Checking up on everyone

Hi Mike

The prodigal son here checking in! Lock-down has been interesting.. Started with socially distancing within the house as my wife is a nurse CNS but that changed when she got to do most days from home..

I got my shielding letter but I am almost 7 years post SCT now and very stable. Have been doing jobs around house, garden and walking dogs.Even turned my hand to motor mechanics! Last couple of weeks have been to Tesco and I played golf on Monday. Had a few weekend drinks with neighbours from one side of the street to the other when we have sat in our front gardens and had a chat and some humour.

Being cautious but also looking after my mental well being and getting out which is just me and the way I function. 

I have always thrown a bit of caution to the wind albeit that when I was in regular contact with my medical team it was agreed in advance. Perhaps when you have had to spin the dice so many times you just keep spinning it!

That said it is important for everyone to follow their guidance particularly if you are in the early years. 

Perhaps just try and remember your mental health and also that of your families and carers.  If you can remain safe and get out of your house for a bit then maybe the positives outweigh the negatives. 

Anyway just my check in.. Tomorrows plan is shower screen collected at a safe distance. I have to say the trade retailer I have used for collections have really got this sorted.

Hi Guys,

I must admit I’m more in line with Paul on this issue and get out everyday. I’m coming up to 1 year post Allo but I’m also taking steroids so I’m still high risk. 
I’m sorry but the thought of locking myself away in the house is not something I am prepared to do and especially with three children it would have a negative effect on them also. We get out everyday including shopping and spent yesterday on our beautiful beach in Exmouth. I won’t lie but the main beach area was packed but we head a little further around where it’s quieter and where we can also take the dog. We keep ourselves to ourselves but other people not so much. 
From what I witnessed on the beach yesterday, the whole social distancing thing was out of the window. There were numerous large groups of people who clearly don’t share the same house. 
Only time will tell if I regret going out so much but after my experiences last year I think I’ve become a bit more care free and like Paul, perhaps keep rolling the dice. 
Regards

Mark

Hi Paul and Mark,

I think everyone is going to interpret the situation in the way that works best for them. There really is no right or wrong in all this. My medical team told me that they strongly advised me to follow the guidelines as best I could and so I have tried to follow it. I realize it is not sustainable in the long run though so we’ll have to break the shield at some point soon. There have actually been a lot of good things about us shielding together, we feel much closer as a family and I have felt a lot of love knowing that they’ve decided to make that sacrifice just to look after me. I think the crunch point though is schools going back. My daughter is in Year 6 so she is due to go back next week. My wife is a teacher so she knows that it is not really critical academically or developmentally speaking for my daughter to go back, so we probably won’t send her back in the first instance. But coming up soon is my daughter’s transition day to secondary school and we think it will be important for her to go to that, so our shield will be broken at that point. Whether I decide to shield myself in the house away from them, I am not sure. Part of me would be really annoyed having gone through the pain of two transplants just for coronavirus to get me. But I also understand that I did the transplants in order to live a life, so it is a tricky one.

Plus, when the grass roots football season starts again, there is no way I am continuing shielding! That is just too big a sacrifice!

All the best

Greg

Football, football?!....... wrong shape ball lol. I'm an egg chaser and coach a team going into u17s this season and I feel for you on that one. This last season I had to step back from being head coach and chair as going through chemo, that hurt more than the chemo. Lol. 

Hi Brew,

I grew up in a footballing town but now live in a rugby area, it’s weird how there are different pockets of the country which follows different sports. I coach the local U7s football team and my son trains with a regional academy as well, so there is realistically no chance I could stop him going when it all starts again. I am just really hoping we can kick this virus into touch (see what I did there?!) and we see some form of normality resume soon. There is evidence in the numbers that we are slowly getting things under control - let’s hope it will all soon be a distant nightmare!

All the best

Greg

Hey guys,

I agree 100% with what you’re saying Greg and I personally won’t judge anybody who wants to stay home, doesn’t feel comfortable returning to work or doesn’t want to send their children back to school yet. We’ve already had the conversations regarding school and work.
On the work front, I work for a small Electrical & Mechanical Design consultancy and work for us has completed stopped.  I was told the other day that if contracts don’t start again sometime soon we might not have a job to go back to anyway. The strange thing is I wasn’t at all bothered whereas my wife is already losing sleep. Since last year I’ve noticed that things that used to keep me awake all night no longer bother me at all. I’m not sure if I’m suffering a form of PTSD due to how ill i was last year and also seeing a number of people I met along the way, sadly lose their battles. 
On a more serious note, football can’t come back fast enough for me. I’m from Leeds originally so have supported them all my life and we are on the verge of reaching the Premier League again. After my clear scan earlier in the year we went to Leeds to see my family and friends and celebrate the good news. The boys wanted to go to a Leeds game but it’s always sold out with only members able to get tickets so my brother in law who has a season ticket spoke directly with the players  liaison officer and explained my situation regarding my illness, my battles and the all clear but that we were unable to get tickets. The club then offered us 3 seats for a game and we even ended up having a tour back of house, along the players tunnel and even walking around the pitch. We even bumped into a few players past and present and it was such a good day for all of us. To top it all off we won. 
Sometimes the hard times we go through have some benefits. 
Come on Leeds!! 
Regards

