December 2015 ( A Year to Remember)

To share a quote from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s famous Christmas Speech of 1992,  I have to say that 2015 has been an  “Anus Horribilus ”  (or in layman’s terms, it’s been a bum year ! )

As the new year began, everything seemed normal as I planned for the twelve months ahead.  Every year I buy a  ‘Pocket Minder’  (a diary) from Home Hardware and as the important dates start to emerge , I fill it with my intended events.

Once the winter weather began to disappear , it was time for my local Cornwall Motor Speedway and Mohawk International Speedway’s Banquets .

Trips to visit my daughter Carla, Alex and Benji in Austin, Texas were planned , as well as a visit in June, to see Mum and the family back in England . My usual racing trips here in Canada and the U.S.A were also marked down.

I had a great Easter break in Texas , where I attended the Gator Motor Plex in Willis ( near to Houston), and spent some good quality time with my family. 

Within a few weeks, of my return to Canada, I could tell ‘I wasn’t right’. As well as feeling extremely tired all of the time, I was also having trouble keeping my eyelids open, even while I was awake , I felt heavy headed and was having trouble chewing and swallowing my food.  I was also struggling to walk short distances without getting out of breath. At first I put it all down to the long hours I’d being doing at work, so wasn’t taking it too seriously.

The local race season began in May and I’d started attending my usual tracks.

On 23 May,  Chantal Lesage,  a good friend, who was worried about me,   took me to my local Cornwall Hospital , where after many tests, the doctor diagnosed MYASTHENIA GRAVIS.

This was a condition my father had suffered from, I’d remembered his symptoms, so wasn’t really surprised, when the doctor gave me the news.

Various other tests were arranged to confirm the diagnosis.

I’d already booked my flights from the 12 to 18 June , for the England trip, so with the test results , still not confirmed, I went ahead with things, while continuing  with the medication prescribed.

I rented a little Fiat 500 at Heathrow Airport and as usual stayed at my Mums place in Toddington, Bedfordshire.Of course, a few trips to the races were made.

I was at Ipswich on Saturday, and Brafield on Sunday for the VSCA (Veteran Stock Car Association) get together. I met up with many old friends over the weekend and was asked to present one of the Trophies to Mick Sworder

Everything went OK on the England trip, although it was obvious, I was not well.

I returned to Canada on 18 June and the next day, got my Cat Scan results.

I was put in the hands of the local Cornwall (Ontario) Neurologist for further tests, and by now, Carla had flown in from Texas to be with me.

On 8 July, I became so unwell, I was admitted to the Acute Care Dept of the Ottawa Civic Hospital for a period of six days where the medics decided to give me daily I.V.I.G transfusions .

After being discharged, I was told that my follow-up appointment with the MYASTHENIA GRAVIS specialist in Ottawa would be in October. ( 3 months later)

Once home in Cornwall , my summer was spent around the city waiting, and not straying too far from home.

I spent a lot of time relaxing in a lawn chair down by the cities water front, and on a few occasions , I was taken to the races by friends, where I just took things easy.

I was unable to attend my local Cornwall Motor Speedway each week but went along occasionally for an hour or two, to catch up with friends and to take a few pics from the VIP tower.

I have to thank my good friend Sylvain Lauwers for covering my Victory Lane duties at the Cornwall Motor Speedway.

At this time, many of my original symptoms still existed , I could still only walk short distances, and was unable to do anything too physical.

It was very frustrating waiting for my follow up appointment in Ottawa .

I was at home , off work and not getting any better, so another trip to England was booked, where Carla and I  arranged for a private consultation with a top MYASTHENIA GRAVIS specialist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on 2 Sept.

My future prospects at this time looked very grim, and I really thought I was destined for the ‘Scrap Heap’ .

It seemed very likely that I would be losing my driving license, because of the MYASTHENIA GRAVIS condition, and the chance of me leading a normal life, and holding down future employment looked remote.

While I was in England, exploratory plans were made , with a view to me returning there to live permanently .

The visit to the  MYASTHENIA GRAVIS Specialist Doctor in Oxford  proved fruitful, he gave me some good advice and ‘tweaked’ my dosage of drugs.

While I was in the UK , I was taken to the races by my long time buddy Colin Herridge, and was given a lot of support from him and his wife Kim.

