We Can Beat It

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and happy New Year

2012-01-05T14:10:00.002+11:00

It is hard to believe that it is now 2012. I hope all my readers had a wonderful Christmas holiday and that the New Year celebrations all went well.

Christmas was spent at home, with my brother Kevin and sister-in-law Jill spending time with us before travelling onto New Zealand. Between Christmas and New Year, we spent time with Rob and Melinda in Port Stephens - sailing - which was wonderful. Then New Year was in the City of Sydney to see the fireworks. The 9pm were seen from the Cahill Expressway road (special tickets as they blocked the road for the evening) and midnight from Circular Quay (where we could only really see the Sydney Harbour Bridge!)

A very relaxing ten days off work and to return as Dean of the UWS Law School for our Courses Decision Day on 3rd January. AS a lot of people return to work, the sunshine has come out in its full glory and temps hit 40c! Thank goodness for air conditioning....

Two years today.... A phone call not to forget

2011-11-16T09:22:00.002+11:00

I cannot believe that two years ago today - 16th November, I was driving to Canberra for a Council of Australian Law Deans meeting at the ANU. My mobile phone went off in the car near Lake George. My GP doctor - Terry - called to say he had the CT scan results and the news was not good.

I pulled off the main road and parked on the hard shoulder, while he said it was cancer - probably Hodgkins - I needed a specialist, which he would arrange.

The rest of the story is well recorded in this Blog. Life has returned to "normal" and it is hard to imagine it occurred. On Monday I had my regular check up and all is still good and clear. I do not spend too much time thinking about it, but it is never far from my memory. But it is nice to plan the future again.

Week 4 - Botley and London

2011-10-15T06:24:00.002+11:00

After our trip to France it was back to the UK - entering Portsmouth by ferry to be asked by a customs officer "where are you staying?" My brothers house, I reply and the the follow up - "have you been before?" - go figure!

Monday was spent catching up with Mike and Audrey (Chris's mum) and then up to Winchester and to Overton for dinner with my niece Kate and Ian.

Tuesday was a mellow day with time to play with Louisa (nearly three) and nephew Carl and Katie. Chris cooked a wonderful Welsh lamb roast and a final pints with friends Dave and Michelle in the Bugle Pub in Botley.

Wednesday was the train up to London - off at Waterloo and the tube across London to Walthamstow to stay with Julian. Really relaxing time before travelling into the Angel to meet up with friends in The Bull pub and a curry afterwards.

Thursday was the tourist day - down to Churchill's War Rooms (amazing as they were built under a ministry of defence building and known as No 10 annex. Churchill slept there and did broadcasts and lots of map rooms etc.

Then a walk down to Parliament (big ben looking great) and across the bridge to south bank and the London eye. Drizzle started but only lightly :)

Walked along the south bank to the Globe theatre (a replica of Shakespeare' original London theatre). Very interesting tour.

Then walking across London Bridge to Spitalfields to find the Hummingbird cafe for cup cakes.

Back to Liverpool station to get a train to E17 and meet Kate, Mark and Anne at The Castle pub and dinner in the Village Kitchen. The pork belly roast was amazing. It was also 30 years since Mark, Julian and I went to university together - quite a celebration!

So today, Friday 14th Oct, is the last day. After a big brekkie at Julian's place, it was off to Henley upon Thames for a perfect ploughman's lunch in a pub called the Argyl (found on google!) And then a walk along the thames where the famous rowing regatta occurs and then an afternoon tea in the Red Lion Hotel!

Finally dropped off at Terminal 3 of Heathrow - checked in and waiting in the BA/QANTAS Club for boarding our flight back to Sydney.

This has been a really amazing four weeks and hard to believe in Nov 2009 it looked like I might never travel again - what a blessing.

Will there be any work emails awaiting my return on Monday morning?

Week 3 - France

2011-10-12T01:31:00.001+11:00

Well after some lovely family time and recovery from tripping around Rome (plus clothes washing) - it was time to sail to France. With Rob and Chris (and others) we took two cars across on the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo.

The car ferry is huge and once on board it is like a cruise ship including a four course dinner. Then off to a cabin, as we arrive at 6am (leaving at 8pm) - had continental breakfast before driving south for three hours.

Rob's French house is just south of Bordeaux and north of the Loire Valley - below Nantes and in from La Rochelle. They have had the farm house for 20 years. We had a great bbq on the first night after shopping at Super U.

Next few days were spent eating and drinking cheeses, wines, meats, and a variety of items we do not normally have in Australia. Having nine people, meant practical things like cooking and washing up were done quickly.

A day at the sea-side - the Atlantic ocean at a place called Les Sables de L'Onne - this is where the Vendee Global (around the world) yacht race starts. It was cold and windy, but not raining - had fish with chips for lunch - so French. Again we did a bbq sea-food dinner of prawns, salmon and sardines and lots of salads.

Saturday morning involved watching the rugby union world cup games where England was beaten by France, but Wales won (as did Australia and New Zealand). An English couple who live in the same village Tbx, has sky TV and made bacon & egg rolls.

Then off to the markets at Fontenay la Comte - nice coffee and bought some presents.

The last dinner was a five course meal at La Mouliniere (the lake restaruant). It was excellent - great food quality and good choice of wines etc. I even had a Pernod to start!

Then up early to drive five hours to get the ferry back from Caen to Portsmouth.

The last week will be spent in London.

Week Two - Rome

2011-10-05T02:22:00.002+11:00

The train trip from Berlin to Roma was amazing. Rather nice to travel first class. The sleeper was very small, but to be awoken to a continental breakfast in Munich. Then changed trains down to Bologna and again onto Rome - arriving at 7pm. Taxi to the hotel in Centro Statio - the old centre of city by Piazza Novona.

Breakfast on the sixth floor terrace with views of St Pauls, Spanish Steps and the supreme court!

Highlights were the Colesseum (3 hour tour), the Vatican (4 hour tour) and the food. In reality the whole place was amazing and for five days we walked around and enjoyed the history, the buildings and the many, many restaurants.

Having an expresso at banco (bar) rather than at a table was one euro (compared to five or six euros). Prices were reasonable compared to Australia, particularly with the current exchange rates. Lunch was about €10 and dinner about €50 with beer and wine.

An afternoon was spent drinking a pitcher of Peronoi in Campo de Fiori (with free wi fi) for €10 - a bargain. The markets had been there all day and were being transformed into a party square at night.

Of all the paintings we enjoyed I was really taken with one of the Raphaello rooms in the Vatican, called School of Athens - had all the leading philosophers, but their faces were contemporary artists of the day - amazing.

Now off to the UK to be met by my brother Rob and Christine for a few days R&R in the UK - Botley - before heading to France.

Week One - Berlin

2011-09-26T16:11:00.003+10:00

Last Sunday I flew out of Sydney to Singapore on route to Berlin. At the QANTAS Club bumped into friends Grant and Robynanne, who were on the same flight!

Singapore was a great stop-over, with a train from the airport to our hotel at Lavender station. After some sleep, we had a look at Marina Bay Sands complex and then a river 'bum-boat' cruise. Finally, a gin-sling at Raffles famour Long Bar before heading back to fly to London.

At Heathrow we flew out of Terminal 5 to Berlin's Tegal airport and our friend Sally was waiting. Berlin was great - Gavin has been working for the Australian government in Germany for nearly three years. So great personal tours and lots of social activities.

Highlights included a 3 hour river cruise, the Reichstag (Parliament), Brandenburg Gate, lakes, old Jewish area (the Hoffs), Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall, Pergamon museum, Jewish memorial and lots of bier and sausages!

Sunday was the Berlin marathon (we watched) and went to a church plant called Berlin Connect (which grew out of Hillsong in Sydney and then London).

Caught a First Class sleeper train from Berlin to Munich and then on to Rome for the next week of my study tour.

Last two weeks

2011-09-05T21:59:00.001+10:00

How time flies by? The last couple of weeks have been flat out with my new work role as Dean elect of UWS Law School.

A few weekends ago our cousin Theo came to stay. We had lots of fun, although he had a terrible journey up from Canberra. A highlight was going to a photo exhibition by Phillip Quirk of Oxford Street Landscapes. We also went to hear some Christian bands at Gospel Live in Manly.

Last week I was working in Brisbane for a few days. It was really good for my research into the goverance of SME corporations. On the Wednesday it was the 75th anniversary of UQ Law School. They celebrated witha Town and Gown debate, which was really entertaining - a friend Larelle from ANU even won an iPad in the lucky door draw.

I have been really enjoying running a few times a week 3-4km and then on Saturdays going down to Manly for an 8km run. This is preparation for the Harbour Bridge fun run on 18th Sept.

