I went cycling yesterday, just 2 days after surgery, and upon reflection this week-end considered just how much technology has advanced. Not only in the last decade with micro-surgical techniques & non-invasive procedures; but over the last 3 decades; the last 10.

In 1909 both of the conditions I’ve suffered from: Ulcerative Colitis (which is what finally killed William Wilberforce of slavery abolition fame), and Renal Colic; would have been life threatening, if not debilitating. A kidney stone of the size that I had would just block the ureter, back up the waste and cause the kidney to fail. Even 20 years ago, I would’ve required an incision.

Yet, here I am, 3 operations within 3 months, up and about within 48 hours.

But what about those diseases that still have no cure? Those diseases where organ transplants offer some respite to some portion of the population, but in themselves are not a cure. What about Leukaemia?

Even here we’ve seen great strides in treatment, early diagnosis, and far better prognosis for patients. But there’s more to be done. Much more. If we could just raise the funds and get it to the research organisations.

It’s a cause which is close to my heart. Partly because I’ve experienced the impact of phenomenal change in medical technology myself. I certainly wouldn’t be biking, waterskiing, scuba diving, travelling, even living in Australia, without the intervention of technologies and smart doctors over the last decade. But also because people close to my family didn’t get that opportunity. My biological father, Tom, died of cancer just 3 months before his only son got married. His wife, Jenny, died some 4 years later, of cancer. Lucy’s sister Penny, died of Leukaemia at the age of 6, when Lu was 2.

Even now, a cousin and good friend, Ian, and my father-in-law, David, live with cancer.

I do understand in the current environment, with the bushfires in Victoria, the floods in Queensland, and other causes, (many of which I donate to myself): CanToo, Starlight, World Vision, BeyondBlue, OxFam, Salvo’s, Movember, etc. that people have given so much. Often beyond their means.

So I’d like to propose a fun week. Just one week. No lengthy training, or recruitment drive. No repeats. Just a week where I invite you, my friends and family, colleagues, and complete strangers (aka Internet Friends) to do one of two things:

1. Sign up to the VST (Virtual Shave Team) – and commit to shaving or colouring your head, and raising as much money as you can in a week.
2. Sponsor the VST – give what you can of course. I’d love it if everyone sponsored just $10.

I commit to tweeting, commenting on Facebook, my blog, and creating a daily video to let everyone know how we’re doing.

If you do join the team, please take photos and videos of your progress. We’ll co-ordinate the shave next week-end.

C’mon join us – let’s see if we can create the world’s biggest virtual bald community – Be Brave and Shave!

That’s high on drugs.

I decided to do a quick vidblog of how I ended up today. The operation went very well, thanks for asking (by proxy of reading this :-)). Although they found more stone in there, forming around the end of the Stent, they blasted it and removed everything.

So tomorrow I’ll sleep in, connect to the office peripherally through technology and ease my way back into full activity.

R42

Tomorrow I’m heading into hospital for the 3rd time since late November, and I thought it probably fair to explain what’s happening with me. Whilst I do want to explain everything that’s happening, I don’t want to sound like a victim or hard done by.

So here’s my poor attempt.

First, we’ll go the kidneys. This has had the biggest impact:

As many readers will know, last year about this time I kicked off a “Biggest Loser” weight loss competition. In my eagerness to win the comp, I started a life-changing course of exercise, which involved high impact Boxercise some 3+ times per week. The Boxercise I love. Absolutely and unequivocally. Every part, besides the improvement in my health and fitness, I enjoy the release of stress, the friends and social aspect. There’s just something really satisfying about smacking the crap out of something.

In July I started feeling abdominal pain, which increased enough for me to visit the doctor late September. Initial diagnosis was an abdominal strain due to the Boxercise. But no amount of reduction in ab-work reduced the ever increasing pain. This all came to a head one fateful Saturday in November, when I felt that “oh so familiar” nausea inducing pain in my back. Kidney Stone! Renal Colic! Acute Discomfort!

