NEW BIKE, NEW CHALLENGE
Ladies and gents, please meet the newest member of the 101 gang…..my brand spanking new bike!
I need some ideas of what to call it so please let me know of any suggestions you have? A good bike should have a name!
Those of you who have followed my adventure for the past few years will know that in 2014 I took part in a charity bike ride in the states called AngelRide. It was the first and, up to now, the only time I had ever been on a road bike.
I fell in love with cycling and Angelride turned out to be the most incredible experience of my life.
I have sworn ever since that I would get my own bike and also added a couple of cycling challenges to my list, one being to cycle from John O’Groats to Lands End, which I hope to complete next year. The other is to cycle across the USA….date still to be announced for that puppy!
I had hoped to complete John O’Groats to Lands End (the length of Britain) this year but my fitness and motivation took a bit of a knock this so I decided against it until I had adequate time to train for it. Especially when Andy, the team leader for Team 101 in the USA presents me with a map of what he thinks we should do! Yikes! We may have to modify those timings a wee bit Andy……or a lot!;). My haematology doctor may have a fit if she saw that!
Anyone who watched my interview on the BBC this week will know there are a couple of little physical issues caused by my life saving treatment as a child that make my idea of normal slightly different to that of others.
The main ones are the blood clot I have in the vein that takes blood back to my heart and the others are scarred lungs from radiotherapy and a bit of an aged heart caused by the chemo.
The good news is…. I visited Bristol Royal Infirmary last week and had myself a little MOT to see how the old lung and heart are doing.
An Echocardiogram and a lung function test showed that they are a wee bit under the normal scale but that there was nothing to worry about. It also seems that these little issues can be massively be improved upon with regular exercise! I also met my vascular surgeon on Tuesday who pretty much said go for it and then suggested doing a triathlon! 🙂 Love it!
So gang, I am going to be on an adventure of fitness and cycling for the next 9 months which I plan on sharing with you as a bit of a rehabilitation research. This will also include info on nutrition, rest and coping with fatigue…something I struggle with after exercise.
Due to my messed up circulation system I struggle to run as blood can’t get back to my heart quick enough so my leg swells up and I get dizzy, but cycling is low impact which means it’s perfect for someone with a deep blood clot like mine. I wont lie -i’m super scared of riding on roads but hopefully I’ll get over this with a bit of practice.
So hear goes, I’ll be taking her out and about for the first time this weekend so i’ll let you know how I get on.
A huge thank you to Sales Filter, insurancewith and Snow and Rock for becoming sponsors of Team 101. I can’t thank you guys enough.
The plan is to achieve something incredible, raise a lot of awareness for all things cancer and mental health related, inspire lots of people and hopefully raise a bit of cash for charity.
Let the riding and fitness extravaganza begin!
X
A MAGICAL EVENING WITH MACMILLAN
A truly incredible and emotional evening talking to 200 amazing Macmillan doctors and healthcare workers at the Macmillan Primary Care Conference in London.
This wonderful charity gave me counselling during my worst time with PTSD and helped me realise that I wasn’t alone in feeling the way I did after surviving cancer.
It was an honour to be there and to receive a standing ovation was beyond amazing.
I am extremely grateful that this charity exists.
X
I AM NOT DEFINED BY MY MEDICAL HISTORY
Last week I had the honour of speaking at the Northern European Conference on Travel Medicine in London – an amazing event that attracts nurses, doctors and health professionals from all over the continent who descend on London to hear the latest from world class speakers at the top of their medical fields (….and then me!). I have given a lot of talks over the years, but this was definitely one of the highlights of my speaking career. It was the ideal platform for me to get across a message I feel so passionately about, and one that I feel is vital for every health professional to hear – particularly those advising people on travel.
Our medical history does not define us.
