Few beers in Comfi Bar followed by a kebab from the ‘Hunger Hatch’, top night!
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Author Archives: Mike Parke
The Hen Do
At the same time as I was on the Stag Do Kady went off to Bristol for her Hen Do, I suspect I’ve been given the sanitized photos as it all just seems a bit too tame to me…
Friday was Browns Bar/Restaurant in Bristol, Saturday was a Spa Day at Charlton House in Shepton Mallet. Saturday night Jesters Comedy Club in Bristol.
Posted in The Wedding
Stonehenge
Beautiful day for a wander around the ‘Stones’, I love the thought of all the history of this place. Nice and bright but damn chilly! Had a lovely time and even managed to do the often forgotten ‘Woodhenge’ afterwards.
Posted in Fun
The Mess Dress Tailors, Bournemouth
I’d used these guys in the past and they’d always been incredibly helpful and professional. When presented with the question of could you make me a set of Military Number One Dress Uniform in three weeks, which is almost unheard of in less than two months, the answer was a resounding yes! They could not have been more helpful. A swift measuring up, whilst leaving plenty of slack for the inevitable weight gain that I knew was coming with the steroids and off they went. They turned me from this scruffy oik:
to this:
in three weeks, always with the utmost courtesy and professionalism. Gokan and Ertan you were absolute gentlemen, thank you so much.
A Fun Day in Salisbury
Had a great day today, my sister Dawn plus my niece Lauren and nephew Ross are here to visit. Had a lovely afternoon wandering around Salisbury, drinking coffee and generally chilling out.
When we got home Kady was back from a good hockey match and put on a bit of an agility show for us with Marley and her new toys in the garden. Kady’s sister Lorna and nephew Ethan were also visiting and gave us a lovely wedding present, was great to see them especially the cheeky little one!
All in all a really good day, feeling bit tired due to the ongoing effects of the Roids, sleep down to 3 hours last night, hopefully it’ll be better tonight. Looking forward to a trip to Stonehenge tomorrow and taking some more shots with the new camera which is rapidly becoming my latest obsession.
Posted in Fun
Concurrent Activity – Organising a Wedding in Four Weeks
So let’s rewind a little bit. As previously mentioned Kady and I had already planned on getting married in Kefalonia in Jul 11. When we got the bad news at the Spire Hospital, pretty much our first conversation as we walked out of the building was what we were going to do about advancing our marriage. We were obviously pretty shocked by what we had been told and realized there was not a moment to waste. We had decided by the time we had even gotten to the car that we were going to drastically advance the date of our wedding. Over the course of the next couple of hours we had agreed that the new date would be 1st Oct 10, some 4 1/2 weeks away, talk about setting ourselves a challenge.
What followed was a frenzy of planning! I went straight onto some major doses of various drugs as well as emergency Whole Brain Radiotherapy. This induced chronic physical fatigue but the drugs also brought false mental energy. Sleep went out of the window and I found myself only getting 3 hours a night. Sounds pretty horrendous and at times it was but it did mean that I was able to hammer out roughly 20 hours a day producing dozens of spreadsheets and word documents. That’s how we did the planning bit, I was getting very confused at times with the drugs, lack of sleep and the sheer time pressure. If I hadn’t documented everything there’s just no way I could have kept track of things.
Kady worked ferociously hard, producing invites, getting her dress sorted, dealing with friends and family who all threw themselves into helping us out also. One of the best things she did was fend off the barrage of emails and phone calls from me which although all done with the best intentions was contributing to make me feel worse. She did amazingly well and I am so proud of her. She of course didn’t have the drug induced mania that I did and just how she coped with all that as well as her own personal feelings about the situation I just don’t know. If you ever need a crash course in short sharp wedding planning then we are your people.
It of course wasn’t all us. So many work colleagues, my boss, an old friend of mine who is a former Army Padre, our families, our close friends did so much, the list is endless. Suffice to say we were completely overwhelmed by the help that we got. It just goes to show there is so much good human nature out there.
Quite a number of the guys who worked for me were phenomenal in volunteering to help us out also. They didn’t have to do anything but through their good nature they built and equipped a huge marquee in only two days, without that our wedding reception just couldn’t have happened! We were so grateful to them as I know from bitter experience that putting up tents, despite the joking about it, is the absolute last thing that soldiers like doing.
Posted in The Wedding
Rapid Intervention – Whole Brain Radiotherapy (WBRT)
Wow is all I can say, it may feel like the NHS drag their heels in ordinary circumstances but when it all goes wrong, watch them move. I have never been so reassured in my life as I was over the next few days. We got our phone call and were backwards and forwards to the Oncology Department at the Wessex Neurological Centre at Southampton University Hospital Trust.
http://www.braintumoursurgery.co.uk/MDT.html – Dr Geoff Sharpe is the man dealing with my brain tumours, I’d trust him with my life, well I guess I already am.