Yesterday, was Father's Day and the girls made me a wonderful 'high tea' - this involved a full cake stand with home-made sausage rolls, sandwiches, baby croissants and a top layer of home-made cup cakes the size of a thumb and caramel slice, the size of a little pinky finger - yum. Very special with Assam tea in fine bone china from my grandmother - Bertha. There were pressies and a great time was had watching the classic Australian movie "The Castle".

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Reflections on week ending 7th Aug 2011

2011-08-07T20:26:00.001+10:00

I have decided to write my Blog on a weekly basis, with some reflections on the week. I am writing this while listening to a radio show called "Open House" where Professor John Lennox is being interviewed - he is a professor of maths at Oxford University and a leading Christian commentator.

The week started with the beginning of the Spring (second) semester at UWS. It has been decided that the School of Law will be separated from the College of Business and I have been named Dean-elect for the Law School. I take over as Dean (rather than my current role as Head of School) on 1st Janauary 2012 until 31st December 2015. I am excited at leading the Law School forward over the next five years.

It was also the 'Horses Birthday" - so I thought it was time to start running (jogging) again. So Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I managed 3km runs. On Saturday I ventured down to Manly and after buying some 2XU compression shorts (like Skins) completed a gentle 6km run.

Workwise had two highlights which included a really positive faculty (school staff) meeting and teaching a first year introduction to business law (IBL) tutorial. Since being Head/Dean, I have not taught an ordinary class for a long time. It was so much fun.

It was also Lucy's 19th birthday, which was a great family celebration. I drove her into a law tute in the City and we discussed law issues for most of the journey!

We managed to get to the movies to see 'Red Dog' - very Australian, but really enjoyable.

The other personal highlight is making plans for Sept/Oct when I am on study leave from UWS. The trip is to collect materials on European SMEs (small-medium enterprises) that are compared to Australian regulation. I fly to Berlin, Germany and then Rome, Italy and finally, London, England. All are great cities with different histories and very different laws and regulations per country. Europe is complex as there are domestic laws as well as European Union laws.

More details will follow of this trip.

This week has been glorious in Sydney with ten days above 20C and lots of sunshine - not a bad winters week. But next week, it is back to rain and 14C average. That will make running and jogging much harder....

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

One year on since Mum died - 2nd August

2011-08-02T16:16:00.002+10:00

I cannot believe it is a year since my poor brother had to call me to say my mum had passed away in hospital. Time really has flown by. A lot of things have occurred some bad, but a lot of good things have also happened.

It is quite strange to think that this time in 2010 we were getting excited about Lucy turning 18 years old - "an adult" - her party - awaiting an appointment with a specialist for radiation (glad that is all over) - then a quick flight back to the UK with Jess for the funeral and spend time with family and friends.

Yesterday, the "Horses Birthday" (1st August) was a milestone as I went for my first run in a whole year - only did 3km - but it is a start. Also managed a game of squash and managed to win four out of the five game match. So live is returning to some degree of "normality".

This Blog entry is dedicated to Jean Mary Adams - our Mum - Rest In Peace.

31st July - Sydney Aroma Festival 2011

2011-07-31T17:51:00.002+10:00

I cannot believe it is a year since we went to the Sydney Aroma Festival in the Rocks and around Circular Quay. The Aroma Festival is all about coffee and chocolate (and associated foods and desserts). We took Lucy and James in with us to experience the city on another beautiful Sydney afternoon. There were thousands of people, so parked down at the Hungry Mile (soon to be re-named Bangeroo Sydney Development (LINK) and walked up the long stairs to the Observatory Hotel and into The Rocks area. The Festival had hundreds of stalls and the Rocks Markets were all open.

I tried two different coffees - Daniels and then Craves - both very good as a long black (expresso with some hot water). All coffees were served in biodegradable cups and on the smaller size, but only costs $2 - a bargain. Lots of food stalls - so tried a meatball wrap and Lucy liked a home-made lemonade.

A few hours flew by and then home to do some domestic jobs! A lovely simple weekend.

30th July 2011 - last game of baseball for the season

2011-07-31T17:44:00.002+10:00

I cannot believe the Winter baseball season has come to an end! The Bandits did not have a great season, but probably as we were in 3rd grade rather than our preferred 4th grade competition. We have not made the play-offs - first time in four years!

For the last game at Aquatic No 3 Diamond we had 17 out of our 18 players turn up. We beat the Jets by one run (6 : 5) - I managed to play half a game at second base and outfield - but scored a good run.

After the game, the players were joined by wives, girlfriends and children - for a BBQ and beer/wine. It was very social. The weather was a perfect Sydney winter's day - 18c while game was on, with blue sky and no clouds and lots of sunshine. By 4.30pm the light was fading and temps were dropping. Until next season - time - until we "play ball" and "step up to the plate".

Reflections on AHMO trip

2011-07-23T11:53:00.003+10:00

Juliet Victor Alpha 50 miles view from Bathurst Rod the Pilot

This week has been amazing - I really enjoyed meeting so many farmers and miners - sharing faith and roast dinners. The plane was known as Juliet - a Piper Lance - which had the call sign JVA. My pilot and the guy that runs Aussie Harvest Mens Outreach. It was such a blessing to travel with him and meet the men across country NSW. It helped remind me how big Australia is - from the air strip in Narromine to Bathurst - we could see 50 miles - amazing. The picture is a view from the aircraft, looking towards the Blue Mountains as we flew towards Bathurst.

It was a very busy week, but very enjoyable. Always nice to be home.

Friday 22nd July

2011-07-22T11:39:00.002+10:00

Last night at Bathurst was a great roast dinner at the RSL Club and 25 men to hear my story of Cancer and Faith. It was a late night as we started later, I talked longer and many guys wanted to chat and pray.

Slept well at John and Barbara's place in Bathurst. Rod and I got up at 6am with the rental car to drive home. The air temp was to cold to fly, so we drove back to Sydney.

Although the Blue Mountains were cold and the M4 blocked - so slow - but safely driven.

A wonderful opportunity to bless and be blessed by Aussie Harvest Mens Outreach. A week to remember.

Thursday 21st July

2011-07-21T16:18:00.002+10:00

Got up early and it was just above freezing. Had an excellent hot shower and the smell of Bruce's bacon and egg to warm us up before our flight to Bathurst.

The weather looked liked it was closing in, so we got to the airstrip early. The flight was amazing - such a blue sky and clear visability - 50 miles or so.

We dropped into Bathurst airport after a commercial Rex flight. Ian was waiting with us with a car. It looks like it is too cold to fly over the Blue Mountains to Camden - so we plan to drive.

One more Men's Talk tonight at Bathurst RSL.

Wednesday 20th July

2011-07-21T16:11:00.003+10:00

Nice flight up from Barraba to Narromine. Landed on a great air strip and met by a wonderful retired farmer called Bruce. His son Warrick is a friend and works at a local Parramatta law firm that has 40% of its lawyers are graduates from UWS.

Bruce sorted us out with a cup of tea and drove us to Tomingley. A pub called the Crossroads Hotel was our location and a roaring fire and a pork roast dinner was spot on. My talk generated a lot of questions.

Drove back to Narromine and I had a sleep, in preparation for the evening talk. The evening talk was at Narromine Memorial Services Club. About 25 men came to the dinner - we met at the bar and then had a separate room for dinner. It was an excellent evening and I slept well.

Thursday it is off to Bathurst.

Tuesday 19th July

2011-07-20T08:01:00.003+10:00

From Lightning Ridge Road and I drove in a 4WD across country to a mining "town" called Grawin. The main road has been cut by the Queensland floods in January, so we had to drive an extra 30km on red dirt roads detour. The Club in the Scrub was simply amazing. About 16 miners turned up to enjoy a beef stew for lunch and to hear me talk about faith and cancer. We had a great question time around health issues and services in the Bush.

We drove back to Lightning Ridge and Rod flew me to Barraba. Dean met us at the airstrip (grass) and took us to his farm, where his wife Penny and kids had a cup of tea ready. The meeting was at the local footy club - really nice facilities - about 25 men came to eat bbq chickens and home-made salads. The club house had a roaring fire (it was below zero outside) and a microphone. One of the men, Ian, was a chartered secretary and was aware that I had been the President of CSA, which was really nice. My talk, which normally is about 30 minuters went for 45 minutes, but they asked great questions. We got "home" to Dean's farm about 11pm - I was so tired after two talks in one day. I slept well.

Tomorrow (Wed) we fly on to a town called Narromine and have two talks lined up. It is cold but dry and wind is OK - Rod says "it is good to go".

