Showing posts with label My Birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Birthday. Show all posts

Sunday, January 27, 2008

"Birthday Boys & Girls"

My card from Jac.


And both boy and girl are thirty seven years old this week (23rd to be exact @ 01:13 am (Nicola @ 01:20am). Myself and my twin Nicola (Happy Birthday Nic-Nic:) in fact. Although, we didn't actually see each other on the day. Nicola, her hubby Lee (my best friend) and my Dad went to see the Tutankhamen exhibition in the old Millennium Dome building. My Dad Loves all things Egyptian. That is where my surname came from all those years ago don't you know? Tolmie/Ptolemy.

Anyway, I spent the afternoon of my thirty seventh birthday up at the Royal Free Hospital collecting three months worth of HIV drugs and while I was up there I had them take a blood sample because it has been twelve months since I finished my Hep C treatment and six months since I had my SVR, which was all clear by the way. I just want to see if it is all gone still, if you know what I mean. The results will be ready in a week or two. I'll be sure to post the results here as soon as I get them.

Then later on, My Mum made a very tasty turkey dinner at my request and Tania was there too with her two kids Millie & Daisy. Then on my way home I popped in to see Jac . She is taking me out on Sunday night to a restaurant in Betchworth, right near to where they filmed a bunch of Blakes 7 & Dr Who episodes back in the late seventies/early eighties. I Love my birthday...and all my Lovely cards. The picture at the top of this post is Jac's card.

The day before my Birthday I visited my Dad, who lives just around the corner and we played, as we always do when I 'pop' round, Tiger Woods golf on his PS2. He beat me, which is very unusual! But I did get two eagles in a row, which was nice. And we also watched an episode of "Worlds Most Amazing Videos" half of which is footage of American cops chasing American baddies in high speed pursuits and the other half of yet more baddies demanding cash from various petrol stations and convenience stores, mostly at gun point, some knives and even a man dressed as Darth Vader wielding a wooden stick in place of a light sabre! He eventually got away with nothing, as the owner of the store fought him off with nothing more than a mop!

My twin Nicola and I were very kindly taken out for some yummy Chinese food on Friday evening. Nicola's husband Lee took us to a local restaurant. It has a ceiling that if you look up, it looks like you're looking into space...sort of. Thousands of tiny stars, twinkling just like real ones. I think I was a little quiet during the evening, because earlier when I was cycling in Richmond Park alone, My path crossed with a fellow mountain biker (or should that be fellowette?) and a few words were exchanged, like Wow!, isn't it windy and the like. Then, because I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, I sped off! Although I really didn't want to at all! I wanted to chat a bit and see what we had in common and find out where else she rides etc...but I went! And as soon as I did, I felt totally and utterly deflated and miserable! And I kind of felt that way for the rest of the day! I just couldn't get the chance meeting out of my head. I just know that I will be looking for her the same time next week. Am I a weirdo or what? Why did I feel like that?

My Mum said that when I was born back in January 1971, it was cold, wet and miserable weather! This week has been quite nice, with sunny spells and a temperature that is above average. I wish it was snowing though. I Love the fact that I was born at 01:13 in the morning. I'd have hated it if I had been born at two in the afternoon or something like that! How boring would that have been? I'm pretty sure that this is the reason that I Love the night time so much...especially between the hours of midnight and 02:00. The thought of knowing that most of everyone else in the area is either asleep or trying to get to sleep, while I am awake, makes me feel all nice and warm inside.

While I was at my mums yesterday night I had a few questions for her that I had written down on a small piece of paper. They were questions about my birth and as soon as I began asking her the questions she asked if I was worried that she might die soon! Of course not, I said. I just want them for my Birthday blog. She'll be sixty five in March. She's not gonna die yet!!
Anyway, this is what I found out; I was born at one thirteen on the Saturday morning of January the twenty third in nineteen seventy one, along with my twin Nicola who was born a whole seven minutes later at one twenty in the morning. My mum wasn't expecting twins and the nurses had no idea that there were two of us in that big belly of my mums! In those days my mum was over weight. They would have know that she had twins if the machine that detects things like that wasn't actually broken. So when she went into labour at about 19:30pm on the Friday night of the 22nd January they were only expecting one. So when 01:13 came along, a whole five and three quarter hours later out I popped. I was fat, round and bald, weighing in at a healthy 8.8lbs. And when I was born a little black nurse came over to push the afterbirth out and soon realized that it was in fact another baby. She was so small that she had to stand on a box to reach my mums bed!
Then came Nicola. Seven minutes later and skinny, scrawny with a head covered in tiny little veins like a newly hatched bird. She weighed in at 7.4lbs. Our combined weights are 15.12lbs. Add them up and what do you get? Yay!!
I also asked where our names came from. I was almost a Nicholas at one point. Nicola & Nicholas. Nicholas after my mums Sisters boy. He died when he was just 16 when he was hit by a car whilst out on his motorbike! The car wheels crushed his chest and he died instantly! Instead I was named after a TV cowboy called Jason, which was popular at the time I was born...or the actor that played him was called Jason. Either way, they liked it enough to name me after him. My middle name was just something they both liked. Nicola was probably named after Nicholas. My mum wasn't too sure. Her middle name "Kerry" was basically taken from Kerrygold butter. Interesting!

