Weekend away to Queensland...... finally

Last February I had flights booked to Queensland to celebrate our Chris (Stewey) and Tammy's engagement party. It was going to be a great weekend away with friends. We had the engagement party planned as well as a trip to one of the theme parks.

Unfortunately a few weeks before we were scheduled to depart I got the call that I was booked in for my reversal & splenectomy. At that time I had mixed feelings, although it would have been great to go to Queensland my reversal was something I had been waiting for a while. In hindsight with the complications, Queensland would have been soooo much better.

About a month ago, the opportunity came up again to go to Queensland to surprise our mate for his 28th Birthday. At that time I was starting to get overwhelmed with work so I was definitely keen for a break even for a weekend. Gemma helped organise all our flights and Tammy helped organise accommodation on the Gold Coast and kept it a secret from him.

On Thursday 12th September we flew out in style..... well Tiger Airways style headed to "BrisVegas". Once arriving at the airport Tammy picked us up and drove us to her parents place.

On the way we had to come up with ideas on how we could surprise him, I came up with some good ones but apparently no one thought to bring a bear costume. Instead we settled for us hiding in the laundry whilst we waited for Stewey to be a good fiancée and get Tammy a wine from the fridge.

Once at Tammy's parents place we all piled into the laundry which was attached to the kitchen. Tammy then went upstairs, crashed on the couch and told Stewey she needed a wine. Slowly Stewey went downstairs and into the kitchen, from our hiding spot in the laundry we could hear him speaking but we were unsure if he was going to come into laundry.

As we were contemplating jumping out, the door handle turned and the door started opening......... SURPRISE!!!!!! we yelled at him. Stewey who was obviously shocked jumped back then realised it was us. As he told us later you don't ever expect to find people hiding in your laundry. We were pretty proud of ourselves that it was so successful.

That night we had dinner and a few drinks before a relative early night ready for Dreamworld in the morning.

MCG Stadium Stomp

Anzac Day 2013 (Thursday 25th April) we jumped on a plane bound all the way from Melbourne to the sunny state of Tasmania. The occasion? To celebrate my brothers last weekend as a single man since he was getting married the following week.

This post isn't about the Tassie trip because we all know the rules.... what happens on a boys trip stays on the boys trip :-)

On the plane over I was reading the Herald Sun and saw an advertisement for something called the "MCG Stadium Stomp", although there wasn't a lot of information it seemed like a "fun" run up and down the MCG. Knowing that I needed a challenge to train for, I instantly asked Andrew, David and Jamie if they wanted to do it. Andrew was the only one who was interested, it was going to be done..... well if we remembered about it after  the massive weekend.

The Tassie weekend went by and then Andrew and Gemma's wedding finished. Somehow a few weeks after  that, on the 25th May both Andrew and myself signed up for the full course. The full course included a whopping "Seven Thousand Three Hundered and Forty Three Steps" (aka 7,343 but writing it makes it sound so much bigger).

Signing up is obviously the easy part, training... well that's the hard part. My plan of attack was to do as many stairs as I could leading up to the event. I'm no expert coach but I figured this would be the best way to train for a stair climb.

1,000 Steps at night

My training ground was going to be the 1,000 steps in the Dandenongs. Conveniently located within 30 minutes from work and just around the corner from my brother and parents. Although it's called the 1,000 steps I believe it's roughly 800 steps up the mountain. My goal was to be able to do this 4 times in a row just before the event (which is then roughly 6,400 steps done).

So once every weeknight and then on weekends I ventured over to the steps. Winter obviously is the worst time to train because it's cold, dark and did I mention cold? The first 15 minutes was always a struggle but by the time you reached the stairs (which is a 1km walk from the car) I was usually pretty warm.

Doing it in the dark was an experience, it's just you, the steps, occasionally possums and your weird imagination. Usually as I got tired my mind started wandering. One night I heard dogs barking and then I became paranoid that a fox was going to jump out and bite me. Please don't think about this with any common sense, yes foxes are scared of humans and probably wouldn't do that, I was tired and not thinking straight. Luckily the Walking Dead season had finished so imaginations of Zombies popping in my head didn't occur.

By the last week before the stadium stomp (Queen's Birthday weekend) I managed to do the steps 4 times with 4kg in a backpack. I was pretty certain I was ready, ready for what I wasn't quite sure. Below is my tracking of that day


Finally Sunday 16th of June arrived.... interestingly exactly a year since I was first released from hospital, way to celebrate. I arrived at Andrew's nice and early and we made our way into the "G" ready for our 10:30 start.