Ian Hall , another old buddy helped out too,  with my transportation.

Colin and I, went to the Pre-BriSCA F1 World Final event at the Kings Lynn Stadium, where most of the overseas drivers were taking part. It was also the ‘World of Shale’ Final for the BriSCA F2’s.

 

While I was in the UK , it was good to meet up with my old racing partner Chris Pickup for a beer before returning home..

By the time I returned to Canada on 21 Sept I was feeling a lot better.

Three and a half weeks after being wheel-chaired through the Ottawa and Heathrow Airports by Carla , I was able to walk back through Canada Customs under my own power.

I continued to improve, and in October, I got a ‘good news’ letter from the Ministry of Transport saying they had reviewed my case and I was OK to drive ( both car and truck) , so things were starting to look better.

I finally got to see the MYASTHENIA GRAVIS specialist in Ottawa for my follow up, on 22 Oct and from then on,  things have moved a lot quicker .

I visited her again in November and have since had more I.V.I.G transfusions.

To fight the MYASTHENIA GRAVIS , I’ve been on steroids , which I’ve been told, are not good for you,  in the long term, so the next step is to ween me off them.

The Doc, seems to be happy with my progress , but I’m no where near, back to normal yet and I know  I will need more changes to my medication.

During October I was lucky enough to make it down to Syracuse, for the ‘Finale at the Fairgrounds’ .

SUPER DIRT WEEK at Syracuse has been on my annual calendar for many years, and sadly this years was to be the last time the event would take place.

Big thanks to my friends Don Simpson and Terry Kelsey for getting me down there ( and baby-sitting me)

I must admit, two months earlier, I had ruled out any possibility of getting to Syracuse, so it was a real bonus to spend a short time with my photographer buddies.

 

The following  weeks after SUPER DIRT WEEK, I have to thank my friend Ron Morin for making sure I got to North East Fall Nationals at the Brockville Ontario Speedway, and the ‘Last Call at the Port’ at the Weedsport Speedway NY , (Both of which suffered from rain). We took off for the ‘Weedsport’ weekend in Ron’s Lincoln and had a joy ride down to Watkins Glen while we were there.

The week after that it was the Parts Peddler Show and the annual DIRTCAR Banquet down in Syracuse NY, and I was sure glad I was able to make that trip. I always look forward to attending DIRTCAR’s big do, and I was honored to be invited once again.

It was really great that my local track , the Cornwall Motor Speedway was awarded ‘Promoters of the Year’

My next appointment with the MYASTHENIA GRAVIS specialist in Ottawa is 14 Jan 2016.

Since being diagnosed, I’ve been blessed to have so many good people around me, that have been concerned and willing to help.

I don’t know how I would of coped without Carla and the rest of my family.

As well as my family,  I’ve been lucky to count on , many good friends, both locally and afar ,  who have done all sorts of kind deeds to help me out. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

As the year wound down, and approached Christmas Eve, my buddy Don Simpson took me to the Ottawa Airport , where I got a morning  flight to Toronto.

From the Pearson Airport in Toronto, I got an afternoon flight to Austin, Texas where I was met by Carla, Alex and Benji.

Within minutes of being met at the Airport , we were  heading to a Christmas Eve gathering at the RockPointe Church near to their home in Leander on the outskirts of Austin.

After this we went back to their house to get ready for Christmas.

Our plans for the Sunday after Christmas were to drive down to San Antonio, check out the ‘Alamo’ once again and meet up with my old racing friend from England, Trish Meserve, who now lives in the city.

Unfortunately , Mother Nature had other ideas , as Texas became the start of a big change in weather for North America.

An unusual winter storm hit the state, which , (according to the meteorologists) would be heading towards Canada in the form of a huge dump of snow. (the first of the winter) .

In Austin we had a violent hail storm and freezing rain during the day, and a few snow flurries through the night.

The trip to San Antonio was aborted and we stayed local and took Benji to a kids inside playground.

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As I write this message, a few days before New Years Eve, I’m still not sure how 2016 will pan out.

It would be really nice to be back where I was 12 months ago, enjoying life and working my way to a retirement in the next five years .

My immediate plans are to follow ‘Doctors orders’ and hopefully reach that goal.

I’m not ready for the ‘Scrap Heap’ yet.

Happy New Year to All.