End of 2013 ...

Well the year 2013 is practically over which I'm glad for.
It has  been a rough year health-wise for myself but for others their world has been turned upside down.

Latest Health Update:
Since my last entry, I have had three weeks of very loose BM. Which of course means I had to for-go two lots of chemo.
My Oncologist stated it would have been too dangerous to proceed.

Ended up last week at A&E at the hospital because of it for five hours.
I felt alright but the problem was the "ring of fire" at my back end. It was real bad, the burning pain was enormous.
I was  drained energy wise and ended having 2-3 hours "nana-naps" during the day.

Firstly I went to  the chemist for some cream then was advised to also use flushable wet wipes.
While this gave me a lot of relief, the loose BM still persisted.
The loperamide was having zero effect so decided to get myself up to A&E.

Up at A&E, I had two bags of IV fluids, standard blood tests and a urine sample with a stool sample to be provided from home. Results for urine and bloods came back clear so the stool sample was provided the next day. The doctor at A&E had prescribed some Codine Phosphate which I'm taking regulary. The result was that two days later it was working and my back end was pain free. Yay !!

Had an appointment with the Oncologist same day and he had only part of stool sample results.
During our meeting, it was advised I carry on with the codine plus my other "regular" meds.
That's when I was told if chemo continued, it could of had life threatening results so tomorrow I have another meeting with the Oncologist with the good news.
This will mean that I can re-start my chemo treatment perhaps later this week.

Good News

Over the last two weeks or so, my appetite has returned with a vengeance.
Food is now more enjoyable as the metallic taste has now more or less disappeared.
I'm still avoiding processed food as my meals are now simple and we are also using different cooking methods.
I have gained weight as a result, going from 57 kg to 62 kg which has given me more energy to potter around home.

Holidays

Finished work on Friday 20th December and return 13th January.
During this time, Teen is working right through so I've set myself a few chores to achieve while I'm off work.
I am revamping the front yard with fencing, planting native trees and shrubs and making the gardens wider. There are a couple of hedges to trim plus two  grapevines that need cutting back.
I'm looking for some old bricks for garden edging and the will put bark down as a maintenance-free gardens is what I have in mind.
I love doing this as I am outside and doing something constructive. Will have to follow up on some pics at a later date.

In Rememberance

Have lost three good mates this year have been devastating not only for me but also their families and friends left behind.

Robert Jary - 29 May 2013
Gordon Mora aka "Grub"- 6 August 2013
Rob Mulholland - 7 December 2013

Remembering the times of thirty plus years we shared growing up together.
And also to the families left behind, my thoughts are with you all.

To my family and friends.

Thank you for the unending support for latter part of this year.
Without you, who knows what the outcome could of been?
Each and everyone of you have helped me get through hell.
Love to you all ....


LETS HOPE 2014 WILL BE A GOOD YEAR FOR ALL OF US.

A tribute to a good friend and mate ....

 

Rob Mulholland (52 years young) - passed away 7th December 2013

Now at rest my friend, you fought your hardest battle with everything you had.

Our Connection

Met up with Rob in 1978 in Nelson.
Rob was 16 and I was 18 years old. He was tall and skinny with long dark curly hair.
We flatted together in 2 flats, we worked together at Southpine Sawmill and partied hard out.

We were kind of like brothers and when Rob got the gleam in his eye and that particular grin on his face, we were sure there was going to be good time to be had.

We did a fair number of trips down to Westport to catch with friends and to party.
We used to collect hitch-hikers along the way. Rob knew the road so well, that at parts we were doing 100 mph and all the hikers could say "wow, you can drive real fast".
We knew they were frightened by the way they were grabbing hold of the front seat with white knuckles being pretty well the giveaway.
I trusted Rob entirely, because of his knowledge of the road.


So all in all we had a really good social life and met some amazing people along the way.
Most of these people are still friends to this day.

The Service

You would of been really impressed with your send-off Rob, the place was absolutely packed with so many friends and family who wanted to pay their last respects to you.

Your club-mates had the most amazing casket made for you dude, you were a very highly thought of member but we all thought the same of you as well. Was impressed with the salute they gave you and Gav-Boy gave an awesome tribute to you.

I wanted to get up and pay a tribute to you mate, but suffered from stage-fight at the amount people gathered.

Was amazing to catch up with Rob's two brothers Tony, Ross and sister Jill. Also to two old friends Mike and Alice which I haven't seen for 20 odd years. Plus many others I couldn't put names to.
Not forgetting Mark and Denise who I had met through Rob.

Gaz (Butch),Seaweed and myself came down to say goodbye to you. Seaweed flew over from Wellington specially to see you off.

Rob Family -

Has been with Di for twenty odd years adding two kids to the extended family.
He loved Di and loved his family and loved this way of life, his family was his world.
He was very close to his siblings as well and very protective of his little sister.

You got to admire this man with so many people he loved and loved him unconditionally.

