MINDBODY LOGIN
So it’s been a few weeks since I posted last and things have been good and things have been really not so good. Bad news always better when followed with good news, so lets start there.
Last Thursday after an awesome MTB rogaine I woke to pain again in my side. I knew immediately that the cancer pain was back, but thought I could grit and bare it until after Spring Challenge. That was the plan anyway. I had done so much training and felt ready for the Spring Challenge so I was going to let a little bit of cancer get in the way. Well it turns out Cancer had a different plan and I was admitted to hospital Friday afternoon in excruciating pain, and begging for morphine. Now I know a lot people fault our public health system, but when things go wrong they are very quick to act. within 30mins of turning up at A&E I was given morphine and a CT scan and then admitted to oncology ward. Where I have been ever since. The primary goal has been to get my pain under control. Morphine is a wonderful drug for managing pain relief but has some awful side effects, such as nausea (or in my case vomiting) and bowel and bladder issues. So the last few days has been a juggling act between managing pain and managing the side effects. Yesterday they pretty much gave up and have tried me on a new drug called phenatol. Also an opioid but alot friendlier on the body. This morning is the best I felt the whole 5 days I’ve been in hospital.
Because of this set back – which was only meant to be a couple of days I finally made the call yesterday that I can’t realistically do the Spring Challenge. I could barely walk to the hospital front doors with out pain and nausea. We did look at other options like dropping to the 3hr, which did look feasible on Sunday but as the week has worn on this has become less and less, with the final call being made yesterday. Fortunately someone has stepped up to take my place and I can be there as support crew. To be honest I am gutted, I have put in so much training, which I’ve loved and will put in this update. But sometimes you have to be real and it was unfair on my team mates.
Next thing to discuss is the results of the scan. The pain has been caused by the tumour on the psoas muscle bleeding. This is the nature of the disease unfortunately, and the pain should subside when the blood does. Disappointingly however is the scan also showed the cancer has progressed, meaning it is no longer stable. This has essentially halved my time that we thought we had left, and I have been told to start putting things in order. I am meeting with my oncologist today to talk about options to slow it down which may mean chemo again. Mentally we are all exhausted and a little numb, yet I have had amazing support from everyone.
So on that low note, here is some of things I have got up to since my last blog and hopefully will be able to do more adventures really soon. Wanaka Challenge is still on the cards, but we need to reprioritise the memories list and see where that fits. Its not over and out yet for me, just a little blip.
So over the last few weeks, we have hiked up Little Mt Peel, been for some cool mountain bike rides in Bottle lake and done 2 rogaine night navs. These rogaines were a lot of fun, and the fact that we didnt come last while laughing and not taking it seriously was a bonus. The one last week involved mountain biking through bottle lake in the dark, well thats an adventure in itself, especially with no head torch and a useless bike light. We got there in the end! Little Mt Peel was stunning and I recommend the walk to anyone. Lovely views and forest walks, it is a steady walk up but nothing compared to Mt Oxford. It took us about 4 or so hours return, but we didn’t push ourselves, instead the plan was to take our time, and work out our surroundings. We are now feeling more familiar with the area the spring challenge is going to be. Ive also been for a couple of swims, which I always enjoy and Im looking forward to starting the ocean swims.
Anyway thats me done. A long blog today, but a lot has happened in the last week. I really hope that I can post again some more positive and exciting news next week.
Here are some photos from our adventures….sorry tried to insert photos and it wont work. Ill see if I can do it, from home, when I am out of hospital.
