The ups and downs

Fighters training session

Sitting in front of Dr Marianne Nicholson, a consultant in clinical oncology with NHS Grampian, was a wonderful experience. She was ecstatic and was grinning from ear to ear. In her job, she rarely has success stories. Mostly she prolongs life by a few short months, but here she was in front of a patient who had told her he would survive and he'd done it. This is exactly what she lived for in her professional capacity. As she shook my hand goodbye, because it is very unlikely that we will meet in clinic again, I left her walking on the clouds.

That was Monday lunchtime. Earlier at 8.45am i had been in to my local GP for blood tests. I then went home for a sleep before heading to the Oncology appointment in Aberdeen. I have to sleep most mornings, a clear reaction to the potassium levels. My blood pressure on Monday morning was 170 over 110! Whoops!

My weeks medication

I did have a busy weekend. Bob Spour had arrived on Saturday am and we went to the gym where he taught a 3 hour workshop in Muay Thai Boxing and Krabi Krabong. Heading back we ate whilst watching England's opening World Cup game. I feel Capello got things wrong selection wise and the 1-1 flattered the USA but the world cup has been great for my recuperation as it has sent me to sleep many a time!

Sunday we were up early and up to Aberdeen for a fighters session followed by a Self Protection workshop. Bob went south and we went home. Football on and sleep commences!

Kali was meant to be in today for surgery but got a last minute reprieve when a more experienced vet considered that one 'growth' was a cyst and the other a fatty lump. We are to watch them closely though. It was noticeable that Kali was relieved!

Caz and Kali at the vets this morning.

King of the Castle

Dalhousie Castle

Caz and I set off to Edinburgh on Wednesday, taking advantage of a deal and staying at the plush Dalhousie Castle. We had Kali with us and the place wasn't busy, so the cheap deal had us in the Lodge, separate from the main castle. As it wasn't busy they had moved us into one of their themed rooms (four poster bed - the lot), but as we had the dog, we got a basement room instead. We took advantage of the spa for 50 minutes, which degenerated into a water fight between Caz and myself! We still nipped round to see Rob, Steph, Abbie and Sam though!

Dr Andrew Bathgate saw me in Clinic and has just phoned me on my return. There is still concern about my potassium levels which are high at 7.9 and the creatinine levels are still at 200! They have told me to reduce the Tacrolimus and increase the MMF to try and solve the issue. The kidney issue is caused by the Tacrolimus. My hand has tremors and right now i am very salty in the mouth. It leaves me feeling that I have no energy and giddy at times. There will be several blood tests next week to measure the progress.

On my next visit, which should see the medication greatly reduced, I will meet Professor Forbes and discuss my involvement in a trial. Once i have digested the information I'll discuss it in a later post. I also had an ultrasound scan which seemed to go well.

It was a good clinic and I bumped into James who had been in for the weeks assessment with me. He's 4.5 weeks post transplant and looking very well. It was great to see him in this state as when i was in with him, he was struggling with it all.

I asked about the size of the tumor at the time of the removal of the liver. I was told that there were in fact THREE tumors which if that had been known would have discounted me from Transplant immediately. The sizes of theses tumors were 3.7cm, 20mm and 5mm. There was no intrusion into arteries or veins, meaning that there is virtually no fear that the cancer spread.

Monday I went up and took the Filipino Martial Arts class. I really enjoyed it but Tuesday i was tired. I made it back to the gym to work on the roller door that has broken but was exhausted at night.

World cup starts tomorrow. I'll enjoy that. I'll support England but the African teams will no doubt excite. Argentina should be great to watch depending on the Maradonna factor - genius or madman - but the favourite, Spain, I don't think will win it. Watch out for the dark horses Holland and Brazil. It is going to be a good one I think!

Mother Theresa once said: "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."