I should know, it’s my tenth over 15 years. Of the ten, only 3 have required hospitalisation, and only 1 other needed removal surgery.

This time, however, I didn’t go through the usual “lie on the floor and throw up for 3 hours” pain whilst I passed the stone. I was in ‘discomfort’ but not debilitatingly so. An x-ray identified the culprit: a 15mm Calculus lodged at the base of the left ureter (that’s the tube which feeds the bladder from the kidney).

Given the ureter is a couple of mm’s in diameter at best, you’re really ‘fortunate’ to pass anything up to about 8mm. But you’re just not going to pass a stone that size. So given the stone is just sitting there and growing, what’s causing the pain is the backing up of urine putting pressure on the kidney. Simply put, someone with great skill, not to mention credentials, has to use some pretty cool technology to remove the stone.

Right about the time I was diagnosed, was Lu and my wedding anniversary, which we celebrated by diving over in Vanuatu (very cool). The urologist didn’t want to risk the trauma of the surgery to remove the stone a week before the flights, or impact on a romantic week-end. But he did need to do something to stop the pain. So the 1st op was scheduled in mid-November to place a J-stent. As the name implies, this is a J-shaped tube, which hooks in behind the calculus, and allows the fluid to drain away. No fluid build up, no pressure, no pain. (Well almost).

When he went in, the Dr discovered that the type of stone I make (or at least this one) is one of the soluble sort. This is good news, and he prescribed a course of Sodibic (Bicarbonate of Soda) to dissolve said stone. The next x-ray was scheduled for late January and as you can see, the medication had minimal effect on the stone.

Actually, that’s not quite accurate, as little bits of stone were coming off, resulting in an abrasive gravel in my bladder, causing a mild UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) and some discomfort.

Anywhoo, we scheduled the “big op” for the 9th of Feb.

This was a roaring success. Well, mostly. Total success would be: Shatter the stone with a laser, remove the large part, remove the stent, allow the rest to flush away. What actually happened was: Discover the stent was too small (despite being a universal length – apparently I have a longer Ureter than most. Not intentionally bragging or anything.) So this had shifted below the stone. The stone had then shifted further down, bending the end of the stent. This in turn meant the scope hit the end of the stent and could get to the stone.

So, remove the scope; remove the stent; reinsert the scope; chisel away at the larger than estimated stone with a laser (look at your thumbnail here for a more accurate estimate); until it’s a size that can be removed. By now the ureter is a touch on the inflamed side from all the to-ing and fro-ing in there, so insert a new (longer than universal) J-stent to allow the inflammation to abate and the debris to flush away. The planned 45 min procedure saw me on the table for a healthy 2 hours.

Interestingly (at least to this geek) the surgeon didn’t use Sonic Therapy (ultrasound) to shatter the stone, but a laser. I mean, really cool tech. They also didn’t use keyhole surgery, or any form of incision, but used naturally placed entry points. By now the men reading this are crossing their legs and sharing “tears of solidarity” – I’m just glad I was asleep.

I’m also glad that Lucy forced me to stay overnight rather than come home. Her logic?

“They can give you morphine in there. At home we have Ibuprofen”

Good logic I thought – and yes, they did need to give me a shot of morphine over night.

The impact of replacing a J-stent, however, means that there is still a foreign body inside my urinary system that needs removing. Hence tomorrow’s procedure. Am I looking forward to that? Nope. Am I glad that in 24 hours this should all be over? Resoundingly so!!

The biggest impact of this is I’m that I’m not able to fly this week. Which in turn means that I’m not able to go to South Africa for my little brother’s wedding. As it turns out, my other little brother (but the older of the two) is getting married in South Africa next week, and I’m missing that wedding too.

But it’s not only the kidneys that have affected my exercise routine. After all, I should be able to run and hit punch-mats, even with a stent in. Enter the Ankle:

After a much needed break from training over the summer holidays, not to mention the Christmas stuffing, we decided that January was going to be our “Month of Power” with training 5 days per week. A time to start the year strong, and kick metabolisms into gear.

