The climb up the stairs to the 3rd floor nearly wiped the floor with me but my doctors have told me exercise is good. Inside it was standing room only. Not bad for £25 to get in! Not that that mattered, sam, reggie's brother, had insisted he'd pay for my ticket anyway. Inside It was loud and very very hot. The first fight was already well into round 2. The floor to ceiling mirrors that adorned the Walls were filling up with sweaty condensation nicely. Ah! I found a box at the back of the gym to rest my old pile of bones on! I was knackered! I'd already walked from my gaff all the way down the hill to the station AND all the way from Shoreditch high Steet tube to the gym!
Ding ding! The two fighters returned to their corners to confess to their trainers about just how scared they really were... Or at least that's what i'd be doing if I was in that ring with loads of sweaty skin heads shouting at me! And another one trying to clump me!!! (actually in my current folical state I fitted right on in there!)
The ring girl clambered her way through the middle and top ropes with all the runway attitude she could muster... She must've been wearing underwater mascara or whatever, what with the levels of moisture and testosterone in the air... God knows how she didn't look like Alice cooper at this point. We all had a good wolf whistle and checked out her knockers for a bit (which included you, Helen, I saw you staring!) and then the poor cow bundled herself back through the ropes!
Round 3. Boof bosh bish... Ding ding ding... It was all over and so the MC announced... "ladies and gentlemen lets hear it for mmmh mmh mmmh whooo mmmmh and all the way from new York... wooh mmmh mmh woo mmmhhh!"
God only knows! Shouting only makes it worse when you've got a seventeen year old, knackered microphone in your hand!
So... The stage was set for the second bout on tonights London vs new York fight night card; "stars and swipes"... See what they did there? Well… The announcer strikes up again... "wooh mmmh hhmm huurr... From new york... 'Sweet' robbie dyson!!!” Out stepped my friend Reggie... (his nickname at work... Mine's Milton by the way!) to the clash song "the guns of Brixton" (where he dwells) and sporting the biggest tattoo emblazing the words "south London" on his right shoulder. Which is a bit confusing to anyone expecting a native new yorker to step out of a yellow cab. instead we got, "all the way from barnes, which is a very posh bit of south west London, its reggie... Fighting for the yanks!!!"
What?!? What the hell is going on!?! Reggie… you’re on the wrong team! He’s about as American as Television (we brits invented that!) or the muppet show!!! (again… if you do some research the original show was turned down by the US tv networks and picked up by the limies!!!
Nah! He wasn’t picked by mistake. Rob, to use his proper name, had been over to dear old NYC to represent the US gym fitsroy lodge in a fight and now he had been asked to do it again on this side of the old pond. Rob, a regular camera dude on the old sky footie, was now all set in the ring. There was a lull and so at the top of my voice I shouted, “yoo hoo, reggie!” and waved as stupidly as poss! He gave me a smile and a knowing nod and casually went back to his pre bout meditation, pacing about and the silent passing of wind… no doubt!
Then out came the brit to face the er, brit and the first round got cracking…. “COME ON ROB/REGGIE” Helen, (Reggie’s Missus) and I shouted in unison… most probably confusing the hell out of everyone around us. Sam started slapping his paper in his hands causing a right old din and everyone else… the skin heads, the chavs, the hoxton square trendy kids, one or two city boys in their wide awake suits… “yah, yah, ive got 10k on the yank!”… all started cheering the boys on.
Round 1… Good stuff… just a bit of kissing and cuddling to start… rob with the longer reach was stepping off the other geezer and measuring him up and weighing him out… clump, bump, nothing too sinister but boy was it exciting watching someone you know in the ring bobing and weaving and what could only be described as running away backwards! (ONLY JOKING, ROB!)
Round 2… a little more edgy and faster paced… I was up on my toes bobing and weaving about like I knew the caper and all the moves…. Just to put the wind up all those nutters around me and let them know that I was bald cos I’m well hard, not because I’m as weak as a kitten and quite ill! “GO ON REGGIE… CLUMP THE GEZZER!!! HIT HIM!!! BISH BASH BOSH!!!! (to quote my dad!) my god this was BRILLIANT and the fight was so well balanced it was anyones!
DING DING DING!
