if I can shake this off for the week.

Letter Arrived

Today - a bit bizarre to arrive on a Sunday although it was DHL or TNT or some such.

Pre-Assessment on the 2nd December - Operation on the 9th December. All very clinical stuff these letters :-)

So at least that is all set now. I feel a lot better and worse all at the same time! Oh well soon be over I suppose.

No letter?

I've not had confirmation of my day in Hospital yet? Mind you that is often the case. I suppose if I don't have it by Tuesday I ought to ask as I would need to be assessed on 1st December.

My colleague goes in this Thursday for his operation and then won't be back to work until the New Year and I am guessing that is true from my side too once I go in, in reality I won't be back until the 18th or 19th at the earliest - I will have to see how I am - we tend to close down for the two weeks (almost) over Christmas and the New Year and so the 5th January is realistic for me too.

I am expecting, dare I say it, to be clear again. It will be bitterly disappointing if it is anything different. The next month or so is a no-mans land as I'm still not sure what to expect. This time I am far more confident of the outcome and yet there is still some doubt. It nags at the back of your mind that this, of all cancers, has a nasty habit of coming back. It is treatable but I really could do with getting back to being me and moving on again. No matter what you think this hovers over you all the time and you are faced with (as a friend put it yesterday) FUD - Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.

If the uncertainty goes then perhaps the other two will fade away and I can get on and make some decisions in 2009. Decisions? If things are clear and I have the gift of more time - what am I going to do with it - time that is?

What a week that was

I am now very tired and off to bed - I have no idea how I managed to get through that lot and last night I didn't get home until very late. Tonight I have snoozed on the train and in my chair and I still need to get to bed.

All in all it hasn't been a bad week at all and I am happy that I got through it and managed to get to work every day. Only two weeks to go before the Operation and time is oozing away fast. Tomorrow is going to be interesting as I need to catch up with my studies (again) and get other items finished that are now urgent.

Every day this week

I will have been out every evening this week come Friday. I didn't plan it that way - it has just happened like that.

Someone asked me to help them out - I said yes and suddenly I am up to my eyeballs and beyond with it. Oh well, all in a good cause.

The trouble is I am yawning like crazy so will take myself off to bed and hope for a good night's sleep.

A came to work and took some photos which was great - nice to see her using her particular skill.

As for me - my colleague was back from his awful time. He is having an operation next week and we wont see him until the new year. At least he was in reasonably good spirits despite the fact he has to have a serious operation to come. It isn't a million miles away from a TURBT so I showed him the picture from a few days back which amused him somewhat.

As if to counter the previous comment

I was out with friends and spoke of this concern that I am just turning up and doing day to day (menial tasks).

The rough interpretation was "Why not take the sh1t for a few years? You've worked hard all your life and got ill to prove it, why not take it easy, do the 9 to 5 and retire?"

You can see that at 51 years of age, no mortgage left that it would appeal and yet, I don't have the capability to be a drone - I never have. I wonder what I should be doing in this situation.

I continue to fight with these demons - I ought to be doing good things with all of this and yet to 9 to 5 and take the money isn't my style at all, it isn't in my make up (not mascara and lip stick Flocky Bicep!!).

Too late to moralise now but it needs consideration as I still love the job but the menial sometimes really hacks me off.

I am not a number

I am a free man. The Prisoner - excellent. No idea what was going on but there you go. It makes as much sense as my day to day these days.

I'm getting the feeling that I am being treated a bit like a clerk. I think I am changing my attitude a bit - I mean I can put my hand to anything but I'm not sure that I really am ready for being employed again. Well not if I'm going to be "clerking" rather than using my 30 years of experience for something a bit more - well - useful.

Previous Post

I saw that picture on Steve's blog and it still "gets my attention". It is a brilliant piece that only fellow suffers can truly appreciate. The only way to show it any differently would be to have razor blades flying out :-(

If you could put a thousand words and expressions into a picture - that would be it :-)

I am getting myself ready to face another week. It appears that my work colleague may be having something similar (in the same locality) done to him which will take him out for 4 to 6 weeks and with me also going into Hospital and unlikely to get into work until the last few days of the year it could mean that I'll be having a very interesting time indeed in the next few weeks.