The outside of the MCG

For anyone that doesn't know what the MCG is, Paulipedia** describes it as a "Stadium on steroids". Effectively it's a stadium with a capacity of 100,018 people, it's huge.
** Paulipedia may or may not be an actual source

We picked up our race kit from outside the stadium and ventured inside to see what we had signed up for. Since we were 30 minutes early we got to see people who had started before us. It really sinks in how big the MCG is when you realise you are going to be running all over it.

Soon after it was nearly our time to start so we took off our jackets and dropped our bags at the baggage check. We then queued up in a massive line ready for the 10:30 wave of runners.

Before going into the event I had a goal of completing it under an hour. My rough logic was if I could do 1,800 steps every 15 minutes I was roughly there. What I didn't anticipate was the amount of running that was also involved.

After a short wait and after familiarising ourselves with the rules.... No running down the stairs, no overtaking people going down, hit every step on the way down and no music...... we were ready.

Below is the course map:

At the front of the queue they were sending off people in waves of 30 seconds. In my group there was Andrew, some random stranger and myself. Suddenly we were running, the start involved running around just over a quarter of the MCG before you finally hit your first step. Soon enough we hit our first step and ran into our first obstacle.... a runner from the previous group. Obviously following the instructions we painfully followed that runner down the first set of stairs and after 30 seconds before we could finally sprint past him when we started going up the stairs.

The task ahead of us

Andrew soon managed to get away from me.... well roughly in the first minute. So I was pretty certain I wasn't going to catch him very quickly but at least I had motivation to not let him beat me by too much.

For the next 20 or so minutes we sprinted up the stairs and slightly jogged down the stairs on the lower level of the MCG. This was a fairly easy process but did start to get frustrating not being able to overtake someone going down. Mainly because the stairs on the bottom level are massive, I understand level 4 is more of a risk but serious no overtaking on the bottom level?

After completing a full circle of the MCG we had to run up the internal stair cases to level 4. I was pretty puffed from the internal stairs but I bolted out on level 4 and started sprinting up the stairs. Level 4 steps are hard work, not only are they steeper but there is a lot more of them. I usually found that I could sprint up 3/4 of the steps then for the quarter I struggled up like an old man.

On the way down I didn't mind being stuck behind people as much as it gave me a chance to catch my breath before I tried to overtake them on the way up. At one point one of the staff informed us that we were half way through the course, I looked at my watch and it read 28 minutes. I felt pretty good at that stage, interestingly speaking to Andrew later he told me he doesn't often have violent thoughts but when she told him he was half way he wanted to throw her off the railing.

I just kept going along, not paying too much attention to how much time was left in the course. At one point and I looked up to see Andrew not really that far away from me. Typically we always had about 2 bays between us but at this stage it was less than a bay. Nothing like a bit of brotherly competition to inspire you through the pain.

Unfortunately for me Andrew is also quite competitive so when he saw me he put on the boosters and increased the distance. Eventually I turned a corner and the staff member informed me that this was the last "up" part, I looked at my watch and it read 53 minutes. I was pumped, I may actually reach  the goal of under an hour.

I sprinted up the last steps and then bolted down the internal stairs to the lower level. From there I got stuck behind a few people running down the last stairs but when I hit the MCG turf all I had left was to run around half the ground. Somehow even after 7,343 steps I still found the energy to sprint that last distance. Finally crossing the finish line with a total time of 56:40.

Andrew was waiting at the finishing line after narrowly missing defeat by getting a time of 55:45. Both our legs were like jelly after that and they wouldn't stop shaking. After picking up some free food, a drink and a drink bottle we headed into the city for a well deserved lunch.

After the climb enjoying my free banana

1 year later

Saturday the 9th March 2013 marked the 1 year mark since I walked out of our Singapore office to see a doctor because I felt sick. Looking back then I had no idea of the challenges that laid ahead of me.

So how are things 1 year on? Well at least we are quite a bit more optimistic that I won't die anytime soon but there is still a fair bit of treatment to go.

1. 8 months until we attempt the reversal again
2. Another bone marrow biopsy to ensure the cancer isn't increasing (25% left as of November 2012)
3. Depending on the bone marrow results more cancer treatment (hopefully not needed anytime soon)
4. Gain my fitness back from the last surgery (until I lose it again after the next surgery)

I'm pretty certain 2013 is going to be a long year. I remember being told by family and colleagues that as you grow older the years get quicker. I probably would have agreed before moving to Singapore but I feel now the years get quicker when you do the same thing year after year.

2011 for me was a long year and for good reasons. I met lots of amazing people and made lasting friendships, I travelled to lots of new countries and tried lots of new things. 2012 on the other hand also was a long year but for mainly bad reasons (although some good things did happen in 2012).

