Two Dozen Birthdays

8 Years 8 Months Ill | Physical Advantage CBD / Mental Deuce

Friday 20 May is Sean’s birthday  – his 24th this year. It seems like the other day that we were celebrating his 21st at the North End Power Boat Club!

So, as always in our family, we celebrate special occasions by going out for supper. Sean’s choice was Rocamama’s! It reminded me of Fudruckers in Atlanta which we visited way back in October 2001 – just after September 11 when Sean was 9 and Phillip was 6! Man have they grown taller since then!

And those self-styled Rocamama hamburgers were also tall ones, together with medium chips (French fries), cheese cake and peanut butter milkshakes.  It was a meal with a difference.

Elsewhere on the Internet and on Facebook, you will be able to see the pictures and messages of Sean’s birthday. Funny to think that fifteen years ago there was no Facebook! Now, nothing much goes by unnoticed …

My new tablets are starting to take effect. The first week will be completed tomorrow and I’m starting to feel like Halley’s Comet spinning around the sun. Let’s hope the spasms will stop and the shakes will disappear.

Today, we went to buy a new bed. I’m spending more time lying down and our old one is getting tirED (much like me!). It’s difficult to believe that one bed of today could have bought me two motor cars of yesterday!

And talking about yesterday – this coming week sees us celebrating the retirement of Pam and Neil Thomson after some 30 and 40 years  respectively of teaching at The Grey. I’ll write more about that next week.

Until then, keep the new drugs coming!

Too Much Birthday

Sunday Snooze, after Pera’s yacht club birthday lunch

Birth Days and Birthdays

©2013 Edward C. Lunnon

Tuesday 23 July 2013: 6 years 10 months on …

Physical: Advantage CBD / Mental: Advantage CBD

Not many of us are born into Buckingham Palace – in our lifetime maybe some three in 7 billion!

Yesterday, 22 July 2013, saw baby Prince “Edward Charles”* Cambridge, a future King of Great Britain, born into the British House of Windsor.

I will not be here on this earth when he rides down the Mall in London to St Paul’s Cathedral or to Westminster Abbey to be invested as the next King of the Realm. Whether SKY News broadcasts in High Definition to a special wide screen in a comfy viewing lounge in Heaven, or whether one just views from Heaven the goings-on on planet Earth through extra strong binoculars, I do not know.

Maybe one just attends the occasions on earth in a spirit form?

What I do know, and despite the comfortable trappings of the Palace into which this Baby has been born, he, too, like any of us will –  wear nappies, teethe, grow up, be educated, experience high days and low days, cry and laugh, become ill (not having to worry about a medical aid!), have arguments, do things that are “right” and “wrong”,  be spoken about, celebrate special occasions, attend funerals and weddings, get old, be part of a family, get married and have future kings and queens, and have birthdays and die!

These past few weeks, we have had our fair share of family celebrations surrounding birthdays.

Charles IV (2), Phillip (18), Sean (21) and Granny (80) have all had their birthdays. Last Friday evening, we celebrated Sean’s 21^st. Not quite as they do it at Buckingham Palace, but almost, and with similar traditions that go with these celebrations. I made a speech (see next blog), Graeme Clarke and David Bryant (ex school mates) spoke about some of their experiences together, Phillip proposed a wonderful toast to his brother and Sean entertained us with his response.

I was very proud of our sons.

As I was when we watched Grey play rugby against Daniel Pienaar on Saturday. Phillip captained the Third Team and his older, but shorter brother, Sean, was the referee. An occasion to remember, not most of all because a DP player tackled the ref! Phill also ended up being called upon to play the second half for the Second team game! So it was quite an afternoon for us to remember.

Our sons have not exactly grown up in Buckingham Palace but Ryan Road has done them just as well! They are our Princes. Long may they live – at least to see the investiture of the King that was born yesterday.