‘Alice Cooper’ got up for the last time and shoved herself back into the ring… and held aloft the card indicating It was the final round…. Rob had 3 minutes to get the win! I, at this point did something that ive been doing for years. Making a statement in my head thus… “if reggie wins this fight, I’ll win mine!” there you are you city bankers… puts your £10k down the shitter don’t it!?! I have been doing this mini self bet thing for years.. if I can do x, y, z I’ll win this match or get that train set for Christmas or this flat will be mine or I’ll one day own that car…. Things like if I can get through that closing door in front of me, indianna jones style, without touching it or if i can wash my hands with just the hot water quick enough before I get scalded… ect ect, only this time ive been doing it with the big C!
So… no pressure, then reggie…. Lets teach these English softies a thing or two and get me back to good health! DO IT FOR ME AND THE WHOLE OF AMERICA, REGGIE!!!!
ROUND 3……. No sooner had the bell finished its second chime, reg was up out of his corner on the far side and moving round to our left across the centre of the ring. The other dude was matching his move with his back to us and soft footing it to our right, on the turn. A couple of little exploratory fists were thrown about the place causing the ‘lovers’ to turn more in the same direction so now reg had his back to us as we were looking over his right shoulder at this guy’s squished up mush in his snug fitting head guard. This gave us the perfect view for what followed… “SMACK!”… KNOCK DOWN!!! I cant be certain because it happened in a nano second, whether rob had used his left to distract the guy then POW! Jabbed him square into his ‘boat race’ and sent the guy down onto his back! Yesss!!! Brilliant!!! WOO HOO we’re in the clear… two points for a knock down sam was telling me… so all he had to do was stay away from any big punches and the round was his!!!
The guy got up and was counted to about 8. Then sent back into the fray by the ref. I think this action of being put on his arse rather angered the poor chap and so went at rob like an enraged bulldog with its owner towel flicking his nuts!!! “Stay out of it reggie… get out of there… move move”… were the uneducated cries from my gob! The name of the game is control. Keeping your mind calm and trying to pick a winning blow or series of moves that will get you the victory. Reg had the reach and the coolness to box but this guy was irate to say the least! Swinging and throwing everything he’d got! My god this was exciting… rob was taking all the punches the guy could muster but he was scoring and Reggie needed to get back at him… which saw the last minute of the round with these two toe to toe exchanging fairly substantial blows in a blur of arms and gloves. both looking like the round would be theirs, if anything the other dude had landed a couple more critical blows but reggie had that knock down, come on reg, one more magic “BOOF” and it’ll be all settled…. Push rob push… come on please… forget what I was thinking before about staying away from him and his hits… just step into him and attack… yes… yes… no.. no… ooof…ow… yes.. come on… “DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!”
In one second the pair went from close quarter battle into the classic clumsy bear hug and then touch of gloves and nod of well done… but who was victorious???
“MMMH MMMMH MMMMMH UUUUHH UUHH MMMUUHH HHHUUMMM MMMUUHH”… bloody hell, the mc was really shouting now and everyone was on their feet (cos there were no chairs!) going nuts!!! Easily the fight of the night! What a great fight; it was so exciting!!! But who’s was it?
The ref grabbed the boys, by their gloves and led them to the middle of the ring… “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN… MMMMHHGG HUMMM UUMMHH GGGUUHH HHHHMMMM MMMHHH………. It didn’t matter what was being said all we had to see was who’s glove was going up above his head… then the ref flexed his ample belly and low and behold… up went BOTH RED AND BLUE GLOVES…. DRAW!!!!
The result just goes to show… the uncertainty of my fight goes on… but I WILL win!!!
Hello everyone… how’s tricks,
I know it’s been a while, to say the least for which I apologize profusely. I am in a good phase of my 3rd phase of my big fight. Sadly for me the second lot of chemo I was on, GAMEC, didn’t work out for me. That one I described as the mega core regime, with all the hard side effects and long periods of hospitalization.
I was released from st barts on the 7th of july, weaker and more reliant on my family than almost ever before, if you count the nappy wearing years of my life. Since then we’ve had a massive home improvement project taking place, which at times, come as a great distraction in my life. For the early part I was back and forth to hospital for regular blood tests to make sure the crap was on its way out of my body… but only into few weeks of my early remission I got ‘that call.’ I can tell when it’s the Doctors calling… my phone shows ‘blocked’ on the screen and if you’re not expecting a scan or clinic appointment you can be sure its new news.
