Hello to all of you who take the time to read this and also feedback via my two FB profiles. Our anniversary weekend post last week, turned out to be one of the most commented on posts to date. I will take this opportunity to thank everyone who commented and got in touch via private messaging. Sandra and I were simply blown away and humbled by the reaction; our appreciation is yours.
The past week has been a mixed one for myself and health first, as per usual. The shutting down of the site where I currently work, continues to grow in tasks, with the first of the pallet racking dismantled and the first load of pallets ready to be collected this coming week. That task did challenge my body and I am paying for it right now. This type of heavier task is a test for myself, as I need to determine if I can handle things such as this now and as you read this, the jury is out, as they say. There is a second stage which will begin Monday and that will help me arrive at a decision, as to whether I need to step back and obtain help from one of our other sites.
The impact is upon my back, as expected. The location of the terminal cancer itself (the aspects that cannot be sorted with treatment), is the base of my back, around the left side ilium bone. My legs are below that and my upper body is above that. Everything I do hinges of that bone and it is the aspect that now causes me the most health issues.
The start of that heavier work phase has been causing Sandra distress. She is exceptionally concerned about the strain it will place upon my body and then the knock on longer term impact. It has caused her to lose sleep in the past week and also resulted in both of us talking through the work coming up, how I will approach it, but also at what point I will decide whether I can carry on, or seek help. The ‘smallest’ of tasks now cause so many things to think of in much more detail and execution.
Connected to that the rusty fingers have been to the fore also. I am finding that when I do more physical tasks, the knock on effect is stiffer finger joints, usually a few hours later. This is one the aspects that Dr. Rahman discussed with us, as a potential side effect. I appear to be one of the patients who will have this as a permanent aspect to deal with.
The last impact from my current health situation, that presented itself this week, is connected to my historical interest and ongoing research. At least once a year, myself and a varying number of fellow history enthusiasts plan a trip to Europe to visit former battlefields and related locations of historical interest. You may recall last year’s trip to France and Belgium, where I had the start of some significant health issues. We had planned a return trip to the Normandy region this year (last time was 2018), with a few stop offs en route. However, I need time to focus on my fitness and stamina, something which the winter months have not allowed me to do yet. I therefore had to opt out of the planned trip for the first time since we started these many years back. I have chosen to defer to the next potential trip, which may be in the late summer. The choice of location for the Normandy trip is one that takes longer to travel to, which for me, is an aspect I have to factor in / consider. The late summer possible trip, is one that does not require as much travel, so may be more possible for me, but all depends on how the next few months go with my fitness and ongoing impact from the disease.
Alongside the physical and psychological challenges of the past week, there have been the normal life activities. Tuesday was our actual anniversary, so we treated ourselves to a nice meal at one of the local restaurants. The following evening, I met up with Howard, my former boss and friend. This is the second of our meet ups and something we plan to repeat frequently in the coming months. Enjoyable highlights with my best friend (Sandra) and a work colleague, who became a good friend (Howard).
We missed seeing the grandkids last weekend, due to being away in London, but we rectified that on Saturday. Fair to say, everyone had missed each other and a nice chance to spend some time with them. My son Karl also stopped by on Saturday and we covered off some tasks in the garage, with him taking the lion’s share of the heavier moving. Overall, a nice Saturday catching up with some of the family, with Sunday being a day of rest and recovery.
To finish off, you may recall that I acquired two historically significant photo albums last week and I decided to conduct some very brief, initial research on the first photo in the first album. I am completely blown away and fair to say that acquiring this was the right decision and I look forward to conducting more research. However, I have had to stop there and place my focus on the proof reading stage of the book I am nearing the completion of, which began on Sunday.
For now, I will sign off. Thanks to all of you again for the depth of response and interest in these ongoing updates.
Regards
Peter