Just another day....

[molemot]

A bit of an update. Firstly, the boring cancer stuff. Since I developed haematuria and started peeing claret (I wish) and associated tadpoles (blood clots) it has come and gone...very much a variable, if not moveable, feast. Prof. Dearnaley, the head honcho urological oncologist at the Marsden, has decided I should have a "thorough re-appraisal"..I think the fact that I appear to be the World's Most Irradiated Man (according to Prof. D!) has given them a vested interest in my case. Thus I have had a flexible cystoscopy and seen the inside of my own bladder, had my kidneys scanned ultrasonically and pronounced serviceable...just had another bone scan and CT scan...results of the whole lot next Monday. I didn't like the look of the bone scan, it's obvious that something is getting at the joints...hips, knees, ankles..but this could very well be arthritis as I'm 63, weigh as much as a small elephant, and am still charging about like a maddened water buffalo. (A friend of mine in the Hong Kong Police shot one of those about a million years ago!) Anyway, I'll get the expert's opinion on Monday next. Then Mr. Dick has promised me a trans urethral resection of the prostate...they've decided they want some tissue samples, and could either do another biopsy (thats where they stick a Green Line bus up one's sphincter..and then it bites!! Twelve times...) or go the whole hog with an epidural and carve bits off the Douglas prostate..this will give them lots of tiss ue to analyse for virulent tumours, enable them to cut away the dodgy veins that are bleeding, and open up the urethra a bit where it's narrowed somewhat. This joyous occasion will be on the 29th September, followed by two days with a catheter and irrigation of the bladder until it stops bleeding from the hackery quackery. I must remember to take plenty of books....!! Since I feel perfectly well apart from a bit of joint pain - which I've had for so long it's part of me - I can't really see that much can be amiss...then again, I may be riddled with metastases and be on the brink of pegging out!!

The Lotus has just had her annual MOT...and, as usual, once again things have been less than smooth. Sharkskin doesn't cover it....Ever since 2006, I've been running her over to my place in France after the MOT. In 2006, the cambelt slipped and the engine destroyed all the inlet valves....rebuilt that over the winter 06/07...2007, on the peripherique, I was biffed up the rear by the French equivalent of White Van Man, giving rise to an insurance claim and some truly dreadful paintwork done by a Lotus approved paintshop at the cost, to the insurers, of some

Edited September 17, 2009 by molemot

[cbclotus]

Hi Molemot .Hope all goes well for you .Take care Mike

[mayevora]

so I blew it, hard..got a nosebleed...so I'm dribbling radioactive snot and blood all over the top of the motor.......

Well, Lotus don't paint those Engine rocker covers red for nothing John!

Hope you and the car get sorted.

[USAndretti42]

If only the human body were as easy as an Esprit to diagnose and fix.

Those large blood clots feel strange when they pass don't they? The bone scan, was that the one were they inject you with a radioactive substance (just what you need) and then send you away for a couple of hours to drink a gallon of water before coming back to go in a scanner that picks up any residual radioactivity? With the radiotherapy you have had, I would guess that all of you lit up.

Glad to read that, after all your efforts, the Lotus is running well.

Good luck.

[Rick Edwards]

inspiring on so many levels!

good luck matey.

[molemot]

Well....to start with, my camcovers are crackle black..or, at least, they WERE!! Yes, Trevor, we went through the radiactive injection stuff...they tried to insert a cannula, but the nurse couldn't find a good vein...so I ended up with my left hand featuring several Band Aids and a gauze dressing where the radioactive injection went in..and a yellow wrist band to show I had to avoid small children and pregnant women due to being an active emitter! THEN the CT people started on the right hand, and managed to get a cannula into a vein...then they strapped the whole caboodle together with lots of gauze bandage, so I ended up looking like Victor Carroon from the Quatermass Experiment, whilst he was changing into a cactus....

Having the beastie spew the coolant over the Kingston bypass after that lot felt a bit like being the butt of a cosmic joke. But...one soldiers on; my left inner wrist now resembles that of Kwai Chang Caine (Oohh...Grasshopper!) from the TV series Kung Fu...where he had to lift the red hot cauldron thingy and thus branded himself. Those camwheels are SHARP...and jolly hot, too. The worst bit was having to do it all again to make sure everything was tight!! No nasty infections, so far. The motor itself seems to be going nicely, and the next thing is to change the oil to proper Castrol Edge 10/60 and a new filter..must be run in after 2000 miles on quality 20/50!! What a glorious motor car it is..even had a thumbs up from one of the motards hacking around the peripherique in Paris!!

I'm also looking into the possibility of getting some silicon hoses made up with a bit of a dent in them to avoid the 'orrid cambelt cutting into them. Will advise once I have any concrete info...I, for one, am fed up with the original design!!

Edited September 18, 2009 by molemot