It’s Milo’s 2nd birthday today, which is a landmark I feared he’d not reach four months ago.
Since his last setback things have been ticking along very much to plan:
- His white cell count and neutrophils were fine for the next dose of Vincristine.
- We delayed a couple of days for his next visit to North Downs Specialist Referrals (NDSR) for the end of round Doxorubicin, and that all went ahead fine.
- The treatment cycle is now every two weeks rather than weekly, which gives time for everything to normalise before blood tests.
The only cloud on the horizon is that his scan at NDSR didn’t show full remission, which the oncologist would normally hope for at that stage. His intestines are back to normal, but some lymph nodes are still enlarged, at 1cm rather than the 0.5cm that might be expected. So… if things haven’t improved at the end of this cycle there might be cause to change the chemo protocol.
Past parts:
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Tags: blood test, cancer, chemo, chemotherapy, lymphoma, Milo, neutrophils, protocol, white cell count
April 2023
Pupdate
It’s (finally) warm enough for the boys to be walking without their coats again :)
Loss
The month seemed to be marked (and marred) by a number of losses.
Dad
My Dad died on Easter Saturday, and I heard the news from his wife just as I was getting up on Easter Sunday. After posting the eulogy I read at his funeral people have been asking me if it was sudden. It was sudden, but not particularly surprising. Dad had been unwell for a while, and spent his final months in a nursing home. I knew that we could lose him at any time, and that each visit was potentially the last; but also he might have plodded along for a few more years.
My last visit was only a few weeks ago, and he was on good form as we pored over maps of where he’d lived and talked about the history of the area. So I’m glad to have a happy memory of our final time together.
Water damage
A trip to Discovery Cove destroyed my Series 5 Apple watch and my Benq LM100 Waterproof camera. The watch didn’t have any signs of a crack or anything that would let the water in, but it stopped responding to touch input, reset itself, and then wouldn’t restart. I was hopeful that it would come back to life when it started back up on the charger at home, but the crown button wouldn’t work, and it didn’t seem to charge anymore. It was quite discombobulating to be without a watch (and fitness tracking) for a few days, but I now have an SE2 model, which seems very similar.
For the camera it looks like the waterproof seal in the battery compartment stopped doing its job :( It was a decade or so old, so maybe I was expecting too much that it would just work forever.
Bag
I booked flights for our US holiday with American Airlines in an attempt to avoid BA, but we had a BA code share for the final leg home. I may write more about what a mess that was, but the final indignity was one of our bags not showing up.
Days later we were just at the point of thinking about putting together a full inventory of what was lost (to start the various claims processes) when it was ‘found’, and the next day it was back with us.
US Trip
Before the pandemic we used to do a family trip to Florida every other year.Thankfully we’d not planned anything for 2020 due to exams, which is why we also didn’t even try for 2022.
The villa we usually rent in Florida wasn’t available for both weeks of the Easter break, so we decided to make it two trips in one, with most of a week in Chicago (which the family loved from our time there when I worked for Cohesive Networks) and then a week in Florida.
Chicago was mostly about visiting old haunts, and eating at our favorite places: Yolk, Billy Goats Tavern, Lou Malnatis, Blackwood BBQ.
In Florida it felt like we crammed two weeks of activities into a single week, with trips to Busch Gardens, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Sea World, Boggy Creek and Discovery Cove; but we still found time to relax, and it was all good fun. I may write up a more comprehensive trip report like the one I did in 2010.
Truphone eSIMs
For past trips to the US we’ve all had Three SIMs with ‘Feel at Home’ roaming, but post Brexit changes have ruined that, so I got Truphone eSIMs for our iPhones. Compared to GigSky, which I used for my last US trip, these were a little disappointing, often showing good signal strength, and an LTE connection, but not actually providing any data.
Solar Diary
April was noticeably sunnier, with almost twice the production of March. It was a week after returning from holiday (and a gloomy day) before I noticed that the hot water from the boiler was still off, because until then we’d been getting by with the iBoost.
Beating Beat Saber
I got to Full Combo a few more Lady Gaga levels before turning my attention to the Electronic Mixtape pack. Darude’s Sandstorm, is the most mental level I’ve played. I’ve not yet been able to finish it on Expert, and it’s pretty wild even on Hard.