Monday 18th July

2011-07-18T22:16:00.003+10:00

The day started with a quick drive with Jess (on her L plates) to buy Lucy's birthday present and then back to Vic and Paul's new cafe at Forestway (Blends Cafe). Then I drove down to Camden airport - about 1.5 hours south. Rod of Aussie Harvest Mens Outreach was waiting with the Piper Lance plane. There was a second pilot, Barry, who took us to Dubbo. Then Rod flew us on to Lightning Ridge. Rev Mike of the local Anglican church picked us up at the air strip.

After a cup of tea (no phone reception) felt ready for my first talk at the local bowling club. About 10 men were there and after either steak or fish n chips (followed by caramel dessert) I spoke for about 40 minutes on" Faith and Cancer". Quite a lot of questions, which was really interesting.

Now sleeping at Rev Mike's house before setting off for Grawin and the "Club in the Scrub" tomorrow lunch time and Barraba for dinner.

New adventure

2011-07-15T22:26:00.003+10:00

I have decided to take a week off work and have been asked to go on a talking tour of far west NSW for Aussie Harvest Mens Outreach - LINK - it is a chance to talk to country men about health and faith and the world at large.

It involves flying with Rod (my pilot) in a Lancer Piper plane to Lightening Ridge and beyond.

More details to follow.......

One year clear

2011-07-15T22:18:00.002+10:00

Last Friday (8th July 2011) I was required to have a blood test and a CT scan, to test for any signs of cancer. On Monday I saw my specialist, Dr Matthew, to be told I am in the all clear - one whole year cancer free. Thus thought it was worth writing a blog.

I did not realise how stressed I felt but there was such a sense of relief when he told me it was all clear and I do not have to come back to the end of year. Last Friday, I found out that although I do not have cancer in my body, but I do have bronchitis! The wonders of modern antibiotics and a steroid based puffer (inhaler) does wonder!

236 posts and a year of stats

2010-12-30T17:53:00.003+11:00

Well this is probably my last post as 2011 is very close and a new chapter of life and the journey moves on. There have been 236 posts to the Blog in the 12 months of blogging and we have achieved our aim - to beat the cancer.

There have been 5,236 unique visitors to my Blog and they have made a total of 12,923 visits - looking at an amazing 38,625 pages!

The home page had the most visits at 16,654 (which is not a surprise) and this was followed by the Salomon case page (5,928 visits) and the Donoghue v Stevenson page (3,018 visits).

Visits were made from 103 different countries with Australia at the top (8,099 - no surprise), then UK, Canada, Malaysia and USA.

46% were direct traffic to the Blog and 45% through a search engine (Google) and the remainder via Facebook.

Thank you for everyone that has read the Blog and provided feedback, comments, emails, prayers and support. Wishing you all a wonderful 2011.

One year old - the Blog

2010-12-27T12:56:00.002+11:00

I cannot believe the Blog is one year old. This 2010 Christmas is very different to last year! This year we had Christmas at Nelson Bay (where Melinda and Rob live) which was relaxing and surrounded by my Australian family. It was great chatting on skype with Rob, Chris, Carl, Katie and baby Louisa - the wonder of technology.

It is also as we sat in 28c heat and humidity, to see the UK in freezing conditions and New York in huge snow storms. What a world - even a lot of Queensland has major flooding.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2011.

Few days before Christmas

2010-12-21T10:40:00.002+11:00

It is so hard to imagine that this time last year I was just starting my second round of chemo! We had visitors from the UK - Lee & Amy and then my brother, Kevin & Jill, and then Kate and Ian - my memory is a little blurred at best.

Also, I look at the pictures of the UK with snow, while it is pretty hot in Sydney - what a contrast.

Lucy has received her HSC results (like A levels) and did very well - she can get into most university degree courses now - so the big question is "which one?" Jess also did very well in the School Certificate and she is changing schools for Years 11/12. So 2011 will be a very different year for all of us.

UWS has been very busy wrapping up student results, Graduation, budgets for 2011 and other academic matters. We finish on Christmas Eve and will be back when the university opens on 4th January.

Wishing all the blog readers a wonderful Christnas and New Year - thank you for your support on my journey.

A cold and another Awards night

2010-12-03T11:54:00.002+11:00

I have managed to get my first full cold since all my treatment and it is not nice, but know it will go. On Wednesday, Sydney decided for the first day of summer to have its wettest day in months. So while full of cold I drove to Parramatta to work and then onto Campbelltown (students results meeting) and then to Penrith (to film a TV show "Small Biz Central") and then back home - round trip of about 160km!

Then that evening it was Jessica's Mercy School Awards Night at Riverview School. Jess won a Distinction Award and a Merit Award, as well as receiving her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award - so all in all a very good evening. A year ago I came out of hospital, after starting chemo, to attend the Mercy Awards night when Lucy and Jess both got a number awards. This will be the last time as Lucy has now finished school and Jess is moving to Freshwater Senior campus for Years 11/12.

Year ago I started chemo - where did the time go?

2010-12-01T08:56:00.002+11:00

Today is a special anniversary in my journey. A year ago, after a few weeks in hospital and lots of tests, the doctors worked out a treatment plan.

To help Lucy and Jessica understand, they came to the hospital to see me have my first round of chemo. That is a mixture of tablets and IV drips.

Halfway through, while on a saline drip, we all went to the Gloria Jeans coffee shop on the ground floor of RNS. Little did I know what it was like to do this for 21 days and eight cycles - but it was the start.

Now a year later, it has been the normal Christmas functions, leaving events, student results and the fun of the end of another academic year.

I am amazed how normal life is and how this time last year was a dream.

Another mile stone

2010-11-21T20:08:00.003+11:00

UWS Law Staff baseball team (in red) against Law students (in blue)

I am finding it hard to believe that 12 months ago I was admitted into hospital with my Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer - the beginning of a long process with a happy ending!

This Friday was the UWS Law Alumni dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney. The keynote speaker was the Hon Justice Peter McClelland, who is the Chief Judge of the Common Law Division of the NSW Supreme Court. We were honoured to have the UWS Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor present, as well as Sir Laurence Street, Hon Brian Sully QC and Emeritus Professor Dave Barker plus 130 guests. It was an excellent evening and UWS law students and law alumni can be very proud of the whole event.

Then on Saturday the UWS Law Staff played the UWS Law students played baseball. This took place at the Olympic Baseball diamonds at Rooty Hill (in Sydney). It was a beautiful day (the game was rained off a few weeks ago) and the Law Staff won the game 18 to 5. It was my first baseball game in 14 months and managed to get a couple of runs and had fun.

One Year on since the first phone call!

2010-11-16T11:53:00.002+11:00

I cannot believe it is exactly one year since I took the original phone call from my GP doctor to say that I had "cancer". It was one of those live changing moments which you cannot really forget, but the details will blur!

For those who might have forgotten, my doctor had sent me for a CT scan on the Saturday and on the Monday I was driving to Canberra for a meeting of the Council of Australian Law Deans when my mobile rang in the car.

I pulled off the road, as when a doctor calls you, one knows it is not good news! Dr Terry, wanted to see me as soon as possible and a specialist appointment for the Thursday was made..... that was the beginning.....

Interesting week

2010-11-15T21:15:00.001+11:00

This week has been lovely from the warmth of early summer to making headway with the Parramatta Community Justice Clinic. The PCJC ran an immigration law clinic in Parramatta Townhall with over 100 people from the community.

On Friday, I got to meet the Federal Attorney-General to discuss the PCJC and its future.

The weekend was hot enough to mow the lawns, have a swim and even buy a few Christmas presents! While putting some leaves from the pool in the compost bin found a small bee hive!

Melissa met up with her mother's group from when Lucy was born - so all the babies are 18 years old and I hear the parents have not changed at all in that time!

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Mowing lawns, swim and other normal stuff

2010-10-31T17:48:00.002+11:00

This weekend has been really nice - quite hot and sticky weather wise - feeling more normal! Friday night started with me giving an "official UWS welcome" to a Sudanese Youth conference. Then Saturday was a quiet day, until the evening, when we went to a new Thai restaurant with Neil and Kathy. A highlight of Saturday was using the skype webcam to see Louisa on her 2nd birthday. Louisa is our great niece and we had sent over to the UK a Dorothy the Dinosaur hooded top. The wonders of modern communication. The afternoon had a few people in the pool, which was fun.

Sunday the front yard (lawn/garden) needed to be mowed. It felt really good to be able to mow it and although hot and sweaty, was fine. To cool down I swam in the pool, which is a lovely temp at the moment.

A major storm is likely to break tonight in Sydney, which should be interesting.

Final consultation with doctor

2010-10-26T18:14:00.002+11:00

Monday was an interesting day. My meeting with Dr Matthew, the consultant, went really well. He was very happy with blood test results and CT scan. This means I am officially in full remission.