(* My very personal recommendation …)

ED is in week EnDing Tuesday 25 September 2012

6 years on … Advantage CBD

• Mon 17: Been a very slow weekend; breakfast with Rory Duncan
• Tue 18: My 56th birthday; hospice visit; coffee with Kevin Paul; massage; visit by Sumene, Rob, Wendy and Lesley
• Wed 19: AlgoaFM; Death of Peter-John Seach (Class of 88); Meeting with Loines, Kobus, Yvonne at Bluewaters cafe to discuss Walk in the Parks in Jan 2013
• Thu 20: Visit by Nadene; worked on book for rest of day
• Fri 21: Visit by Isaac; Lunch at Old Grey Club with Sean
• Sat 22: Gym; To the Pointe (dance show) at Opera House
• Sun 23: To St Francis Bay to visit Charles and Julie Nortje for long weekend; braaied; saw flood damage in Santareme
• Mon 24: Heritage Day; return to PE; Stapes’s anniversary at Bridge St Brewery (postponed); gym
• Tue 25: Visit by Janice from Hospice; walk on golf course; new cell phone; massage by Rob

 

ED is in week EnDing Tuesday 18 September 2012

 

6 years on … Deuce

• Mon 10: Admin work – income tax!; London Parade
• Tue 11: Sept 11 – 11 years on; Visit Hospice Sister; Massage; Visit Isaac; Walk on golf course; Kevin Paul returns from London
• Wed 12: AlgoaFM with Gaby van Rooyen; Coffee at Bluewaters with Van Rooyens and Loines; To Port Alfred Lionel Hunt; supper at Guidos
• Thu 13: Breakfast at Wimpy; return to PE; meeting with Robert; Grey Way concert; Dad’s birthday
• Fri 14: Breakfast meeting with Kobus; Humewood Golf course; Supper and reunion with The Scholtz’s (including Lindsay and Jess)
• Sat 15: Breakfast at Mugg with Seve; Springboks lose to All Blacks; work on blogs; flood at Santareme in St Francis
• Sun 16: Lunch at Jutland Crescent
• Mon 17: Been a very slow weekend; breakfast with Rory Duncan
• Tue 18: My 56th birthday; hospice visit; coffee with Kevin Paul; massage; visit by Sumene, Rob, Wendy and Lesley

Happy Birthday!

©2012 Edward C. Lunnon

Tuesday 18 September 2012: 6 years … Advantage CBD

Today is my 56^th birthday and the 6^th birthday living with CBD. Not bad, when one considers that I was told at 50 that I had 5 years left to live!  

These years have been exciting but challenging, and I have attempted to document as much as possible in the blogs that I have been writing. Hopefully, you have had some idea of the journey that I have been travelling and have experienced some of the highs and lows that go with living with an incurable disease.

Unfortunately, I am no longer able to keep up the frenetic pace at which I have been writing. Not only is my physical ability to write becoming more difficult, but my mind becomes cloudier and confused. Of late, I have had to resort to abbreviated blogs and key words.

Please forgive me if I am no longer able to write to friends or contact them personally. That does not mean that you are not in my thoughts, and I hope that does not mean that I am no longer in your thoughts!

These have been eventful years, but not easy years – not for me or for Pera, Sean and Phillip.

They have been fun years, but also frightening years.

They have been different years and also difficult years.

There have been exciting times and times of great effort.

There have been bright times and bad times.

They have been demanding and trying times.

These have been the best of times and the worst of times.

This past weekend has been the most difficult time for me, physically and mentally, since becoming ill. I spent most of my time lying on my right side on my bed. It’s the most comfortable place to be! But it’s also a lonely place to be and it’s also a place that allows your mind to play games with you.

For once, I allowed myself to think about the future and the years that lie ahead. How many, I do not know! The quantity is as uncertain as the quality.

All I do know is that I will need strength.

“Give strength to hands that are tired and to knees that tremble with weakness.” (Isaiah 35:3)

Some people go to great lengths to build up their physical strength by “body-building” exercises and food supplements. But there are different kinds of strength – financial, political, intellectual, sporting, mental and many others.

I need mental and spiritual strength.

But I will also need courage.

Human beings are capable of amazing acts of courage! We have especially seen that during the recent Paralympics in London.

Most of us are cowards – we become discouraged and lose hope.

But a positive attitude can make a world of difference.

One needs to be positive, hopeful and determined to overcome the adverse circumstances which face you.

“Tell everyone who is discouraged, ‘Be strong and don’t be afraid’”. (Isaiah 35:4)

So if there is a birthday present that I need this year then it will be that I need mental and spiritual strength and lots of courage.

