The Mask

I went back to the AMC hospital today to get prepared for my radiotherapy treatment.

I had a mask made for me that will hold my head in exactly the same position each time I have radiotherapy. See if you can pick which one is me...

They carried out a CT scan with the mask on so that they could literally mark a target on the mask for the radiologist to aim at. They injected a tracer so that they can see the bloodflow patterns during the scanning process. Almost too easy...

My first radiotherapy treatment will be on the 9th of April

The Garth Brown Testimonial Cricket Match

On Saturday 29th of March, we gave Garth Brown an official send-off to London with a testimonial indoor cricket match.

Garth 'McKenzie' Brown and I (David 'Shane' Bond) were the two team captains, and it proved to be a real nail-biter.

In a 16-over innings, my team set the target of 98. Garth's team was hit hard by some great fielding, to be left with 50 runs required off 4 overs. In an unbelievable turn of events, they managed to do just that! If only Richie Benaud was there, he would have had the time of his life.

All of the lads made a healthy donation to the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand, bringing together a total of 180 Euro (NZD360). Check out the charity sites by following the links to the right of this blog to see how they are progressing.

Many thanks to Mike 'Whitney' Berry, who organised the event, and also did a great job of representing the beige brigade. Also a big thanks to Michael 'Mark' Taylor and the International School of Amsterdam for the use of their gymnasium.

Maximum Heartrate

For the next phase in my training program for the Monaco Ironman, I need to find out my maximum heartrate for swimming, cycling and running.

As I was in New Zealand last week for a friend's wedding, I decided to find out my max HR for running, as there are great hills there that we do not have in Amsterdam.

I ran 5km up a steady incline, then straight up one of the steepest hills on my parents' farm until I could go no further.

I had a max HR of 192 beats per minute (which I counted while lying on my back after reaching my limit!)

It was great to visit home and touch base. Mum and Dad's cat Barry was happy to see me...

Dutch Fundraising Site Online

For those of you who would prefer Dutch to English, I have set up the following fundraising webpage:

http://www.geefsamen.nl/bondy4brains

This is to fundraise for the Hersenstichting. All details are included on the site.

Now there is a competition between The Netherlands and New Zealand to see who can raise the most money!

English Language Fundraising Site

The fundraising site for the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand is online at http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/bondy4brains

So go ahead and follow in my footsteps...

Bondy

Fundraiser!!

I have found out about the possibility of doing the Monaco Ironman as a fundraiser. I am currently setting this up for both the Hersenstichting (Dutch Brain Foundation) and the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand.

I will post the details on this site when they are available. Feel free to email me at bondy4brains@gmail.com if you want me to let you know when either fundraising website has been completed. I expect to have them up and running within a week from now.

Preventative Treatment

I found out over a month after the operation, that the tumour was benign ie. not cancer. This was great news!

They did find however in a follow-up scan that there was a small piece of remaining tissue. This was either scar tissue or leftover tumour. Just to be on the safe side, I am going to have preventative radiation therapy. If they simply left the tissue there to see if it grew, and then found that it was leftover tumour, they would have to operate once again, and take some brain tissue as well. I have grown very attached to my brain, so radiation therapy is the best option.

There is however some possible side effects including fatigue and hair loss. I will not have all my hair fall out as I would with chemotherapy, but I will get a semi-permanent bald spot on the left side of my head where the radiation enters, and a smaller bald spot on the right side of my head where it exits. Some friends and I were discussing this last week, and we came to the conclusion that I should put a bag of potatoes beside my head with each treatment, and have a bag of chips for the trip home!

I am still 110% intending to compete in Monaco, and will have medical clearance from the surgeon within three months of the Ironman. If I am not healthy enough at that point, I will compete the following year.

Back To The Real World

I decided that I would retire from rugby as I cannot play for a year as my skull needs to heal properly. Being a lad from NZ, I needed something to fill the void, so I entered the triathlon world.

I am entering in the Monaco half Ironman http://www.monaco-ironman.com/

It is 1.9km swim, then 90km cycle followed by a 21.1km run (half marathon). It will take place on September 7th 2008.

I can already swim 2km without any problems, and I have bought an aluminium frame triathlon bike which I am getting more and more comfortable with as time goes on.

Running around a rugby field was always fun, but running the streets was not my idea of a good time. This has changed though as I have dropped 8kg, and am changing from the body shape of a front row forward to a triathlon nerd. I don't have so much to carry anymore, and I am following in Forrest Gump's footsteps.

The Recovery

I ended up returning home after 6 days. On Christmas Day, I was able to work for 4-5 hours on our new house without running out of energy, I rode my bike (a very important step in Amsterdam) and I had my first beer - and words cannot describe how good it tasted!!!

The Operation

Due to my age, and the fact that my tumour was so large, I was scheduled for an operation 6 days later on December 14th. They told me that there was a chance that I could lose some or all nerve connections to the right side of my body. They also said that the operation would take 5 hours.

As it was only 6 days until the operation, I was not overly concerned, as I felt that although it would be very difficult to deal with if I lost the feeling on the right side of my body, I would not worry unless it happened.

I went under for the operation, and I found out afterwards that it ended up being 12 hours long due to a complex blood vessel structure in the tumour. I remember the surgeon waking me up (1.5 hours after the operation) and asking me to wiggle all my fingers and toes, and they all moved!!! I was so relieved, and so thankful to the surgeon.

I did however look a little worse for wear...

Once upon a time...

I am from New Zealand, but have been out of the land of the long white cloud for about five years now. The last 3.5 years, I have been living here in Amsterdam in Holland, the land of the clogs.

All was going very well indeed until 8 December 2007. I woke up with a huge headache, and although I had cosumed a few beers the night before, it was not a hangover. I have had a total of about 5 headaches in my entire life, and none had ever compared to this.

My girlfriend Claire took me to the hospital, and after a CAT scan, they informed me that I had a brain tumour in my front left lobe the size of a tennis ball.