So, on to the end of the week of my thirty seventh birthday. On Thursday evening I went kayaking as usual, over at Ealing pool. Still got my rolls going. Then on Sunday (tonight), Jac took me to a restaurant called "Arkle Manor" in Betchworth. Very Lovely place indeed. We were both stuffed to the brim with yummy food. I was glad to have gotten in a 21 miles bike ride that afternoon in a very bust Richmond Park! I filmed Jac for ten minutes just eating chocolate ice cream and waffling on about god knows what (no doubt offensive;). I have threatened to post it onto my Youtube;)
On our way out of the restaurant and back to the car, I was sure that I could see "The Liberator" and it's crew suspended in amongst the billion and one twinkling stars that perfectly punctured the cloudless, icy black night sky! I wish I was with them! Teleport NOW!!!

Thank you everyone for such a Lovely week and for all the wonderful cards and birthday wishes:)


Jason








(C) JPT 2008.........

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

-016020-

A pot of gold or a heap of shit...


That's it.......all done. They have my blood......most of it..... and all I can do is wait for them to phone me in a week or so to tell me the news. And yes, they will be telling me the results over the phone. I have done my bit (nearly;) Just sit back I suppose and do what I have been doing....cycling, Blogging......thats it really....& enjoying the freezing cold weather that has embarked on England just now. I have been waiting for the cold and it seems it is here......big time!
My trip into the RFH was as stinky and unbreathable as it usually is. It was made worse so since my normal route in was unavailable to me due to "points failure" at Acton. I was forced to jump back on the fast train into Waterloo and get the Northern Line into Belsize Park underground station, which is right by the hospital. But at least I got a different batch of graffiti to look at instaed of the boring shit that lines the Silverlink train line. My new route yesterday takes twice as long too and don't my ankles know it!
I won't bore you with too much of my boring day but to summarize......My Doctors are very pleased with me for finishing and for managing it all so well. They took a shit load of blood, weighed me and told me that I was done and to piss-off!
Only joking;) But before I went I did ask for (& got) print outs of all of my past blood results during the whole of my tx and my weight for each visit too. What I have done is copy them all out (important ones that is) below so you can see my levels etc. They make absolutely no sense to me at all.....just numbers! They were pleased with yesterdays results (as usual) I might add. But someone might be interested to see them?
I am still not done with tx though. Remember the two extra Interferon shots? But none of that matters really. The main thing is I have done my 48wks of tx and now I wait...

***Please skip to the bottom for normalcy;)***

Pre-Treatment Bloods (18th Oct 05)

Haemoglobin: 15.7
White Blood Cells: 3.15
Neutrophils: 1.70
Platelets: 108
ALT: 182
Bilirubin: 9

February Bloods....first day of tx (23rd Feb 06) Weight: 78.3kg

Haemoglobin: 17.1
White Blood Cells: 3.47
Neutrophils: 1.69
Platelets: 122
ALT: n/a
Bilirubin: n/a

March Bloods#1 (10th Mar 06) Weight: 77.3kg

Haemoglobin: 13.3
White Blood Cells: 2.10
Neutrophils: 1.12
Platelets: 96
ALT: 82
Bilirubin: 29

March Bloods#2 (24th Mar 06) Weight: 77.7kg

Haemoglobin: 12.9
White Blood Cells: 1.60
Neutrophils: 0.77
Platelets: 84
ALT: 73
Bilirubin: 24

April Bloods#1 (7th Apr 06) Weight: 77.6kg

Haemoglobin: 12.0
White Blood Cells: 1.26
Neutrophils: 0.74
Platelets: 80
ALT: 60
Bilirubin: 25

April Bloods#2 (21st Apr 06) Weight: 77.7

Haemoglobin: 11.7
White Blood Cells: 2.12
Neutrophils: 1.35
Platelets: 97
ALT: 52
Bilirubin: 20

May Bloods#1 (3rd May 06) Weight: 77.6kg

Haemoglobin: 12.7
White Blood Cells: 2.53
Neutrophils: 1.23
Platelets: 108
ALT: 46
Bilirubin: 22

May Bloods#2 (19th May 06) Weight: 77.5kg

Haemoglobin: 12.0
White Blood Cells: 1.75
Neutrophils: 0.90
Platelets: 113
ALT: 25
Bilirubin: 21

June Bloods#1 (2nd Jun 06) Weight: 77.3kg

Haemoglobin: 11.9
White Blood Cells: 2.07
Neutrophils: 1.02
Platelets: 99
ALT: 23
Bilirubin: 18

June Bloods#2 (Jun 16th 06) Weight: 74.4kg

Haemoglobin: 11.7
White Blood Cells: 2.15
Neutrophils: 1.18
Platelets: 129
ALT: 21
Bilirubin: 24

July Bloods#1 (1st Jul 06) Weight: 74.5kg

Haemoglobin: 11.2
White Blood Cells: 2.09
Neutrophils: 0.89
Platelets: 91
ALT: 20
Bilirubin: 21