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Tags: Apple Watch, BA, Beat Saber, camera, Dad, disney, eSIM, Florida, lost bag, pupdate, Sea World, solar, Truphone
RIP Dad
This is (something like) what I’ll read as the eulogy for my Dad at his funeral today.
—
My first memories of Dad were of him tinkering with stuff in his garage. He was always making and mending.
He taught me how to be an engineer.
There seemed to be a constant flow of people to the house (and the back yard) looking for help with their car or motorbike or scooter or DIY job, and he seemed to make a lot of friends by helping people out.
We also got into lots of activities that a boy should do with his Dad.
He taught me how to sail a boat, and catch fish, and tie knots.
And everybody we met doing those activities seemed to be another friend he made along the way.
Dad loved a good meal, and a nice glass of wine.
He taught me to appreciate the finer things in life.
And many of you are here today because you know Dad from a dinner club or wine tasting.
Much of that might not have happened if it wasn’t for Enid, and their shared interests.
He taught me that it’s important to be with the ones you love.
It’s wonderful that Dad and Enid found each other again, and enjoyed many happy decades together.
The day after I heard the tragic news about Dad I read:
“All that matters is that at the end of the day you’re a good man”
Jason Hamm’s grandfather
I think Dad must have been a good man, because that’s why so many of you are here today to say goodbye.
—
His obituary notice has published in the Evening Chronicle Newcastle.
Donations to Alzheimer’s Society can also be given in his memory at the Paul Whitfield Celebration Fund,
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Tags: Dad, eulogy, Paul Whitfield
March 2023
Pupdate
A pretty uneventful month on the chemo front; Milo had another setback, but that was almost expected this time around.
Roachford
Trading Boundaries is an eclectic shop not too far from my home that becomes a music venue in the evening. They get a lot of cover bands, and fragments of bands that were popular a while ago. But when their newsletter included an artist I’d listened to many times over the years my mouse pointer was headed straight to the buy button.
Roachford had some chart hits, but never hit the big time; but I remembered enjoying his Permanent Shade of Blue.
Performing live he was amazing. A brilliant mix of old and new material, with some ‘Roachford it up’ covers for seasoning. He worked the room like a pro, and it was clear that everybody in the packed house was having a great time. If you get the chance, I highly recommend seeing one of his shows. He’s also going to be touring with Mike and the Mechanics.
QCon
After quite a few years away I rejoined the programme committee for QCon London this year, which gave me a busy few days at the end of the month.
It’s hard to pick out highlights, as it was all so good. I loved all the keynotes. I loved pretty much every track talk I went to. I loved hanging out with my friends and making some new ones. It was great.
Solar Diary
Despite some subjectively awful weather, March was certainly better for catching some rays. Exporting was down though, due to the iBoost working properly throughout the month.
Beating Beat Saber
I didn’t spend much time in the metaverse this month, but I did manage to rack up a few more Full Combos in the Lady Gaga levels :)
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Tags: Beat Saber, pupdate, QCon, Roachford, solar
This wasn’t as much of an unwelcome surprise as the last time. We knew that the Cyclophosphamide hit him hard last time around, and despite a reduced dose, and some weight gain, it seems to have had a similar impact this time. A low white cell count (and low neutrophils) meant it wasn’t safe to proceed with the scheduled dose of Vincristine; so another round of antibiotics, and another week of waiting.
On the positive side a lot of good things have happened since the last update. Milo’s back to his pre illness weight, and generally bursting with energy like a not yet 2yr old dog should be. He didn’t have any problems with his first dose of Doxorubicin, and seemed to enjoy the week off between that and starting the second round of chemo. The end of that second round feels like it’s now in sight, and after that the pace slows, with a shift from weekly to every other week. So hopefully the extra recovery time means this is the last time I’ll be writing about a setback.
Past parts:
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Tags: blood test, cancer, chemo, chemotherapy, lymphoma, Milo, neutrophils, protocol, white cell count
While I wait for GitHub to get their act together on my Dependabot Wishlist I’ve created a little script for my first frustration – rollups.