As part of that, we decided to mix up the training. Inject some fun, and keep our bodies from adapting to routine. So, 2 weeks in someone came up with the hare-brained scheme to have Bacon sandwiches on the BBQ and play a game of 3-on-3 on the Basketball Court. Some of you will know my friend Rohan, aka “Slam TAM,” who used to weigh almost 140kg’s! He’s much less than that now, but still an immovable object to the irresistible force that was me coming in for a tackle.

My ankle was in the middle, made a horrifying “snap” sound, and I collapsed in a heap of curses. In the picture I look somewhat relaxed with my ankle on a bag of ice, and smothered under a towel filled with ice.

Six weeks of physio, and I’m still experiencing pain. Although not too much anymore. I’m certainly not up for running, or anything high impact. But as the physio did use the exercise bike as part of the rehab, so I figured cycling to work was probably not going to harm the ankle anymore, and would give me some exercise.

Hence starting that crazy scheme yesterday.

Still, considering the total lack of improvement after 6 weeks, I ha an x-ray on Monday, and should see the results tomorrow morning.

Finally, there’s the shoulder:

Slowly, since about the beginning of December, my right shoulder has been gradually getting more and more painful, to the point that for the last month or so I haven’t been able to lift my arm much above shoulder height.

For someone who hasn’t lost more than about 2 days of sleep in my life, I’ve been kept awake by both the ankle and shoulder.

Ultra-sound, interferential, exercise, nothing seems to work. And to top it all, I don’t know whether it was doing 50 push-ups, or RSI from my seating position in the office. Or perhaps something else (arthritis, gout, cartilage damage?)

So, from my right shoulder, through my midriff, to my left ankle, I’ve been a ball of pain for the first couple of months this year!! It’s stopped me exercising, and I’ve noticed how that has flowed through into every other area of my life – my work, church-life, family, relationships, overall happiness.

I refuse to let it stop me from doing what I love and enjoying life. But, if I’m honest, it has constrained camping (0 times in 2009 to date), boating (1ce this year), waterskiing (not since October), even diving (only 3 times this year so far). Grrr….

So there you have it. Medically, I’ve taken a bit of strain in 2009. I’m looking forward to the removal of the J-Stent, getting back into “light duties” at boxercise next week, and increasing my cycle to work regime.

R42

I’m not one for chain mails or multiple petition signing websites. But when an organisation that I respect, and value for significant value in my own personal and professional life, such as TED, promotes such a campaign, I’m happy to share.

The thing about XDR-TB, and the images you see will move you, is that it’s treatable. Easily treatable. We just need to move away from our hollywood produced movies and TV myopia and use the remarkable power of the technology we love to see the real picture of human suffering in the world today. Then we should act.

I don’t believe that acting means everyone should give up their lifestyles and all their possessions and become poor themselves. Although I’m sure some are called to that. I do believe though that those of us “haves” should give, sacrificially, to the “have not’s.” This isn’t only financially, but also your time and talents. Often it’s giving your effort, skills, and time that has a greater impact than the money you’d earn in that same time.

Anyway, onto XDR-TB. Watch. Share. Sign Up.

Change the world.

R42 

Usually we restrict Hammertime to our exercise regime. But when one of our own needs a friend or two, with a trailer, and some muscles to shift furniture, of course we're there to help.

There was a big wall unit from a friend, and a small TV unit we found on the side of the road. What we forgot to remember, however, was the mission to get into the apartment.

Oh Brother...

R42

An amazing thought, all the things that can happen in 10 years. Charis, so vibrant and full of life, was just 2 months old then. Now she's a trumpet and piano playing, gymnastic, comedienne of the family.

I'd been ill, chronically ill, for some 2 and a half years. But on the 19th May 1998, the disease (and my large intestine) was removed for good in a marathon 6 hour operation.

I got my life back. My family got their husband, father, son back.