July Bloods#2 (24th Jul 06) Weight: 73.4kg

Haemoglobin: 11.8
White Blood Cells: 2.61
Neutrophils: 1.58
Platelets: 111
ALT: 19
Bilirubin: 16

August Bloods (18th Aug 06) Weight: 73.5kg

Haemoglobin: 11.8
White Blood Cells: 2.85
Neutrophils: 1.70
Platelets: 135
ALT: 18
Bilirubin: 24

September Bloods (15th Sep 06) Weight: 73.9kg

Haemoglobin: 12.1
White Blood Cells: 3.40
Neutrophils: 2.15
Platelets: 124
ALT: 22
Bilirubin: 25

October Bloods#1 (2nd Oct 06) Weight: 73.0kg

Haemoglobin: 11.2
White Blood Cells: 2.49
Neutrophils: 1.24
Platelets: 142
ALT: 20
Bilirubin: 20

October Bloods#2 (13th Oct 06) Weight: 72.3kg

Haemoglobin: 11.9
White Blood Cells: 4.06
Neutrophils: 3.07
Platelets: 175
ALT: 21
Bilirubin: 19

November Bloods#1 (1st Nov 06) Weight: 73.0kg

Haemoglobin: 12.6
White Blood Cells: 3.19
Neutrophils: 2.04
Platelets: 125
ALT: 18
Bilirubin: 22

November Bloods#2 (13th Nov 06) Weight: 70.9kg

Haemoglobin: 12.4
White Blood Cells: 3.03
Neutrophils: 1.74
Platelets: 146
ALT: 20
Bilirubin: 18

December Bloods (14th Dec 06) Weight: 71.2kg

Haemoglobin: 12.5
White Blood Cells: 2.74
Neutrophils: n/a
Platelets: 123
ALT: 21
Bilirubin: 17

January Bloods (22nd Jan 07) My 48th shot was taken on 18th Jan. Weight: 71.3kg

Haemoglobin: 12.1
White Blood Cells: 2.70
Neutrophils: 1.42
Platelets: 144
ALT: 20
Bilirubin: 16


Ok......you can wake up now. Exactly.....but these figures mean quite a lot to me. They mean that I have had the best chance possible whilst administering my Interferon/Ribavirin during the last 48wks. I was on the maximum dose of Interferon and the maximum dose of Ribavirin, with no dosage reductions with either during the whole time. I stand a pretty good chance I reckon of killing this virus once and for all.
As you can see by my weight entries for each month, It looks as though I have lost a little since I began tx. I didn't even notice it to be honest. Actually, I hardly believe those figures my self! Maybe thier machine is faulty? It wouldn't surprise me considering how old it looks! I remember sitting in that "special chair" when I was little! My weight records that I kept whilst I was visiting the gym are so different (the machine was mechanical too....re-set to zero before use) so I don't know. The reason for the weight loss seems obvious to me though. It seems to have started dropping around June. This was when I packed in going to the gym. I was quite big (for me) but just got fed up with the stink & germs in there! This meant that I was out on my bike twice as much as I normally was, hence the weight loss. I was doing mostly upper body weights in the gym. The loss of my appetite at the beginning of tx doesn't seem to have affected my weight......thank you "Teddington Kebab House", "KFC" & "MacDonalds";) Even my week long bout of diarrhea (food poisoning) back at the end of September didn't seem to effect my weight that much.....it just continued to fall at an even pace. I think I ought to add here that I did change my diet quite a lot during the sweltering heat of the Summer and I seemed to have stuck to it. Oh, & I was eating tonnes of Humus too which I stopped completely (since the diarrhea) and didn't have an alternative foodstuff to replace it with. I have since December however started to eat it again and look what happens......my weight starts to creep back up again. Do I sound as if I am obsessed by my weight?.......because I'm not if you can beleive it. Is any of this interesting? Or shall I shut up now;)

The photograph I took on Sunday by the cricket pitch, halfway up Leith Hill. I hadn't been on these trails since last autumn and was eager to see how the trails had coped in the rain & recent storm. Not bad all in all but the trees and branches down from the storm last week were horrendous! It was like 87 all over again! I was out for over three hours all alone and had wonderful blue skies all afternoon, then over came a rain cloud, dropped it's load causing a brilliant rainbow in the process and then promtly disappeared again. I got a puncture just then too! I would have probably been out longer if I hadn't. The maintenance work that was supposedly carried out on "Summer Lightning" on Jan 14th wasn't evident.........The bottom section was unriderble because of the weather! It seems all of their good work has be wrecked! But having said that, what do I know about trail building eh;) Great fun though & very mucky:)

The title of my post by the way is my hospital number. I probably shouldn't post it on here, but who cares. I have had that number since the mid 70's when I first became an out-patient at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London. And did you know.......I have only just realized that the numbers add up to 9 (another one to go with my "Digital Root 9" post). I find that impossible to believe!

I am not a number.......I am a free man!

I shall let you know the results of my viral load as soon as I get them.


Jason

P.s. My Sister Nicola & I are 36 today:)







(C) JPT 2007