06.28.07
Posted in General at 20:48 pm by Guy
I have long been undecided whether to write this post or not, and to place my recent health issue in the public domain. I’ve decided to write this not particularly to tell my story, but too make people more aware.
After we returned from the Caribbean I was given the bad news that a mole removed from my neck in March was a Melanoma.
I will be perfectly honest and say that I didn’t understand the gravity of the situation a the time, but Sarah did straight away and a couple of uncomfortable days ensued frantically doing research. The original biopsy results confirmed the Melanoma was completely removed when the mole was cut out but I still underwent further preventative surgery, a ‘wide local excision’ to remove ‘good’ skin to minimise the chances of reccurrence in the area around the original mole. At the same time I opted for them to carry out a further procedure – a Sentinel Node Biopsy – in which they isolate the gland(s) nearest the original mole (by injecting radioactive material and letting it drain to the nearest node) and remove a gland or glands. A biopsy was then performed on the gland(s) to determine whether any cancer has moved from the melanoma via the body’s natural drainage system (I had to get some engineering in here….). My good news is that all biopsy results have since come back negative and I now only need to return for checkups (mole mapping) every 3 months for the next 5 years. The Sentinel Node Biopsy is optional because not all hospitals offer it on the basis that it is only a diagnostic procedure and does not decrease the risk of recurrence or death. Although quite invasive (I have had 3 glands removed) it is reassuring knowing that nothing spread.
This has been an incredibly steep learning curve, and I implore everyone to watch out for this sort of thing. Maybe I have been naive and everyone does take it seriously, but all 4 doctors that have seen my offending mole (including a GP, dermatologist and 2 plastic surgeons) have all noted their surprise at the results and how unusual a case it is. As a caucasian male with dark hair and the tendency to tan I am the least likely candidate for this sort of thing - everyone is susceptible. And remember only half of all melanomas form on existing moles, the remainder form on seemingly normal areas of skin.
Change is the key. If you ever notice anything change in colour (lighter or darker), become itchy, bleed, change in size, become crusty, etc have it checked out - go see your gp. It may seem harmless as mine did, but you never know, and for those readers in the UK there are NO excuses because ita ALL free and I received first class treatment throughout.
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06.20.07
Posted in General at 8:43 am by Guy
This year has flown by so quickly that it seems like yesterday that mates were taking to the roads between Martitzborough and Durban by foot. However, this past weekend hosted the latest ‘down run’ of the Comrades Marathon.
Everyone I know finished, including Martin Dovey and his fiance Paula, Mickey ‘The Silver Fox’ Lynch and Kim Rom. Congratulations to all of you, it is truely an incredible achievement to finish once, let alone the 3/4/5 times that these guys and girls have done it. Special mention to Blake ‘The Captain Pugwash’ Raubenheimer who smashed the 9hr barrier and achieved his 8:58:06 by running 6min/km for the last 30kms……. I cant run 6min/km to the end of my street. Mainly cos its really hilly, of course….. The majority of you probably dont know, but Blake is the proud owner of race number ‘4′, the 2nd lowest number entered into the race, and the lowest race number to finish. Runners have to run 10 consecutive races in order to keep the number, and Puggy inherited the race number from his old man, who in turn inherited it from his dad. The Tribune carried a story on the family tradition and I’ve uploaded it here. Top drawer!
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06.19.07
Posted in Sport, Technology at 13:57 pm by Guy
Online mapping seems to just get better, faster, and more detailed by the day, and most of you will be familiar with online tools such as Google Earth, Google maps, Live Local and Vitual Earth.
I blogged about a simple online ditance and route mapping tool, Wayfaring, a while ago, but I have since been alerted to bigger, better, faster, more detailed tools which might be useful to some of you. Thanks to Mudders for the heads up on a lot of these….
The software (Garmin Training Center) that comes packaged with the Forerunner 305 is quite crap for visualising maps, but is a useful tool for training and is probably more suited to running than biking. Mudders has found this piece of free software, called Sportstracks, and is much better for displaying routes on detailed background maps. It is freeware that you can download onto your PC and is basically a replacement for Training centre.
‘Motionbased‘ is another option for storing training data and visualising maps, but it is a web application with an interface on your PC and all your details are stored online as opposed to your PC which is not ideal for me - I’d rather have the data on my PC. The ‘Lite’ version is free, but if you want ot see more than your last ten activites then you have to pay. A lot of mates use it though, including Grayskull, who uploaded this to his website as an example. Mudders has also uploaded the London to Brighton bike race route here. You can view courses and routes on a variety of backgrounds such as aerial photographs, street maps, etc and it gives you the elevation profile as well. Coverage of background maps is not great outside of built -up areas by the looks of things.
If you use the Garmin Training Centre and/or the Sportstracks software, and want something simpler to create routes then check out MapMyRide. You can very quickly and easily (in a similar way to wayfaring) create a route, and then save it as a .crs file for uploading straight to your gps for your next ride - schweet! It gives you elevation profiling as well. As an example, Sarah and I took a leisurely ride out too Worcester Park on Sunday arvie, and I have mapped the route in MapMyRide. Or, check out Mudders London to Brighton on MapMyRide as a comparison of features to Motionbased. You can see the elevation profile by clicking the appropriate box on the left-hnand side menu.
GPS ROCKS!
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06.11.07
Posted in General at 8:39 am by Guy
Apparently there is impending doom in South Africa…….. SAB are struggling to keep up with beer demand! The reason revolves around the lack of galss to manufacture bottles and SAB are having to import 50 000 tones of glass. I wonder how much glass is available for recycling, and how much of SAB’s bottle stock is made from recycled glass? Seems to me to be an oppurtunity here……..
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