It's thanks to the Internet, and the website, brainchild of a special friend, Shaz, that I had the courage to go for the operation. You can read my story here.

Since that time we've moved to from the UK to Australia, I've rekindled my interest in boating, sailing, diving, and water-skiing. I've been a national and regional consultant for global IT companies. In short, I'm as well as the next person.

So I'm celebrating a good decade!

If there is anything holding you back from living life to the full: disease, relationships, confidence; make the sacrifice and enjoy every hour of every day - you don't know just how many you have.

R42

http://is.gd/6Mc

Nuff said

R42

Easter struck! Good and solid! Not just me either - I did actually manage to lose 200g (w00t) but others either flattened out or put on up to a couple of kilos.

So I'm still in 3rd, and only 3.86kgs from winning the comp. But with 2 weeks to go I'm gonna have to increase my weight-loss by a factor of 10.

R42

Didn't get to blog about our weight-loss challenge last week, mainly because few made it to the weigh-in on Monday. But pretty much everyone was there this morning, and I'm still losing. That's despite a hectic travel schedule, ruining any chance of getting to my regular fitness training sessions, and the Easter week-end.

So last week I lost 1.3 kgs and this week 0.8. All up, I'm down 6.3kgs from my start at 108.6 to a current 102.3. Still not as fast as I'd like, but a nice downward trend. Expect to see that curve steepen (probably not quickly enough to win the comp) after the Canberra Heroes Launch event.

As a group we've lost a total of 46.6kgs, almost a whole person. Viewing that as tubs of butter is a visceral reminder of why we're doing this :)

Also, with most people's plateau over the Easter week-end, I've moved from 5th, last week 4th, to 3rd position. I'm just 4.7kgs behind the leader. Which, although difficult for sure, is not unattainable. I'm only 3.1kgs away from the money....

Still anyone's game. Need to work on my final 3 wk strategy: Dysentry, amputation, any other ideas???

R42

So I was disgruntled with my poor fare over the last two weeks and have really kicked up my game. This seems to be working with a healthy 1.3kg loss this week.

This brings me to a total of 4.2kgs down, and a current weight of 104.4kg. Still not trending enough, but glad things are starting to move faster.

I've actually dropped on the leader board to 5th position. Only because Rohan boosted his game to a massive 2.2kg loss this week!!!

Overall the seven of us are at 794kgs and have lost 38.2kgs to date.

But don't get complacent everyone - watch this space...

R42

It's been a couple of weeks since I blogged about this. Yep, Launch Road Shows will do that to you.

So how're we going, last week the seven of us weighed in at 802.6kg!! Oh, so close.

This week, we're at 796.6kg Yee-ha!! We've dropped below the 800kg barrier! There's nothing stopping us now.

Our two leaders have dropped 9.6kg and 8.1kg respectively. Interestingly, considering their body weight, their place on the leader board is reversed. 9.6kg = 7.48% and 8.1kg = 8.13%.

I on the other hand showed a gain last week. Actually, I hadn't gained, I'd weighed myself on another (more accurate) scale the previous week. But we're all using the same scales, so best to track my weight on those then. So last week I posted a weight of 106.1kg and this week I've only lost 400g down to 105.7kg :(

Still, as they say on the TV program, a loss is a loss.

But that puts me in 4th place. So at the halfway mark, things are looking grim (considering winning might be my objective). In fact, I'm 5.93kg behind the leader....

So any encouragement you can send my way will be greatly appreciated. What is good to see is 7 large gentlemen working bl#$dy hard in diet and exercise to improve their health.

R42

I know, I know, I've been lax in posting my (our) progress. Apologies for that, something about access to the numbers of the team, and a set of scales whilst I was in the USA.

But I'm back now, and here's how things stand.

The overall team weight is currently at 804.8kg, down from a start of 832.3kg - which means in 4 weeks, we've lost a massive 27.3kgs between us.

