A little while ago, I decided that I needed to do something to mark the anniversary (thereabouts) of the delightful diagnosis and surgery. So, I set my sights on returning to one of my favourite places, Snowdonia.
I had last been up the mountain around 6 years ago, before our move to the Middle East. My younger son was due to have his A-Level results on 16 August and I wanted to come back for those if at all possible. I spoke to my son in the morning and got the great news that he had got the grades for Loughborough University and by 3pm Doha time, I was on a plane. Getting out of Qatar is never entirely straightforward, but as we had an Eid holiday it was an ideal opportunity to make the trip. Sharon flew in from Dubai on the Saturday after I had arrived on Thursday 16th August.
Managed to get myself a fixed penalty parking fine for overstaying my welcome in the Lidl car park whilst in the rather splendid Holt & Haskell cricket shop in Southampton; getting my son kitted out for his new adventure at Loughborough. So what we saved in reductions on the cricket gear was swallowed up into Lidl's coffers. Doh!
We duly drove up to Snowdon on Monday 20 September. Oh, to see trees and hills again! I hadn't used the Sherpa bus service before, but rather conveniently it stopped pretty much outside the B&B where we were staying on the main road through Betws-y-Coed. Utterly brilliant B&B (Dolweunydd) run by a top chap, Paul, who produced a cracking breakfast for us before we headed off. Inevitably for August, the weather was not exactly brilliant. All the talk of "Ooh it might be a bit hot, what with the heatwave and all," was shown to be typically British weather-related lunacy. Of course it was grey, drizzling and cold on the mountain!
I had forgotten that some of the early stages of the trek up the Pyg Track are quite hard work. I remember saying to Sharon words to the effect of, "Blimey, I don;t remember it being this tough!" That was actually more polite than the actual words, but you get the gist...and it became a regular comment for the next couple of hours. It was windy in parts, and although I had decent gear, I hadn't brought gloves. Not sure if it is remotely connected to the chemo, but my hands started to suffer somewhat from the cold. My right hand was in the firing line for most of the cold blasts as we were on the more exposed areas of the track. We passed one lady who was literally frozen with fear, crying as her husband tried to cajole her along the way. The weather was getting worse and I did start to realise the enormity of what I was undertaking. Nah, a walk in the park really..! hahaha.
My biggest concern had been the effects of my dry mouth. This troubled me because I thought I would need to be drinking constantly. Bizarrely enough I think I only needed a total of about 1 litre of fluid on teh way to teh summit. The SIS electrolyte drink was utterly brilliant! A few Percy Pigs from M&S also did wonders. On a couple of occasions I felt a bit light-headed and needed to sit down for a minute or so. After all this was the most strenuous activity I had undertaken since I was diagnosed in August 2017. Cramp set in to my quads about 50m from the top. Seriously! I looked up to the heavens and said, "Really?!?!?!" It passed and we reached the summit in just over 2 hours. I have done it before in excellent weather, running up some sections in about 1hr 40 (if i recall correctly) but this was a great and emotional moment. As we stood in the summit cafe shivering somewhat from the cold and wet, I reflected on what an achievement this really was. I mean, blimey, just under a year ago I had been having my neck cut open a couple of times, loads of lymph nodes removed, bilateral tonsillectomy etc...then chemo and radio until the end of November. On top of Snowdon I was just under 9 months post treatment. I felt a bit tearful, just for a moment.
We came down via the Llanberis path as there was something of a guarantee of better weather. Altogether a brilliant day...rounded off with fish and chips and a beer in Betws-y-Coed. Bizarrely no leg aches the following day or on the dreaded "day after the day after".
So, when anyone asks about life after cancer. Hell yes! This is life! Grab it with both hands and keep setting yourself new goals. Every achievement is just that - an achievement. No matter how big or small. It is all about what you can do. At the risk of using a well-worn expression, as Professor Hawking, the embodiment of grit and determination said, "“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.”
Amen to that.
J.
