Bournemouth Marathon

Hope you enjoyed the ‘A’ blog yesterday.  Some of you might also note I changed the previous blog titles to make them more catchy.

Here’s a few ‘B‘s

Bournemouth Marathon

I once ran a marathon aged 28 in Verden West Germany 1984.  I was there defending the free world from Communism (ahem….). It was a tough gig even at that age and the training was even tougher.  I’m therefore delighted to announce that my old mate Steve Davis (pictured above), former Orienteering buddy and ‘Quaff Club’ member, has nominated my PLANETS Charity page as his chosen cause when he runs this event in Oct.  Cheers Steve – you’re a very generous guy – maximum respect.  I’ll drop off the gorilla suit shortly 🙂

Blood Tests

I touched on this important topic yesterday. I have a lot of blood tests and no sooner than I get the results it’s time for some more, or so it seems to me. Happy to say that my blood tests are pretty good at the moment.  My hemoglobin is constantly borderline but that seems to be the norm.  I also get a very special test known as Chromogranin A every 4-6 months. The hospital packs it in ice and sends it off to Hammersmith hospital.  It’s a key test as it essentially measures tumour ‘load’.

It’s quite sad that I know the purpose of every blood test and I’ve memorised the reference ranges for the 15 or so individual types.  I suspect its the ‘Yeoman’ in me….. 🙂

Biopsy

My cancer diagnosis was confirmed by biopsy.  They took samples from a large secondary tumour on my liver using a needle guided between two of my ribs using an ultrasound scanner.  I needed to be awake for this as the biopsy needle had to be inserted whilst I was holding my breath.  It worked like a staple gun (even the noise it made) – firing into your body before returning with the sample.  It took 3 attempts to get the right sample.  It wasn’t fun and I didn’t tolerate it well.  However, I knew it had to be done.  After the procedure, I ignored the advice to rest and recuperate and ended up in hospital with a bleed – that wasn’t fun either!

Berlin

Having helped defeat Communism back in the 80s……. Chris and I recently took the opportunity to visit the united Berlin to celebrate our 39th anniversary.  Chris was actually born in West Berlin, her Dad was stationed there with the Grenadier Guards but she left before she was a year old.  We even located the building which once housed the Military Hospital – now a German Police Sports Establishment.   Very relaxing time.  Top city – we recommend it and we may even go back soon.

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thanks

Ronny