In The Dog House...Again

Photo: Portrait

So let’s get it over and done with, it’s been three months since my last blog and I’ve had a few calls asking after me because it’s gone so quiet. I apologise for my writers apathy but I really expected you all to have better things to do with your time than read about my life. Anyhow, here goes the last 100 days or so…er…umm! See how interesting I have become? Life has become predictable. No more aircraft failures, nightmare weather or toxic beer. Sleep is ever available. Suntans are planned and not considered an occupational hazard, and no more phone calls in the middle of the night pleading with me to come to work. Alright, so the last was more tedious than exciting. Now I have a diary for the first time in my life. I have a new list of contacts in my phone which reads like the cast list of ER, and I can talk strange medical languages where before I could only talk in Boeing or Airbus. I know the needle sizes they stick in various parts of me to deliver or extract, can categorically advise the phlebotomists that I won’t bleed everywhere and more recently just how far I should be from a respectable toilet if I were to eat…just about anything! For the first time in my life I can advise Michelle what the boys are doing, I know when to put the washing out (with the benefit of meteorological training) and what to cook for dinner. I can judge the cost of trips to the supermarket to within a few pounds, multi task around the kitchen and iron a karate suit in under five minutes on maximum steam. It is my proud boast to have never turned on the TV during the day (unless ironing, but you can’t hear it over the steam anyway) and not taken to drink.

“Does he sound bored” I hear you ask. Well, sometimes it drags on…endless seemingly pointless days with little variety. But in truth I know when I am better off, let’s face it, look at the option!!! The day is still mine to decide how to spend it but I am a cruel task master who is perhaps my own worst enemy. In practice of course I have limitations. My hands and feet remain in cautiously good condition but only because I am careful not to abuse them. Karate has taken a back seat whilst I concentrate on other aerobic physical activity to build my stamina up after my Thyroid went wild last autumn. Add to that a positive result from a full body bone scan at The Royal Brompton Hospital to check for tumours recently and you can see why I have been careful to avoid trauma with my inability to repair as quickly due to my chemotherapy. Scans I always find interesting. They all differ and the bone scan was by no means as restrictive as the MRI. I was fortunate enough to have a great technician who was able to advise me on how to obtain a copy for this blog…and there it is at the head of this letter in full naked glory! You can tell it’s me by the missing kidney, and of course the smile on my face!

Now the positives. I remain relatively fit and healthy as you will find out in a minute. My last scan a few weeks ago was greeted by my oncologist with about as much enthusiasm as a cautious man in his position can muster. My tumours had all visibly reduced in size and activity which is obviously good news, the drugs are doing their work. My back pain is occasional but my IBS is more common. I take care of my hands and feet to avoid the repetition of past months but my hair pigment is disappearing…I’m going grey...actually more like white! Why does that bug me so?

Right, here’s the pitch. Despite a degree of discomfort etc. I made a promise last year, having run the London 10km race, to repeat it annually as long as there was breath in my body. Guess what I’m doing on 12 July? However, I’m not convinced that alone is enough pain and discomfort, so I am doing the London to Southend bike ride the following week, a mere 59 miles! You guys were so supportive last year that I hope to tap you for the odd spare copper if finances allow. It’s only three weeks away so don’t hang around please. You can find the link to the Justgiving donation site here: www.justgiving.com/richardcopley .

Ok, so I’m nuts. Give me something to aim for and I’ll give you my blood, sweat and probably tears!

Richard