man I feel worn out...

As the title to this particular blog post states "man I feel worn out". It's not just a case of being or feeling tired, nope I just feel completely fatigued and no amount of sleep appears to do the trick. I go to sleep at a reasonable hour and awake feeling wrecked. 

As I have viewed my blog seeing if anything needs tweaking or I can add anything interesting I noticed my blog posts had dwindled over the last couple of years. I mean it's not just a case of not having anything interesting to write, as there is always something or other to tell you. I mean isn't that the whole point of a blog, allowing people snippets of your life, or I guess in some peoples cases "their whole life"...."Today I ate a Jaffa Cake" sort of thing.  No I can see a down turn, both in my interest to write about my adventures and also in how I have been feeling. Basically things have just not felt great since having chemotherapy back in 2015. 

Now as far as chemo goes, the 6 months treatment I had whilst I was on a drug called bendamustine was not too bad. This particular drug, meant I had no hair loss and apart from a dicky tummy now and again I was pretty much ok. I mean my bloods did drop to 0.5 at one point and I became neutropenic, which basically means I was very susceptible to infection as I had a real low immunity, however I did not catch any nasty bugs, meaning I did not require any hospital over nights stays to be monitored.


The combination of bendamustine and rituximab has been very successful, as my non Hodgkin's lymphoma appears under control and the horrible large nodes I had in my neck have shrunk right down.


Following the chemotherapy I was informed I would get 2 years treatment of the rituximab, this is called a maintenance dose. The treatments are supposed to be given every 2 months. Unfortunately I have been experiencing some issues and this can really only be put down to the rituximab. Things like a low white blood cell count, more infections and picking up bugs easily and the biggest one to date for me this lingering feeling of fatigue and just not wanting to do anything.

It has taken me ages and I mean ages to put my finger on why I have been feeling so crap. I mean most people think "Yeah I will feel shit during, then after my chemo, but give it a few months and once I am in remission I will start to feel a lot better". Yeah I thought this, so to be 2 years on more or less following my chemo, well I just thought "Glenn, you are a right lazy sod, who needs a kick up the arse"...."Come on pull yourself together".

Anyhoo after going in to work today and feeling absolutely wrecked and asking if I could take a half days annual leave. I came home and researched the drug rituximab. My findings are from the Cancer Research UK site and you can follow the link if interested. The top 3 common side effects I have had, which are feeling sick, being at a higher risk of getting an infection. I have had a terrible couple of years picking up stuff and the biggest one for me fatigue and tiredness.

I now kind of realise that may be I shouldn't be so hard on myself, as it just piles on additional stress. I have just had my treatment on the 7th December. I will now wait 3 months before my next one which I am pleased to say will be the end of my course of treatments. There have been a few delays so I have crept into my 3rd year. From there I hope I will start to get my Mojo back, recover my strength and start living again.

Never sure who reads my blog, but hope anyone reading this who may be going through the same thing can take something interesting or informative from the information.

Not a great day to try out the Buzzraw and yet proper enjoyed myself...

My dad Ern, has been feeling rather unwell the last 3 days...Man Flu it appears. He has been in bed 3 days now, so I have been handed the duty of walking Baxter. As an amputee it is not the best weather to be out walking, or should I say attempting to walk. Baxter doesn't help as he has four paw drive and has a tendency to not just go in one direction. This means it's a constant battle trying to pull him back and also stop him from tangling the leash around your legs. Then of course add to the mix all this ice.

Out on the Buzzraw

My Buzzraw has arrived

"Buzzraw" You may be thinking, "what the hell is a Buzzraw". Well it's a unique, funky, somewhat retro styled bike, some may even say a scooter (How dare you)  I prefer the term bike, as a scooter to me is one of those little things that you kind of push along with one foot and I once had a bad experience as a kid, on one of those when I face planted and got gravel rash.

Coast Cycles Buzzraw in Coast Blue

The 3 Amigos Ride Again

As the title to my blog says "The 3 Amigos Ride Again". I cannot tell you the last time I had a ride out with both John and Lee. Put it this way it has been way too long, as this mornings local trail adventure was sooooo much fun. According to Strava we covered 14.1 miles the majority of this being off road, on either farmers trails, parts of the Chapman Wells nature reserve or in the local wooded area surrounding Chapman's and Quakies. As I still do not feel 100%, being able to get a little off the beaten track and yet stay close enough to home, so that I can bail at any point is spot on.

The 3 Amigos

Had my new drone all of 10 minutes and crashed it Oops!

An exciting afternoon, as my big boys toy has arrived. It is a DJI Spark drone. Upon opening the box I was greeted with this very cute little blue drone.

DJI Spark

Everything you get in the combo bundle

I eagerly got everything out of the box and began charging him. Thank god for Youtube as the instructions came in 7, yes that is 7 small booklets. Even with my gigs on I couldn't read them. Mind you not that I am one for reading instructions. I figure if something doesn't work straight out of the box, well it's broken isn't it? I have therefore left Ern reading the vast manual which he has printed out from online.

So Cute, but very angry

Appears well made and has loads of features

So far following the Youtube guides I have managed to update both the drone and it's controllers firmware. I have also managed to get the drone started and hovering, well before I crashed it into the wall of my bedroom and thought I had broke of a rotor blade...Ooops!

  

Whilst in firmware mode, it makes some weird tunes

Rotor Guards in Place

Second attempt was much better ( I put the rotor blade guards on this time). I could get the drone to go up and down, and circle left and right 360 degrees, however could I hell get it to fly left or right and could only get it to come towards me by flying backwards, ie the camera facing away from me. Mmmmm more practice required and must get Ern reading faster to get me up to speed.

Apparently my little drone also thinks it is in China according to the on screen display, so that needs sorting. I certainly do not want it returning to base in Beijing. Batteries only last around 16 minutes per flight I think so it would be pushing it anyhoo.

So far I have just had a little bit play around in doors in my bedroom, man this little thing is loud, it kind of sounds like it's pissed off when you fly it around. I swear it had a go at poor Ern and buzzed him, wasn't me!

All batteries on charge now and I will try and figure out how to use it and get some footage, so watch this space.