But as I have slowly learned, it is never really over! I have to have a blood test in four weeks to check a result on my liver, but nothing to worry about.

So the next visit to the doctor will be at the end of January 2011 - a usual three monthly checkup.

After my good news, I went to see Brenda and she was healing really well at RNS.

Last blood test and CT scan for three months

2010-10-21T19:12:00.002+11:00

Well today was a glorious Sydney spring day, with sunshine pouring in and a very pleasant 24c as I drove Jess to school and on to RNS hospital.

One of my anxieties of going to RNS is how easy will it be to find a car park spot! Well on just level 3 of the seven story carpark there were plenty of good spots - a very positive sign indeed.

I had been fasting from the night before (required for the CT scan) but could have water, which was good. At 8.30am I was in having my full blood tests and all went well.

The CT scan was booked for 9.15am but by the time all the consent forms are done and delays, time slipped by. The first cannula did not go in well, so a more experienced person had another go in my other arm. This enables a contrast dye to be injected for a better image of whatever tumour is still left. The rest of the CT scan went well and I get the results on Monday - when I see Dr Matthew, my specialist.

After the scan I had a coffee and ham, cheese and tomamto toasty. Then a friend, Brenda, who had bad car accident and has a fractured pelvis, is in RNS, was visited. I could not believe how good she looked after such an accident only a few days ago. It took the firebrigade an hour to cut her out of the car and she was clearly surrounded by angels.

First hair cut in 2010

2010-10-17T13:23:00.001+11:00

Back on 3 January Lucy and Jess had the fun of removing the last of my hair, mid the second cycle of chemo.

Well yesterday, Saturday 16 October, my hair had grown enough to warrant a haircut - really just a trim - but a good sign.

Hair can grow back curly and a different colour than your pre-chemo hair. Mine has come back straight as before - a little lighter blond and less grey - so quite lucky - but very soft, like baby hair!

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Blog data analysis

2010-10-14T17:19:00.002+11:00

A few people (in person) have been asking how the Blog data from Analytics. With working more days at UWS you will notice I have been blogging less, but will continue a couple of times a week until declared in full remission and then probably only post once a week to the end of the year.

I have just looked at the latest Blog data and analytics shows the following:

* 3,772 unique visitors have actually made 10,572 visits to the Blog

* People have viewed 32,379 pages on the Blog.

* To my amazement, visitors come from 95 different countries with the top five being Australia, UK, Canada, Malaysia and USA

* 49% visitors come directly to the Blog and 41% via search engines

Today (Thursday) is actually a rest day for me (until November) but a meeting had been arrangement with the NSW Minister for Western Sydney (Hon David Borger) in respect of the Parramatta Community Justice Clinic. This was very well worth attending with Maria from the Macquarie Legal Centre, Michaela, the Acting Manager of the PCJC and Geoff, the Associate Dean, Engagement. It was a beautiful day in Sydney (24c and sunny) and the city was sparkling.

Dancing weekend

2010-10-11T13:46:00.003+11:00

This weekend life was dominated (in a good way) by dance. Jess was taking part in a large international Christian dance festival called Project Dance (LINK), which takes place in New York, London, LA, Hong Kong and Sydney! Her local dance/ballet school under Miss Beth, called Living Arts, performed at First Fleet Park (near Circular Quay in Sydney) with lots of other dancers from all over Australia. The weekend started all day on the Friday, where all the girls (and a few boys) learned a group dance, which they did on the hour. Jess and her group of dancers mixed with a group from Toowoomba in Queensland to a great dance (see picture).

Then all day Sunday the dancers had "master classes" at the Urban Dance Studios in Glebe with a mixture of professional and semi-professional dancers. By the end of the weekend, she was exhausted, but felt good to have been exposed to so many quality dancers.

My role was mostly being a driver, provider of funds and food and helping enjoy the whole occasion. But it was good to be doing "normal" things and not having to worry about going to hospital etc.

Day 324 and the end of radiation treatment

2010-10-07T11:58:00.002+11:00

Well it is 324 days since I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer and today was the official last dose of treatment! I had 217 days worth of chemo, followed by a 70 day rest period and now 25 days of radiation treatment. Basically I am deemed to be in partial remission, but soon to be full remission. I have some blood tests and a final CT scan on 21st Oct and then a final review with Dr Matthew on 25th Oct and then (other than quarterly check-ups) thats it.

It is actually hard to believe treatment is really over, but so glad not to be going to RNS hospital everyday. Still no alcohol until after 25th Oct, but I can cope with that one. The main tumour is next to the liver and thus not good having alcohol passing through as it gets zapped!

Thank you for all my family and friends and colleagues that have been so supportive throughout the whole time - it has been a real blessing.

PCJC event and radiation nears the end

2010-10-06T16:38:00.002+11:00

Tuesday was a crazy day. Just as I set off from home for radiation, RNS phoned to say the machines were not working properly and needed to be re-booted.

I arrived and had an hour to wait, so went to book my CT scan and blood tests, ready for my final review on 25 October.

From hospital, I went to work at Parramatta for a big meeting on the re-design (online) of the subject Introduction to Business Law and the Management Committee of the Parramatta Community Justice Clinic (PCJC).

Finally, there was a function on campus to recognise and thank our many partners in the PCJC - which is nearly a year old. About 50 people attended including the Vice Chancellor, NSW Attorney-General, law firms, community law centres and law students etc. I was honoured to be the Master of Ceremonies and link all the speeches.

Although exhausted by the time I got home at 8pm, it had been a successful day.

Long weekend - relaxing

2010-10-04T13:29:00.005+11:00

Although a rainy weekend, it has been a long weekend here (Monday being a public holiday called Labour Day Holiday) has been so relaxing. It has been nice not having to get up and go to hospital for radiation. So only four more days to go!

In between a little shopping as two of our nieces birthdays (Kate's in England and Vanessa in Australia) and a walk at Dee Why beach - it has been reading, cooking and listening to music. I updated a couple of our iPods and printed out a list of all 6,000 songs on iTunes that we own!

I enjoyed cooked a new pasta dish and am planning to cook one of Lucy's favourites tonight - shepherd's pie - as she is studying pretty hard each day. My friend Neil called to catch-up and have a nice coffee at his place, especially as Kathy is away in the UK.

NSW has moved to Daylight Savings (summer time zone) so all clocks moved forward one hour and thus lost an hour of sleep!

Law Graduation Ball

2010-10-04T13:22:00.002+11:00

Friday night was the UWS Law Students' Association Graduation Ball and as the Head of School, it was excellent to attend my 4th LSA Ball at UWS. Doltone House is at Jones' Wharf (just around from the casino in Sydney) and was a great venue. Tim, President of the LSA, made presentations to the Lecturers of the Year for Parramatta and Campbelltown campuses - Katrina and Kara, but neither were present, so I accepted their awards instead.

The 250 students all looked great and were very well behaved. The food was excellent and I gave a small speech of encouragement and the keynote speaker was a barrister, who did his first degree at UWS (went it was Macarthur). Paresh was very funny and insightful for the law students and hit the right note. There was also a jazz band, who played great music all night.

Another week of radiation

2010-09-30T09:08:00.002+10:00

This has been an interesting week, as work at the University gets busier. Radiation treatment has been fine each day with one session moving to 7.45am from the usual 8.45am treatment. The weekly review took three minutes - "how do you feel?" I reply "fine" - Dr says "see you next week!"

One morning, while waiting for the machine, a friendly face from church, Bob M, called by to say "hi". Bob looks after the air-conditioning system at RNS Hospital and tried to catch me a few times. It made that morning fly by.

It is a difficult balancing act to limit what can be done at work without it filling in all available time. I am trying to blace boundaries, but easier said than done - I guess that is true for most people.

One more week to go of radiation treatment, so the end is now in sight.

Blue Mountains weekend

2010-09-27T08:43:00.002+10:00

Spring has really started in the Blue Mountains and there was some real warmth in the air. The drive up to Mt Victoria was slow as a big crash on the M4, Friday night traffic and beginning of school holidays!

We arrived at the house, owned by our friends, Deb and Peter. It was after 7pm, so headed to the local pub (The Imperial Hotel) for yummy fish and chips, as the temperature dropped to 12c.

Lovely, well appointed house, gave us plenty of room and extra comfy beds. After a good night's sleep and a heart cooked brekkie we headed on a bush walk for over an hour. The weather was really kind, in the low 20c and the views across the Kanimbla Valley were amazing.

The afternoon involved a walk around some gardens in Katomba and a devonshire tea (scones, cream and jam).

Saturday night was an Italian dinner at Blackheath - I had lamb shanks - really yum.

