Our own Fiorenzo Magni?

16 Saturday Feb 2013

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One half of Team IMHeadcase is out of Surgery, not just a keyhole, a more invasive procedure due to the discovery that the  damage was greater than expected. The code reads L sh ASD, E\O ACjt Cuffrepair- subscap, supraspin LHB tenddesis, for those in the know!  for those of us mere mortals it is replacing ligament into shoulder blade, two rotator cuff tear repairs, shaved collarbone where chipped and whilst in there shaved off a bit of arthritis. But what will it mean going forward?

Firstly tying shoelaces is to be challenging. Pre tied ties hanging on the door and slip on shoes, sleeping sitting up and no driving. Of course the latest fashion accessory – a fetching blue sling with accompanying stabilising pad for 6 weeks.

However the training must go on at some kind of level – so a sneaky 12k the day after and stepped up to 20k the day after although no use of the arm makes for the legs taking the strain and being a little lopsided.

FiorenzoMagni-tmbTaking some inspirational thought from Fiorenzo Magni, cyclist of the 50’s who broke his clavical in the 1956 Giro d’Italia, but with the help of a bicycle inner tube strapped around the handle bar and held in his teeth he fought through a snow storm, and went on to complete the race and finish 2nd.

So 6 weeks of sling wearing, and gentle cycling is the order of the day, assuming getting dressed can be mastered first!

Then gloves are off and the slog to build up the long lack of swimming and running to prepare to complete the course within the allotted time.

The severity of the operation makes the race seem a log way off.

None of this is a jot on the landscape compared to Colin’s situation, but his wishes are to raise the money and that means the journey continues but with him in our thoughts with every pedal strike.

This was always going to be a rocky ride!

16 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by in Blog, Colin's Blog, Editor's Posts

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I have been asked to write on Colin’s behalf this week as he is unable to post a blog update himself. Alas this is because he is currently in hospital, his condition has taken a sudden turn for the worse with a diagnosis of multiple bilateral pulmonary embolisms ! (blood clots on both lungs) he is having treatment for this and at the moment this condition is serious.

Colin feels that posting his developments like this will help people realise how this terrible disease can so rapidly escalate! He has made sure there has been a wonderful element of humour in this blog to encourage people to relate to the person as well as the disease. We have all read some moving and wonderful postings from Colin’s friends and family and we are delighted to have been privileged in helping providing the forum for everyone to express their support and feelings towards Colin and his family.

However we also need to impart just how catastrophic this cancer is and how fast matters go from concerning to serious. For those who take a serious view on wanting to understand what happens, from a more medical perspective you may want to read: http://www.hindawi.com/crim/medicine/2010/862028/ it is from the USA, but it is one of many case studies available for review.

Gender of people who have glioblastoma multiforme and experienced Pulmonary embolism:
Female – 29.7%
Male      -70.2%

Age of people who have glioblastoma multiforme and experienced Pulmonary embolism:
40-49 – 15.14%
50-59 – 24.29%
60+    -58.04%

Our prayers and best wishes are with you Colin.

Top Up from Tone !!!!!

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

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So in the words of Delia Smith…..Where are you ? Where are you ? Let’s be ‘avin’ you ! Come on ! ……..whilst the donations have slowed there is a lot of work going on arranging events….

25th February Becca’s cake day approaches and whilst Colin is concerned that Nick may consume some of the offerings he has assured me that won’t be the case……in fact he has been abstaining from beer and sweets for the past three weeks…fair play !
9th March Blazing 80’s at the CROWN
16th March An evening with Chopper Harris and Jimmy Greaves
23rd May An Evening in the City
June Lee’s Cabbies collection
TBA Ronnie’s Boys…., Three Peaks Challenge
  • We also have collection pots in the Prince of Wales (our local Chelsea pub)
  • And DFS – Donnas Furniture Store is open for business
  • We are very hopeful of adding to this and any ideas are welcome…please make that extra effort and support the effort !

We are currently printing the posters so please let me know how many you need, they look great with collection pots in local shops, pubs and even post offices…..

Even our local Chelsea pub has allowed us to do a collection, but we are going to get Colin to do that!!!!!!!

So we really need you to step up and think of something you can contribute to this cause….however small it will go a long way to helping us achieve this goal….please, please put your thinking caps on and go for it…..

As Colin has said I will be having my finger nail fixed tomorrow so typing could be a problem but normal service will be resumed by the weekend…..thanks for listening!

(Doesn’t he like the ol’ exclamation marks – Editor)

Letter from Headcase Cancer Trust

10 Sunday Feb 2013

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Headcase thank you
Dear Tony and Dan

Ironman – Nice 2013

I write on behalf of us all at Headcase to thank you both for your magnificent support by aiming to raise £30,000 for our Research Projects.

I was very moved when I read your story about your friend and know how difficult a time you are all going through. I am sure that making good things happen will go a long way to helping to ease the pain.

We are absolutely delighted with the support we have been receiving from all over the U.K and because of donations from people such as yourselves, we have not only set our first researcher in place at Portsmouth University’s Neuro-oncology Department but are on the point of taking a second researcher on board, also for a three-year term as well as providing the laboratory with some vital equipment which will assist them in their work.