When someone is going through a tough time, facing serious illness, or intensive treatment, it is really easy for health professionals or friends and family to advise against travel. After all, it is in unnecessary risk…things could go wrong. What happens if you get sick abroad? What about medication? What about insurance? There are so many reasons not to travel. But it could also be the best thing you ever do for yourself, both physically and mentally.
On paper, I am a medical nightmare (cancer twice, one kidney, half a bowel, DVT, PTSD and in remission for bowel cancer). But 5 years ago, in my anxious/insomniac/post-cancer state, I was lucky enough to have an open-minded professor who could see that travel was the best possible treatment for me. His words of encouragement gave me goosebumps when I broached the subject of travelling “Greig, i think that is a marvellous idea.”
All of the potential problems I foresaw were overcome with some planning and preparation. I stocked up on medication, I took my INR device with me to test my blood as I went, I had 6 monthly checks up at hospitals around the world and most of all I listened to my body.
Despite my plethora of ‘problems’, I also found affordable travel insurance with an amazing company called Insurancewith.com , which was set-up by a woman who had had breast cancer and struggled to get insured for a holiday during her chemo. She later set up this amazing company.
My trip was without a doubt the best medicine I could have had at what was my worst time. But, as Ive said in the past, it wasn’t even just the trip itself that made me feel better. It was the months of research, route-planning, and excited preparation that lead up to it that started to make me feel better. And Ive retrospectively discovered why this was. Our brains can’t really distinguish between reality and imagination – so even just visualising yourself doing something you enjoy can be enough to release the feel-good chemicals in your brain. So by imagining myself on these adventures, doing amazing things, I was already changing my emotional state. And as my mental health approved, my physical health soon followed. My stress-induced eczema cleared up, I started sleeping – I was rediscovering my old self again.
Now I know that obviously travel may not be possible for everyone, either physically or financially. But if it is what you really want to do, I would just encourage you to have some long chats with your doctor about the potential risks and benefits. It could be the best decision you ever make.
X
For further advice and information on health travel please visit nathnac.net.
Rehabilitation after cancer
I’m not sure if any of you have noticed but I’ve got quite an oddly shaped body. With the loss of my kidney at 8 years old I became a little bit lop sided.
Being the amazing body it is the left kidney grew in size to compensate for the loss of the right so I’m a bit chunkier on my left. My rib cage is also a bit skew whiff and the left side sticks out way more than the right. Added to this I also have a curved spine.
After a period of time being unable to walk properly after developing DVT at 21, I lost all confidence in my left leg and as a result I now walk with a slight limp.
My core (abdomen) has taken a bit of a beating from the operation I had to remove a section of my bowel. This led to a loss of confidence in my core strength and as a result I’m now pretty weak where once I was strong.
It is only after meeting a wonderful woman called Lou James have I now realised that perhaps there should have been more support for me during this time which would have helped with the long term physical and emotional effects of my cancer treatment. I met up with Lou in Auckland yesterday after one of the 101 gang, Hilary, told me about what Lou is doing and I just loved it.
Lou is the founder of the PINC and STEEL rehabilitation trust. She is an experienced physiotherapist and established the PINC programme after seeing the physical and mental toll that cancer had on the lives of women. In 2011 she introduced the male equivalent called the STEEL Program.
Lou’s programmes have helped thousands of people at every stage of their cancer treatment so they can minimise the side effects of treatment and help them have the best quality of life they can.
Talking to Lou I was instantly captivated by her passion and belief in these programs. We all know that exercise is good for both body and mind but Lou also explained to me the importance of informing patients of the reasons why they get pain where they do and showing them what exercises they can do to help alleviate it and make that area stronger.
The benefits of physiotherapy and certain exercises were something that have never really been mentioned to me during past illnesses which now seems ridiculous considering what my body went through. I think I would be a much stronger and more physically confident person if they had.
With cancer patients not really being eligible for free access to rehabilitation services Lou has set up a trust which raises money to help patients pay for this vital treatment.
PINC AND STEEL now operate in New Zealand, UK, Australia and South Africa.