Some Stories - The Printable Ones

Halifax St -

A flatmate was to hold a BBQ and Rob and I were told in no uncertain terms to behave ourselves. We were good boys and after we had some food, we washed our paper plates and hung them on the clothesline to dry. We were quite thirsty so decided to get some water to drink.
Rob got that glint in his eye and gave the nod, and that's when the water-fight started.
All the flatmates friends backed up against the fence hoping not to get wet and the flatmate had the look of death a us. Her friends left when we broke out the eggs.
It was well worth getting told off so we chased her down the road with a pot of water.

 Rob had a habit of leaving his overalls in the lounge so I decided to play prank on him. I stuffed the overalls with rolled up newspaper and made a dummy with gumboots and a 1/2 gallon flagon for a head and then chucked a hat on for good measure.
Next morning he let his dog out and she nutted off at the dummy. Rob rolled out of bed realising he was late for work, had to get the paper out of the overalls while swearing and cursing at me.
We had a good laugh afterwards as it was a classic .

Took the lounge door off the hinges to prank another flatmate, when she came home with a male friend and went to open the door, it just fell to the carpet. The look on her face was priceless.

Grove St -

Hung empty beer bottles and cans off the black-boy peach tree  one Christmas.

Had a competition to see how many cars we could fit in the drive/front lawn ( We got to 3 each)

Got a visitors motorbike and hid it a unfinished shower on it's back wheel.
She panicked that someone had stolen it and was going to call the cops until she saw us chuckling away. She eventually found and had to ask us very nicely if we could get it out for her.

Had a couple of hangis using dozer treads for stones and a huge steel lid to put over top.
The spuds were washed in the old agitator washing machine and came out brilliantly.

Wrote on the side of the work van Rob used - "Rob Mulholland before he robs you".

Rob, you were a good man, an awesome mate.
You may be gone mate, but you will never be forgotten.
RIP good friend.

Fark that was close .........

Contracted a virus Friday 29th November, sore throat etc.
Saturday was full on snot for miles and woke up bathed in sweat.
Sunday felt a bit better after some meds and fluids.

Talked to Oncology nurse about this and she was pretty worried and asked me to see my GP straight away after talking about what happened.
She advised me if anything like this happens again, I was to get to ED straight away as this could have been life-threatening.

Could of caught pneumonia which could of been too hard for me to fight since my immune system is very low due to the chemo treatment.

GP has put me on a weeks antibiotics and had me do a blood test which showed up as a lung infection.

So have spent this week extracting the crud from the bottom of my left lung.

From now on, I have to keep away from people with colds etc, for my own good until I can re-build my immune system.

PRESENT DAILY PILL COUNT:

4 x heart pills
3 x antibiotic pills
8 x painkiller pills
7 x chemo pills
4 x anti diahorrea pills

That's 26 pills per day, mind you this is only temporary as I should be off the antibiotics next week and a week off chemo pills on Wednesday.

Apparently I have more rattle than a rattlesnake.

Top pic was taken today weighing in at 58kg.

TODAY -

I lost a long-time friend and a very good mate of 36 years  ....

RIP Rob - Your hard fought battle is finally over, you fought your hardest my friend.
                 Will always be remembered as an awesome person with a love of life.

My thoughts are with Rob's partner, family and friends. Love/respect to you all.

Chemo Treatment

Hi all,

Have been real busy since my last post with work and resting my tired ass.

First lot of chemo went really well until 2 days later.
Had a lot of stomach and loose BM all weekend and part way thru the week.
I found sleep in some instances was near impossible and ended up going for a long walk to
Monaco to get the pain to subside.
Managed to get a few hours sleep after painkillers and drifting off to sleep after walking.
Ended up going to the doctor and we put a plan together for regular pain management treatment.
(As well as another blood test)

The last two weeks have been really good, hardly any pain and gaining an appetite. (Yay!!)
Have now been working fours a day measuring, getting work done in Christchurch and looking after my customers. I have found this really therapeutic as I'm concentrating on something other than the cancer I have.

Huge thanks to my employers, Steel & Tube for putting in a massive effort to keep me employed, I am truly grateful.

Had my second round of chemo today, which went really well s I listened to music on my phone and chatted to other patients going through the same as myself. I am really humbled with these people enduring the similar condition and circumstances.
I talked to a guy with his wife who having his first-time treatment. Gave him a few pointers of what he might expect when he went home.
It was awesome talking and sharing humour with these people, it makes you appreciate life a lot more.

The nurses/volunteers in the Oncology Dept are absolutely awesome. The job they do is beyond words and I'm delighted to have the pleasure of meeting them.
The head nurse thinks I am trouble, I am cheeky and cracking jokes not to mention I arrived an hour late. (Got the times mixed up)
Told her I had trouble with the Nelson drivers doing u-turns in front of me then couldn't find a park at the hospital.
Went to the toilet and a nurse asked where I had been, told her I ducked outside for ciggy. She said yeah right, I would be able to smell it on you.

So during the last two weeks, it's been a matter of fine tuning meds, eating more so I can handle this round of treatment. Will make for an next interesting three weeks ...

After chemo, you feel your stomach is full and don't feel like eating.
Teen made a simple meal like finger food and bugger me, had quite a bit to eat.
Surprised myself as I didn't think I could do it.