So… things were back on the turn for the worse and a new tack was required.
We saw the creative Dr Shamash, my consultant and all things large cheese wise, when it comes to cancer fighting! (even going so far as creating the afore mentioned GAMEC course, himself.) during the clinic, which was a great time of despair, the (very) good doctor calmed my nerves and partially allayed my fears with a very seemingly positive attitude, ‘well that didn’t work so now we push on and try the next thing’….. he cooled me down to the extent that I even had the temerity to apologise for spoiling his GAMEC study.
So what is the next thing for little old me? Its High Dose Chemotherapy… HDC… as hard as it sounds apparently. It’ll require at least another 3 weeks in the big house as they administer and then monitor me as I fall to pieces again! Not looking forward to that at all! But as I cant wait to get started so I can get it finished there is the small matter of the pre chemo, chemo that I’ve been started on. Its called IPO. Its is given in 3 week doses every Tuesday. Starting on the first Tuesday with about 6 hours and then two Tuesdays of an hour bag of crap! Then the following Tuesday the cycle starts again with the long 3 bag 6 hour jobbie. I am now on the 3rd cycle of a potential 4. It will all come down to a ct scan and tumour markers results for the doc to admit me and get me started on the hdc. I have also had my stem cells harvested and frozen because hdc will wash them away and I’ll have them re introduced after I recover.
So my life has been as normal as it has been since april after I left Guys hospital and tried returning to a few days work. Right now Im at home for the rest of the week except for scans and blood tests, which don’t normally take too long.
So ive been at home and apart from the odd bad day of illness or weakness I have been able to mildly potter around the gaff or have the strength to get out and about shopping or visiting. I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to see as many of you as I want to… (which is really every single one of you reading this stuff) but it has been fantastic for me to get to see who I have been able to.
Including a day at the test cricket… which turned out to be a £60 wash out! But never mind; a good day anyway… my mate, Brian’s 40th birthday party down in ‘crazy town’ sidcup… seeing all my great chums from my sidcup dwelling days was terrific and being well enough to stand in the kitchen (the hub of any good house party!) and chat to everyone was enjoyable. In fact I had such a nice time (as did the Russian) I didn’t want to leave when I got tired, so with the host’s permission I got cozy upstairs and had a 45 min nap at 11:30pm to recharge my legs. It had got noticeably messier on my return with the Russian suitably fired up on cider leading the charge of the dance brigade with Noreen in the living room!
Other pleasantries included gutting out our loft and getting shot of junk at the battersea car boot sale the other Sunday. We made £170 quid which we put towards an hours massage each! Yeah! With cash to spare for food that we’ve been buying in vast quantities from farms shops. Going as healthy as possible has revolutionized our breakfast with the addition of a £30 juicer into the ivin/Russian family.
At this point I must explain where this change has come from. Our friend Kate’s mother, Pamela, has recommended a specialist doctor up in sunny Aberdeen who… get this… treats people with mistletoe injection therapy. Firstly I must massively thank Pamela for putting me in touch with doctor mistletoe, or santa claws as he’s more commonly known…. NAH… NOT REALLY… HE DOESNT EXSIST! No, a very big thank you to her for that. We have met Dr Stefan who, very kindly, in his spare time, briefly reviewed my case over a cup of coffee in Hammersmith on his weekend off and told us all about the mistletoe procedure and basic ideas of the technique. In a nutshell it involves poisoning me with a series of injections to alert my immune system and make it aware it is under attack. Which it hasn’t realized with the previous arrival of cancer. So to awaken my systems up to the vile growths inside and attack them!
Cancer… the under the radar disease.
Dr Stefan told us many things we can do to help my situation, with some small changes, one of them being the juicer… of ‘chooser’ as he said in his soft German accent. The Russian also read in the leaflet that in Germany many chemo treatments are administered along side with mistletoe treatments. My consultant said he has heard many things about this but wants us to wait until after my HDC course before I go to Aberdeen for 2 weeks and get ‘spammed’ up with mistletoe. My only fear, I asked, was will I have to kiss everyone I see when I get injected… especially in mid winter, no? A slightly stern and perplexed look back from the doctor when I suggested that might be the main side effect… ‘ah… zur crazy English humor, ja?’ No, that didn’t happen, I’m kidding…. AGAIN!