You can find out more information at the website – http://www.pincandsteel.com/
To follow the PINC and STEEL Facebook page here – https://www.facebook.com/TeamPINC?ref=br_tf
This is well worth a look gang and if you have any similar issues to the ones I do then please try and see an expert like the specialists at PINC and Steel.
I have realised after chatting to Lou that there is a lot my body could benefit and improve upon by seeing an expert. When I get home I’m going to do just that
Keep up the amazing work Lou and all at PINC and STEEL.
X
Rest, welly and getting checked out
What started out as an amazing way to start the year after jumping out of a plane and surviving then took a turn for the worse after an episode of food poisoning on New Year’s Day. I’ve now spent the past two weeks struggling to get my energy back. My muscles have been aching and have felt weak and I just can’t seem to get going. The other day I came to a small incline in the road and my heart dropped. I was instantly transported back to memories of Richmond Hill during my treatment when I would be forced to stop 3 to 4 times before managing to get to the top whilst on my way to visit my brother.
I haven’t felt this bad for a long time and this is the second time I’ve been to see a doctor recently about fatigue. I gave myself two weeks to feel better and after that I said that I would go and see a doctor so on Monday I did just that.
I saw a wonderful Doctor called Dr Winton who examined the usual glands and did some weird tapping thing on my body….I’m never quite sure what the point of this is but he seemed to know what he was doing. He scared me a bit when he listened to my chest and asking “did any of your blood clot break off and get into your lung?”. I replied with a cautionary “noooo….why?”.
Ha! Maybe don’t ask that question when you’ve not been listening to my chest for the past 5 minutes with a concerned look on your face.
The doc said he thought all was fine and that I was probably just worn out but took bloods anyway. I just got the results back and all is fine and dandy. The usual fears of blood test results will never go away. You may have heard a massive sigh of relief wherever you are in the world after the voice at the other end of the phone simply replies “yep…all normal” and with that brief answer life goes on.
My reason for sharing this is just to say it is definitely better to be safe than sorry so please get yourself checked out if you don’t ever feel right. Some people call this being a hypochondriac but I call it being safe. After all it was getting checked out early that saved my life from bowel cancer. I also want to tell those of you who have been ill that despite all my escapades I also get tired so don’t feel that you are alone. I now need rest more than I ever have done before. Rest is key after going through such treatment and operations.
Although this trip has been wonderful for my mind I think my body might be getting a bit worn out now. It’s been good to rest.
Photographs
So I’ve been lucky enough to have had a wonderful base in Wellington whilst I recover. I don’t think Ruth’s remote control or couch have ever seen so much action! I’ve watched an entire season of Game of Thrones! Love it!
Wellington is such a cool little city to recuperate in.
The other night Ruth and I went to the botanical gardens with a picnic and watched a free concert in amongst the beautiful gardens.
I’ve also been spending time down at the harbour side with a cups of green tea and a good book about mindfulness called The Power of Now which was bought for me by my friend Jane from Cancer Research UK. It’s very good and has got some great techniques for coping with anxiety.
I also loved just sitting and watching people face their fear and jumping from the diving platform at the harbour. It was hilarious seeing big Maori muscle men debating whether to jump or not as a little girl, who couldn’t have been more than 10 came along, walked past them and immediately made the jump. How’s that for fearless!
We went to the Embassy Theatre last night to see the final Hobbit film which was amazing! I couldn’t quite believe I was watching the final film where it all started. This is where they had the premier of the first film, the Fellowship of the Ring back in 2001. All the names of the cast are engrained on the chairs that they sat in at the premier. I sat two seats away from Liv Tyler’s chair but sadly she had been replaced with a big hairy guy that night. Not quite my type!:)
So I’m finally starting to feel better and and I can now feel my strength coming back. As well as lots rest I’ve been eating and drinking lots of juices, healthy foods and making sure I take my supplements.