Another morning, another patch release of Dart, another 4 Dependabot PRs in my inbox:
Only this time I was able to simply run:
rollup.sh 1247 1250and the subsequent 3 PRs were rolled into the first, which I could then approve, and merge once CI had passed :)
Here’s the script (also on Gist), which depends on having the gh command line tool installed, and that’s run from the root of a clone of the repo concerned (I keep the script itself in ~/.local/bin/, but obviously anywhere on the PATH will be fine):
#!/bin/bash
if [ $# -ne 2 ] ; then
echo "Usage rollup.sh <BASE_PR> <LAST_PR>"
exit 1
fi
BASE_PR=$1
LAST_PR=$2
git pull
gh pr checkout "$BASE_PR"
for (( i=(($BASE_PR + 1)); i<=$LAST_PR; i++ ))
do
PR_BRANCH=$(gh pr view "$i" --json headRefName -q .headRefName)
git merge origin/"$PR_BRANCH" -m "build(deps): Rollup merge branch for #${i} ${PR_BRANCH}"
done
git push
It would still be nicer to say ‘@dependabot rollup #1247-1250‘ but for now that little script achieves the same outcome.
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Tags: bash, Dependabot, dependencies, dependency management, gh, git, github, PR, PRs, rollup, script
February 2023
Pupdate
Milo’s chemotherapy has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, with a setback along the way; but he’s back on track and has now completed the first round. He’s back to looking and behaving like the pup he was before any of this started, and Max seems happy to have his brother back on form.
15 years of this blog
I missed this last month, but it’s now been over 15y since I said Hello World here. Tim Bray is 5y ahead of me, and I share many of his sentiments from Two Ongoing Decades.
USB-C charger report
At the start of the year I wrote some reviews of USB-C power banks and wall chargers. I’ve now had the chance to try some on travel.
The Anker 737 power bank has been excellent, and is certainly worth the travel weight. At MWC it’s been able to keep a Pi4 and a travel router going for a full day on the stand,
The Anker 543 charger has mostly lived up to expectations. It can be a little slow charging the 737 if there’s other stuff plugged in, but never problematically. I did however realise that I needed another USB A output for my travel router, so a multi adaptor has been returned to the EU travel pack.
Trigger’s AirPods Pro
My AirPods Pro have become like Trigger’s broom (or the Ship of Theseus) as there’s no original part left now that both earpieces have been replaced (twice in some cases) along with the charger/holder.
There’s a part of me wishing I’d just bought some AirPods Pro 2 before Christmas when the charger failed :/
Solar Diary
The main news for the past month is that I’ve seen the iBoost working properly after replacing the thermostat on the water tank.
At this stage I’m going to assume that EDF have silently cancelled my application for smart export guarantee (SEG) and reapply :(
Beating Beat Saber
Some more full combos on tracks in the Lady Gaga pack, but not much play this month as the weather has been better for longer dog walks (and Milo’s in better shape to go on them).
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Tags: AirPods, charger, chemo, pupdate, solar, USB-C
After last week’s setback everything went well for Milo’s third dose of chemo. His white cell count was right back up to normal levels, and the injection seemed to have no impact on him.
As we approach the final dose for this round of chemo it seems that the best case picture painted by the specialist has come true. Apart from a few shaved bits of fur there’s no sign that there was ever anything wrong with him. He’s back to full energy and enthusiasm for everything, and putting weight back on that’s bringing back his original physique.
While it’s great to see him back in form, it comes tainted with some sadness. We know where this rollercoaster ride will end, with a young dog acting like an old dog; so we do our best to enjoy the extra months (hopefully years) of health and happiness that the treatment buys us together.
Past parts:
Filed under: MiloCancerDiary | 1 Comment
Milo was supposed to have his third dose of chemo today, an injection of Vincristine, but that didn’t happen, as his white cell count was too low.
It was a bit low when he went for his Cyclophosphamide tablets last week, but the specialist gave the green light to proceed. This time around it was far too low; so we’ve been asked to go back in five days, and he’s on a course of antibiotics in the interim. The only thing that’s continuing per the original plan is the steroids, and we’ve now hit the stage where he’s down to half a tablet per day rather than a whole one. It will be interesting to see if his energy levels stay up.
One of the drawbacks of chemo drugs is that they can supress the immune system, which is why an essential part of the protocol is testing the white cell count before giving any drugs.