Sunday required departure by 10am, so a quick brekkie and a drive on the Bell Lines Road to Karajong for coffee and antique shops. Lunch was a picnic by the river at Windsor, which was hitting 27c! Then a clear drive back home. A very relaxing weekend away to celebrate half-way through radiation.

Half-way through radiation treatment

2010-09-24T11:49:00.002+10:00

Lucy has finally left high school (there was a special Mass at the local church "Our Lady of Dolours" - opposite their school, last night) and has a few weeks of study before the High School Certificate (HSC) examinations start on the 15th October and end for her on the 5th November.

Today marks the half-way point for my radiation therapy and all seems to be going fine. So both these events mean that we are going away to the Blue Mountains for the weekend to relax. I wish it was longer, but radiation continues again on Monday and every work day for the next couple of weeks!

Lucy's graduation awards - very proud

2010-09-22T14:49:00.003+10:00

Today was Lucy's official last day of High School and there was a special "graduation ceremony and awards morning". Each of the 82 girls at Mercy College receive a portfolio, including a certificate that they have completed six years of high school and the requirements of the HSC. Then the top girls in each subject are named as "dux" and "outstanding academic application" plus some additional awards for the whole year. Lucy received eight awards in total, including dux for biology, advanced maths, religion and PDHPE, as well as outstanding in modern history and advanced English. This meant she came second overall in the whole of her year and received the Outstanding Academic Excellence Award.

We are also very proud that she jointly won, with her friend Kirsten, the Janet Freeman Award for being a strong Christian woman. This means her name goes on the school plaque, as you can see above. Well done Lucy, especially in a very tough year.

Lucy's Year 12 Formal

2010-09-20T11:56:00.002+10:00

Saturday was a special day, as Lucy had her Year 12 Formal - as you can see, she looked beautiful. We had six girls and their partners, plus parents for pre-formal drinks and the weather was very kind to us. After lots of photos, a mini-bus turned up to take them to the Marriott at Circular Quay. We drove separately and had a lovely time. There were two tables of parents, one table of teachers and probably sixteen tables of Year 12 girls and their partners. Lucy was on the school formal organising committee and the tables all looked great (in black and silver).

It is hard to believe that she will finish school in a few days and then start the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination from mid-October until 5th November. An end of one stage and the beginning of another.

First quarter of radiation completed

2010-09-17T21:38:00.002+10:00

Each day of radiation is now a routine, with leaving home before 8am - finding a car park outside the radiation centre at RNS and checking in about 8.30am. My appointment is 8.45am - I see the 8.30 lady before me and the 9am man after me!

Five session done - so one quarter completed. All going well so far.

Radiation session two

2010-09-14T12:06:00.002+10:00

Whereas on my first day there was not much parking at RNS radiation, today there were three spar spots! Got in and they decided to switch me from machine two over to machine one - exactly the same radiation machine, but a different colour.

They were very quick to line me up and get the x-ray done and then fire off the four radiation zaps from four different angles and I was done! Very quick and less uncomfortable that yesterday.

I then rushed up to the main hospital to pick up a letter from my specialist (Dr Matthew) about my treatment for Lucy to use, if necessary, for getting into university next year.

I had left home at 8am and was back drinking a coffee at home with Melissa and Samantha by 9.30am - so pretty efficient today and feel good.

300 days since it started

2010-09-13T17:03:00.001+10:00

Today marks the 300th day I have known about my cancer. I had 217 days of chemotherapy and 70 day break before commencing radiation treatment.

How time flies when you are having fun!

While at Gymea Baptist Church on Sunday I met a number of people who had previous had cancer or were in the middle of treatment - they are all on a special journey and my heart goes out to them, especially Brian and his wife.

Radiation starts - one down, 19 to go!

2010-09-13T14:30:00.002+10:00

After a deliberate early night, I was very ready to get up when the alarm went off this morning. In fact, I had spent the last hour thinking and praying about the radiation procedure.

I left home at 8am and made good time to RNS Hospital radiation department (quite different to where I had chemo).

Parking was tricky, but finally got a space and still in time for my 8.45am appointment. You are given a pigeon-hole for your clothes and a gown. Then off to a space age machine - which you lie on while laser lights lock onto your tatto-markings. Then the radiation people disappear and all the instruments move around to exact positions.

After about 15 minutes of lining up, a zapping sound occurs in 30 second blasts and then off to the next position - so four different angles are covered and then it is over....
Until tomorrow!

Spiritual weekend

2010-09-12T19:27:00.001+10:00

This weekend has been very spiritual through two very different religious traditions.

On Saturday, Melissa and I attended the confirmation of our God-daughter, Sarah, into the Catholic church. There was probably 500 people packed into St Kieran's Church to see the Bishop officiate this important sacrement.

It was followed by a family lunch with Craig and Sylvia (Sarah's parents) and a special time.

Sunday was a one hour drive south of Sydney to Gymea Baptist church, where I was asked to talk as part of a series called "Stories of Faith". This was a full baptist service but with me being interviewed by Marc and then a message around Success and Struggle by Paul (both pastors at the church).

I spoke at both the 8.30am and 10.30am services and was amazed at the response to my journey of faith and healing. A real blessing.

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Interesting quote...

2010-09-09T11:44:00.003+10:00

A good friend sent me this interesting quote by Rufus Wainwright today (who lost his mother relatively recently):

"The best thing I've read recently was that your mother gives birth to you twice - once when you are born and then once when she dies. I feel that. I am definitely a different person ..."

Another friend also said "you are now an orphan" and that hit me quite hard in its truth.

I am finding it a really challenging time as I wait for radiation to commence on Monday 16th September - it is so hard to concentrate on anything, but life must go on. I am trying to limit work to Wednesday and Fridays, but that is easier said than done; but it is good to move towards some degree of normality.

Our nephew, Carl, has kindly scanned all my parents wedding photographs, and this one above captures the moment.

Father's day weekend

2010-09-06T11:30:00.002+10:00

The weekend was a time of celebration, with attending a birthday lunch for Craig (turning the big 50) and catching up with lots of friends. Then Sunday was the Australian Father's Day - unfortunately this was a day when I had agreed to a presentation in the afternoon at the Reserve Bank of Australia's training facility at Kiribilli. So as a family we decided to transfer my personal father's day to next Sunday. But we still had a really nice roast dinner and was joined by Melinda, Vanessa, Sam and Hayley, to make it extra special.

Few days at UWS

2010-09-06T11:22:00.002+10:00

Last week was interesting as I decided to go to UWS for a few days, as the radiation treatment does not start until 13th September (then runs every work day for a month)!

On the Wednesday there was an important meeting on our main introductory law subject for business students (Introduction to Business Law or "IBL") which I wish to chair. The Acting Head of the Law School, Mac, has been holding the project together, but it is one I am really interested in and see a really good team doing interesting and innovative things.

Then on the Thursday, I went to the university's head office (where the Vice Chancellor is based) at Werrington (near Penrith) for the Senior Staff Forum (which occurs bi-monthly). It was great to see all the heads of schools, PVCs, Directors of Divisions (administration activities) and DVCs etc. It was also good to come up to speed with what UWS plans to do over the next couple of years (budget wise and technology wise).

Finally on Friday (the day I am to go to UWS each week) I went in for a few hours to clear my desk and catch up with a few specific colleagues and pick up some notes for a presentation.

Although I will have to be careful not to get too tired, it was a good feeling to be slowly returning to work and feel more "normal".

A free tattoo with every radiation treatment!

2010-09-01T18:44:00.005+10:00

Well on Tuesday 31st August I had my first trip to RNS radiation oncology to meet the team that will be working on me over the next month! This was called a "planning meeting" and took about an hour. A student radiation person with a supervisor and a qualified radiation person placed me on a CT scanner (a GE Lightspeed) and placed a spirit level on my chest and starting using a texter marker pen to draw various lines on me. After about 30 minutes, my body was in the right position and three dots were tattooed on me (so the actual radiation machine will exactly match up to my body). Then a few runs through the CT scanner should give them a nice image of the tumour and I gave them my previous four CT scans and three PET scans for comparison.

They then showed me the actual radiation machine and explained the procedure. I actually start on Monday 13th September at 8.45am - this takes about 15 minutes per session. I have 20 sessions booked, covering the next month.

Although I was not looking forward to it and was a bit thrown when they said I should have it - now I just want to get on with it and enjoy the rest of my life!

ps. 31st August is also Carl and Katie's third wedding anniversary and Mark and Anne's silver wedding anniversary - congratulations

Weekend was positive

2010-08-31T12:53:00.001+10:00

This weekend was about universities and baseball!

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) had its open day on Saturday. We took Lucy into see the campus and go to some talks on the BA in Communications. The open day was packed and it was good for her to get a feel for the university - but there free BBQ sauasages were cold - quite a disappointment!