I’m hoping to set off again next week before Ruth realises that the only thing I’ve done to help make dinner so far is taking on the role of ‘supervisor’. I think she may have figured this out already though.
A huge thank you to Ruth for putting up with me over the past couple of weeks. I am eternally grateful to her for her generosity. She has been so kind. Thank you to beautiful Wellington as well for being a wonderful place just to be.
South Island, I’m coming back for you very very soon.
X
Truthful health update
As I write this I am sitting in a little cafe in Wellington trying to find a comfortable position where my arms don’t feel like they are going to fall off. After my skydive I ate something which didn’t agree with me and spent all of New Years night in the toilet of the place I was staying in Cardrona in the South Island. Not to go into too much details but come the morning I was void of any moisture I had left in my body.
As a result I have been left pretty wiped out and rather than recover in a hostel I drove back with my friends Ruth and Ozen to Wellington to sort myself out.
I also underestimated just how busy it would be at this time of year in the South Island. The only part of my trip that was ever really planned was when I started my trip volunteering with Raleigh international in Costa Rica. Everything else I’ve just figured out along the way which includes accommodation and excursions.
I found myself in a position in Queenstown and Wanaka where I couldn’t find a single hostel to stay in. Everywhere was booked up. I’ve never experienced this before but it made me realise that I may need to plan my time in NZ a wee bit better than I have in other countries.
So I’m back in wonderful Welly staying at lovely Ruth’s place and renergising with healthy green veggies and juices. I think the whole one kidney and half a bowel thing might affect me a wee bit more than others when it comes to this sort of thing. In Buenos Aries I ended up in hospital after another bout of food poisoning (culprit-fish) after passing out on the toilet. Dehydration seems to be the thing that affects me more than anything else.
Although I know that my body has just taken a beaten from sickness and diarrhoea my thoughts still turn to my nemesis. I question why I feel this way and I start to feel every twinge in my stomach area wondering what it is. I hate this feeling as I begin to feel like a fraud. How quickly I crumble when I don’t feel well. Fortunately I realise what I’m doing and do something about it. In this case and in most cases come to think of it…I turn to writing.
I’ve gotten up on my tired bum and come to a little coffee shop on Cuba street in Wellington and started to write. It always makes me feel better and I find I can think more clearly in amongst the hustle and bustle of a cafe. When I read it back it seems like someone else has written it and like most people I seem to be able to advise others better than I can advise myself. It is because I wrote it down that I know what I want to say to this person; Just rest, Listen to your body, Eat well, drink lots and whatever you do don’t worry about it as this will exhaust you even more.
I’m often very hard on my body. I believe that if I’m cancer free theI should be able to do anything. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work like that. Not for me and I’m sure not for anyone else.
The truth is I’ve been feeling more and more tired for a while now. In Sydney I went to hospital to get checked out as I struggled to even get up of the couch. They did the usual tests and all was well. Although I was at home for a short while before I left for Oz it wasn’t the relaxing time I wanted as I was all over the country for weddings, christenings and seeing friends and family. It was more exhausting than travelling.
Anyhoo, I wasn’t going to disclose any of this as I didn’t want it sound like I was moaning but a friend suggested that you guys might like to know how I’m really feeling.
I became frustrated when reading cancer survivor books when I was ill because they made it sound like life was worry free after cancer. I’ve never felt like that. I still worry, I still get tired and I still have to reassure myself that all is well. I never wanted 101 Things To When You Survive to portray anything but the truth when it came to my blog.
So here it is…. I feel a bit rubbish at the moment. The good news is this is not the first time I’ve felt like this on this trip. Any long term traveller will tell you that sometimes searching for a clean pair of pants at the bottom of a bag gets a bit tiring!:) Add a bout of food poisoning and you’re about ready to jump on the next plane home.
I was about to write ‘moan over’ to finish this off but it’s not a moan. I think it just sometimes good to remind ourselves that we need to listen to our bodies more and that being tired doesn’t mean you’ve got cancer but it’s always good to get checked out anyway! After writing this I have once again convinced myself of this fact.