So ‘choosing,’ has become the new regime of our mornings… chopping peeling and then waking up the neighbours… BBRRRHHH… BBRRRHHH… BBRRRHHH….. and getting through about 12 kilo’s of carrots a week and a small apple orchard every month. It is so delicious! Carrot and apple… my fave! Once a week we ride out in the ‘Russian mobile’ (a 1943 Russian army surplus ‘T34’ all terrain, field gun tank) and, pardon the pun, ‘shoot’ down to beautiful Kent and raid one or two farm shops for all their fruit, veg and sometimes as a treat, a home made, British farmed, PORK PIE!!!....mmmh hevean! OR A POUND OF SAUSAGES FROM HEAVEN… OR A SLICE OF GALA PIE…. A PORK PIE WITH AN EGG INSIDE IT… OR AMAZING CHICKEN THYS, THE CREAMIEST OF CREAMY BLUE CHEESE AND STILTON AND SLABS OF STEAK AND HOME MADE MARMALADES, LEMON CURDS AND MUSTARDS!!!! Wow this stuff tastes good… and not any more in cost than the normal supermarket prices. Beets, potatoes, punnets of raspberries, plums, a sack of onions for £1.50, a 12kilo sack of carrots for £6! Um bongo… banjo… bingo!!! Job done!
Its not only food that’s changed… oxygenating my blood is very good for me too. Back in June when I was banged up inside I was so incredibly inactive that I developed blood clots in my lungs and was subsequently sentenced to 3 months blood thinning injections that I have to self administer every evening. Uuughh injecting myself like zammo out of grange hill! Or Phil Mitchel out of the west indies… no… east enders!
To try to avoid this and being particularly at risk from having cancer in the first instnce, I have bought… a Davina Mcall endorsed exercise bike… with 8 level settings and a particularly lethargic on board computer to tell me time/speed/distance/inside leg measurement/pulse when it can be arsed to work!
Apparently according to a snippet taken from ‘the week’ magazine (thanks mum!) some mild exercise is very good for battling cancer and oxygenating my blood. It also went on to say that given some of its positive returns that if it were a drug it would be hailed as the new wonder stuff! So, whenever the call comes for me to go back inside, I will be asking for a volunteer from the audience to help my super support team to smuggle my bike into the hospital for me. Because of the lack of impact that you otherwise might get from jogging or even walking, I can sit there for half an hour or more on a light setting, watching the telly, and keeping my body moving… the only problem with the exercise bike is… I feel as if Im not getting anywhere with it! Ha Ha! (bom bom!... I’m here all week… try the steak! Goodnight… err taxi!)
So… bikes, juicers, boxing, new conservatoires, wet cricket test matches… what else has fed my imagination these past months…?
Ohh yeah… the resurrection of my model railway!!!! Yes yes yes oh yes… having so much time at home has fed my imagination and so I came to the great conclusion that an 8 x 4 foot sheet of wood laid out on our dining table in our new conservatory would be fine! Being as super cool as she is, the Russian complied with my unwieldy request and for a week at a time I am allowed to resurrect my base board, layout my track, sit in my pants with a drivers cap on every morning “choo choo”ing until my 11 year old heart’s content. Thanks to the diy super powers that my father possesses, I now have the layout permanently tacked down to the board and a cunning system of storing it outside, along side the brand new house extension! So not only has he massively helped me in my design and construction of my layout, he, more importantly gave me the space in which to play too.
I must take a moment to say a massive thank you to my dad for his amazing efforts on the recent building project. And I know I speak on behalf of the Russian too when I say he has done THE most amazing job giving us this extra room on the back of the house for us to dine in, sit in, and best of all play trains in… WOOH-A-WOOH!!!’ Anyone who knows my old ‘pot an pan’ will know how great he is at turning his hand at most things, plumbing/electrical/mechanical/structural/arts and crafts ect ect. He’s just one of those annoying people who can take one or two prolonged looks at something then work it out, take it apart, clean it up and fundamentally, always, make it work/look/feel better. From making his own picture frames to fitting doors or windows, to tiling your kitchen or in this case, constructing heating and decorating a complete amazing extra room in our house. He has not only the ability to vastly improve things but also utilize any of the vast array of tools within his possession. Including the gigantic Boxford metal turning lathe in his shed to fashion a completely new or in some cases, invent a better tool for the job! Now that is levels of manly-ness and diy ultra skills that I can merely aspire to, let alone achieve.