Sunday was UWS open day at the Parramatta campus. There was also a huge crowd.

My old baseball team (the Bandits) were playing in the Winter League 4th division Grand Final - but unfortunately lost 9 : 27 - still a good effort by everyone.

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Safe trip home

2010-08-27T12:45:00.002+10:00

Luckily Jess and I had mostly packed the night before, as Rob drove us up to Heathrow airport at 7.30am, as the traffic is often bad on the M3 and M25 motorways towards London's airport. Luckily we had a good trip and were at the airport by 9am and he was back at work by 10.10am. We checked in quickly, got through passport control and security (which takes a long time as so many people in Terminal 3). Our flight on Singapore airlines was to take off at 11.55am and so we had a few hours to kill. A coffee and hot chocolate was calling us and I was keen to finish my book for the trip ("Girl that kicked the hornet's nets" part 3 of Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson 600+ pages).

SQ317 left on time and was the nice Airbus A380 - which is an amazing aircraft, with comfy seats and great entertainment system. It actually left on time and the 14 hours to Singapore went reasonably quickly, but not a lot of sleep. Jess and I actually sat in the very back row of the aircraft. At Singapore it was 8am local time and we managed to find the same cafe we liked for a hot chocolate and a little walk around. The smaller Boeing 777 from Singapore to Sydney was packed, but ok. We both got some sleep and I finished my book, as the entertainment system was more old fashioned (rolling movies rather than "on demand"). There were a few heavy turbulence sessions, but generally all ok. By 7pm Sydney time we had arrived back home and got through immigration quickly, but customs and quarantine took quite a while. Melissa and Lucy were waiting for us and whisked us away for a nice cup of tea.

Always nice to sleep in your own bed, especially after 22 plus hours of flying.

Trip to Chichester

2010-08-27T12:26:00.004+10:00

Pictures of Chichester, UK

On the last day in the UK, Rob and Christine, managed to take the afternoon off work and drive Jess and I to Chichester. This is a very pretty cathedral city on the south coast of England. The cathedral is quite amazing and we had afternoon tea in the cloisters. Like many market towns, such as Winchester and Salisbury, there is a "buttercross" (LINK) which links all the main streets in Chichester - now no cars allowed, which makes it safe to walk around.

After Chichester, we drove to Bognor Regis and a very little seaside village called "Felpham" (LINK) - where as primary school children we holidayed there, with mum and dad and sometimes grandparents! The beach was full of pebbles and always seemed cold. I remember (just) walking along the sea front to the pier at Bognor Regis (LINK) and playing on a pinball machine and winning packets of polo mints - that was a classic thing to do in the 1960s. Bognor is quite famous for a huge Butlins holiday camp (LINK).

We drove back to Botley via Goodwood (famous for car racing and horse racing) and the beautiful English countryside. The evening was finished off with a birthday pub dinner for our nephew Ian (Kate's husband) at the Kingfisher's Pond. A nice way to say "bye" to everyone before we set off for Australia.

Social weekend

2010-08-23T05:45:00.003+10:00

To give me a nice break from the probate and estate matters of mum, this weekend was mostly about social activities - catching up with friends. My daughters have always thought it was funny that I have a close friend from primary school, high (secondary) school and university - being Dave, Tony and Ju - well I saw them all this weekend.

On Saturday, Tony, with his wife Rowena and daughter Holly called into Botley - he now lives in Whitstable (LINK) which was great. When Tony and I were at Wildern Comprehensive (high school) we started a disco called "Odyssey" - lot of fun for a few years.

Then later my bestfriend (and bestman) from university, Julian, came down from London (E17) - which was excellent. Also joining us for Saturday night was Paul and Derry-Anne - Paul being the brother of Mark (who went to uni with Ju and I - we all shared a house). The evening started with a pint in the Bugle in Botley Square and followed by a curry in the local curry house - yum.

Sunday morning was an opportunity to meet up with my primary school friend, Dave, with his wife Michelle and daughter Caroline. Dave bought the house where my brother Kevin was actually born in Curdridge. A very small world indeed. Another school friend, Nigel, also called in to Dave's place, who is now a maths teacher and teacher a number of our friends kids!

Then later in the afternoon, Mark and his wife Anne called in to Botley from Crawley (LINK). I was Mark's bestman, nearly 25 years ago, at the end of this month. Mark only flew in from China on Saturday - he works for a company that makes the cancer radiation machines that I will be using very soon!

The weekend was completed by Christine cooking a yummy roast beef dinner, including Yorkshire puddings (Jess' special request) and all the trimmings of a roast (baked) dinner.

200th posting - some Google analytics

2010-08-23T05:33:00.002+10:00

It is hard to believe that this is my 200th posting on the Blog since 28th December 2009. So much has happened since we started on recording this journey. It is the 279th day since I discovered I had Hodgkin's lymphoma and after 217 days of chemo treatment a further 50 days since I stopped treatment - but radiation starts again on 31st August 2010.

My nephew Ian was asking for some more Google analytics stats - so here we go:

* Visitors equal 2,716 unique people have made a total of 8,551 visits.

* 27,111 page views have occurred in this time.

* Visitors come from 88 different countries.

* 52% go directly to the Blog and 37% from search engines (Google being the most common by far).

* Browser use is dominated by MS explorer (58%) firefox (20%) Mac safari (12%) Google chrome (10%).

Psalm 121 as read by Jess Adams

2010-08-20T18:11:00.002+10:00

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Eulogy

2010-08-20T18:05:00.003+10:00

2010 EULOGY for Jean Mary Adams – 16^th August

How can one put 80 years of life into five minutes? That is what a eulogy (the Greek for ‘good words’) tries to do – and it feels like an impossible task.

Thank you for coming today, to show your respect for our Mum, Jean Mary Adams. She would have liked the symmetry of being born in 1930 and passing away in 2010 – she always said she wanted an end-date, so she could plan. Well it does not always quite work out like that – does it?

I am speaking on behalf of her three sons, Robert, Kevin and myself, Michael, as well as our wives – Christine, Jill and Melissa.

Mum was born in Harborne, Birmingham between the two world wars. She lived next door to three sisters and longed for a sibling but it was ten years before Arthur and Bertha provided her with a brother, our Uncle John. Later in life, his wife, Aunty Jane and their children, Alan, Alison and Philip, became very special to Mum.

Her skill at knitting became evident at quite an early age. She helped the war effort by knitting lots of socks and balaclavas for the armed forces. She was very skilled and her knitting needles sounded like machinegun-fire. She continued for many years making beautiful outfits for children, grandchildren and even for their dolls! Sadly arthritis slowed her.

Birmingham must have been a scary place during the war and the plan was to ship Mum to the USA for safety. Before she was due to go, a ship full of civilians going to America was sunk and so Nan and GrandDad decided not to send her.

By the end of school, like most teenagers, she was interested in boys and was part of a big social group. One day they went to a fete and Mum managed to fall over a guide rope by one of the tents. A young, good looking Red Cross volunteer, helped her minor injury and his name was John Adams.

Love flourished and after a courtship they were to be married. A date was set but unfortunately, Dad caught TB and had a major operation removing a lung. This left a dilemma for them: to marry and Jean becomes a young widow or not marry at all. Mum wanted to be married and Dad wanted to delay – you can guess who won that argument!

On 15^th December 1951 they were married in St George’s church, Edgbaston, with Dad sitting on a chair. His health issues prompted a move from the smoke and smog of industrial Birmingham to the clean air of the Isle of Wight. They both worked in a hotel on the island, Dad looking after the accounts and Mum working on reception. Mum did not really drink, but she would have a drink and then lead the dancing at the hotel. They continued to love dancing for most of their lives.

A change in circumstances and a new job meant moving back to the “mainland”. Dad’s job at Hills Transport of Botley came with a house in Curdridge. Mum and Dad soon settled into this new life and longed for a family of their own. They began with a puppy dog for a few years and then in 1955, their first son, Robert, was born. A few years later Kevin came along and was born in their home. Just after that, another change of job prompted the move into one of the new houses in St Peter’s Close.

Having children was an issue for Mum. As many of you will know, she had epilepsy and by the time she was diagnosed and on medication, she was advised not to have children. But our Mum was determined and desperately wanted a family and so it was an amazing act of love to come off the necessary medication while she was pregnant. She had a number of epileptic fits during her pregnancies, but gave birth to a healthy child each time.

She desperately wanted a girl and felt sure that her “Sally Anne” would be number three. Against medical advice she fell pregnant again and had me – another boy. She did talk of the advantages of having all boys and the joy of having three daughters-in-law in the family with Chris, Jill and Melissa. We’re all very grateful that she was prepared to go through such awful pregnancies to have us – thanks Mum!