Truth update over. I’m off back to the couch!:)
X
4 year all clear and the Atlantic Ocean
The results are in and it has now been four years since I was diagnosed with bowel cancer and I’m still cancer free! Boom!
Many of you will know what it’s like to go for those monthly and yearly check ups. I compare these check ups to standing on a fence where one side leads to the bottom of a very deep canyon and the other side leads to a little table with a pen and a piece of paper with a heading that simply says ‘things to do’.
I’m now off the fence and sitting at that very table with pen in hand and adding something to that list. That thing is to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 2015! Yikes!
That lovely woman in the picture is the person who has gotten me into this madness!:) Her name is Kirsty and she contacted me a while ago to see if she could help me do some sailing. Kirsty lost her mum to cancer 3 years ago and found my website through our beautiful mutual friend Lisa who I used to work with.
It turns out that Lisa and Kirsty are part of a crew to sail across the Atlantic next year in the Transatlantic Race from the US to the UK and they asked if I would like to join them.
After weeks of emails and Skype conversations I got to meet Kirsty on Sunday before I caught train back to my folks house. Kirsty and I connected immediately in emails and it was lovely to also do the same in person.
I’ve never really sailed before and the organiser is slightly concerned that 2.5 weeks at sea may not be for me.
We had a chat on the phone the other day and he expressed his concern that I need to be sure what I’m letting myself in for. He said that he didn’t want it to be just another ‘notch on my bedpost’ and that I would need to do it for the right reasons.
I have many reasons for wanting to do this. The main one is that I want to prove to myself that I can do it because if I do complete this then it is yet another challenge where I can tell myself and others living with serious illness that anything is possible.
The second reason is that it is to raise money for a wonderful cause. The Ellen MacArthur cancer trust takes young people aged 8-24 out sailing to help them rebuild their confidence on their way to recovery from cancer. Much like the hole in the wall gang it also aims to bring young people who have had similar experiences together in a fun and safe environment where their troubles can be left behind for a few days.
The third reason is that I want to experience what it feels like in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when I take over my shift at 3 o’clock in morning. What does the air smell like, how bright do those beautiful stars shine, how do the waves sound when you are so far away from land? I want to find out these things more than anything now.
In my former life I was a Crime Investigator for the metropolitan police. When there I set up an initiative called Project Scarlet and as a result my pals called me Captain Scarlet. The boat I’ll be sailing in is called the Scarlet Oyster! Surely another sign that I should do this…no?!:)
The next few weeks are now going to be spent hopping on and off different boats so I can get some sailing experience before I leave for Australia next month.
It will also give me the opportunity to see if I have the sea legs for a 2.5 week race or not. With a name like Trout surely I’ll be an expert!:)
So with the 4 year all clear in the bag and permission received from my doctors! It’s full sail ahead!
I’m feeling eternally grateful to still be here and to even contemplate a future let alone one which involves such an epic challenge such as this. For those of you who are not well at the moment, you’re time with that pen and paper is coming so get thinking about your list now!
X
Adapt and overcome
The photo on the left was the picture that was used by a lot of the newspapers when they reported my story last year. This picture always makes me smile now because there was talk on the internet of me being a fraud. Some people said I was an actor or a model because they’d ‘never seen a cancer victim with a 6 pack before’ I was actually quite flattered by being compared to a model. Little did they know that my six pack was actually a scar down the middle of my stomach. From a distance though maybe I could be an extra in the film 300! 🙂
The other side of my body is a different story. Some of you might wonder why I find all these treks and climbs so difficult. One of the main reasons is that my inferior vena cava (IVC) is blocked because of a blood clot. The IVC is the main vein that carries blood back to my heart from my lower body. I have to take blood thinning medication (warfarin) for the rest if my life. I’ve had this clot for 13 years now and it will never go. As a result it makes any type of physical exertion quite difficult but other than that I’ve never had a problem with it.
