Ticking away ... Day 1007 ~ what happens next ...

A week after finishing radiotherapy I'm still feeling its effects and it may be another week before improvements are felt.

 

Today though I was back for my four weekly appointment. I've been taken off the Abiraterone which has served me well during the last seven months and I'm being weaned off the steroids. Abiraterone doesn't work for everyone. Someone we met today for the first time in over a year only had two courses [I had eight] and he is now probably worse off than me.

I have a number of options open to me :~

[1] Enter a clinical trial with new medication that is showing encouraging results. I have to meet certain criteria ... and even if I'm accepted I may get the placebo ! The clinical trial is finishing soon so I need to get in quickly if I'm going to get in at all. Paperwork explaining the trial will be sent to me in the next few days.

[2] Another course of chemotherapy. This won't be as effective as the previous course but could keep me going for longer than not having it at all ! It wasn't available ten years ago.

[3] Bone strengthening drugs. These may well be needed as the cancer appears to be attacking my bones. One drawback is that I need my teeth to be in good order and they aren't. A visit to the dentist may be needed. [I think the doctor has seen my smile.]

All these three courses of treatment have to be provided in the city hospital an hour away rather than the town hospital twenty minutes away.

The doctor mentioned in passing that the limp that I have may be caused by one of the bones in my pelvic area that is as good as broken. This is due to it being bone/cancer/bone. The radiotherapy may resolve this ~ the next week may tell me more. There's no wonder it hurt a few months ago when I missed the step on that stile ... and when I roll over in bed every night.

Here I am after the visit ...

 

On a positive note the bacon baps were as good as ever and the social side of visiting hospital continued when I met someone I'd been talking to just yesterday. I hadn't seen her for months before that ...

One negative note ... I'm not sure they do bacon baps in the big city hospital.

This photograph has already appeared on Facebook and someone has said that judging by my smile the news must have been good. I wouldn't go quite that far but again it's been a case of me getting what I expected.

Dad, Grandad and Granny ...

I've been scanning some of my old black and white photographs. I don't know whether this will work but here's my Dad, Fred, sitting on a Fordson Major tractor with a binder behind. Sitting on the binder is my grandfather, Charlie Wildgoose, and my grandmother Beatrice.

Click here ...

A Farm Journal ~ July 1869 ...

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby. 

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...

 

 A Farm Journal continues :~

 

7 Mo[nth] 1st 5 day Very fine time finish[e]d all hay but 9 ac[res] by the 14th - good crops Jos[eph] & M.A. Bottomley & Eliz[abe]th Hopkins here last week on religious visit self to M[an]chester to trials of Mowers etc engaged Wilbers Eureka Mower to be sent on trial to mow Mid breck came on 3rd day the 20th worked well self to show

 

4 - 21 finish[e]d hay on 7day 24th in good condition

 

2 - 26 Fine work[in]g the Eureka for W.Bagshaw & others - dipp[e]d lambs & weaned at turnips & topping stacks etc to end of week - had hay supper - Irish leave co[u]s[in] Jos[eph] Shipley here on 6th day

 

7 - 31 Showery - but no weight of rain we want rain now - the mears are low & cows gone off their milk corn short mostly - turnips look well 

Homeward bound from home ...

Many people [dog walkers in particular] walk up through a private wood to get onto Darley Hillside ... 

 Head north along the lane at the top of the wood and you will reach Lumb Lane with a bit of luck. Fork right up this to reach a bridleway on your left ...


 

A few years ago the bridleway bridge was badly damaged by a flash fllod but it has since been repaired and made safer in the event of another flood ...

You can see in the next photo that some holes have been left in the stone bridge so that if the stream below floods onto it the water can flow away more quickly.

  

We'd gone looking for bluebells and as we entered North Wood [between Northwood and Tinkersley] there were certainly plenty to be seen ...

   

Sometimes though photos of bluebells can be disappointing ... sometimes you have to be there ...



 As we walked into the hamlet of Tinkersley, assuming a handful of houses and farmhouses is a hamlet, we got a great view of Peak Tor, Rowsley ...

 

Peak Tor is the 'bump' of trees in the photo above. There are some old earthworks around the other side of this hillock. I thought they would be a couple of thousand years old, possibly more, but I've seen a report in which the Peak Park refers to the earthworks dating  from the "Anglo-Danish period".

A footpath leaves Tinkersley towards Copy Wood and Rowsley ...