Past parts:
Filed under: MiloCancerDiary | 1 Comment
Tags: blood test, cancer, chemo, chemotherapy, lymphoma, Milo, protocol, white cell count
After a few years away from the slopes due to COVID it was time to get our skis on again.
My daughter was going to join a University trip to Tignes, leaving me to figure something out for myself. But at the last minute she decided she’d rather do another trip together. I asked if she’d like to go back to a previous place or try somewhere new, and novelty won out. I then asked my sister (who’s done a few seasons over the years) for a recommendation, and the Three Valleys came out on top, with a leaning towards Courchevel.
Package
I’ve not done a package holiday since the 90s, but when I started looking for accommodation everything seemed to be crazy expensive, or badly out of the way. So eventually I found myself on the Inghams site booking everything together.
The bundle of accommodation, flights, transfers, lift passes and kit hire came to maybe 50% more than I’d paid for previous trips. But that included half board, and we were going to a top notch resort – Courchevel 1650 (aka Morinod).
I thought my sister would laugh at me when I confessed that I’d bought a package, but she said that she quite often did the same, and thought that the costs could even out.
Chambery – best avoided
The package included charter flights to and from Chambery, a small regional airport up in the Alps that’s closer to the resorts. When booking I vaguely recall an option to pay extra for further away airports like Geneva, and thinking ‘why would I pay more for a longer transfer?’.
Now I know: Chambery is a total disaster area on ski season Saturdays, when hordes of charter flights descend on an airport that’s just not set up for the volume of passengers.
Our flight in hit a double whammy. Firstly we left Gatwick 2h late due to equipment problems[1]. Then we sat on the tarmac for 1.5h due to backlogs in baggage handling and passport control caused by any earlier ‘security incident'[2]. There had also been a serious accident on one of the access roads that messed up transfers, so we waited another hour for a taxi.
Instead of getting to Courchevel in time for dinner we got there just before midnight. Props to the reps though; at the airport they’d handed out snacks[3], and at the resort they’d taken care of hotel check-in.
Location, Location, Location
Hotel Cascades could not be better situated. The ski hire place was on the other side of the bar, in the same building.
Centre: Le Schuss bar
Right: Intersport ski rental
And across the road, the escalator up to the Ariondaz lift.
From that lift it was a run down to Aiguille Du Fruit, and then Marmottes or Suisses to the Saulire pass providing access to Courchevel or Meribel.
Food
A few weeks before departure Inghams sent a note saying that the hotel couldn’t provide dinner due to staff shortages so we’d be served in local restaurants instead. This turned out to be a major win, as Bistro C put on a very fancy (and typically French) three course set menu each night.
Apart from Monday, when we went to Bistrot Manali, where they served fondue (saving me from contemplating breaking away for fondue on another evening).
💩🤮
Unfortunately there was a winter vomiting bug going around the resort. We first heard of it over breakfast on Tuesday morning, and my daughter ended up missing skiing and dinner on Wednesday. She also opted for pizza for dinner on Thursday, as she wasn’t ready to face a 3 course set menu of rich fancy food.
Some folk were blaming the restaurant(s), others the cleaners at the hotel. I took the view that these things are impossible to contain in environments where there are a bunch of people together; just look at what happens on cruise ships.
The friends we make along the way
The taxi from Chambery was shared with John and Sue, and we kept on bumping into them at dinner etc. Near the end of the week we joined John for a trip over to Val Thorens and Orelle, as he’d spent much more time in the resort over many previous trips. I hope I’m still skiing that well at 84.
While my daughter was unwell I headed for Mont Vallon to try the runs on either side, on one of the lifts up I heard a very not French ‘excuse moi’, from somebody joining me in the lift, and Sean ended up joining me for a few runs and a bit of a chat on the lifts.
Equipment
Inghams offered some discounts on ski rental as I’d got lift passes from them, and as usual I opted for the top package on offer, in this case labelled ‘Black’ in the hope of getting good quality, recent gear.
Helmets weren’t mentioned, and it wasn’t even clear if they were available as an extra, so I got some Kuyou helmets (affiliate link) from Amazon. They turned out to be comfortable, and seemed to do the job on the one time I did something silly that resulted in my head hitting the piste. We both liked the flip down visor as an alternative to goggles, though I seemed to make a habit of losing my right hand contact lens on the last run of the day from too much wind past my eye.
