Friday, 21 August 2015
One Final Post
It has now been just over a year since I was released from hospital after my stem cell transplant and what a fantastically beautiful year it has been. I have had the luck and privilege to see some awazing places around Northern Ireland with many more still to discover. I have met some fantastic people, some of whom I hope will be good friends for a very, very long time and started a couple of new hobbies which has got me through a pretty rough time in a completely different respect to the year before.
Everyone has their problems, just some a lot more easily distinguished than others and as well as everything is going I'm still striving to improve myself, some ways I know how to and it's doing that that's the hard part, others not so easily, but will come around one way or another.
With the walking that I have been doing the last number of years that was my escape from the house and everything, which progressed onto taking photos while I was out and when I get home giving me something different to do rather than just playing computer games, learning how to use different programs and how to shoot different ways for various outcomes.
The photography got me into my next hobby which is partly included in it which was taking photos of red phone boxes (at this current point I have 102), it's quite something when you see one and the excitement you get from something so silly, it certainly cheers you up.
Some of the things that I have seen this year, people could spend a lifetime trying to themselves and never be able to. The things include the Aurora Borealis (numerous times), meteor showers, comets and one of the most spectacular things, a fireball!!! And that's just the things to do with the astronomy. There have been as many other fantastic things too, the hills I've climbed and the views, the stunning walks that I've been able to do, even though my knees still give me a lot of trouble, it's totally worth it.
An amazing amount of sunrises and sunsets moonrises and moonsets and even a partial eclipse. Dolphins off the North Coast, standing with wild horses, getting hit by bats and having foxes stroll around you in the dark with seals barking only a few meters away, red squirrels, kestrels and deer. That's just what I can remember thankfully I have pictures most of which will help jog my memory when I start to look through them.
Bit of a plug now but you can see all my pictures on www.LansPics.co.uk or on Facebook, twitter, Google+ and instagram with the Lanspics user.
Health wise everything has basically been perfect, apart from the long term side effects of tablets from the last 20 years, I have been feeling fantastic, more energy, sleeping consistent hours (if not consistent times). Blood counts have been very good, with the RBCs being spot on and the WBCs a little higher than normal, but that's normal for me. The most important thing is that the platelets have been what you would say is "normal" for near 3 years now which although there was 2 years of complete hell on a way it has got rid of the 18 years of hell before that.
The world is a new place for me and there's a lot to do in it, so I've got to get busy to get as much in as I can.
Thank you all so much, and thank you to some a little bit more than others.
farewell,
Alan.