Saturday, July 02, 2011

Beacon of hope

These last few days have been surreal. I don't feel like a man with a time bomb in my head. I'm still weak, tired and find concentration difficult (the ability to get some decent sleep would help) but every day seems to bring an improvement in many functions. I'm even typing more accurately than I've done in a long time. I suppose it's possible this brain tumour was having an effect on things before I even became aware of it.

I'm far from feeling up to spending a lot of time on the hobby (or anything else in particular) but my mind still needs things to occupy it and my links and contacts with the ham radio community help lift my spirit. As I'm not using my magnetic loop antenna I thought I would connect up the 30m QRSS beacon I built last autumn. So my callsign will be going out over the airwaves as a sign that I'm down but not out and not giving in to the doctors' pessimistic predictions.

I'd appreciate reception reports direct to my email (julian . g4ilo at gmail . com). At the moment I can't make head nor tail of grabbers. Nor can I figure out how to change my entry on the Knights QRSS Clipboard. A long way still to go, then, but at least progress for the moment is in the right direction.

73 and thanks for all the messages of support. They really were appreciated during this awful week. If you are interested, you can follow my progress with treatment in One Foot in the Grave.

11 comments:

Bert, PA1B said...

Hello Julian,
I am happy to see your new Blog entry.
I think, that making a good prediction, is even more difficlt than being a good doctor. I am glad that you "need" the hobby, so you can have other thoughts.
Maybe you should change the title of the other Blog to "I enjoy life" to give an better view to where,(as I think) life is all about.
I hope, you enjoy being with the wonderful person(s) you love.
I wish you and Olga the very best.

VE9KK said...

Good evening Julian, great to hear the hunger for the hobby. I will be listening for your signal on 30m. I have also added One foot in the grave to my blog list. Nice to hear your up spirit in your blog. Our prayers are with you and Olga.

Casey Bahr said...

Hey Julian,

We have been thinking about you. I was thinking that you must feel a lot of time compression right now, but I'm very glad to see you moving forward with the hobby and life. One day at a time OM!

vy 73,

Casey

Paul Stam PAØK said...

Hi Julian, is good to hear you are feeling a little bit better after your surgery. Take it easy and take care, see if I can hear your 30m QRSS signal, 73 Paul

Ones and Zeros on the Interweb said...

I am glad you are feeling better Julian and wish you well.

One thing though, on the 15th June you made remarks about the NHS service not working very well, it seems to me that a turnaround of 21 days from your first reporting that you were not well, to diagnose your tumour, remove it, biopsy it and report to you the type and set in train additional courses of chemo and radio therapy, is pretty damned good.

I hope they put you back in good form.

Unknown said...

If you read that post, it was actually my GP's comment about the NHS not working so well for non emergency cases that I quoted. We speeded up the process by 14 days by reporting to A&E instead of waiting for an appointment.

Thank you for your kind wishes.

Brady said...

I ran into your site today looking for stealth antenna ideas and read your excellent piece on that and started looking around on your site. Was shocked and saddened to read your news of the past few days. Best wishes from this side of the big pond. My thoughts are with you. 73 Brady K0UC - MN,USA.

The one with no shadow said...

My best wishes for a full recovery, Julian, mate.


73

EA2CCG Joaquín Montoya said...

My best wishes for you and Olga, I follow you on this and the other blog.

Good luck and good DX.

73

Radioforts said...

Julian,I wish you well and hope that a positive treatment can be found.All avenues need to be explored. Thank you for your interesting blog and the wisdom/thoughts therein. I look forward to reading many more articles from you in the future.My thoughts and best wishes are with you both. Take care....

Dave Roberts in St Albans Herts.. UK

Unknown said...

I wish you well and my best wishes are with you. Take care....