After quizzing me about my skiing preferences the shop produced a pair of 2016 Atomic Redster XTs. The tops showed they’d had plenty of prior use, but the bases were in great condition, and they glided well on piste. After a couple of days though I felt that they were good, but not great. I liked them, but didn’t love them. Returning to the shop they swapped me over to some 2016 Kastle MX78s, which turned out to be great skis, and definitely in the same league as the Lecroix Mach Carbons that have become my benchmark for goodness.
Ski Tracks
I did a mini review of Ski Tracks last time around, but this was my first trip using it throughout.
At first I was using my watch to record individual runs:
But that was a bit tedious, and also fraught with the risk of dropping my glove from the lift, so I switched over to just recording whole days:
I can see that I’m generally holding back to ~35mph, except on the runs where I can safely go faster (due to low traffic and clear sight lines):
The skiing
The Three Valleys is the largest connected ski area in the world, so there was no way we were going to ski it out in a week. But I feel like we certainly got to try the best bits, so I didn’t leave hankering for legendary runs we’d not had the chance to take on… With one exception. L’Eclipse was created a few years back for the 2023 World Championships, and seems like an absolutely epic run. But the it was closed whilst we were there, as those Championships started days after we left, and they wanted the course in tip top condition.
I contemplated having a crack at The 3 Valleys Escapade, but we’re not usually up for the first lift :/
Best of the Blacks
Jean-Blanc runs from a similar starting point to L’Eclipse, down to the same destination, Le Praz, cutting through woods to either side. It’s beautiful, and there were times we ran it without seeing another soul.
Dou Des Lanches was probably my favourite, a nice quick and clean run with great visibility where you can just throw yourself down the fall line.
M gets a worthy mention as one of those runs that keeps unfolding fresh challenges as you progress through it.
Pick of the Reds
The back half of Rochers was often the speedy bit of the last run for the day, though sometimes we’d loop back up on Chapelets to take it from the top.
Campagnol was worth the side trip to Mont Vallon, But sadly Combe du vallon was too cut up to be fun, and the connecting run along Ours was slow and boring.
Bouchet was the highlight of our trip to Orelle (and it’s a shame the zip line at Col de Thorens was closed).
Beautiful Blues
Folyeres was recommended for a scenic run down to La Tania, and didn’t disappoint.
Pic bleu also delivered a high smiles/miles ratio :)
Getting home
After a bit of hanging around in the (very comfortable) hotel lounge the bus trip back to Chambery was uneventful.
Chambery itself was just as bad as expected. There were tons of people milling around outside, as there simply wasn’t space inside. We were lucky to check in without a queue and get some seats to wait on. It wasn’t long until check in was a zoo, and there was hardly space to move.
The best thing about security theatre is that every performance is an audience participation event
Me, every time I’m going through an airport or bag check line
I don’t think I’ve seen a more shambolic performance of security theatre since the early days in JFK post 9/11 when they still had National Guards adding to the chaos quotient. So far as I could tell nobody got through the metal detectors without needing to take their shoes off and be subjected to a pat down. There just wasn’t any flow.
At least once we got through that there wasn’t much hanging around involved in boarding.
But once on the plane there was a bunch of hanging around for bags to be loaded, and then more time waiting for inbound flights to land, as they only allow one aircraft at a time in the very tight valley. We landed at Gatwick only 30m late, having caught up a little on the way, so not too bad in the end.
Conclusion
It was a brilliant week, apart from the flights, and I’d certainly consider using Inghams again; I’ll just try to avoid Chambery.
The Three Valleys area was great, and I’m sure I’d enjoy skiing there again (and having a crack at L’Eclipse). But there are plenty of resorts I’ve not been to yet. So maybe somewhere else next time…
Notes
[1] A replacement aircraft needed to be flown in from Stansted, and then a bunch of seat allocations had to be redone due to a different layout.
[2] The entire terminal had been evacuated (over a left behind laptop?) so those who’d gone through security had to do the whole rigmarole again.
[3] The crisps and Curly Wurly were nice, but the offer of a sandwich came too late as I’d already grabbed one from the kiosk outside.
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Tags: Alps, Chambery, Courchevel, helmet, Inghams, Meribel, Orelle, Ski Tracks, skiing, skis, Three Valleys, Val Thorens
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