29. Barcelona

Photos: The boys at Ish's Surprise Birthday Party; Gav in his Buck's Weekend Attire and his gnome "Wee Gav"; Selling his "L" Plate to a 6 year old for 1 Euro; Barcelona Cathedral; Me in the Sun...

While I wait for the latest results, I’ve managed to keep myself pretty busy over the past few weeks. Although I’m obviously waiting and hoping the new increased Gleevec dose will do the trick, it can be quite a boring and tiresome process. I don’t particularly think it’s a good thing to wait impatiently and rush away the time up until such results are ready. I don’t see the point. Inevitably the blood samples will be tested, scrutinised and then fed back to you through the doctors…in the meantime, I’m totally up for enjoying each day as it comes. What the use of fighting Leukaemia and finding a cure, if you aren’t willing to enjoy the time that you do have? And I’m not saying all people don’t enjoy what they have, I just know that I’m making up for a few others who aren’t…

Both Dawsie and I boarded the Ryanair flight last Saturday morning; this trip was to London for my mate Ish’s birthday. A ‘surprise’ birthday. His girlfriend Amy had organised for us to come down, pretend that this was the surprise and help him consume a few beers whilst watching the 6 Nations Rugby. He didn’t expect to turn up to the club that night and be cheered by all his mates waiting patiently for the main man to arrive. Very good night to catch up with everyone!
Then after a few days back at work, I found myself boarding the next booked flight. This was for Karen’s brother Gav's’ Bucks Weekend away; 20 guys, a trip to Barcelona, beers flowing from 6:30am Thursday morning right through until Sunday – priceless! It was brilliant to leave the Scottish Baltic winter behind, fly only 2 ½ hours and be sunning yourself in 25 degree heat by the Mediterranean Sea. It’s such a fantastic city – although most of the 4 days were spent in a pub we did managed to venture out and see a few sites. We stayed in the Gothic/Latin region, right next to the Cathedral and there were tiny streets forking off in every direction. They were all lined with shops, buskers and tapas restaurants – I’ve stacked on at least a stone after munching my way through a tonne of Paella.

The run of Karen and I only managing to catch up occasionally is still the ‘norm’. We not had a weekend together for 4 weeks and the next two, Kas will be away enjoying a couple of Hen’s weekend’s away. Good time for me to get a few rounds of golf in…
Then before we knew it, we realised the 25th March is creeping up and that we had better sort out our 1 year Wedding Anniversary. Again, I’m not a fan of the phrases “I can’t believe how fast time’s flying” and “wow, this year has flown” (not sure who really says “wow”)…but, the past year has really ticked by at a rapid pace. So the next time we do catch up for a weekend, we will be back in Mar Hall where we were married one year ago and enjoying some quiet time…

So as I’m enjoying my ‘waiting’ time, my next appointment to see my consultant is for this Wednesday morning. I’ll be seeing my usual doctor, Dr Drummond – such a legend! We’ll go through the usual CML chat, talk about the options and then I’ll be rolling up my sleeve and getting the next PCR test taken. For those who know, this is a pretty important one. It’ll be the first since I had my Gleevec meds increased from 600mg to 800mg one month ago. I don’t think either of us will be expecting a huge drop but you can bet that we’ll be hoping to see an indication that it’s working – a drop from 2.8% to anything would be good. Just not up…

So in the meantime, please check out my good mate Drew’s Leukaemia Foundation’s “World’s Greatest Shave” website. Seriously, this is a huge deal…I’ve only known him to shave once in the past few years (at our wedding – not even at his!) and avoids the barber like the plague. Yes, he’ll be shaving his face and head for a very good cause – please check out the site at : http://www.worldsgreatestshave.com/profile.php?id=306630

Also, congrats to my cousin Dan and his wife Tizza – new baby boy called Sean was delivered last Friday…unreal!

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