Please be assured that everything which is raised by you will be spent on G.B.M Research and that your efforts, and those of all your friends and colleagues who are supporting us through you, are greatly appreciated and not taken for granted

I wish you the very best and will watch your progress with great interest.

Yours sincerely

Andy Johnson (Honorary Treasurer and Founding Trustee)

 

DFS – Donna’s Furniture Store

10 Sunday Feb 2013

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Shabby-Chic-Painted-Furniture-3-Colors-to-Stick-To-689

My whole family have known Colin and Helen for as long as I can remember. Mainly from being neighbours either from Norton Crescent or Hopewell Road where I and Colin and Helen live now.

We wanted to do something to help raise money for Headcase, those of you that know Colin or Helen, can understand why.

We need pre owned, pre loved, pre-used, old, antique or (just plain old junk ) small pieces of furniture that we can paint and sell on. Please check your sheds and lofts and email me donna.foster11@ntlworld.com if you think you might have something. I will let you know if its what we are looking for or not.

At the moment I have had a few donations to keep me going but this will be an ongoing idea until June. My husband calls me DFS… Donnas Furniture Store and I call him MFI Mike Fosters Irritation lol as he is tripping over pieces of furniture haha – maybe I shouldn’t have left that chair on the stairs!!!  #lifeinsurance

We hope to raise over £100.00 if you can help in any way please get in contact.

Ironman Insanity

10 Sunday Feb 2013

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Ok folks – we all think that all this “Ironman” malarkey is just another Triathlon, an excuse for a weekend away in the south of France, a nice dip in the water, a cycle through the countryside and a jog around the city. And the weather will be pretty good in late June too, wont it?

Its not just the distances that are unimaginable to those that don’t relish a sprint for that proverbial bus. Its the number of other bodies thrashing through the water, elbows, feet, blow back, I mean no breast stroke and keeping your new bouffant dry for the evening celebrations!!  then in the cycle, yes granted one is now seated! but its no best of DFS, with integrated recliner function, what is not always obvious to the untrained observer are the inclines, from sea level to nearly 1200 ft and pretty sharply too!    Then the run… not much to say about that, we are all pretty impressed at the thought of Paula Radcliff running a marathon, but not after swimming and cycling.

So lets recap:

3.8km swim

Swim

180km cycle (Note the course profile graph!!)

Cycle

42.2km run (reminding you yes this is a full marathon)

Run

Weekly Diary – Bucket List

09 Saturday Feb 2013

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imagesHello everybody,

Let me start by apologising for the quality of last week’s  blog, I seemed to be all over the place, and when this was pointed out to me I was stubborn and in denial. So, from now on, if the blog reads well, is humorous and makes sense it is from me. If not then it’s probably from Helen and her sister meeting a deadline, ha ha.

Last Friday night I ventured out in Baldock town centre with Helen, Bootsy and his lovely wife, Jan. We had a couple of drinks at The Rose and Crown and a beautiful curry at The Chilli Lounge. I used the sympathy vote to persuade the waiter to upgrade from a couple of After Eight mints at the end of the meal for the ladies, to beautiful boxes of chocolates using the squirm factor! We had so many well-wishers and saw so many friendly faces, it was really quite humbling, people I hadn’t seen for years were making the effort to come up and speak to me.  It was a good evening.

I was back in hospital last Tuesday for blood tests and all was fine. There was an increase in steroids and back on chemo – 5 days on and 23 off- my God the tablets are getting bigger and bigger! To be honest, I haven’t been that well this last week. Sleeping a lot, feeling nauseous and being a bit confused. But hey, I’m now a seven month survivor and was told that if I stay stable I will be able to fly to Nice for the Grand Event in June. So that is the next target on my “bucket list” after the birth of our ninth grandchild which is imminent (nearly the other night!) but is due on Feb 26th.

Well, no football for me this week but up and coming events

Fund raiser: Organising a disco at The Crown- date and time to be arranged Chelsea auction of my personal collection memorabilia, part one and two finishing on next Saturday 16th.

Finally, I would like to thank Becks for a great big effort in the cake-a-thon. It turned out to be a cake-a-gone!!  After leaving Liam’s grandfather in charge of Beck’s baby Liam, Becks was horrified when she came in from her errand and could see a rather large man sitting in the corner finishing off the last cake! Yes, it was her Dad, Nick, whose only explanation was “It is red nose day and I’ve put 50p in the tin, Cock!” Don’t worry Becks, he did the same to us on the way to Munich when he ransacked the mini bus, eating all the cake that Stella had made for everybody!

Let me end by offering my continued support and thanks to Tony and Dan. Good luck to Tony on his fingernail repair on Thursday and his shoulder operation which is on the same day. I am away on Saturday night for a break in Leicester with my brother and sister-in-law, Pat and Peter, to meet a couple of old friends from Bradford.

Until next week…..TTFN.

Not just for Girls

09 Saturday Feb 2013

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Shoes are obviously not just the realm of the fairer sex.

These little puppies are from Adidas, the Adizero Tempo 5 (obviously superior to the 4th version with more go faster stripes!)

So today they will be put to the test with a 4k run (gently with shoulder still pre operation status).

Editor: I wonder whether these were subject to the same dismissive statement upon their discovery in the bottom of the cupboard “oh these old things? I have had them for ages”