My starting weight was 108.6kg and I'm down to 105.0kg, so have lost 3.6kg in 4 weeks. some 0.9kg per week. This is not great, but not bad considering I lost 2kg whilst in the USA at conferences!!!!

Currently I'm sitting 4th out of 7 on the leader board. So I've clawed up a position. Just biding my time, consistently losing, with 8 weeks to go.

More boxercise tomorrow morning....

R42

So a couple of days ago I blogged about my intention, nay, passion to maintain my diet and exercise regime whilst here at the Academic Airlift Conference here in Seattle.

I thought I'd give a little visual representation of just how difficult this is proving to be. Here is my average day, and the food choices on offer:

6am - Wake - In the basket opposite my bed

6:50am - Breakfast - Prior to 7am session

Yep with a 7am start, there was not much time to hit the gym this morning. My first miss this week. I'm going to have to do some calisthnetics in my room later.

So, for breakfast, no protein, or even complex carbohydrates (cereals) in sight. For my 3rd day running, my breakfast looked like this:

11:15am Morning Break -

Please don't think I'm complaining!!

From one perspective, this is catered brilliantly. The quantity and quality of the food is fantastic.

From TechEd, and other conferences, I well know the difficulty of feeding hordes of people at a conference. Not to mention the value of increased sugars to help people concentrate & stay awake when looking down the barrel of 12 hours of concentration.

I am merely diarising quite how difficult it is even by lunchtime, to manage a reduced calorie eating plan here.

But now, heeeeere's lunch....

1pm - Lunch

What's in the boxes?

First...

Then...

So that's the accompaniment and dessert, now the side dish...

And then, coup de grace, my Chicken Caesar Wrap, the main course....

Again a GREAT lunch. i.e. if your objective is quality food, and maximum wakefulness, with plenty of sugars.

Kind've the antithesis of my objectives unfortunately...

So I ate the content of the wraps and the apple, and felt the burden of global citizenship when I threw the rest of the perfectly good food away.... :(

What did we get this afternoon?

3pm - Afternoon break

Yep, you're read that correctly - Vitamin Water. Of course 40g of sugars too...

Power bars - way to go!! No not Protein Bars, just a shot in the arm of quickly absorbed sugars (if you still need one)

For the health conscious :) Seriously though, my digestion is going to turn liquid if I have too much more fruit...

7:45pm Dinner

No, no, that's not my main - it's not even the starter, just a side salad...

No, that's not the meal for the entire table, just a leg of lamb for me!!! Note, I asked for no chips or potatoes, so this is just half the size of the actual dish. It's also why I was given the salad that could feed the population of half the countries in Africa.

I skipped dessert (Vanilla Creme Brulee)

10pm "Drinks on Corp"

So there are only two strategies to make this work:

1) Don't have anything to drink at all. Of course the pressure from building rapport and developing relationships.

2) Ensure that you don't eat while drinking (fatty, carb-rich foods), and keep carb-rich mixers (Colas etc) to a minimum.

Guess which strategy I followed?

Conclusion

So you can see to achieve my mission (5kg loss in 16 days) my work is really cut out for me...

R42

If you've ever travelled to the USA, personally, or on expenses, you'll understand the difficulty in maintaining a weight-loss program. This is the country with the highest overweight people per capita for a reason, and most of those don't eat 3 meals a day at a restaurant for weeks at a time.

The truth is that the food in the US is of the highest quality, and rich in calories. A short trip to the supermarket, and you'll notice aisles with "non-sugar bread." Excuse me? Even the bread has sugar in it? At restaurants you have far less choice, the bread they serve is the bread you get.

Then there's the quantity. I went for breakfast in July, to a wonderful restaurant with my really good friend Heinrich, and ordered what I thought would be relatively safe. A spanish omelette. Well, it was an 8 egg omelette. 8 eggs. That's insane. My entire family could comfortably eat that. Seriously, this is the one country in the world where I leave food on the plate at every meal.

