How can I ever thank you all??

Last one...

Tonight is a very significant night on my blog. This will be my final blog for now, and if my health continues to improve, it will be the final chapter on this Cancer Journey. I hope I am now cured and can work back to full fitness and health and join the world of the healthy again.

Tuesday I return to work. It may begin as half days initially as I will be very aware of my limitations, and not surprisingly, physically I have some challenges yet to deal with.

My weight remains 10 Kg under my correct weight, yet I am eating well which simply means I am struggling to absorb nutrients.

I still have one blood clot left to get rid of (I had 3 which date back to post Chemo and Radio Therapy caused by the second PICC line), hopefully the ongoing Clexane injections will achieve this but there is no guarantee apparently. More tests coming so fingers crossed.

This week was another really busy one. Sylvia and I went on the Variety V2Classic motorcycle ride which ran Thursday through Sunday, and what a great event it was. You may have seen the ch 10 news last Thursday where they ran an awesome story on it. I managed 3 brief spots on it despite not riding my Harley. As I mentioned last week, I got permission to participate by following the bikes with Black Beauty.

Despite the love of my new car, nothing quite does it like riding the Harley, and especially given the weather was text book perfect. What a fantastic event. Congrats to all the organisers, and to Ray and Jan who set up the route.

I spent Friday, all day in the chopper with Matt, the young pilot assigned to the event. Mark Pickards chopper, his generosity is beyond any normal business owner and the chopper really makes the razzz ma tazzz of a fabulous event.

Mark is the new event chair, and was announced last night. He will be awesome, and is sure to kick the event along to a new high.

I spent an entire day in the Chopper on Friday. It is a long story how this entire day in the chopper happened but the short story is that it was just luck for me.

We stayed 2 nights at Clare Country Club, one of the guys had to be dropped back to Adelaide on Friday first thing. Given I was able to leave Black Beauty at the Hotel I jumped into the chopper for the run into Adelaide and back. When we arrived at Parafield there was a surprise return passenger waiting for us. Jane from Parachilna Prairie Hotel who had missed her plane earlier is a friend of Douglas (Mark's partner)  and rang him on an off chance he could help. Douglas wanted to help out Jane and so she jumped on board to head north.

Then it became known that the shadow Federal and State Tourism Ministers were all due to meet Jane for lunch at her Hotel, so we ended up flying her across the Flinders and delivered her just 50 meters from her dining room and lunch. Not bad hey!!

What a day. we refilled and then headed back to Melrose, the third stop for the day. There we picked up a couple of V2ers and flew back to Clare following the bikes from above.

So in short we left at 8am, returned at 4pm...and I didn't leave the chopper for more that about an hour!

The BONUS...Got pics of our old Peterborough family home, our old Toop Garage and then we did the same in Orroroo. How cool is that. I haven't been to either place in years, I now have close up arial shots of the my childhood homes and Garages that we grew up in from the air.

The locals must have wondered what the hell was going on with a chopper doing a "Main Street" in both towns, and then circling low before heading off and on to Parachilna.

More on the chopper flights. Sylvia was lucky enough to get a ride too, only her ride was on Thursday. She by pure luck managed to fly over a stack of Adelaide Hills properties that we know including our own... Battunga. Our new driveway was still going in on Thursday and she took the first areal pics of our property with the new drive. Very cool indeed.

Enough of all that...but the V2 Classic is a must for any of you who ride bikes, and we raise a lot of money for kids in need so it is a feel good event all around.

I didn't end up riding a bike at all which was a bit disappointing. I really didn't feel up to a big ride however I assumed I would do at least one leg on someone's bike. I must admit, I think the real reason I didn't was that I am not too keen riding mates bikes. Motor bikes I find are very personal and I find it odd getting on another persons bike. Renting a bike feels different, and so its nothing to do with physically riding the bike, just the fact it is someone else's pride and joy.

Health. I have been doing more and more physical stuff over the past two weeks. My stamina has improved, but my fitness remains appalling. Two weeks ago I could hardly lift a thing, today I was lifting some 450x 450 pavers ok. I was using a shovel today, but I am sore tonight... but all good.

More mile stones. Sylv and I were even dancing last night, went ok (apart from being a very average dancer but nothing to do with cancer). We had some reasonably late nights, and I did the auction with Curly (Peter Curtis) on Friday night which I surprised myself, felt OK. This was my first auction in five months, but my first real test will be in front of 900 people next Saturday night, scary stuff.

Side effects. My memory was impacted after my Diverticular surgery in January 2011, and the same seems to have happened this time. I have struggled recalling names. It took ages to come good last time, I am hoping it will return more quickly this time. Not remembering names is not ideal in my world, especially with big auctions when the pressure is really on.

Sylv and I have had a very quiet night tonight, but things seem to be returning to their normal ridiculously flat out normal...mmmm! We seem to live busy lives, and we must like it??

Back to work. Sylvia cannot wait for Tuesday. She officially hands over the reins to me (with a massive smile) this Tuesday and I take up residence in my office, the fish bowl, at head office on The Parade. She has been awesome and I owe her, the kids and our staff a great deal. They have done a remarkable job, Team Toop you rock. Thank you.

To all who may still read this blog, a massive thank you to you too. The support and the well wishes have been extremely humbling. I have no idea how I will ever repay the kindness and the affection that I have been privileged to receive over the past five months. I have no doubt it has been instrumental in my recovery.

How can I ever effectively thank all of you? All I am able to say right at the moment is a massive THANK YOU!!

I hope I now have a 30 year stint of not calling on your kindness and support again. I would love to have a run of good health, I assure you I have an entirely new respect for good health. I even started talking to some social smokers last night trying to share my learnings with them...it fell on deaf ears.

I now know that keeping healthy is not a right, it is a privilege.

I hope I don't become a pain in the arse with friends who abuse their health, but I do care and I know first hand of the impact that sickness has on those closest to you.

To all bloggers, you have helped me more than you could ever know.

Where to from here? From this coming Saturday, anyone interested in Real Estate will see my InsideStory column reappear. I hope you enjoy reading them. I will be back on my tweets too, and Toop.TV. Tim has been such a huge support hosting radio and Toop.TV, and the guys have carried the load on my charity auctions as well.  It has been such an big ask to cover for me, a massive effort and so appreciated.

The Medical World. I have discovered an entirely new world, the world of the sick. There are so many people who live in this world and an army of those who support it. To all of you, it has been a privilege to meet and understand what goes on, and to witness the unspoken quiet pain and suffering so many endure with courage beyond belief. You are amazing.

Prof Watson, all at FMC and  F-Troop, Tabitha, Kevin and all the nurses and radio therapists, the pathology staff....Jack, and the list has become so long...literally hundreds of people who I have met and who have helped...you all have a special place in my heart. To the hospitals and staff, Flinders Medical Centre, Burnside Hospital and Calvary...I know my way around all of your hospitals now as well as St Andrews.

The journos, Karen, Mel and Sam for reporting my issues in an accurate and kind way and when it was all hitting the fan, for giving me some slack.

To all who have text, written, emailed and called...they have given me strength and encouragement. I am on so many prayer lists, thank you.

I sure hope I can stay off the sick list for a long time now and rebuild back to full health to have the strength to put back into our community again.

We live in a very special and privileged place with very special people.

Love to you all.

Anthony