There's a strangely shaped tree in the wood which always catches my eye.



 From the small private golf course in someone's garden we got another view of Peak Tor ...



 Once we'd crossed the A6 we soon picked up the Derwent Valley Heritage Way to walk through Rowsley Sidings.



 This isn't a public footpath though it is part of a long distance route !

The path eventually runs alongside the River Derwent which you can see on the right below. The wild garlic was out when these photographs were taken.

  

Beyond Peak Rail's Rowsley Station the path opens out as it passes through meadows towards Churchtown, Darley Dale. The Toothbrush, a narrow strip of trees atop Masson Hill can be seen on the horizon.

 A litle further on one tree was strangekly leafless ...



 Once we'd reached Churchtown we continued between the Whitworth Park and Peak Rail's railway line ...

  

... before heading home.
 

This walk was followed on the 2nd May 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 6.31 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 166.80 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 1st May 2011 ~ 688.54 miles

  38 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging approximately 4.38 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

A Farm Journal ~ from the 16th to the 30 June 1869 ...

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby. 

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...

 

 A Farm Journal continues :~

 

4 - 16 Ditto shear[e]d a few in aft[ernoo]n - sold J.Critchlow 3 fat pigs £18 5/- & 6 fat ewes 40/-

5 - 17 to 7 - 19 Showery shear[in]g when fit

1 - 20 fine

2 - 21 Fine day Irish men spud[din]g thistles etc

 

3 - 22 Ditto cheese from Cales to G.R.Baker @ 76/-

 

4 - 23 Dull but fair sold cheese SH to Tho[ma]s Orr 70/-

 

5 - 24 Fine fetch[in]g grains to Cales 4 1/2 p[e]r strike del[ive]r[e]d

 

6 - 25 Ditto cheese to Longstone - rem[ainde]r of grains to Cales

 

7 - 26 Fine & hot finish[e]d shearing - horse hoing [sic] turnips (swedes) cut thickly - very dull gloomy week - swedes are very backward as if stunted & the fly has been uncommon busy - corn 1st sown looks pretty well but it is all backward owing to the prevalence of East wind for so long up to end of last week it was as cold almost as Xmas - Fine up to end of 6 mo[nth] - & warmer - began to thin swedes 

 

6 mo[nth] 2nd day 28 began to mow

 

 

[No further entries for June 1869]  

Ticking away ... Day 1001 ~ Team Wildgoose ...

As a follow up to yesterday's blog in which I mentioned a celebration, here's an exclusive photograph of the inner circle that have been carrying me this last one thousand days.

It comprises my children, their mother, my grandson and, of course, my Beloved. Unfortunately my Beloved had somehow got herself behind the camera instead of on the bench ! Perhaps next time we'll get her in picture.

It was a very modest celebration and it didn't last too long which was probably a good thing as I started to seize up in all the wrong places.

Here's [most of] Team Wildgoose ...  

Ticking away ... Day 1000 ~ Man of the Thousand Days ...

First, please allow me to ask that no one writes "here's to the next 1000 ..." I can only think along the lines of one day at a time.

So, what news ?

I've finished my radiotherapy ~ and this is my first free day [other than last weekend] for a while. I feel good, well ... ok ...

I was warned that I might be in more pain for a while after the treatment than before but when there's no real reaction after the first couple of days then you tend to think [well, I do] that that's the way it's going to stay.

The note I was handed when I finished my treatment mentioned that "radiotherapy reactions continue to build up for a week or two and should then settle down over a few weeks ..." ~ we'll have to wait and see but so far I am in some discomfort. I feel as though I've been kicked in my left buttock by a donkey.

The only piece of music of merit that I recall from the last two sessions was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It's difficult keeping still when that's playing and on that particular day it was playing loudest of the five days. The line that stuck with me from the song [for some reason] was " ... nothing really matters ..." ...

Yesterday, on the last day of treatment, I thanked the radiographers and technical staff in the room and said how they had helped me through the experience ~ they were marvellous.

So, now we wait and see how it's all gone. I have another four-weekly follow-up appointment a week today. My, how time flies when you're having ... treatment.

Finally as you can see one thousand days has passed since I was diagnosed. I can't believe it. Thank you whether you've been with me all along or just picked up on my ramblings recently. All your comments make a difference. 

There's talk of a little celebration this evening. Let's hope I'm up to it. So far I don't see any reason not to be there ...