I have about 6 weeks work to fit into 3 weeks and that should be interesting. Time is getting booked into my diary and I defy even Stephen Hawkins to be able to sort that out for me!

Oh well, best get ready for the early morning start and see what awaits - I have no idea how I am going to fill in for two people for the next three weeks though :-) On top of University work and work for the Lodges I suddenly realised that I haven't started my yearly newsletters to family or for my researchers of the family name and I haven't even bought a Christmas card or present yet either. EEEEkkkkk!

Here it is

What I will be doing in December for about 5 days or so :-(

Accepting the situation

I wonder if you are meant to just accept that you get tired and out of condition and all the other baggage that goes along with this?

I seem to be constantly moaning about this that and the other. Not that I was ever a hypercondriac, far from it, I hadn't really been ill in 30 years and couldn't understand how people could get so ill all the time (yes - now I know).

So whilst I am writing in here all the day by day symptoms and side effects it sounds like a constant whinge to me and I don't mean it to be. It occurs to me that there is a way back from all of this and you just have to grind away and work at it all the time to "get back to normal". Perhaps the statement you often hear "life completely changes after diagnosis" is exactly how it is. Everything changes and it doesn't ever return to what it used to be like and that is why they say it!

I am sure of one thing though; I have the luxury of looking back a year and seeing what happened (in fact 2 years). When I look back on how I was a year and then two years ago the progress has been markedly improved, the outlook has gotten better each year. In fact it is funny as it was a year ago the old business self-destructed - looking back now I don't think I have ever seen such a performance where a guy that effectively owned the business told the investors how it was. Utter disbelief around the table as it transpired that the guy was morally corrupt, the business didn't own the product at the core of the service and that there was next to no money in the account. The more amusing thing was there had been a huge launch party 6 months previous and a massive sponsorship deal the day afterwards at a prestigious annual awards party. You couldn't make it up could you :-)

So two years ago - not sure whether the treatment was going to work. One year ago, elated that the treatment had worked and got a clear, but was disappointed with the business I had worked to build betrayed me and the investors. This year, I really should be even more elated that I remain clear and that this could be my last operation coming up.

So to the original note - should I accept the situation that I will be like this ongoing? Of course not, I really find it difficult to have any stability when one day I can "climb Mount Everest" and the next day I can't get out of bed although, having said that, that hasn't happened for a few weeks now! Things aren't as extreme as they were 2 years ago or one year ago. It would be good though if they were to not be part of everyday existence although I'd rather have those than cancer.

Finally, it is probably wrong to ask to be back to normal and not have these niggles as, in the overall scheme of things, others suffer far more than me and I have recovered from BC. Many other people are suffering far worse things in the world and I really should be grateful that I am over the worst and that I am able to tell the tale also that I am allowed to whinge about it. It all seems somehow trivial now I think about it:-)

Did I say tired?

Mmmm

I actually sat down and watched a Laurel and Hardy DVD - one of my set I got for my birthday. Now they aren't everyone's cup of tea but I enjoy watching them in small doses. Of course the trouble is that it is quarter to one in the morning and I am wide awake :-)

I shall turn in and see if I can get some shut eye quickly. I feel wide awake unfortunately.

Now I am tired

I whacked a week's worth of lessons into one day and feel really tired. I needed to catch up after falling behind about a week ago. I got my assignment in on time and I am really hoping for decent marks in that. This module on Faraday was a big one this time and whilst I know a fair bit about it already (I trained as an electrician so should know a bit about him) it was still quite an eye opener to learn about the Institution and his lectures.

Tomorrow - Stalin. I know a lot about him from my recent reading of Martin Gilbert's History of the Twentieth Century. This section is about Myth, History and Reputation.

I've done enough today so I am going to go and watch the TV or listen to some music.

Top of the world

This morning - I haven't felt this well for a long time. The sun is out, I had a good evening. The household was all smiles, cheerfulness and light this morning and all seems set fair today.

I was meant to be at a tutorial in London but I have too much on my plate at the moment to manage that.

I just listed the stuff that I need to do and it is a bit terrifying as I only realistically have three weeks to sort it all out. I cannot see that happening as things stand - I really do have too much work on.

