October started out with an accidental trip up to the North Coast, I had originally planned on going to Newcastle but at the lights instead of going straight on something made me turn right and on down the road to the motorway and up to Portrush. A slight detour but it was a fantastic day, when I got there just before lunchtime people were already out on the waves surfing. Had a walk around Ramore Head and through the town and had a bite to eat, finishing off with a walk along the East Strand and back to the car. The way home I took the Coastal Route which I'm sure I've done before, a long time ago, but I've done it before stopping at a couple of places to get some pictures from time to time and getting home just as it was dark. Was a fantastic day and will remember it for a long time to come.
The next day was hospital day and today I was finding out about the results of my scan...
He didn't say the all clear or cured or better, he said "it's very positive" and that the activity in my glands was greatly reduced and swelling gone down too, but I'm still having the problems with my magnesium and potassium dropping and so they want to keep a good eye on them. It's nice to not have to go to hospital every week, even though it is every two weeks that I'm going, but for the near 20 years I've been going for apart from the odd three week gap this was the best I could possibly hope for. The platelet counts have been consistently well into the triple figures, which we could only have dreamed about two years ago and they only problems I am getting is from the numbness in my hands and feet and the tinnitus in my ears, neither of which seem to be improving any more.
Early the next week I decided to try and get to Newcastle again, this time I actually got there, had a walk around and thought... is that it? Got in the car and drove into the Mournes and got to Spelga Dam and stopped there to have a look around. I Spotted a path leading up one of the hills and decided it would be a good idea to go up there, after saying hi to a few of the locals (sheep) and a few pauses to catch my breath back I had made it to the top, was very nice and had a good view along with it too. It was much harder to get down than go up with my rickety knees but I got there and had a bit of a walk at the water too. The way home I took the road through the Mournes and then back round through Newcastle and home, another nice outing.
The following night I had tickets to go and see "Maze Runner", was weird going into work and there being a lot of people that I didn't know behind the till and my hearing was terrible, it was so hard to make voices with just the wall of sound I was getting, going to be a struggle starting back into that again. Film was ok, nothing great. But after when I got home I decided to have a walk through the park with the nice big moon, it was nice but crap for getting any good pictures of it, but it did get me in the mood for some astrophotography so went I got home I got the tripod my 80-300 lens and out to the garden, there was a slight mist in the air and the brightness of the moon made it very hard to get any good pictures, but I'm still on a scouting mission of finding where everything is rather than getting good pictures of things, will be a few months before I start doing that.
The next time I went out was not long after again but just for a walk this time, walked along some of the new Connswater Greenway and some of where the new Connswater Greenway is going to be and on down to Victoria Park and around there, waiting near an hour to get a photo of a plane taking off and of course the usual rain, it always rains when I go there!
The final trip I took at the start of the month was Belvoir I was waiting on something to be ready to pick up in store at Forestside and got itchy feet so went off into the woods. Had a walk through the not so forest part and down onto the towpath and back through to the car park checking the time and it still being fairly early and school traffic time I decided to stick around a bit longer and walk through the actual forest. I saw a car that looked familiar and walked down the path and thought, they look familiar! Turned out it was my brother and Alfie and had a nice walk around there too. Finally to the shop and home.
I had a quiet weekend with having a couple of early mornings each day, but I didn't mind this too much at all. I seem to have lost a fair amount of interest in having drinks, as much as I enjoy it when I do, I just couldn't be bothered with it much after. Sunday I got into the park to get an ISS pass, the difference in light pollution from there and home is incredible even though it's not really that far at all and it was a very nice pass and on Monday morning I had my alarm set nice and early to get up to see and Iridium flare that would have been very bright right beside Orion, would have looked great but I got lazy and stayed in bed, regretted that for a few weeks raging I didn't get out for it!
But had a fairly quiet next couple of weeks, "lazy weeks" I've called them and they have been, a couple of visits to Annie's at the weekends and slipping back in to old ways and nothing new and exciting or different.
The last thing to have happened was a visit to ENT to get my tinnitus checked out, I was more concerned about whether I'd hear the woman call me than the actual appointment, but thankfully she called my name nice and loud, there were a few times when she did call and no one moved and looking at here not having a clue who she said. Once in the beep, beep, beep... beep kshhhhhhhh beep kshhhhhh test went as well as it could have. At least this time I didn't have a drip machine in with me making a racket with its low battery. Back in for more waiting and then to see the doc who said basically what I knew already, that the high end was very bad (think it was from about 2000+) and that I would find It hard to hear the higher frequencies even if they were shouting at me, especially women and children. So I have proof that I'm not just ignoring you I just can't hear you! And I asked about background noise interfering with my ability to distinguish voices, Doc said that an aid would help with that.