Once again, thank you.

Ticking away ... Day 996 ~ Lust for Life ...

Here I am, three fifths of the way through my course of radiotherapy. 

They said I would probably feel tired and possibly slightly nauseous. They also said that the pain might get worse before it got better.

They were right. 

Hey, at least I'm not hobbling around quite as much. The limp and/or the lump seem to be less of a problem.

I ... just ... feel ... a ... bit ... rough ...

The actual radiotherapy lasts just five or six minutes ... and part of that time is me hoisting myself on to the couch and adjusting my clothing so that the radiographers can line up on the little marks on my skin around the left side of my groin. The treatment is nothing unpleasant ~ it's just like a long x-ray.

The radiographers have been brilliant. They've been friendly and understanding. When I left on Friday afternoon they all wished me a 'good weekend' ... and not just me but all the other patients too.

For that five or six minutes of treatment there's two hours travelling and a short wait.

Why Lust for Life ?

Well as I lay there for my first treatment on Wednesday, and after the radiographers had left the room, I could hear some background music coming from somewhere in the room.

It was Iggy Pop's Lust for Life. I smiled ... perhaps there's someone with a sense of humour looking after me.

There's a link here if you want to listen to the song. Only listen if you like rock music and can stomach a few scenes from Transpotting.

If you don't want to listen to Iggy Pop [or even if you do] then you can have a look at me [with my fat right leg] sitting in the Peak District Countryside after a bacon and sausage [!] bap on my way home after the first treatment ... 

 

Ticking away ... Day 991 ~ Irradiate ! Irradiate ! Irradiate ! ...

I have something to confess. I talk to myself at times. Well, that's not strictly true, a little voice in my head talks to me telling 'Charlie Boy' to do this ... and to do that ... most often it's saying 'come on, Charlie Boy, you can cope ... don't lose your grip ...'

The thing is no one really prepares you for slowly falling off the Edge of the World. 

You can't jump off the x-ray couch and form a 'T' with both hands and ask for some 'time out'. 

Today though the little voice inside my head [which, it has to be said, makes me smile quite a lot] said wouldn't it be funny when you start your radiotherapy if a Dalek-like voice calls out from behind the screen "Irradiate ! Irradiate !  Irradiate !"

In the event I didn't get the chance to see if this was actually going to happen because although I was x-rayed and marked up ready to be irradiated I was told half an hour later that, in fact, my actual treatment wouldn't be starting until Wednesday with further 'doses' on Thursday, Friday, Monday and Tuesday ... then that would be it.

 The doctor this morning mentioned in passing that the radiotherapy wasn't a cure ... it was just to help ease the pain ... and it has to be said pain has surfaced and made itself known ... rather like an uninvited shark at a swimming gala.

At present I'm hobbling around a bit. I walk upstairs labouriously putting my right foot on a step and then bringing my uncomfortable [ok, painful] left leg up to the same step. [I now avoid walking up steps if there's a crowd behind me.]

 

"Come on Charlie Boy. Stop whinging ... go and make yourself a coffee ..."

A Farm Journal ~ from the 1st to the 15th June 1869 ...

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby. 

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...

 

 A Farm Journal continues :~

 

3 - 1st 6 Mo[nth] Fine day wash[e]d all sheep

 

4 - 2 Fine morn[in]g showery even[in]g to Chest[er]f[iel]d M[onthly] M[eeting] self too pony & basket

 

5 - 3rd Fine fin[ished] sow[in]g turnips in Ridge piece

 

6 - 4th Ditto S.A. Baby & I to Ashford aft[ernoon]

 

7 - 5 Dull but warmer fin[ishe]d sow[in]g corn turnips & put things away corn late only just about 3 in[ches] high or 4"

 

1st - 6 Fine & warm W.S.W. & warm

 

2 - 7 Ditto very close B[akewe]ll Market Eliza Shaw came

 

3 day - 8 Ditto

 

4 - 9 Fine day F&M up to Meeting

 

5 - 10 Fine day cheese cratch fell & crushed a lot of cheese - we crimmed [sic] it over again being new

 

6 - 11 Walling etc - ditto

 

7 - 12 D[itt]o

 

1 - 13 Ditto Jos[eph] & Mary Burtt at Meet[in]g & here to dine - of the visiting committee - to O.A. to tea - Mother with them

 

2 - 14 Showery began to shear the hogs in aft[ernoo]n

 

3 - 15 Very showery day 

In the valley of the Manifold ...