Mark

Oh no Mark, I am worried this might get really ugly....I am a big Barnsley fan having lived there until the age of 25. I think we might have very different views on whether to null and void the Championship season, lol! At least I am happy that our defenders will be fine if the season does restart, I very much doubt they will have to self-isolate if anyone gets the virus as they don’t get within 2 metres of anyone anyway!

I have a few friends who are Leeds fans - it’s hard to stick with being a Barnsley fan so a few defected! They definitely belong in the Prem so seriously I think it’s right that they get the opportunity to do that and it’s always great to get Yorkshire teams back up the football pyramid!

I hope everything works out ok with the job Mark, I feel very lucky that I can work from home and given the nature of what I do, we are still busy, but I do worry about the knock-on impact to wider business and I worry that as a shielded person I am not exactly the first pick in the job market, but like you say, I think we have a greater sense of perspective given what we’ve had to face. I have a little motto which I say to myself when I feel myself over-worrying on the small stuff “consumed by the drudge, to think that it matters.” When I was really poorly and at one point it was looking like I might not make it, it made me realize how I was focusing on all the wrong things - the motto is all about how easily we can all get sucked into the day to day and it reminds me that really all this stuff is background noise, the really important things are that I am alive, that I am loved and that I love.

All the best

Greg

Hi all,

PTSD and/or survivors guilt is sadly very common amongst you who have gone through such a lot. Psych-onc help should be readily available if you haven’t already had that. And yes, reluctance to risk such a hard-fought chance of life is totally understandable, and should be respected by all, colleagues, schools, businesses all. 

Oddly, work-wise as a freelance musician daughter was concerned. She’s continued her conservatoire teaching via zoom, but companies who need musicians for recording sessions have realised she has a home recording studio now and she’s getting busy! Plus voiceover work also has picked up. She is seriously wondering if she will still be able to fit in the conservatoire teaching in person, or whether she may be allowed to continue some lectures/lessons via zoom!  

I got a look at our planner this morning, we (hubs and I) have been self isolating now for 10 weeks, daughter for almost 11, as she could see this beginning and knew she would be at risk. So we’ve all done pretty well mentally. Ok we have all ‘escaped’ now and then more recently, we’ve a new motorhome and have had a couple of trips out, daughter knows a deserted woodland area and they have gone there a couple of times, usually just after her immunoglobulin boost. It certainly helped their pup as he was showing signs of being stir crazy! 

As a trustee of the Turing Welchman Bombe rebuild trust we are starting to look at future museum openings and how to cope. It won’t be easy as almost all our demo team (us included) are in the over 70 age group, some with pre-existing conditions, and one who actually has had Covid and is still recovering. Hubs and I feel particularly concerned, due to our lass, but also to our pre-existing conditions. I suspect we won’t be rushing back! There is talk now of Perspex screening but that’s not going to be an easy fix. 

stay safe, all, however you cope with this. 
Hugs xxx

Oh dear Greg, Barnsley .....and so ends the friendship.
Seriously though I think you’re staring down the barrel this year and it’s a shame because you can’t beat a good Yorkshire derby for a bit of extra atmosphere. 
It’s good to speak to a fellow Yorkshire man though. I lived in Leeds until I was 28 then I went travelling around the world living and working in both Australia & New Zealand for nearly a year in each. Going back to Leeds was never really an option then which is partly why I live on the coast now. I had a season ticket for years and saw us rise from the ashes to win the old 1st division before it became the Premier League so to see us do it again would be special. 
The words you write about being alive, loved and that you love I think ring true for anyone that’s been through what we have. As you are all aware I nearly lost my life last year due to the issues on my brain and pituitary gland and I honestly look at things completely different. I now use the thinking that if I can’t control it then I won’t worry about and I think so far it’s made me a more relaxed person especially at present when I know a lot of people, my friends included are struggling with it all. I only worry about the things I can change now. 
With regards to work I’m relaxed either way. I’ve 31 yrs experience at what I do and my skills and qualifications as an Electrical Engineer are transferable to other jobs within the electrical and construction industry so I’m more fortunate than others. 
Good luck for the rest of the season but I think a miracle is more what you need. 
Regards

Mark

Now now, you football folk! Agree to disagree nicely! Lol! 
hugs xxx