As you can see in the other picture these ‘funny’ looking veins on my left side are what now take blood back to my heart. My body did this all by itself. I’ve had no operations for this. My body needed another way to get the blood back to my heart so it used a different route and as a result it enlarged other veins to be able to the job. I struggle to any type of exertion as it takes blood longer to get back to my heart but I always get there in the end.
I must confess I thought twice about posting this picture. I know it’s not particularly nice to look at and I went through most of my twenties disliking my body as I thought it looked ugly but then I realised that’s it’s actually pretty amazing and after all…it’s helping keep me alive.
A principle I like to live by is ‘adapt and overcome’. My body is the epitome of this principle. It’s adapted to everything that it’s been through, from the loss of my right kidney to the removal of part of my bowel. It adapted and overcame these changes.
These veins are no longer ugly or unattractive to me, they are amazing and it’s an example of something that’s had to adapt to a new situation in order to overcome it. From seeing what my body has done I now try to do this at every challenge I encounter. Adapt to the situation and then overcome it.
On Saturday I am GOING to ride a bike for 85 miles and on Sunday I’ll ride another 50 miles, I’ve climbed volcanoes and I’ve lugged a heavy bag around the Americas for the past 11 months. The best thing of all though is that I can get out of bed in the morning and go for walk.
The reason I’m posting this is because I just had to fill out another medical form in order to complete my application to volunteer at the hole in the wall gang camp. I sound like a complete nightmare on paper but really I’m just like everyone else.
I want others to know that my body has been through some pretty extraordinary changes in its lifetime and if you are going through these changes as well then I want you to know…you’re going to be ok!
If you aren’t going through these things personally then maybe when you meet someone who has a blood clot or is about to get their kidney removed I hope after reading this you’ll be able to tell them…’I know someone else who’s been through that and he’s doing just fine.
X
Thank you to all those who have sponsored me for what is without doubt the most physically challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life. When I hit those hills I will be thinking of all of you and and I will be thinking of all the ill children that the money you have donated will help. $2800 raised in two weeks. You are all wonderful. Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart.
X
Sponsorship link
https://www.crowdrise.com/Greig-AngelRide2015/fundraiser/greigtrout
What a day! Blood tests, mistaken identity and the wonderful Germans!
Firstly i just want to thank you all for all the lovely messages and well wishes I received today. You have no idea what it means to me. I’ve been thinking about them all day and feel very blessed to have such wonderful people joining me on my adventure. Because of you, instead of being worried today I was immensely happy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. x
Secondly..yikes! What a day. I arrived at the public hospital at 7am and went to the place where I thought I was meant to go. I sat there for 30 minutes and there was not a soul in sight.
I saw what I thought was a nurse folding bandages in a little room off the main corridor (see pic) so I went up to her and told her why I was there and gave her a quick run down of my medical history in my bad Spanish with a few arm movements just for good measure. I basically wanted to know if I was in the right place. She was looking at me really strangely and it was only when I looked down and saw that the bandages she was folding were actually pieces of toilet paper I realised I was in fact talking to the toilet attendant. (Banos is Spanish for toilet. I clearly missed that sign when walking in). Not a good start to my day.
I eventually found out where I needed to be thanks to a lovely receptionist called Sylvia. I then sat on the floor in the corridor for 5 hours waiting to the see the doctor. When I eventually saw the doctor he kindly informed me that if I wanted the results this year I should go private.
So I ran to Starbucks and downed a hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll (treat) and scrolled the Internet for other hospitals. I tried calling he British hospital but there was no one who spoke English…. Maybe they should have a rethink on their name!:)
I couldn’t find any other hospitals but then I met a lovely local girl who told me there was a German hospital down the street.
Long the live the Germans! I ran over there and paid $35 and was seen in 30 mins. The nurse looked very optimistic about the results when holding my blood! Results will be ready on Friday!
Fingers and toes crossed X