25. The Cobbler

Christmas in the New House; Kas with Xmas Tree; Matt & Kas on top of The Cobbler; The Cobbler standing just under 3,000 feet; The Group having a well earned rest...

We were looking for all the signs, constantly surfing the weather channels to shed some light on the Christmas weather. I've managed to experience one white Christmas a few years ago in the bonny lands so I can't be too disappointed with the news that it won't be white. As the frost rested on the windshield of the all cars in the neighborhood and the sun sunk over the white horizon, it's funny to realise how Christmas Eve can still give me a child-like buzz. I love it, waiting for an appropriate time to wake up and tear into my presents patiently waiting for me under the tree. It was the 3rd one we've spent in Scotland and I do love it; the Smith Clan make a huge deal of spoiling me... but I'm getting to the point where I'm ready for one with sun, surf and BBQ's. Maybe it'll be the year after next as my folks have agreed to take the journey over and spend it with us next year. Already looking forward to it!

Well the fingers have stayed crossed, I've remained positive and I've tried to keep my body from getting pushed too hard...so I was a bit surprised when I received my latest PCR result last week. The last one was about 2.5% and unfortunately we've been told that it still hasn't budged, we have a stubborn one on our hands. It's hasn't thrown me off my tracks but it does get me a tad frustrated when I feel that it should be going my way and that the drugs should work for me the way they were designed to. I'll now be heading back to see the consultants and we'll have a look at the next viable option...it seems that the wonder drug Gleevec isn't working too well on the dodgy Leukaemia cells lurking in my body. They will be running a "Mutation Test" to test the effectiveness of the medication in my cells and they'll also consider three things: increase dose from 600mg to 800mg (maybe a few nasty side effects), change drugs to Nilotinib - "Son of Gleevec" and the third option is the Bone Marrow Transplant. I'll find out in the New Year when I'm back next seeing the docs. The docs say "keep your chin up" but after the turkey I've managed to munch in the past week, it's more like "keep your chins up"...

The photos I've attached a just from last week when a group of us (Kas, Mhairi, Bob and I) took on The Cobbler on Boxing Day. We started near Loch Lomond on the Scottish west coast and with our new boots on, we strided on up towards the peak of this highland hill. The views were pretty limited as we spent most of the time in the clouds, mist and snow at the top. Not bad for a few amateurs; zero to 3,000 feet. A nice bit of training for the 20,000 foot monster of Mt Kilimanjaro!

In the meantime, we will continue to press on and look for the positives...confident that we can eventually tame this beast. We have a New Years Party (Hogmanay) at our new pad on Sunday night so there will be a few photos of that night on my next post...plenty of the Karaoke Comp.

Have a great NYE and keep the messages and emails rolling in...