More Progress

Dr. Hugh Tildesley

A number of positive notes. The swelling in my legs continues to dissipate and I have abandoned the long support stockings. They kept falling down and I took the hint to stop wearing them when one of our wealthy Dunbar neighbours tried to give me a handout when observing the sorry state of my leggings.

I am back walking 2.5 miles with no discomfort. I recently returned to wearing shorts and I am reminded by a Mickey McDowell comment when he last saw me in shorts; “ Is that you Hughie? Why are you riding that Ostrich!”. Mickey is of course a golfing colleague and played hockey on the National Team for Father Bauer. His stories are legendary and best left in the locker room.

My second round of poisons went well, there is just the boredom of sitting for 4 hours while being infused. Day 5 seems to be the fatigue day, so sleep is the priority but very few other side effects. I have decided to continue for 4 cycles before having a repeat CT hoping to get a better estimate of response. This should be done near the end of July. I still do not have data on the genetic tests that were done, these are potentially important pending my reaction to the chemo. 

I am motivating myself by visualizing improvements, future activities and of course going to Happy Gilmore’s “Happy Place”.

Happy Gilmore

Elon Musk

Steve Jobs

 I am reading recreationally with my spare time, having just finished Walter Isaacsons review of computer evolution; call the Innovators, and most recently a biography on Elon Musk. It is intriguing how many focused visionaries have been successful in changing our world. The Jobs, Gates and Musk’s of the world demonstrated superb intellect coupled with unwavering focus. Not to mention their abilities to recognize superb engineers. The Musk accomplishments are staggering; made in America rocket engines, the Tesla and solar energy.

Bill Gates

My children were brought up tree huggers. I have a suburban parked outside which has served me well for 18 years. I have argued that since I have not replaced it the carbon footprint for the vehicle is actually shrinking. It is difficult to debate belief with logic.

After reading the Musk book I further investigated the attributes of the Tesla. Let’s see, “ car of the year”, 2 years in a row, 2014 and 2015. The ability to send software updates via the net prevents the car from being obsolete. The weight of the car rests with its center of gravity, thus maneuverability is optimized. Catherine and I test drove it last week, there are no switches or knobs, it’s a computer on wheels.It is of course totally electric.

I have mentioned that my bucket list has been modified, distilling what I want to do, down to what I can do.

I take delivery of the car in mid-August

 

 

The kids now see me differently.

Hamish is in town for another 10 days, it has been a joy having him home. Catherine is training for a 10 K run and I am helping out as best I can with advice, it is so hard to get runners to rest! Her training is going well and she is very disciplined. Donovan makes regular stops home for visits and meals and his career continues to flourish.

Hamish and Cat getting fit

Wednesday dinners at the club are a fixture. Men’s night is always entertaining with great company and a selection of excellent vintages. My meals have to be smaller, and small glasses of wine are quite complimentary. I have revised my chemo schedule and expect to be back playing on Wednesdays. Again, another activity to look forward to.