I was assigned two consultants, one to deal with my head which was the immediate issue – Dr Sharpe as mentioned. Professor Christian Ottensmeier is the second and he now seems to have taken on my overall care including dealing with my chest tumours.It was immediately apparent upon meeting them both that these people knew their stuff, were talking regularly and they had come up with a plan.
It was explained to me that the biggest threat to my life at that time were the tumours in my head which were displaying all the signs of bleeding and I was therefore at high risk of sever neurological damage and immediate death. The situation needed to be tackled without delay. Within 4 working days of the diagnosis I had been sized up for a face mask – which they use to get your head in exactly the same position each time – and booked in for a 10 day course of Whole Brain Radiotherapy. There’s nothing subtle about this, they needed to put the brakes on, stop the bleeding by essentially giving me a huge whack of radiation energy. This link gives you an idea of what it’s all about http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Brain/Treatingbraintumours/Radiotherapy.aspx
I was to have 10 sessions of emergency treatment, which involved me going to Southampton hospital Mon – Fri for 10 sessions. It was an hours drive from home which was the most exhausting thing for me. Yet again the Army stepped in and was able to provide a vehicle as it would do for anyone in a similar position. With my diagnosis and risk of neurological failure I had of course immediately lost my driving license. Officers from the Regiment volunteered and took it in turns to drive us – Shelley, Mac, the two Matts, Murray, I can’t thank them enough. Not only did they put up with my increasing grumpiness as the treatment and therefore extreme tiredness took its toll, but they also helped raise both mine and in particular Kady’s morale.
Okay, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves:
- As time went on over the course of the 10 day session I began to feel steadily more and more tired, which is a natural side effect of having your brain purposefully burnt. Mentally I was on fire from the steroids, physically I was an absolute wreck. This was all compounded by the pressure we’d put ourselves under with the planning for the wedding and my inability to sleep due also to the effect of the steroids. I was constantly fighting to stay positive but inside I just felt horrendous. One of my biggest problems after the WBRT was just falling asleep randomly, literally whilst speaking to people. Although inconvenient it was nice to be getting some sleep again although it didn’t last for long. I just learnt to roll with it! The steroids also make your major muscles waste away and your face get fat. Not the best look! I think the worst thing is just losing all your energy, one days activity I’ve found can leave me drained for up to five days after wards.
Posted in Diagnosis and Initial Treatment
The Stag Do, London Eye, Covent Garden and other Randoms…
Well the Best Men Murray and Phil dug out blind for this. In true Stag Do tradition I gave them a half-arsed list of who I’d like to be there and they took the chaos onwards. It all got a bit confusing as to who was going to come in the end but ultimately there were dozens of old mates who turned up and it was awesome to catch up.
I think everyone started out thinking it was going to be some kind of crazy, mental, drunken affair. Apparently I’m know for liking nights like that… However my six month headache which was funnily enough made worse by alcohol, plus the after effects of Radiotherapy had somewhat put me off the idea of drinking much. All I wanted was a quiet day in London with my pals, chilling out and enjoying the day. That’s exactly what I got and what a day it was after the past few weeks. It started out with an Executive ‘Flight’ complete with Champagne on The London Eye, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, of course the boys had to dress me up for it…
What a laugh the London Eye was. Stag do then moved into the second of it’s three phases which was Punch and Judy in Covent Garden, drinking, standing on the balcony and generally catching up. Again a good laugh had by all. Unfortunately I was really feeling the tiring effects of the Radiotherapy by now and about 2100 decided discretion was the better part of valour and I should bail out. Thankfully ‘big Steve’ volunteered to drive me home to Amesbury, had a great nights sleep for the first time in weeks after a fantastic day! Really enjoyed looking at the photos as they came in over the next few days as the boys carried on the craziness! Check out the video of Dobbo at the end, never make the mistake of gobbing off at a Comedian whilst sat on the front row…
Posted in The Wedding
Kefalonia Recce
The Week Before it all Went Wrong
So the holiday in Aug 10 despite my not feeling well was a success. We had a week on the Greek island of Kefalonia, met the wedding planners, visited all the relevant locations and were happy it was on track. It was all starting to get pretty damn exciting!
Lots of people have asked us why we chose Kefalonia, well in May 2009 I had just come back from a gruelling 6 month tour in Iraq working with the Department for International Development helping the Iraqis to rebuild and modernise their country. Extremely rewarding but utterly exhausting, I also had the privilege of working with the United States Army, as well as the Royal Marines, their levels of commitment to what we were trying to achieve was truly staggering and an inspiration, it was an honour to be a part of it. After six months of long days and nights though I was ready for a break.
I had always wanted to go to Kefalonia after seeing the film ‘Captain Corellis Mandolin’. Within a day of being there I knew this was a place I would always be coming back to, thankfully Kady agreed. If you need any more reasons, just check out the photos although they only tell part of the story, the people of the island are wonderful also.
Posted in The Wedding
Living with and Fighting Terminal Cancer - Stage 4 Malignant Melanoma with Multiple Brain and Chest Metastases 
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