22. Tartan Time

(Photos: Edinburgh Castle at Night; More Photo's from Beefy's Walk for Leukaemia Research; 1 year since my Old Man came on his Surprise Trip to Scotland)

As the next countdown begins, another one has finished. Over the past year since diagnosis, it seems that life is now full of countdowns…waiting for the clock to tick down and give me either a result, a break away from it all, another test and occasionally it’s just the microwave telling me that my sausage rolls are ready…

The ‘rogue’ PCR result of 7% that I received a couple of months ago, has been confirmed to have been a mistake. After a chat with the doc, he explained that the test is so sensitive and sometimes due to human error, the result we get at the end can be faulty. This was all confirmed when he told me that the next test came back at 2.3%...not a bad result I thought, but not too good either. As the test before was 1.5%, it may seem that I have plateaued and no longer continuing the decline that we were all loving to see. My appointment was yesterday with the doc at the Haematology Ward, he has decided to continue the Gleevec and monitor me with another PCR test on the 13^th December, this time hoping we can see the number dip under 1%. If not, we will then look at other options that will combat the Leukaemia, and that includes the new medication that is only just becoming available for Gleevec resistant patients and there is also the option of the risky transplant. The blood tests were all fine and showing no change to the ‘norm’. It’s funny that if another doctor took a blood test, it would seem like there isn’t anything wrong with me. Not sure what else I can do until the next test then…might have to give the dodgy sausage rolls a miss…

As the time has ticked down to get the latest result, the next thing I am looking forward to is our trip back to Australia for two weeks. Kas and I are leaving the bonny (and very cold) shores of Scotland on the 22^nd November and will be sunning ourselves 24 hours later in Sydney. The week will be a busy one, filled with catch ups with family, friends and my new wee nephew who’s getting bigger by the minute…then it’s off to Adelaide and the Barossa Valley for my mate Drew and Alana’s wedding. Hopefully I’ll be posting a few photos of the Aussie boys taking back the Ashes from the Poms after we see the game at the Adelaide Oval.

Until we head back to Oz though, it will be a pretty busy couple weeks. We are heading over to Ireland tomorrow night for the weekend to give some friends a fairly rare visit…we are just needing a trip away to relax. It’s hard when it’s the busiest time of year in my work… the Scots keep buying plenty of booze to keep me in a job though! Then it’s time to don the Scottish skirt and put the kilt with the Sinclair tartan back on again; we will be attending the Anthony Nolan Scottish Daisy Ball on the 18^th November. It’s a good way to show our support for such a good and worthy charity, they are expecting 800 people so it should be a good night!

So until the next post when I return from sunny Oz, keep the emails and messages coming in. They are good to read and help keep us in a positive attitude for a future that will no doubt be bumpy at times…

*Kilimanjaro Climb, February 2008 – Anthony Nolan Trust: http://www.anthonynolan.org.uk/index.php?table=event&id=866&parent=3.2.2.1