Mum was a “professional” housewife and she was a perfectionist in many ways. She was also quite strong-willed. She liked to be right (don’t we all) and would often say, “I know” throughout conversations. It took me many years to understand that she probably meant, “I agree” in the same way ‘Amen’ means “I agree” at the end of a prayer.

Talking of faith, in her early 30s she felt a need to be confirmed in the Church of England. She did lessons with the local vicar at St Peters and was confirmed in Portsmouth Cathedral. Although her faith was shaken by the Aberfan disaster, we know that God does not let go of people who have knocked at His door and made a personal commitment to Him.

In 1976 Mum went to America for the first time to see our family in Detroit. This was a life changing experience for Mum. She changed the spelling of her name to “Mom” and seemed more independent and confident after this trip.

Dad had started a small car insurance brokerage and Mum started to get involved more. Together they watched it grow over the next few years. Mum was excellent at remembering the clients’ details and many became friends – some were very special like Pat.

There is no doubt Mum was proud of her three boys, three daughters-in-laws and six grandchildren (very neat: three boys and three girls – that suited her!) She did not always tell us, but she certainly would brag to others of our achievements!

Her mother, Bertha, our Nan, was a major influence on her life and it gave Mum a new lease of life when she moved down from Birmingham to Denmead in 1983, This became even more important when Dad passed away in 1988 and so she spent more time at Whitewings where Nan lived. Her boys being scattered from Botley to Plymouth to Sydney.

There are so many things that could be said, but most importantly Mum loved her three boys. She loved their wives and welcomed them warmly into the family. She loved her six grandchildren.. and more recently, her great grand-child. And she had a real pride in whatever we did. There is no doubt she influenced us in many more ways than we will ever know. We give thanks for the life of Jean Adams.

A week is a long time

2010-08-19T18:39:00.003+10:00

It is hard to believe that we have been in the UK a week already. It feels like so much has happened and there is still so much to do before we fly back next week. We have started the processes around probate and am dealing with estate agents for mum's flat and had a challenging experience at her bank - we will get there. There is good cooperation and communication between the Adams brothers and mum's wishes were quite clear.

Jessica is off to Thorpe Park (LINK) - a UK theme park - for the day. This is with some school friends she made when she attended St Annes School in Southampton in 2008. It is nice for her to catch up with people and also have a break from the other matters we have to deal with at the moment.

I am looking forward to catching up with a few UK friends over the weekend. Rob and Chris are so kind to open up their home to a range of people, to make trips like this work as efficiently as possible. Chris even let me drive her new Astra elite car today, which was great.

Jean Mary Adams funeral

2010-08-18T01:17:00.004+10:00

Monday was a very tough day. Two weeks since my Mum, Jean, passed away in hospital, it was the funeral. My brothers, their wives and Jess and I met at mum's flat (apartment/unit) and the herse plus a car to carry us arrived. It was a short drive to the crematorium, but a sad sight. Two lots of flowers were on the coffin, from the children and grandchildren - they looked beautiful in the sunshine.

The church serviced was conducted by Rev Roy of Hedge End and started with a friend's song "Sins of the world" by Ben Loomes of our church at St Stephens, Belrose (Sydney). The vicar said a few words and prayers, then we sang "all things bright and beautiful". I then gave a eulogy - so hard to condense 80 years into 5 minutes - but I did my best.

More prayers, we sang the 23rd Psalm and the Lord's prayer was said. Kate, our niece read some messages from Jill (daughter-in-law) and her son Neil, who was away in Spain and then a poem (same one the Queen's Mum had read at her funeral). Finally, my Jess read the 121st Psalm. There was 50-60 people there and we chatted with them afterwards, before going to Chris's mum house for a "wake" - lots of tea and chat. It was nice to see mum's friends and her brother (Uncle John and his son Philip) and other relatives.

The evening finished with a lovely Chinese meal as a celebration of her life, where we told lots of stories between the grandchildren and children.

Nice weekend in Botley

2010-08-18T01:12:00.002+10:00

While in the UK, Jess and I are staying with my brother Rob and Chris in a Hampshire village called Botley. On Saturday our other brother, Kevin, managed to get tickets to the finals of the Twenty20 cricket (between Hampshire and Somerset). I am not a great cricket fan, but fun to go along to the Rose Bowl and the excitement of a game that comes down to the last bowl of the day - Hants won - a good result.

Sunday was my nephew, Carl, 30th birthday. This was a great celebration and party, with a bbq for about 35 people. It ran all afternoon and the British summer actually put on some sunshine. It acted as a nice distraction to the funeral on Monday. Carl and his wife, Katie, have a 20 month old baby (Louisa) who stole the event in most ways - a real joy.

Back in the UK

2010-08-13T02:45:00.000+10:00

Thank you for the many messages of support over my mum passing away.

Jessica and I flew on Singapore Airlines on Wednesday afternoon, arriving in the UK at 6am Thursday. We feel tired, but glad to be "home" and to be with my UK family.

There are a number of preparations prior to the funeral on Monday and Carl (nephew) has a 30th birthday on Sunday. A bonus has been spending time seeing our great niece, (Carl and Katie's daughter, Louisa), is extra special.

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Radiation consultant meeting

2010-08-10T13:20:00.002+10:00

After getting my head around having to go through radiation treatment, I was still not looking forward to meeting with the new radiation consultant. We dropped Jess at school and went on to RNS hospital oncology department (which is different to where I was having chemo). After filling out various forms, I met with the radiation consultant, who was very positive and relaxed. He went through the whole procedure and it cannot start until September.

It will involve 20 sessions over a one month timeframe - each session is between 10-15 minutes and low dosage of radiation each time, targeted just on the tumour and should have little side effects. There are about 100 patients at anyone time on radiation and a waiting queue of 30 at the moment. So the timing works well with my trip with Jessica to the UK for my mum's funeral on the 16th August.

I feel more relaxed knowing this procedure is going to happen and what it involves. It is only a precaution and should help prevent the cancer from coming back in the future.

Lucy's party

2010-08-10T13:10:00.003+10:00

Dance floor in the garage worked well - Hayley and Samantha (cousins) were the "bouncers checking the guest list" and on the deck Lucy and Melissa.

Friday night was a wonderful experience with 75 people coming to celebrate Lucy's 18th birthday party. The garage was turned into a dance floor, with cool lights and material on the walls and a loud sound system (borrowed from friends). The deck and grass was packed with people and gas heaters and party food. There were no gate crashers and Hayley and Samantha (our nieces) did a wonderful job of checking the names off as everyone arrived between 7.30-8pm. The last guests left at 12.30pm and other than lots of bottles and cans to clear up - no damage to property.

Lucy's 18th birthday

2010-08-05T20:23:00.003+10:00

The 4th August has been a special day for a long time. It was the Queen Mother's birthday, my best-friend, Julian's birthday and most importantly, my daughter, Lucy, birthday. This year she legally became an adult - 18 years old. Jessica decided to give Lucy 18 different presents - one for each birthday. They were all wrapped up in a huge box and had numbers, labels to explain the year and why the connection to the present. The final package, her 18th birthday present, was an engraved champagne flute - so Lucy could have a taste of champagne.

Lucy is also in the middle of her HSC trial examinations. This is assessed as part of the final mark in the Higher School Certificate. She is handling it well and consistently studying. But I do feel sorry for her being the week of her birthday and her Nan passing away on the first day of exams.

We had a family dinner at home with her Australian cousins and had a really nice time. With the wonders of skype, I was able to speak and see the vicar (Roy) at my brother's house, about mum's funeral on the 16th August. I will be doing a short eulogy and Jess (who is coming with me to the UK) will read a Psalm. Lucy still has a number of exams, so Melissa will stay and look after her.

Sad news and another challenge for 2010

2010-08-03T20:04:00.003+10:00

On Monday 2nd August, my brother called at 5.15am to say that my mum (Jean) had picked up an infection whilst in hospital and had been moved to a "critical ward". By 1pm Sydney time, he called again to say that she had died at about 4am UK time.

As you can imagine this takes some time to process. There is never a good time to die, but this week Lucy has HSC trial exams, it is her 18th birthday and I have a major medical appointment set for 10th August. This prevents me flying to the UK for the time being. My two brothers and sisters-in-law are more the capable of making the practical arrangements, but it is the emotional support that is important.

My mum has been hospital about three weeks for a minor fall, but the infection spread very quickly and she was peaceful. Rob and Chris saw her Sunday afternoon and she was really calm (which she had not been in ages) which is really good and a nice memory to have of her.

