The LCFN landscape has changed.
Regular readers will be aware of the issues that I’ve had for the past five weeks ever since I hit the tarmac in early February. Today I was back for a second opinion because there has been no improvement in my sore thumb in 37 days since. Do your exercises and carry on they said. So I did. Decorating, shifting furniture, cycling (just shy of a thousand miles), shopping: all the things I’ve done day to day have been sore. Something hasn’t been right and I knew it.
There is no easy way to market this so I’ll just give it to you as it was given to me:
LCFN is taking a timeout.
You know what Fergie time is: the game carries on until United score. Well this is Lifecycle time: the game is suspended until such time as I’m fit to get back on the bike. It will be weeks rather than days and the major casualty of that is the Belfast to Forres cycle scheduled to start on 5th May. That will not now happen on that date. I’m not ruling out doing it at some point in the future but it cannot happen as originally planned.
I appear to have broken my right thumb. 970 miles ago.
Ironically I walked into the doctor’s surgery 30 minutes after getting off the bike in order to maximise the impact of him poking about with my thumb. That plan worked. I’m due at the hand clinic next week and we’ll see where that leads. What I’ll need to do in the meantime is unlearn a 40 year habit and stop using my right thumb on the space bar… Ouch.
But listen, it’s not all doom and gloom…
Princess Puddles is still cancer free. The reigning World Lightweight Smiling Champion, Miss Mischief herself, is fast approaching twelve months NED (no evidence of disease). It’s another small step along the road but each step that Eileidh takes is a good one right now. Long may that continue.
And there’s also good news coming from Kian’s camp where the wee champ is fighting back from his gruelling treatment. I think when Lisa says “our wee boy is doing amazing” she might be slightly underplaying it. Lisa, he’s giving it all he’s got, in his own time, and in doing so he’s just giving you more time to be a proud mum.
Going back to the timeout for a moment, you’re probably wondering how I’m gonna cope. I’ve said before in the blog that experience is a wonderful thing: it helps to keep everything in perspective. A year ago, I was eleven thousand miles back from where I am now, having just sat on my backside for nine weeks after surgery. That is a million miles away from where LCFN stands today. 1,566 miles are all that remain, and there are still two years remaining: it says so on the Flag. Yes, I thought it was going to be a bit of a skoosh rolling into the finish but is kids’ cancer an easy journey? Only in Corrie.
So it’s a short blog this week: I’m going to take time to chill, enjoy my Friday night and have a few beers. It feels like I’ve earned them but not wuite in the way that I’d intended.
Slange Var!
Ride2Cure Neuroblastoma 