What did March 2012 to March 2013 entail

The Bad:
1. Getting diagnosed with Hairy Cell Leukemia
2. Spending 4.5 months in hosptial
3. Losing 25kg
4. Having half my large bowel removed
5. Infections, Infections, Infections and more Infections
6. Having to leave Singapore
7. Being cut open 3 times
8. Learning the reversal failed and I have to wait 8 more months
9. Losing my voice and living with the fact that it will probably never come back fully (there goes my dreams to become the next Australian idol..... that and the fact I could never sing..... minor details)

The Good:
1. Seeing Sydney Swans win the Grand Final
2. Mark and Erin's wedding
3. Running 5km in the Colour Run
4. Meeting lots of new people, although the majority are medical professionals its always good to meet new people
5. 16km hike from the 1,000 steps to Sky High

Heres hoping when I do a post in a years time that the "Good" list is longer than the "Bad" list. 

CT Scan and Second Surgery

Saturday morning I had a surgeon visited who had requested an emergency CT scan. They weren't happy with the pain I had that morning and wanted to see what was going inside my body.

After a quick scan the surgeon came and visited me and gave me the bad news. From the scan they could see fluid and liquid buildup inside my body but they were unsure to where it was coming from. He told me it could be a leak but I would have to be cut back open for them to have a look.

At 1pm that day they had assembled their surgical team from their weekend (Peter Mac is amazing) and I was wheeled to the theatre. This time I was given an epidural which numbed my abdomen since I was still in a bit of pain. I found it numbed certain areas of the abdomen but didn't provide full coverage. Shortly after I was put asleep again and cut back open.

I woke up in theater again and my first reaction was to check to see if I had a stoma again. I slowly patted my stomach and then felt that telltale plastic Ostomy bag feel. My world span, I knew it was back.

I spoke to my surgeon shortly after who explained there was a leak between the small and large bowel that they couldn't seal. He decided to give me another illeostomy for at least 6 - 8 months before we try the reversal again.

Life's a bitch.

Waiting for stuff to pass

After ICU I was transferred to Ward 3 for recovery. Recovery involved trying to eat, which was difficult because I was bloated from surgery and trying to walk around, which is difficult after being cut open.

Apart from that the big moment we were all waiting for was any bodily movements to pass through. Tuesday came and went, Wednesday came and went, Thursday came and went..... nothing. My surgeons assured me it would happen, I would at least pass wind or something very shortly. Physically I was feeling pretty good, I was up and walking around the ward I was just bloated which meant I had no appetite.

Then Friday came and went with no movement. At about 2am Saturday morning I was suddenly in excruciating pain. My nurse asked me to rate it out of 10 and I gave it a 7 (my pain all week had been a 1 or 2). After the doctor examined me by pushing on my stomach the pain shot up to a 9 (I'll never rate pain a 10 just incase there is a worse pain). 2 morphine jabs later and some Oxycodone my pain was still about an 8..... not good.

Unfortunately at that time of the morning there was nothing that could be done. I endured about 6 hours of intense pain before it finally left. 

Reversal

Finally my reversal date had arrived, Monday 11th February. I was to be rid of the pouch for once and for all. My surgeons advised I was to spend 12 days in hospital after surgery since as well as the reversal I was also having a splenectomy (Spleen taken out) and a hernia repaired. 

Monday morning arrived and we were in Peter Mac bright and early at 7am. Literally after 30 minutes of forms and getting changed I was walking down to theatre ready for the surgery. I love not having to wait in a waiting room for an operation. 

I was wheeled into the operating theatre where they prepped me for surgery. I spoke to my anesthetist who asked me if I had an epidural or a mophine button last operation. I told him I was pretty out of it but definitely had the morphine but not an epidural. Last time the morphine made me feel a bit sick so he said we would try a different drug that may give me hallucinations.... sounds good to me I replied. 

As I was about to be put under I realised that the lights above me looked like a laser I recently had seen in a James Bond movie. Perfect.... I then told my anesthetist that I was pretty certain that my hallucinations would be him playing an evil character and me playing James Bond. To his credit he then put on a Dr. Evil voice and told me "It's now time to go to sleep Mr. Bond". 

I woke up after the operation in the theatre, my surgeon visited and was pretty happy things were successful. After that I was taken to ICU for a day, before a bed would be ready on ward 3. I spent the rest of the day and night in ICU in and out of sleep waiting for the effects of the drugs to wear off. Luckily I wasn't in to much pain so the pain relief must have been working. 

After the first day in ICU they attempted to get me out of bed. I managed to sit up but felt extremely light headed. I then sat on a chair they provided and nearly passed out, a few minutes later I was alright to sit out of bed for about an hour..... before my head started nodding trying to go to sleep.