Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Giant Maiden Voyage

The Date: 5 December 2011

The occasion: Test ride on the newly built Giant:

Verdict: The stem is too long and I will put a shorter stem on, but otherwise everything seem to be perfect.


Hassles After The Fact

My Pajero was recently liberated of it's radio, just a symptom of the type of person roaming the streets in this beautiful country of ours... So I got a case number from the police (all they are good for lately) and put in a claim with the insurance. They sent me to Gearlock City for the replacement and then the shit started. These guys are really not up to scratch. They had me waiting 2 hours yesterday with an initial promise that they will sort it out within an hour or so. Then I asked them to sort out what they need to sort out and let me know when I must bring the car back. So this morning early they said they are ready for me and it will be quick. I drove all the way there, parked the Pajero in their workshop and waited. After an hour they told me they have a problem. There is damage to the console and that will need to be replaced. This I told and showed them yesterday already. So I have now spent 2 trips into town and back (30 minutes one way - 2 hours), 3 hours of sitting on my hind quarters playing hangman on my BlackBerry and I am exactly where I was yesterday morning early. Their level of service does not excite me at all.

In the mean time I am riding a bit, and yesterday afternoon I thought I would try and get a weekly jogging session going in my training program. I eventually managed all of 800 meters in 6 minutes. So this is something I can hugely improve on. My shoulder still hurts like crazy and the medicine does not really do anything.

I have worked on the alarm system and in between all that I am also doing some garden paving. The office work seem to be drawing to close for the holidays, so I am chased outside to get these chores done.
5 of the 7 rows are in place. Now for some green stuff inbetween.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Stil the shoulder hurts

Pain is something that one cannot just ignore, no matter how hard you try. On Monday night I just could not sleep. The shoulder was hurting really badly. I eventually scratched in the medicine drawer and came across the last tramacet tablet and a single panado tablet. I popped these two and by 01:00 I started feeling drowsy and I could feel the pain ease a little bit.
Tuesday morning I made an appointment with our local GP and by 14:30 I was sitting in his consultation room telling him the shoulder saga as it unfolded in July. He also prodded and pressed, bent my arm every possible and impossible way and even made me do some stuff the Orthopedic guys did not think of. None of it hurt. So eventually he asked me: "What do you think is wrong and how should we treat it?" That is why I went to him. To get this exact question answered...
So we also went the cortisone injection, tramacet, lyrika route and will now wait and see. Now it is Friday and although I sleep fairly well after I do the tramacet thing, the shoulder is not really any better yet. At times when I sit in a very hunched position it feels as if the pain goes away, and it hurts most while I an upright like walking or standing.
I have ridden on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday and while in the riding position the shoulder is also not too bad. I think it must have something to do with the tumors in my abdomen and the irritation that it might cause on the diaphragm.
I would like to go for a ride this afternoon, but it has eventually started raining and it does look very wet outside. So I might have to do the indoor spinning thing...
Too muddy for training, nice weather for red wine and pizza and...

Sunday, December 4, 2011

That shoulder again

Shortly after starting chemo I developed a sore shoulder. Nobody could shed any light on the cause, but it eventually went away. If the injection I had had anything to do with it then maybe I should go for another injection.

Since Thursday I started developing the same shoulder pain and I was hoping it would go away, but last night (Sunday) it kept me awake for the best part of the night and waking up this morning it was really sore. The good thing about keeping a blog is that I could read back and see what actually happened. It seem that the shoulder eventually just got better and then the pain went away. So my strategy for now is to try and ignore the shoulder and carry on regardless.

My job for the next few days will be to expand the alarm system. This will keep me out of mischief and maybe some physical work will either heal or kill the shoulder.

On Saturday me and The Pretty One and her Mother In Law went for a short ride (18km) and even the 70+ Granny left me behind on the only little hill of the day...