I’ve written a few items on my experience with cancer since being diagnosed in 2020, some at the time, and others later.
I am finally mentally and physically prepared to share my story in depth and to also give back.
I will be doing a fundraising walk up Snowdon in Wales with my Sister for Bone Cancer Research Trust in June this year.
I’ve also recorded a YouTube video going into detail about my experiences.
Please give what you can on my JustGiving page!
Thank you 🙂
“Reflect, Recharge, Rebuild—Here’s to 2025!”
Country garden with cat
Apologies for not being too active on here this year. Life, as they say, has gotten in the way. The house and garden have kept me busy, and I’ve been working hard on multiple DIY and car projects. The workshop and car bits are still tying me up and as I write this I am in the process of rewiring one of the lawn tractors after blowing the other one up (non profesional, but suspected diagnosis… it was running and then it wasn’t!).
It’s been a strange end of the year. The rest of my family are down under visiting my Sister in Australia and my Father in Law has just left to go home again. We had an early Christmas in November that my parents hosted, which felt very out of place. We had another Christmas meal yesterday and my wife did a cracking job at catering. I helped with the washing up – promise!
It’s nearly 5 years since I was diagnosed with cancer. We had a Chinese on Christmas Eve and my fortune cookie read “Bad things are behind you” or words to that effect. Coincidence or not, the big C did change my outlook on life. It’s very easy just to coast along, and then BAM! Some bad news like that drops on you and suddenly, both mentally and phsically, the rest of your life is impacted whether you like it or not. You coast along as you don’t think it’s going to happen to you.
I find it very, very difficult to just do “nothing” and always feel like something needs doing. Mostly because it does (house and car lists are VERY long), but relaxing for me is difficult.
I guess the message here is don’t take your health for granted. Don’t waste your time. Get out and do something productive. Find a new hobby. Spend time with your friends and family. Get a dog or a cat now, not next year. Start writing a diary, I did. I don’t write in it every day but at least once a week and try and write a few lines. It’s quite therapeutic.
Enough of that sombre message… with everything else said I do wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2025! I’ll try and update a little more in the New Year!
Last week I finished working at the job I’ve been working at for 5 years. That’s a long time and a lot has happened in that time.
The postives: got another cat, got some new cars, made progress on my Mazda, visited some new places (Amsterdam, Paris, Hamburg, various places in Wales, Cornwall), got married!
Negatives: Got Cancer (and covid); spent the last year working through a company that had gone through multiple acquisitions culminating in me going off on stress leave for around a month.
Enough is enough!
I’ve been engrossed in watching or learning about Cerro Gordo Ghost Town (see Ghost Town Living) and it’s been a really interesting experience watching someone who had no real life experience of living alone in the middle of nowhere. Needless to say he had the quick realisation that he was the only person who could determine anything that happened there, and he’s got some great philiosophical insights. One thing I’ve really taken away from that all is what he said and that is that if you don’t like something, do something about that. And that’s what I did!
Work got too much and after the big C, I have a different outlook on life. Making the most of every day and life in general is important, and I’m not going to spend it being unhappy, so I spent the time I had taken during the absence of leave finding a new job. Big priorities were ensuring it was another remote working role – I’ve been working remotely since around the beginning of the pandemic and I’ve enjoyed it. You do get lonely at times, but at the same time the pros outweigh the cons. Not having to get stressed in rush hour traffic and shout at other drivers is a bonus. That is one good thing that has come out of the pandemic really, and something that I could have done for a long time (working in IT) but it took that to wake a lot of people up.