We parked at Hulme End about 15 miles from home and walked along the Manifold Way. We were intrigued by the Staffordshire RIGS Group waymark ...

The Manifold Way is another of the now defunct railways that used to run in the Peak District. This one follows what used to be the Leek and Manifold Light Railway ...



  Pock-marked Ecton Hill loomed into view ...



  

There was evidence how popular this area was and still is ...

 

Beside the Manifold Way we could see why a Geotrail had been created here ...

 



To see the Geotrail leaflet [and download it if you're interested] go to the GeoConservation Staffordshire website here and click on Geotrails and then HampsManifold.

Like many trails that were once railway lines you have to get used to walking in a straight line for a hundred yards [or more] from time to time ...

 

Part of the Manifold Way is still used by traffic ... which makes walking through Swainsley Tunnel good fun ...



 As you can see there's not much room. We made it to the other end though ...



 We reached Wetton Mill where there's a nice tearoom and toilets ... as well as two National Trust Holiday Cottages. 

 

We were now on the eastern side of the River Manifold and as we walked back up the valley we got a good view of Ossoms Hill dotted with hawthorn trees ...

 

We were following an old road now which got quite steep in places ...

 

There was more evidence of the interesting geology hereabouts ...



 

We reached Swainsley again but this time we were across the river and above ground ... and there was a dovecote in view too ...

 

We were back at Ecton Hill and we read through the warning sign carefully ...

 

We then did something I wouldn't be able to do now ... we walked directly uphill ...

 

As we were going directly up, some other walkers were on their way down ...

 

We got a bird's eye view of Swainsley [and its dovecote] now ...

 

... and the slopes of Ecton Hill to our left ...

 

A 20 second video [with wind] gives you a good idea of the scenery in these parts ...

 

From a walking point of view a leader is told he should never walk straight up a hill to walk back down again. Guess what I did ...

Back at ground level some of the local livestock were foraging ...



 There is evidence that copper was mined beneath Ecton Hill as far back as the Bronze Age. It was the 4th Duke of Devonshire who made his fortune from it though, according to the information panel ...



 You can see 'you are here' on the panel above and you can see where we were in the photograph below ...



  I wonder what it's like 200 feet below ground now.

We made it safely back to the car park and had lunch at the Tea Junction ...



 Very nice it was too.

This walk was followed on the 1st May 2011
 
Length of walk ~ 6.23 miles *
 
Total mileage walked so far in 2011 ~ 160.49 miles
 
Total mileage between the 1st September 2009 and the 1st May 2011 ~ 688.54 miles

  37 of 2011 [which means in 2011 I was averaging approximately 4.33 miles a walk.]
 
* distance calculated on Ordnance Survey's Getamap

This summary includes a walk of 2.26 miles on the 30th April 2011 around the villages of Carsington and Hopton for which there are no photographs.

A Farm Journal ~ from the 17th to the 31st May 1869 ...

My great great great uncle John Bayliff Bowman lived at Summer Hill, near Monyash in the County of Derby. 

The Bowman family, who were Quakers, had three farms, One Ash Grange [which John Bayliff Bowman often referred to as O.A.], Cales and Summer Hill [which he usually referred to as S.Hill or S.H.]

John Bayliff Bowman is fourth from the left in the photo below ...

 

 A Farm Journal continues :~

 

No entry for the 16th May 1869.

 

2 - 17 cold E Wind morn[in]g but turned South in even[in]g & showery - B[akewe]ll Fair - many cattle in but slow sale sow[e]d grass seeds in Pewet Knobs

 

3 - 18 showery Ditto

 

4 - 19 Ditto bo[ugh]t Pony of Sept[imus] Press

 

5 - 20 Fine but cold

 

6 - 21 Showery

 

7 - 22 Ditto aft[ernoo]n pick[e]d stone etc - growing day but cold N wind things doing pretty well F&M here from Ashford aft[ernoo]n oats looking well - some sown with Will[ia]m Drill too deep seem to take a long time to come out

 

1 - 23 Fine

 

2 - 24 Fine dayself to B[akewe]ll Market & then on to Calton arr[ived] 6.20pm lodged at Holly Bush - very cold E. wind looked round & agreed to build a new barn & cowhouses under

 

4 - 26 to Newcastle called at Uncle Bradys only Aunt & Hannah & Alfr[e]d at home - H&I to Jarrow in aft[ernoo]n to see Tom & Jenny - self on to Sunderland to call of George & back to Gateshead - left next Morn[in]g 8.30am very cold arr[ived] B[akewe]ll 4.30pm - found all well

 

6 - 28 Fine day but cold E wind yet plenty of grass & cows milk well

 

7 - 29 Fine day sow[e]d some corn turnips in Ridge piece - & seeds in Watricle with corn

 

1 - 30 Fine

 

2 - 31 Ditto W.E. yet - sow[e]d more turnips

 

 

* I assume this is the Septimus Press who in 1861 was the landlord at the Horse & Jockey in Tideswell. 