I need you to continue supporting me in the time that still lies ahead of me.

 

My power is made perfect in weakness. Lord, make me strong and a source of strength to others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 February 2007: Happy 5th birthday!

Next Wednesday, 8 February 2012, will be 5 years since I was diagnosed with the motor neurone disease corticalbasal degeneration (CBD).

Thank you for sharing these 5 years with me, for reading my blogs and for supporting me along this way.

Regards

ED

CLICK HERE AND READ MY BLOG “Candle in the Wind”

Spring(bok) Day: 1 September 2011

Thursday 1 September 2011: 5 years on …..!!!!!

Today is the day that the Bokke have left SA for New Zealand to defend their status as Rugby World Champions.

Today is also Spring Day.

My status on Facebook today read as follows:

In Life, every Winter has its Spring. Live your Spring. Live Life!

Today, I wore a black shirt for Save the Rhino Day, with red lettering on it for Spring Day and green shorts for the Springboks.

Most of all, if you look at the counter above, you will see that today is the start of the month in which I celebrate my FIFTH birthday with CBD. I was told that I would be severely incapacitated within three years and dead within five.

I thank God that I am neither!

I thank you all for reading these blogs and for your support over the last five years. You ARE the wind beneath my wings.

I have had quite a day and I am tired and need to go to bed. I will fill in the details of this blog later.

Happy 16th Birthday Phillip!

Thursday 7 July 2011: 4 years 10 months on …

Last year this time, I wrote: “And, Happy Birthday Phillip on the 7^th July – you are truly our miracle Rugby World Cup son. We will wave our flag to your life. You have grown not only in size but also in stature. Learn from the World Cup and you cannot be a loser. I remember just the other day when I was reading “Where is Wally?” to you.”

Two weeks ago, I wrote:

“And, so it was, on the next morning, Friday 7 July 1995, sixteen years ago, that our second son (and we had previously been told by the gynaecologist to expect a girl) was born by caesarean section at twenty seven weeks and weighing 1,3 kg. Our previous son was due to be called Phillip, so this baby was named Phillip John. He spent the next two months in the incubator at the hospital, and cost the medical aid about double the price of our very first house that I had bought!

Phillip John Lunnon (our Dr Phil!) celebrates his sixteenth birthday in two week’s time. Now, at six feet and three inches (1,91m), he is the tallest in the family, beating me at six feet and Sean at six feet and two inches!

He is our fighter – our very own Invictus.”

Well, Phil, today is the 7th July 2011 and today you have been with us for sixteen years.

As I said to Sean on his 18th birthday “they have not always been easy years for us or you.”  You started life on the back foot and you fought back. You know what it is to come back when life knocks you down.

And as the late Frederick Van Zyl Slabbert said: “The world owes you nothing, but you can own it, if you want it badly enough.”

I know that you always have and still DO want it badly.

You (and Sean) have been a blessing to our lives, and every day you make life worth holding onto just a little bit longer.

Thank you for that.

As you celebrate your birthday at your confirmation camp today, from us: Have a happy 16th birthday, Phillip, and enjoy a happy Life! 

 With much love

From Mom, Dad and Sean

PS And now you are legal to get your licence to drive the scooter … so here are some words of Wisdom for you:

 LET JESUS BE YOUR GPS

If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, ‘Here is the road. Follow it.'”

(Isaiah 30:21)

You will recall in Cape Town that Mom said that after I die, she will have to buy a GPS. And, when we were in Pretoria, we used a GPS.

You are aware that people who drive can now buy that device. Set it to the address you want to get to and it talks to you till you get there. It is a guide-as-you-go, and a great help to those using it.

Isiah was telling the people of his day that God was a “GPS” to them.He would be a gentle guide, unobtrusively correcting them when they were about to go wrong, but preventing them from making a total hash of their journey under him.

Being human, you are likely to want to wander off course, if not all the time, then at least on some occasions. It is quite easy in your journey not only to veer slightly from the straight road but to get completely lost.

But, let Jesus be your GPS. Listen to Him, follow His instructions and go where He tells you. Having a GPS is almost like having a friend in the car with you. With Jesus you DO have a friend.

He knows the way, and every nook and cranny along the road. Follow where He leads.