Another long absence, apologies to any who have been impatiently waiting (yes, you, Geoff B!).
So, what’s happened? On the health front, I’ve had another quiet couple of months from the Myeloma perspective, the Dr. once again giving me two cycles worth of drugs between consultations. So that’s good. On the other hand I’ve had a few nasty attacks of gastric pain, probably attributable to gallstones, and to that end I visited my GP and have today had a scan confirming the presence of same. This in itself shouldn’t necessarily be a cause for great alarm, since apparently 1 in 3 of us has them, but occasionally they cause trouble. I’ll have to wait for Dr. G. to come back to me with a recommended course of action. Might be surgery, might not.
We got Mike’s fence finished – quite a neat job despite one or two of the Metposts refusing to go in perfectly straight. Mike helped quite a bit, despite his ankle which was still very sore.
The last weekend in August we travelled up to Nottinghamshire for young Josh’s wedding, which provided a chance to see most of Linda’s family whom we hadn’t seen for many months or years. The wedding went off brilliantly, in warm sunny weather outside in a hotel garden, and we had a great time catching up. It felt a bit strange putting a suit and tie on again, though, but the good news is I still fitted into it!
September started quietly, just a bit of driver tuition for RoSPA, then on the 11th we all jumped in the big blue bus and made our way up to Scotland. We had a good week of touring gently round, including a trip on the Jacobite steam train from Fort William to Mallaig and back, and numerous visits to beaches (mostly a bit damp and windy) for Wilson to run manically back and forth fetching a ball and us to keep chucking it for him. No cricket this year, though š¦ We didn’t do anything particularly energetic, apart from one walk with just Linda and me and Wilson, because Mike’s ankle was still painful. When we got home we finally persuaded him to talk to a doctor and he’s now been for an X-ray, at least, although the doctor hasn’t got back to him yet about the results.
Then when we got back I had a good day out with the Fast Lady hooning round the Cotswolds and surrounding counties in the yellow beast (with partially working window – subsequently fully fixed), and a most excellent time was had, which partly compensated for having missed the annual jaunt round Scotland due to being on holiday (in Scotland).
Then it was October and time to head off to Shropshire for some more driving, this time with rather more participants (20+ over some parts of the weekend) and once again we all had a great time, aided by some superb weather which saw us making full use of the soft tops on the convertible cars, and basking in 22 degree warmth in North Wales on the Friday. It’s always a great 3 days, and seems to take far too long to come round again. However, more is planned – a training weekend the weekend after next, and a jaunt up to Scotland with some mates a couple of weeks later. Then it’ll be time for a bit of a rest, I think.
Nick's Chemo Diary 
2 replies on “Wednesday 25th August to Thursday 14th October 2021”
Good afternoon Nick,
How coincidental, just had an email this morning from Rob George in which he mentioned did I know about your blog, which of course I did and lo and behold your latest post pops up.
Your health seems to be in good form and certainly not restricting your holiday and motoring activities which is encouraging for me to see.
Debbie and I did that same steam train journey 3 years ago as part of a longer train tour that started in Kettering and ended in Fort William and then in reverse, an excellent tour.
Iām currently in Cheltenham hospital having had what I term a nuclear blast of chemotherapy with Melphalan and my stem cells re-introduced that began on 6th October.
My neutrophils are on their way down so now into the immune deficient region and the attendant issues of infection, can only hope I can avoid any.
Some of the predicted side effects are materialising and Iām sure you will know all about those.
I donāt know how much you know of changes at Intergraph, but Rob advised that Tony Coy has left (retired I presume), the replacement has gone after the probation period so a new one now in place.
Sandeep is on maternity leave.
He didnāt add anymore.
Wayne Clinch went last Xmas, though I canāt recall who told me.
Take care,
Doug
Good luck with the ASCT – yes, I remember all the side-effects, although I was lucky – I had my ileostomy to protect me from some of them. It will take you a few weeks/months to feel fit again, don’t rush it. TC left at the beginning of the year – didn’t know about a replacement, but he’d be a hard act to follow. Good for Sandeep! Take care, Nick.