Then there's the beer. I know, I know, you don't have to drink when you're travelling. But it is very hard not to. Not outrageously of course, but a couple of social beers as you deepen friendships with foreign counterparts. In Seattle my beer of choice is a Hefeweizen. Which comes with a quarter lemon in the top, and looks like Orange Juice. It is cloudy and hoppy, and probably contains the sugars of a Caribbean Island.

So how can I possibly expect to stay on track with my Biggest Loser program, and win the $1000.

Well, I have a plan, with 2 core strategies:

1. Maintain my exercise.

I bought myself a skipping rope. Just something that is easy to carry, and will be simple to build into even the busiest routine, whether or not the hotel has a decent (and available) gym. I plan to start and end each day with 15 growing to 30 mins of skipping.

Also, I bought some 16 Oz boxing gloves, and have brought them along. Hopefully the gym (or one in the area) has a punch bag. If not, I'll try to buddy up with a colleague to do 30 mins of my boxercise routine 3 or so times per week

If I can, I'm going to try to get to the gym and/or swimming pool once a day.

2. Plan my meals.

I think the biggest problem is just accepting what's offered when travelling. Rather than planning, and sticking to the plan. It's hard because I do love my tucker, and have been brought up to "finish what's on my plate" Also, because so much is available and on offer. But the plan is as follows:

• Start the day with cereal - of the non-sugared variety if I can find it. Rolled oats, muesli those sorts of things.
• Get protein bars and shakes, which are low in carbs, for the snacks and lunchtime meals throughout the day.
• Graze every two hours, so I'm not hungry. Studies show that eating 6 times a day burns as much fat as exercising an hour a day (of course that's when you're not eating donuts and burgers for those 6 meals) :)
• My dinner plan is steak and/or salmon, with salads. The thing to avoid at dinner, of course, is the potatoes, rice, breads, and pasta carb-rich accompaniments.

The plan is to lose 5 kgs by the time I return. That should put me to within a kg of 100kgs and be on-track to my overall target. 5 kgs means 5lbs per week. Doable, but not easy.

I'll try to keep a tally of how I'm doing.

R42

Australia Day threw this week's weigh-in out by a day. Not to mention going camping meant huge temptation with Ice Creams, Donuts, Bacon & Eggs, and of course, beer, cider, and rum.

Still last week was also a huge week for exercise. 3 sessions of boxercise, and besides Thursday, I'm still managing to stick to my personal "no lifts" commitment.

All this to say, that I lost 1.1 kg in the last week, weighing in at 107.5 kg's this morning. That's 1.01% overall, and 5th on the leader board. Still we're only 1 week in so far.

The team has lost 11.9 kg's between them, or 1.43% overall. So down from 832.3 to 820.4 kg's At this rate we could be below 800kg's within the next 2 weeks.

R42

Some of you may know that like many people in our industry, over the last couple of years (well, ok, decade) I've struggled with controlling an increasing mass. That's body mass.

So, in the spirit of the new year, and taking total accountability for the consequences of my (gluttonous) actions, not to mention an encouraging prod from my family doctor; I've started a weight loss regime. However, it's not just a diet, nor an individual program. Oh no. This is an approach with costs and incentives, with competition and support.

I started an MS "Biggest Loser" competition. Entry fee $250. Grand prize $1000. Runner up gets $500. No other prescribed rules. Dieting, exercise, fasting, dysentry, even amputation, all acceptable approaches (if somewhat extreme) to win the grand prize.

This morning 7 of us weighed in. Total group weight 832.3kg. My personal weight: 108.6kg

Watch this space....

R42

Last week I was 99.9kgs - let's say "on the ton!" As you all know from last week-end's test of the new Waterski, I need to reach 94kgs before I can use it again in anger.

So we have a new plan in place, as we're going camping and skiing this coming long week-end (ANZAC day). Part of the plan is to make a public commitment to the weightloss, which is what this entry's all about.

Weigh-in this morning was 97kgs  and  I'm wearing my "small" jeans comfortably. I haven't worn them for about 2 years....