Last Man Standing

Respects paid before war commences

Im getting things in order before heading down to Edinburgh, a day ahead of Thursdays clinic. I have Sam's ninth birthday tea to attend and if i can set off early enough I can hopefully watch the football with England needing to win to stay in the world cup. I'm driving and am allowing time to take a break so I don't tire myself out.

It's been a busy time over the weekend and it took a few days to recover. We had the fights in Aberdeen and both fighters did really well. Allan won, stopping his more experienced opponent with a cut. Chris had to fight three fights and the second one was a bit of a war. He was still going strong in the third round of the final when his opponent could not continue because of a cut eye. His fitness was far superior to that of his opponents and he really was the Last Man Standing!

I was cornering along with the team of Leigh, Peter, Scott, Chris and Ray and we had a good day at the office. It takes it out of you and because you dont get to fight, you dont get to burn off the stress thats built up.Reward for all that hard work!

So a couple of days of relaxing in very nice weather, where the greenhouse has gone up, the dog panting away trying to find shade and the world cup entertaining us in the dramatic end of the group stages. Feeling good!

Things to do so I'm off! ciao

Friday 18th

They have dropped my Tacrolimus as the blood results were better from Monday. I'm now down to 0.5mg at night, still on the 1.0mg in the morning. It's not been a great week, but I feel I'm over the worst of it. Next week at clinic I hope that most of my meds will be ended!

I have received many mails of support and it amazes me to discover how others see me. Gary wrote an email, which I'll pass on:

Hello my old friend I'm in shock to find out about ur condition and in awe about the way u have handled it. I was 13yrs old and a white belt when I first met u. You was a brown belt if memory serves me correct at Jav's WU SHU KWAN class at Gilcomstone school away back in the early 80's. In them days there was not much martial arts clubs to pick from apart from Karate,Judo,Lau Gar and Wu Shu.Thanks to u thats all changed now. I guess thats why Im writting this now as not only through martial arts but even working as a door steward u was a great inspiration to me and to alot of others aswell. I wish u and ur family the very best of wishes and Im privaleged to say thats my old friend PAT A TRUE WARRIOR.

The fights are on tomorrow. I'll be involved for as much of it as I can, but I have good people around who can help with the cornering as well. Chris has an 8 man comp, so he needs to win 3 different fights with a possible 11 x 2 minute rounds. He needs to reserve his energy, targetting point scoring techniques to get to the final with energy left. Allan needs to be calmer, be more efficient and try less to 'knock out' as he's sacrificing speed. They will both do well. Marks opponent pulled out so at the moment it doesnt look like there is an opponent, but that might change later today.