Today I intend to sit down and do some planning. I need to work out what is achievable in the time available.

Anyway - nice day and feeling good so who knows what I can achieve if I put my mind to it.

Beer and a Ruby

An impromptu evening with lovely friends and it is so nice to have a belly full of laughs, beer and food once in a while. A couple of pranks and some lewd and even occasionally intelligent humour across what was honest food and service can only but set the weekend up :-)

I do enjoy meeting up with my friends and I value their company more than they will know or more than I dare let on.

Relaxing and Chilling

It is a lovely day outside. I've been for a short walk this morning and I may go out for a few beers and a curry this afternoon/evening which will wrap up a quite strange week.

I must have been a bit stressed about the talk last night. I needn't have been at all - I get up and talk to people all the time and I am often left to do impromptu talks. The reason I say that is I feel really quite well today. I had a bit of the old leg cramp troubles again this morning (heavy bag last night?) but other than that I feel much better today than I have for some days.

Difficult to describe but my skin feels warm almost tingling which is how it felt after some of the earlier treatments. Things don't look so bad and I'm feeling quite upbeat.

It has also taken me a while to get back to understanding that I cannot control everything and that sh1t happens occasionally. Some deadlines are being missed and not because of me but other people are screwing up. I've stopped blaming myself for missing these deadlines knowing full well that it is way beyond my ability or sphere of influence to do anything. It just bugs me that no one works to the deadlines they agreed to.

So maybe I was getting a little too stressed out last week? Who knows but anyway TGIF!!!

Bakers Hall

Wow - it really is good to go to these Livery halls. I did my presentation which went down quite well. As usual - a lovely meal and nice wine and good company - I really couldn't ask for more. The Hall was slightly more modern than I expected but some of the old artifacts were hundreds of years old - the Farriers were a 1300s Livery. The Bakers Hall is a lot more modern but they still had their old charters on the wall and it really did look like a court too. These are fascinating places.

I need to trim down my bag when I go to one of these next - It feels like a bag of lead :-)

Anyway, I did my first public talk about the Charity and it went down really well. A friend said to me today that it would be OK as I would have done these a Zillion Times...

I have tomorrow off - Brilliant. Not so brilliant is that I need to catch up on my work and a hundred million things. Never enough time is there..

I get concerned

that people don't believe I am tired or lost for words or just can't get up in the morning.

Why the hell should I be worried I often wonder or give a toss what people think about me? I suppose old habits die hard. I never used to take time of or whinge like I do these days about how I don't feel quite right. It annoys the hell out of me because it stops me doing what people pay me to do!

I'm tired all the time, I put on a good show but boy do I pay for it later. If I overdo it or take a few long days I am wiped out. It is so unlike me. I give everything 100% or try to and feel I come up short (not sure I actually do) but it is the bloke with the "Gravity Switch" that gets me every time.

Tomorrow I will be flying. By the time I get home I will probably have done 15 hours. Friday is a day off because of that - I know full well what I'll be like with the adrenaline rush tomorrow evening on my solo presentation.

It is interesting that Steve is now getting the classic BCG symptoms on his treatment. It is just so bizarre - unless as an old girlfriend once accused me of having my brains where my ***** is :-)

Well its near enough your bladder anyway!

Busy day and still yawning

I decided that I would have to have Friday off as I am still feeling not all there and I need to get in touch with a load of people to sort out arrangements before I go into Hospital.

With my colleague off at work and all sorts of things going on it is just amazing how quickly time is pouring away.

I am out tomorrow to a meeting in London. More after the event. It will be at a Livery Hall and to a Livery Lodge which I am looking forward to immensely. It will be my first speaking engagement for the Charity outside of the Forum I did earlier but I will be flying solo tomorrow.

I am certainly feeling the pace at the moment. I finished my assignment for my Uni course and got that in tonight. I feel quite good about it. It could have been better but I really enjoyed doing it and I am sure that the next ones will only get harder. At least it is a major worry off my back and I don't need to do another until January which is cool.

At least another long weekend coming up to try and solve the tiredness problems - I really could sleep for a week.