Of course being 2 years off of his 70th birthday… sorry pa!... it wasn’t completely a solo effort and a massive thank you must be extended to dad’s very long term and fellow, friend and partner in wall crashing, garden digging, extension building and anything else you can think of… the one the only… Millwall’s very own… Geoff! He helped my dad time and time again when it came to the de construction phase, the foundation prep and ultimate build of our new room. Thank you so much, Geoff for your time andyou’re your hard work.
There is a long list of super stars that were also involved in the bulkier parts of the project, especially on the foundation dig. From neighbours to ex neighbours, college friends and local chums… to each and every one of you… thank you ever so much for your time and effort. I must admit, the old saying of “I could watch someone work, all day!” rang very true for me because all I was reduced to was talking, pointing and every now and again promoted to ‘chi waller’ (tea boy!) throughout the build. The phrase, “you’ve missed a bit” never issued from my lips… I promise!
There are many other people that I have to thank since I left this vast void in my bloggy woggy! I’m sorry I let it get so big really but it has been so nice to be at home and, when possible, forget about hospitals, doctors and illness. I generally tend to write this on my days in hospital anyway, which is why its taken me so long to finish it.
So other people I really need to mention and thank start with Sean. One of the VT boys from the football who in just three days rode on his tredder from Rotherham, in the great north, to London, in the smelly south! Inspired to get up and raise money for cancer research, for little old me and my stupid illness, he braved the conditions and southerners to complete the 3 day ride. Thank you Sean, it means so much to me and my family that you would do something like that. I’m sorry I wasn’t there at the finish to see you in and (if need be) administer any creams or talcum powders to red bits or sore tissues! ( I woud y’know… I would really!) thank you Sean.
I’m sorry I didn’t get to see the visions mob that were running in think strong Tee’s at Greenwich the other Sunday. It was the perfect weather for it and I hope you all enjoyed your run. To Matty and Fefen, two nutters wanting to put themselves through more excruciating pain for the cause on yet more marathon madness… one of them running off road! You’re nuts! A big thanks to both of you to too!
And of course Reggie, the star of the opening piece. He is fighting this Friday for mc millan foundation at York Hall in east London on Friday and being well enough I will be there to watch and cheer him on. He has asked me to put a link at the bottom of the page if you want to sponsor him. I’m sorry its so last minute, guys, I have been a bit crap, but its not all been plain sailing.
It was great to see reg. A big hug and slap of five made me realize how much I’ve missed lots and lots of good mates at work, and family and friends that I haven’t seen for ages… way before my troubles started.
If I have forgotten to mention you for supporting and sacrificing your time on my behalf I’m terribly sorry. The think strong group on face book has become a ‘read only’ site for me because It is just so overwhelming and amazing to witness all the messages and gestures of support for me. I really want to reply and comment to each and every entry but it is sadly impossible for me to do so, especially given the way I type!
The link is there please take a look. And tell your friends and family that this new blog is out. I’m SO sorry that its been so long… it has been a very undulating period of my treatment and my life, to be honest. The highs of being out of hospital, the lows of bad news, the joys of almost full independence and the agony of multiple trips to the hospital and the anxiety of more hell to come. It looms over me like the school homework that hasn’t been done, or the weekly swimming lessons I used to dread in my early life or the feeling of a long bad, arduous experience that is about to wash over me… I want to start it to get it done! SJ-FJ… Start job, finish job!
This last 3 month period of life has been as close to normal as I have been for a long time. It has given me the taste of my old life again, on certain occasions… but get this next month of hospitalization out of the way and the rest of my life will be THE most rewarding, exciting, loving, cherished and utilized time one will have ever have witnessed!
I WILL RECOVER. I WILL GET BETTER. I MOST CERTAINLY WILL ENJOY A LONG HAPPY, HEALTHY LIFE!!!
Lance Armstrong wrote in his book that the big C is both the worst AND the best thing to happen to him. I can see why… I have had a GREAT life up until now and it is my main inspiration for a full return to heath, happiness, strength and work. Take it from me… when you’ve got your health and the love of the others around you… all that is bad can be changed, all that annoys can be ignored and most importantly of all… all that is good must be cherished.
I love you all and will get this year out of the way and return to the ecstasy that is my normal life. I promise! Xxx
www.justgiving.com/rob-dyton
