I should start this post with a salutation of Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year because, believe it or not, it has been 87 days since my last post on the 17th November last year.
This is not because I have been idle. Far from it. Since my last post I have walked 499.25 miles, ascending 41,626 feet while training our delightful Springer Spaniel, Cocoa, now ten months old, and attending a battery of scans and tests and medical appointments.
The good news is that my brain tumour remains too small to measure. They cannot actually find it but my treatment team remain convinced that my particular type of tumour has a nasty habit of returning and want to catch it when it does. So convinced that it is still in my brain my team still talk about it being a tiny cluster of cells too small to measure rather than being absent altogether, and confirm that I will never be given the ‘All clear’, that such a state does note exist with a tumour such as mine. I remain convinced that God healed me completely and continue to follow my balanced daily lifestyle to be sure of preventing the return of my tumour.
More good news is that, after a number of tests and an MRI triggered by a number of unexplained symptoms, my colorectal investigations were free of any cancer and of any other identifiable disease.
And probably the best news of the lot is that I DO NOT HAVE EARLY ONSET DEMENTIA.
The bad news is that all the symptoms I have been experiencing as described in my previous post in November, are as a result of the resurgence of epilepsy that has crept back in through the back door, in the form of absence seizures and auras.
The good news is that after an initially rough, really rough, ride with a new anti-seizure medication, I seem to be back on an even keel.
And more good news. My website, which has been, to all intents and purposes ‘off-line’ due to the move to new premises of the Company that hosts my site on their server, entirely for free, is now live again and blessed with more space, thanks to the continuing generosity of Key Facilities Management in Doune, Stirlingshire.
So my focus remains:
- Stopping my brain tumour from returning as predicted by following my balanced daily lifestyle including time in prayer.
- Retraining and strengthening my brain for future employment using:
- Learning to play the pipe organ,
- Learning to play golf.
- Learning to write properly constructed and understandable sentences quickly again, through the writing of these posts, guided by my darling wife Allie.
- Learning to juggle.
- Litter picking for mind to eye to hand to litter to picker to other hand with bag coordination which is a very tiring activity.
- Food shopping in a busy supermarket which I can find overwhelming.
- The capturing of smiles and starting of conversations which I find exhausting but hugely rewarding.
- Volunteering activities around the town.
- Trying to maintain a balance in my daily activity to prevent SMART attacks or neurological wobbles. So lots and lots of walking, whenever I start to feel a little at sea in the fog, plenty of snoozes, and a form of meditation and relaxation on the water through the sailing, ocean rowing and sea kayaking clubs.
The golden thread running through every second of every day is trying to save lives by raising sponsorship for the Disasters Emergency Committee. There are 64,000,000 active current accounts in the UK. My challenge is to convince just 1% of those account holders to challenge me to keep fighting to stop the tumour from ever coming back, to prevent a degradation into Alzheimer’s or Dementia, to get cognitively fit enough to work again with just £1 per month. If I succeed I could raise over £640,000 a month with which to help save and rebuild the lives of those most in need through the Disasters Emergency Committee. With 102 sponsors so far obtained I am 0.015% of the way towards my target. It is easy to doubt that I will ever get there, but I refuse to doubt, so please sponsor me. I guarantee that, with the generosity of:
- The Royal Bank of Scotland.
- Webb and Wallace Accountants in Doune.
- MHCreations in Glasgow.
- Key Facilities Management in Doune.
That every single penny raised goes to save and rebuild lives through the Disasters Emergency Committee. Not a single penny is lost to costs.
A final thought from Buddhism
“The Righteous Man is happy in this world and he is happy in the next.” The Dhammapada
Please sponsor me to make me happy. After all, happiness is the key to success.
Thank you, Keep safe, keep being brilliant.
Keeeeeeeeeeeep smiling
Yours aye with love and gratitude,
Archie