Wednesday 13th March 2019
“Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did” —  Newt Gingrich

So, the blog will become less frequent now there’s not much going on treatment wise, but a lot of the forums I’ve seen have people asking how quickly you recover from the treatment, so I’ll do a post or two a week maybe, explaining progress. I might “feel” more normal now and be able to do normal things like work, but I’m far from recovered.

We had more of a chilled out Sunday compared to the Saturday with all the birthday festivities. I had an unrelated hospital appointment in the morning, we made vegetable soup for lunch (when I say we, the boys peeled a load of the veg, teaching them young), then I tinkered in the garage again for a while. My buddy Jim came to see me and brought his new shiny bike for me to see, then we had a roast dinner in the evening. All fairly straight forward stuff.

I can get about the house now with no issues, my heart rate still jumps more than usual if I go up the stairs quickly for example but then this was only 2 days post-chemo. No more dizziness, extreme fatigue/tiredness to report. More importantly, I was surviving without naps at the weekend, and that told me I could cope with work.

However, I didn’t fancy 5 days work as a comeback. I haven’t worked 5 days in a row since pre-Xmas. When I was working during chemo, I did 4 day weeks because of the Friday appointments and chemo. Work would accommodate whatever was appropriate in terms of phase back, but there was something massively appealing about having a couple of days holiday so I could be both not in work, and not ill, at the same time. For 9 weeks, I was ill to some degree. When you’re off work, you can’t help having that irrational guilt of going out somewhere when you are ill, even if it’s to the supermarket to get vital supplies. Not quite “wearing a disguise in case somebody spots you” type guilt, but you feel mindful of what you do and don’t do. 2 days holiday, 3 days in work. Perfect ! Agreed 🙂

If you know me well, you’ll know exactly what I did on Monday. Yes, let’s see how I cope on a bike ride. So I wrapped up warm, and went on a fairly slow ride to Hollingworth Lake and back, which was 21 miles. A best I rode about 2/3rds of the pace I usually do, much slower particularly at any form of incline.

Weirdly, for those interested in the effects of exercise, my heart rate was high a lot of the time. My max HR is about 193. Usually kicking about at a pace with little effort, I’d average about 130 – 145. At a faster pace, between 145 and 160. Normally, if I hit the 180’s, and it’s rare I go above 185, I’m absolutely gasping for breath and it signifies a pretty big effort, like full pelt up a hill. On Monday’s ride, I was regularly between 175 and 185, however I wasn’t out of breath at all. Once or twice it went past 185, and still I wasn’t really out of breath. Now I know that my blood will still be light on red blood cells because Monday was still only chemo +3 days. But I got the baseline I wanted, and I can see now how quickly (or slowly) things improve as my blood and lungs recover. Long way to go based on this, but ok as long as I go steady.

Either way, when I got back I felt fine. I did a 10 mile ride at a similar pace in cycle 2 and it hit a lot harder. Luke hadn’t had chance to go out on his birthday road bike as the weather had been crappy since his birthday, but Monday was forecast clear so I said I’d take him out after school. Just a mile and a half down to the park, but he seemed to enjoy it, they both did. Despite the efforts, I made it to bedtime without really feeling tired or like I needed a nap.

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Tuesday was a washout weather wise. I just did some stuff around the house, watched some TV. I found a stack of old DVD’s, Xbox Games, even an old Xbox so I took them and traded them in while they’re still worth something. Still no feelings like I needed to nap, so I definitely felt ready for work on Wednesday. I got my things ready, packed my bag and got the mountain bike ready for the commute. I felt up to it after Monday’s foray out, its roughly 7.5 miles each way. I chose the MTB because I’d be cycling through Storm Gareth, and I got the MTB for exceptionally bad weather days.

Off I went to work, through the rain this morning. The wind wasn’t too bad as it was crossing me most of the way, but at points it took my breath away and nearly stopped me dead. The MTB requires a bit more effort but it was all good. I got changed at work and headed up, worked from 7.45am until 4pm with no problems, lots of catching up to do but it was nice being around familiar faces.

The way home was a different story, it’s more uphill on the way back and the extra weight of the MTB was really noticeable. It really took a lot of effort, just to ride slow, but I made it. I was knackered and starving when I got home but felt ok. I’ve got everything ready for tomorrow, except it’s my winter road bike that has been readied for an easier journey.

Symptoms wise, I still have fuzzy hearing. My hearing still feels “different” in certain situations. Being in the shower is one, the sound doesn’t seem to be the same and it’s more noticeable being in an enclosed space. My fingers are still a little sore, not as bad as when they were at their worst but sore. I still struggled to open a tin of beans with a ring pull earlier, and it hurt putting the garage key in the lock. Other than that I’m ok. The high heart rate on the bike continued, and I’ll watch for that starting to subside. Some hair on my head is growing extremely slowly, but I hear it kicks in properly after about 4 weeks. I’m tired of seeing Uncle Fester in the mirror.

For the last few days, Parker has had an iffy tummy and has had the runs. We’ve all had it since then to a lesser and not so problematic degree, but Jayne has just been sick a few times before bed. Funnily enough, I had to scoff my tea down really quickly to get out and pick Parker up from Otters, but I’ve also felt a little sick this evening. Perhaps unrelated, but wouldn’t it be ironic that I managed 9 weeks of chemo without even thinking about being sick, and then it gets me the week after it finishes. Hoping it’s just because I ate too much too quickly…