Health report first. Myeloma continues under control and I’m now on my 3rd 8 week interval between consultations. This is good, but we mustn’t be complacent. The gall bladder scan I had in October was followed up with a phone call with Dr. G., and since I haven’t had any more attacks in the meantime, he advised we just wait and watch for now – and avoid too much in the way of fatty foods. I don’t believe I have a huge percentage of fat in my diet, anyway.
Work on Mike’s garden continues sporadically, the concrete base where his shed was proving the biggest obstacle to progress as it takes a lot of effort to make much impression on it, even with a 14lb sledgehammer. It will get done eventually. We have some timber to make a pergola roof with, now, and I bought a secondhand mitre saw on a well known internet auction site in readiness for chopping it up. Probably in the Spring, now.
The Boxster has new brakes all round. It always suffers from rust on the discs, because it has to live outside, and also because of the stupid drilled discs Porsche specify, which just encourage rust. The little vibration we were feeling was traced to the inboard front pads, where the friction material had detached itself from the backing plates (identically on both sides), probably due to the pads seizing onto the discs and having to be detached by rocking the car back and forth. Amazingly they continued to work – the friction pad was held in the caliper and didn’t fall out. Shouldn’t happen again for a while though. The reversing light switch failed, again, and I was able to prove that a cheaper LandRover replacement does work, although the connector does require a bit of fettling to fit, and it works best if you plug it in properly!
The training weekend came and went, and I learnt some stuff, but also discovered that I don’t need to worry too much.
I spent a great weekend up in Scotland with the Puffins, touring round in 3 great cars ranging from a Volvo C30 to a BMW M4 GTS, quite a contrast. Good company and banter, as ever. We spent a night in Mallaig in the quaint West Highland hotel, where the wind spent the whole night trying to detach the hotel from its moorings, but I slept like a top.
Other little outings include a morning helping Dick put new gearbox mounts in his Cayman, and a very enjoyable curry evening over in Chippenham with Geoff and his brethren of the trowel. Much Pinotage was consumed. In the meantime, I serviced Linda’s friends’ granddaughter clock which went very well and was much appreciated. Very satisfying when a clock regains its confident tick, after a period when it has to be coaxed to go for a few minutes at a time!
Birthday on Saturday (another one, the 9th since my diagnosis, for which I must be very thankful) and then I’m off to the Isle of Man on Thursday with Mr. V, for a bit of a trot round. Should be fun. And Linda and I have just booked a week in a cottage in Cumbria, for a bit of relaxation pre-Christmas, which I’m looking forward to very much.
That’s it for now. Cheerio!
Nick's Chemo Diary 