 

Ticking away ... Day 979 ~ me and my three legged dog ...

Since I came out of hospital four weeks ago I haven't really made up lost ground ~ over the past four weeks my 'groin strain' has become more and more uncomfortable. It got to the stage where, even with two walking poles, I was only able to walk a couple of miles on a flat trail on Monday evening and it took me two hours. We were taking photos as we went but even so ...

So, after my CT scan a week ago today I was prepared for nearly anything when I went for my four weekly follow-up appointment with my oncologist.

We got there for the 9.30 appointment and after the usual weigh-in and blood pressure check Jamie and I were talking to the doctor who seemed very relaxed ... and then she said "when is your CT scan ? " ... that's right, the results hadn't filtered through to her yet.

The doctor felt that, in view of the discomfort I was experiencing in my groin, it might be worth me having an x-ray. This obviously wasn’t going to be one of those hospital visits where we were sitting down to a bacon bap within an hour of my appointment.

[I will now try and edit out some of the details you don’t need to know … I'm trying to save you time ...].

We walked through the hospital to the x-ray department. Who should walk in whilst we were sitting there but one of my former work colleagues … “What are you doing here” ... 
 

My name was called and I went into the x-ray room after putting on one of those gowns. I lay there while six or seven x-rays were taken of my pelvis and left hip. This involved some discomfort on my part as the radiologist had to x-ray my left hip by lining up the machine whilst my right leg was supported on a metal frame. She was shooting under my right leg.

 I was given a pink slip of paper with a bar code to walk back to my doctor so that she could see the x-rays immediately.

Initially though we saw the pharmacist to talk about my medication. After she’d gone we [Jamie and I] realised that we were sitting in a side room with comfortable chairs. You know what that can mean. As I sat there, across the corridor, I caught a glimpse of a couple of friends I knew from my days with the ramblers …

After twenty five minutes the doctor came in and she was able to say that whilst they were looking at the x-rays they were also able to see the results of the CT scan. This showed up that in addition to a swollen lymph gland on the left side of my groin [that’s a lump I have there at present] I also have a ‘met’ in my left hip socket and a smaller one in my right hip.

By ‘met’ I assumed she meant metastasis and she did indeed confirm that that is what she meant. 'Met' sounds much less threatening though doesn't it.

The good news [yes, there is some good news] is that radiotherapy should soon knock the swollen lymph gland and both metastases into touch ! Hurrah ! I just need one session and they would tell me within the next 7 to 10 days when that will be.

On that note Jamie and I headed off for our bacon bap. We were now attending to the serious business ~ the bap !

However, who should we bump into in the Café@theRoyal but those two walkers … one of them having the same complaint as me. I said hello … they didn’t recognise me [it happens a lot] ... but once I’d introduced myself we sat and had a chat and he picked my brain as he has only recently been diagnosed. I think he took comfort from the fact that I am still  around nearly three years after being diagnosed, particularly as I have Stage 4 prostate cancer and he has Stage 2 …

Jamie’s telephone rang. It was my doctor wanting to have a further word.

We headed back to her department. She was apologetic. I will need five ‘doses’ of radiotherapy not one … I wasn't angry. I wasn't upset. These things happen. Mistakes are made. Life is too short ...

Eventually we got away after all the toing and froing and I spent the afternoon feeling tired [mentally as much as physically I think].

Yesterday my enthusiasm seemed to evaporate fairly early in the day too.

Today though I feel enthused enough to post this even though my groin is feeling decidedly uncomfortable. I might even resort to some painkillers … at some stage.

So, I’ve had a setback but I expected it … possibly worse … now I aim to get the radiotherapy behind me and hopefully get out for some walks …

In the meantime here’s a photograph taken once we’d got back to the car park …

I don't shave as often as I used to do.