Jackie and I were both exhausted and there was no fight to do the dishes. If you ever want time to stand still this is the way to do it.
There's so much happening I felt like at times like I had left over pieces from an IKEA shelving unit. So I've got two steroids, five of these and what were those long ones for again.
In my limited research about the treatment I looked up continuous treatment and what happens with breaks. Does the cancer dig in and have a field day while you stop for the weekend. Does Cancer get paid double time on Saturdays and Sundays to restore what might have been destroyed Monday to Friday.
Well it's a bit of both, was what my study showed. To be fair, if I read it correctly, this is the boy who read two tablets, twice daily and took one twice daily, had 2 left, but if I did read it correctly, it was ok.
Cancer didn't regain full foothold. You could probably argue for any time lapse, ie daily instead of hourly. Would it be better to have 24 hourly courses of 3 seconds than one daily course of 72 seconds. The efficacy conversation could rage, which I imagine it does with oncologists as they perfect their treatments fully aware they are specifically targeting unique cancer tissue in different individuals every time. Wow, wonder why I think they're so clever, yes, there's another reason.
So I have my two days off and let's hope for a return of energy. I'm plain exhausted. I get bouts of minutes now, not hours where I'm buzzing, then the adrenaline vanishes like a Monkey magic trick.
It's 5am, I've put Weetabix, tea, Manuka and some 2k energy in. Let's get back to sleep.
Did I mention my hearing? It's worse than ever. Tinnitus is a bi-product and doubling mine is more like cubing it.
So no scratching eczema and not hearing Jackie, or would you prefer to hear better and itch like crazy. Ooh, that's far too difficult to answer.
I'll abscond back to May when this Cancer Camino was a pipedream. It's something we don't always get too nostalgic about, but when we were ornately oblivious to our celestial pathway. A wee cuddly lump in the neck as we drove up the windy road to Crail in May.
"I must go and see about this as it's now 5 days." Mumbled the back seat passenger. Here we are now, only a dreich summer later entering the last 8 weeks of a comprehensive diagnostic summer as the body got limbered up for the road ahead.
I keep referring to Scott's Macmillan marathon. He started his training before me and will complete before me but the cosmic timing is beautiful. We are both trying to do our bit.
He's got his body into shape. He's got supplements, shoes, the gear that's bound to give him the edge and I've got my mouth Olympics, feeding tubes and other paraphernalia.
He's lost 2 stone Ive lost some tonsils teeth and a mere 1 stone.
He's done everything he could to be ready but of course there's doubts about what else would shave another second or two. I've got the same thing except I'm trying not to shave, apparently it's another bonus, no razor required during treatment. additionally this is one time for Fat Al to add weight, he says at 9am finishing yoghurt and peaches in a light syrup.
Yesterday I was at cafe Gallo for a spicy fish soup and some ice cream. The perks are endless
Every morning when I'm flushing my tube I'm thinking Scott is kicking his trainers to get any stones out. It's a lovely made up metaphor, I'm sure there's no stones in his shoes. It's just preparing for the day ahead and building on the blocks of experience from the past.
As I look further back to Arnaldo and Stuart, who were treated during COVID I'm reminded of many more tips on the journey as well as the trip wires too. Who can forget the chocolate biscuits being too big for Stu to open his mouth for. There is legacy,.make no mistake, there is legacy, even when you plan as meticulously as these two did. I might joke about stones in shoes or mouth Olympics but they do feel real.
Four years on we're going to watch.the football, the crowd has changed, Frank for one is sadly.no longer watching with us but I'll be wearing my hat today in his honour, I sadly don't possess his mullet to do it justice.
This dapper auld gent, at least 5 years my senior, with a heart of.gold is buried by a number of other pals in the Craigmillar Castle park cemetery. He has a Hibs mug by his head and a few pals from the terracing nearby. His Camino would see Hibs win the cup but sadly when the cancer returned there wasn't a second strike. Frank did however, do it his way and while we miss him, his wit, his hat and his sartorial elegance, he's still a wonderful ghost on the concourse of the east terracing and every time I see a pair of sharp brown brogues I have to have a double take just to check it's not Frank.
We regularly lose to St Johnstone, Livingston and Ross County, our bogeys teams, along with Celtic, hearts and occasionally Rangers. To be fair, Rangers is probably less of a bogey team than the blue of the Saints, but I'm no historian. Ask a real supporter, I'm just a pitcher upper, 5 times a season.
Last time I was here I was very confident we would destroy Aberdeen. We were 2-0 up very quickly and flowing well, looked great,.then just downed tools, relying on our keeper to rescue us that day. It's only a year ago but that team has gone. Some were playing for Raith Rovers last night and they looked themselves. Our old hero Lewis showed how.strong he was, almost knocking a boys head off while, Hanlon sadly turned his back to block a shot going wide and turned it into the far corner, having earlier been a bit slow on the turn which resulted in his colleague foolishly getting sent off. Strange affair last night and today all told, I think at least 6 players will be different from my last visit.
The story of Dunfermline v Raith needs a Skids moment so with the Saints coming to town I feel reference to that great song long overdue.
Stuart Adamson adorned the cover of our first 1000 sell out edition back in 1983. I think we printed 1200 and they all went inside a week.
If you go to the home page you might be able to click the link. A great drawing by Hilary and a superb industry busting first New Order interview by Karen. She beat sounds by 3 days and we managed to get it out the day before them.
Ha, no mobile phone hacking in our day, when a scoop was a scoop!
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