em ... I forgot to mention ...

You know how it is ... you all have busy lives, so I'm sure you'll understand how, sometimes, something you meant to do just slips your mind ...

Well, I suppose I should have mentioned this around the time it happened, but it just got by-passed, what with building up the kms for my 365challenge, work and sorting out the day to day challenges of life in general ... thing is, I had my (nearly) 2 year post-op review with my oncologist on August 6th (yes, that long ago), and the sooo good news is that the X-rays were all clear, my arm looks and feels good, and he doesn't want to see me now for SIX months! I was on a 4 monthly check-up cycle, but as it's all looking so well, he's happy to bump me onto the twice yearly cycle, which will last for three years, and then, all going to plan, which I am sure it will, it'll just be annual reviews from then on ...

Kinda pleased ... so forgive my tardiness in sharing ...!
Feel free to comment!

stroke, stroke ...shake ... stroke, stroke ...

Bloody hell, this rowing lark is tough going.

I've been digging deep and knocking off more Kms on my "row the Thames" element of the 365challenge, and I've got a goal that I'm working towards now: complete the rowing by the end of the month (June) so that, effectively, I can complete the final part of my 365challenge on July 4th by climbing, in the flesh, the wonderful mountain that is Ben Nevis - the highest mountain in all of the UK and Ireland!

Only 64 Km left on"the river", and recently, I've been targeting 10Km per visit (mostly), so the end of the month is an achievable target. But it is taking its toll, and not because it's causing me to feel particularly tired by it all - no really, I actually find it quite doable: stroke, stroke, stroke ... get up a good rhythm, keep it steady, listen to good music on my iPod and the Kms flow by (sorry!). But its the old numb hands business that is causing me the greatest difficulty.

Regular readers will know that my tumour was on my left arm, and when they removed it, they took out a strand of muscle. All seems well on the arm now, which is great, but it seems that the intrusive surgery and radiotherapy has meant that sometimes the flow of fluid through the arm isn't as smooth as it could be, and the resulting build-up puts pressure on the nerves, which effectively results in my losing feeling in my fingers and hand if I put a lot of pressure on the arm - for example, by rowing a lot!

So ... rowing 10Km has been complicated by this. Some days I can manage 5 or 6 Km before I have to stop and shake out my hand and massage the fingers to get the circulation going again, and can then get back to rowing. Some days, like today, it seemed to be every 2.5Km, which was a real pain in the a*se (or lack of pain in the hand!), and that meant that the whole distance took considerably longer than it should have. But, hey, there are worse things in the world! I'll keep plugging away, stroking and shaking: I'll get my Kms done and complete my Thames row well ahead of target.

And that is the next issue ... I know I said at the start of this post that I'll have finished all of my 365challenges by July 4th - and I believe that I will have - but that is way ahead of schedule, as I'm not due to complete my 365challenge year until August 31st 2009.

So how can I fill the remaining nearly-2 months ...?
All suggestions gratefully received!

good news ... and an explanation for my numb hand

I guess I should mention that I had an appointment with my oncologist the other day! This was one of my routine follow-up appointments, which now happen every four months, seeing as it is now just 15 months since my operation to have my tumour removed.

As usual, I went down to the tumour department (it just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?!) and was sent off for my chest x-ray. I have one of these every visit, because if there were going to be any secondary growths from my tumour, they apparently develop in the lungs. I used to have a CT scan too, but these have been discontinued now as they have been clear in the past and so they don't need to any more, which is great. Then back to the tumour department to await the call to see Mr Leahy about the results.

Anyway ... the good news is that he is very pleased with my progress. The x-ray shows nothing of concern, and everything is in order. He did comment that my forearm, where the tumour had been, felt a little "woody" to the touch, but figures that this is just the effect of the radiation therapy that I had to have, and it may become less woody over time.

I mentioned the fact that my left hand does tend to go numb if I am exercising using my arm for any length of time ... telling him about my rowing experiences (see October post "one-handed rowing"). He figured that this may be because of a build up of fluid in the arm while exercising, which puts pressure on the nerves so that I lose feeling there. The build-up happens because the radiation has effected the cells to a degree (hence the woodiness) and the normal flow of fluids isn't as smooth as in other parts of my body. The numbness eases when I stop exercising that arm, as the fluid then has the chance to dissipate and all is well in the world again.

His recommendation for my rowing efforts on my 365challenge: don't row for as long in any one go on the rowing machine! Has he any idea of how far I still have to go on this part of my 365challenge? I guess I'll have to break up my efforts better, but it is going to make the rowing even harder and a greater test of my endurance. But, hey-ho, it wouldn't be a challenge if it didn't throw obstacles at me from time to time, now would it?

one-handed rowing ...

I don't know if you've noticed from my "Track my Progress" page, but while I'm keeping on with the rowing part of the challenge, I've not exactly gone all out on this rowing thing. I DO enjoy it - in small doses, and it does give you a good work out ... but I can't get too excited about it really. I originally intended to do 3.5 Km per row (1% of the total roughly), but then I upped that to 5 Km per visit - mainly because I wanted to get through it! The problem however, is that this extra distance is creating a bit of a problem - or maybe that should be being a bit of a nuisance - for me.

You see, when I had my tumour last year, it was in an unusual place (NO, not there!). It was on my left forearm, about half way between my wrist and my elbow. And it turned out to be on a part of the muscle, so ... to get it out, the surgeon had to take a strand of muscle out too. He had no idea how this would effect my arm/hand, but thankfully, there was no lasting problem - which is useful, as I'm left handed!

Well ... no lasting problem ... until you start rowing 5 Km, that is! The first 3 -3.5 Km are usually okay, but in that last 1.5 Km, at some point, my left hand starts to feel a little numb, and my grip isn't so good. I keep going, but occasionally, if you are wandering around the gym, you'll spot me taking my left hand off the bar, and rowing on with just my right hand, while I frantically shake my left hand to get the blood flowing again - which it does, by the way, and I do finish with both hands in action. But it is annoying, especially when I'm trying to beat my previous time and I have to slow my pace while I get my left hand started again!

But that's why I'm not taking on extra distances on the rowing as I have been with the cycling - I just can't see me managing to get a 10 Km row in one-handed, however much I might want to!

I bet Steve Redgrave - sorry, SIR Steve Redgrave) never had this problem ...

10 days in, and I need a holiday!

Things have been going great with the challenge, though I'd have liked to have covered a few more miles on the bike and river by now. But work has been busier again, and that's gotten in the way a little - what a pain! And now, I'm only going to bugger off and have a 10 day holiday in Ireland! What am I like?

Thing is, this will be my first break since I had my tumour removed a year ago, and believe me, I'm ready for one! I've been flat out at work since I returned on January 2nd, playing catch up a little, as I'd had 2.5 months off for the operation and follow-up radiotherapy - and when you work for yourself, having that amount of time off is not recommended. But the business is on track again, and as I said, I'm ready for a short break.

As for the challenge, I've got a good start on this, and I'll do some while I'm away too - I've found out that there is a health centre and pool near where we're staying for the middle part of the trip, so I'll get in the pool at least.

So keep checking n, I'll have updates from Ireland soon.