Enough rambling from me ..... till next time.

Progress

Spent most of the day running around with appointments to keep.

First appointment was for a blood test (Which I passed)
Seems like half of Nelson were having the same test this morning
judging by the amount of people waiting.

Second was for a chest x-ray so the Oncologist could check out if my lungs were clear.
And they are ...

Was amused when after the frontal shot, the radiographer wanted another go this time
with ball-bearings taped to my nipples.
I thought that was strange.
I think this was to let the Oncologist know that these weren't twin growths on my lungs when viewing the x-ray.

Had to go for a coffee and some food as I hadn't eaten since 11 pm the night before.

Third appointment was with Oncologist to confirm my chemo treatment.
He was keen to get this started as soon as possible so made a phone call down to out-patients.
The result is I'm to start treatment this Wednesday 6th November.
We discussed the first stage which will be intraveneous fluid then a course of pills for a couple of weeks.
We discussed the possible side effects and had a script for drugs to combat any I may have.

My guess is that I'll be taking up to 15 pills a day.
Really going to rattle when I walk ....
Won't be able to sneak up on anyone now ....

Last appointment for the day was with the dietician  to discuss food I should be eating.
Went through a list of favourable and compatible foods suited for weight gain.
Teen had a list that was provided by the oncology nurse,
so we were on track now for a couple of weeks.
Am pretty concerned as I have lost near 35 kgs in a year and a half.

Apparently the metallic taste I get when faced with processed food will
decline in the next four to six months. I can't wait ....

A now the apprehension starts ...

What is going to be like ?
Will I be the same again ?
How crook am I going to get ?
Is this going to knock the cancer for a six ?

Don't mind admitting that I'm a little scared ...

Update/Spike the cat.

Good old Spike, since my operation, he has not been too far away from me when I got discharged..
Have woken up during the night with some pain and the cat is lying right beside me.
Something has to be said that animals know when their owners are suffering.

He is an awesome boy ......
Gotta love your animals at times like this.

UPDATE - Had a interview with Oncology Specialist on Wednesday afternoon.
We went through the range of chemo that would be administered, the side effects etc.

I need to put more weight on as in the last 1 1/2 years I have lost 30 kg in weight.
I had completely lost my appetite for any food and are learning to more or less eat again.
The more I eat, the better I will feel. This is a slow process but am determined to get better week by week.

Specialist advised more steak sandwiches.

Thanks to everybody for all your good wishes as this is very much appreciated.
But my biggest thanks goes to my beautiful wife Teen who has been by my side since day one.

I love you baby ...........  <3 p="">

HOSPITAL FOOD

Hospital food can make you feel ill,
It's only good for the pigs to swill.

From the yellow tinged spuds to the so called fish,
It's like eating poison and toxin with every dish.

The egg on toast resembles a mat on the floor,
If you drop it, you watch as it bounces out of the door.

Some people eat this crap with no remorse,
While most of us throw up at the very first course.

The food should be made local and with love,
Add some seasoning to make this edible by jove.

Fresh water is served in cheap plastic jugs,
You can taste the plastic with every sip.

It's very core is tasteless and bland,
But all the suits think it's just grand.

To manufacture this junk from two locations,
Is to hand-clap and back-slap these innovations.

Hospital food should make us better and well,
The politicians and DHB Board can all go to hell !!!

Trevor Walsh
2 October 2013

28 September 2013

While it's been a busy year, my health has been on the decline.

Earlier this month I had a bad case of stomach bloating which meant everytime I had a meal, I would have wicked pains in my stomach and up my back.

Went to the doctor with symptoms of another heart attack and was taken to hospital for observation.
Doctor at the hospital thought it was gall-stones and a appointment was made for an ultra-sound.
While the radiographer was running the scan over my stomach, she remarked ...ooh !! and got her senior to come in and check me out. He also went ooh!! and by this time I wondered what was going on.

He informed me that things were not right and to get my butt up to the Emergency Dept where I was examined by a House Surgeon who organised a CT scan to see more clearly the problem.

Long story short, I was admitted to hospital for a right-sided hemicolectomy where the surgeon had found widespread metastatic disease with likely caecal primary lesion and 3 liver cysts.

In other words CANCER ...

In my discharge papers it states that this is incurable and surgical removal is not possible.

My prognosis at the moment is 18 months to 2 years but are waiting for an appointment with the Oncology Dept to see if chemo is the way to give me a couple of years longer.

My goal is to be positive, upbeat and happy while fighting this disease.

I know it's going to shock a few of you who know me but it's early days and who knows what the future brings.

Cheers for now.

Jan 1st 2013.

WOW, been near 2 years since I posted here.
Been really busy with life in general work wise and with family.
Had 2 overseas trips and a couple of roadtrips to Dunedin and Christchurch.
The family are all growing up so fast especially my 2 boys.

 Corban (C-J) taken at the Dunedin Railway Station just before his 12th birthday.

Cody (21) taken on Christmas Day 2012












I'm very proud of my boys . You both have accomplished so much in the last 2 years.