I find it hard to believe that a year ago, Lucy and I were with her in the UK for Neil and Anna's wedding (my brother Kevin's son) and mum was in good shape, all things considered. In the months that followed she moved into her bed and did not really get out much at all. Her body had wasted away and the last few months her carers could only get her to eat soup. This does not give you much strength to fight an infections. Jean Mary Adams was 80 years old - rest in peace.

The journey continues - unsettling

2010-07-30T10:09:00.002+10:00

This has been an unsettling week on two fronts - one minor and one major. The minor one is picking up an ordinary cold (Jess had a sore throat, which became a cold - she generously has passed it on). It is more of a pain and inconvenience that a serious medical issue. It has been amazing to go for so many months without any of us getting a cold, which was great when my immunity was so low. Now my body can cope with it, but no one really likes it - do they?

The second unsettling matter, more major, is that I had a call from my specialist, Dr Matthew, to say his colleagues had been looking at my file and they thought I should have radiation therapy on the tumour, as the size of the mass was still big. Even though the research shows that if the PET scan is negative (which mine was) there is little additional benefit from the clinical trials. Matthew wanted to know my thoughts and also emailed experts in Canada and Germany.

The next day, the world expert on Hodgkin's lymphoma, who developed BEACOPP and chairman of the researchers that ran the clinical trials emailed back to say that it would be "safest" to have the radiation done on the mass (tumour). As you can imagine I am not keen, because there are associated risks with greater exposure to radiation, but hard to ignore the expertise of the guy that invented the chemo that saved me!

So on 10th August, I am back to RNS Hospital, to meet with a radiation specialist, who will explain the whole procedure - can't wait.........

actually I can.

Another milestone - 250 days

2010-07-26T16:15:00.002+10:00

I was looking in my personal journal, which I "very old school" still hand-write each day and number, noted that it is 250 days since I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's cancer - which of course has now gone from body! I still have two more weeks of twice a week medication, but the end-is-near, as they say.

Today I made sure I had a gentle walk, so as to not suffer from the bigger walk on Sunday, across the Harbour Bridge to The Rocks and back. My nephew, Carl, is a physio and said how important it is to do little and often everyday (rather than big walks and then skip a day etc). I was pleased my legs did not hurt as much this morning.

I managed to get a few UWS work matters done and also started tidying up the garage, which has got a bit out of hand over the last 12 months or so....... never had the work bench so clear and things actually put away. But jobs like this are so tiring and I must learn to do it a bit at a time rather than a big "one-off" go. It will take time to strike the right balance as to what is achievable in any given day.

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Longer walk across the Bridge to Aroma Festival

2010-07-25T15:24:00.002+10:00

After a reasonably quiet Saturday, the sunshine Sunday morning was more than enough for us to go for a good healthy walk. This started at Milsons Point (near North Sydney) as we walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The bridge took about 20 minutes to cover and then there re lots of steps which drop you into The Rocks area of Sydney. This Sunday there is the Aroma Festival, which has lots of stalls of coffee, tea, chocolate and other yummy things. Had a good walk around and a rather nice coffee, listening to a couple of bands and consuming a jam donut!

Then down by the Ocean Passengers Terminal was a picture being made of cups of coffee, in a variety of colours (black, a little milk, lots of milk etc) - as you can see above, it looks like Marilyn Monroe in "Some like it hot". From ground level you cannot see the picture, but as you go up the stairs to the first floor of Ocean Terminal, the picture becomes very clear.

After an hour of looking around the festival, it was time to head back to the car. Climbing all the stairs from The Rocks up to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and cross to Milsons Point. This represents about an hour in walking in total; the most I have done in eight months. Legs feel tired, but OK. As we got home for lunch, the clouds rolled in and light showers occurred.

Things go up and down

2010-07-22T19:17:00.000+10:00

This week has been at a slower pace, but seems to have passed by quickly! Does that make any sense at all?

I am trying to walk about 30 minutes a day and look forward to being able to run again in a few months time.

There are lots of things to be done at home, as well as work projects. I did go to a Heads of School meeting on Wednesday, and realised how much there is to be done over the next six months. But at the same time I will need boundaries, as I gently go back to work a few days a week next month.

Lucy soon turns 18 years old and then gets to vote in her first election in just a few weeks later. Her birthday falls in the middle of trial exams, which is tough.

I am down to just one medication, a few times a week. This is so good after being on 15 per day at the peak of my treatment. My Mum (Jean) in the UK has had a small fall (out of her bed in the middle of the night) and ended up in hospital. She is ok, but a concern for all.

Prof Michael Adams via BlackBerry

Walks, sunshine and Under Milk Wood

2010-07-18T13:38:00.002+10:00

The weekend has been a time of reflection and the importance of daily exercise and going at a consistent pace each day. After I received the all clear on the cancer, I wanted to get back to exercise and to build up lung capacity (I lost about 25% from the chemo - but I can still talk a lot).

The doctor said it would take close to 18 months for me to get back to the same level of fitness I was before the treatment - so slow and steady is the key approach. I am trying to walk a reasonable distance or time each day. This is between 20-30 minutes, but last weekend walked for 40 minutes at Manly and then felt exhausted! This weekend it was a 30 minute walk around Narrabeen Lake before doing some errands in the local area.

Saturday night, we took our niece (Samantha) to see one of my favourite plays (which I studied at 16) called "Under Milk Wood" by Dyland Thomas. Sam went to university with the producer of the play and had worked with the main actor as well. Zoe (the actor) was amazing and played all 64 characters and did the whole play (one and half hours) by herself - no break. (See Review LINK). The theatre was small community theatre called "Sidetrack" in Marrickville (inner West of Sydney - just beyond Newtown, which is so different to the northern beaches area we live in). But amazingly, the play finished at 10pm and we at home drinking tea by 10.30pm - hardly any distance at all.

Law School Awards Night and media Storm!

2010-07-16T18:38:00.002+10:00

Yesterday (Thursday 15th July) was the annual Awards and Prize Night for the College of Business, including the UWS Law School. It was great to be involved and handout the most prizes from all the five schools in the College of Business. It was a fun night and great to catch up with a number of our top students.

Earlier in the day, I took a call from the UWS Media Office that the Melbourne Storm rugby league team audit by Deloittes report had been released. The Sydney radio station, Triple M wanted an interview at mid-day and then the Daily Telegraph (newspaper - LINK) and then I pre-recorded a news item for ABC radio. I also agreed to be recorded for the Friday ABC radio World News and did a live interview on ABC radio 702 on the Debra Cameron show at 8.40am - which was excellent.

Law Staff Lunch and new book is out

2010-07-14T18:48:00.002+10:00

I went to work today for a Law School Lunch at Sahra's Turkish restaurant. It was great to catch up with 18 of the law staff - a number of new staff were away on a course and a number are on leave. The food was yum and the company even better.

While at work, my new book ("Company Law Guidebook" with Oxford University Press LINK) with colleague Marina Nehme has come out finally. We finished the proofs in December 2009, so nice to see it finally published and will be in the bookstores in August.

Surprise national award for excellence in mentoring

2010-07-12T15:46:00.002+10:00

One year ago the UWS Law School hosted the Australasian Law Teachers Association (ALTA) annual conference. This year the ALTA conference was hosted by the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. I was hoping to go, but the "no fly rule" plus specialist-consultant meeting on the 5th July meant it was impossible.

On the Tuesday night (6th July) the main legal publisher (Lexis-Nexis:Butterworths) presents a few awards. Completely unbeknown to me, I was the recipient of the National Award for Mentoring Excellence in Teaching. (For details see: UWS media release). The President of ALTA, Prof Ros Mason, was also able to announce to my law teacher colleagues from Australia and New Zealand the good news in respect of the cancer.

Lexis-Nexis:Butterworth's head office for Australia is in Chatswood and Melissa was able to pick up the trophy and certificate and a cheque directly from them. This was a real surprise for when I returned from Brisbane and speaking at the COSBOA National Small Business Summit on Friday.

Weekend of celebrations

2010-07-12T15:36:00.002+10:00

I think it has taken the week to really settle in that the cancer is not in my body anymore. To help celebrate the fact, on Saturday night a small group of family and friends came together to enjoy a meal at Thai Garlic at Forestville. This was a fun evening and a good time to catch up in person rather than through phone, email, skype and other electronic modes of communication.

One of the people present was Dr Theo, our cousin from Canberra. Theo is been a great supporter and communicator with me on this journey and especially relate as he has had his own journey with cancer. He also brought some blessed red dirt from the outback, where he has worked and prayed with Indigenous communities, to heal me - what a blessing. Theo was able to stay over until Monday, which was extra special.

At church on Sunday so many people were excited my my good news and I know have been praying hard for a good result from all the tests and complete healing. We took a couple of large cakes to celebrate and thank the church at morning tea, after the 10am service at St Stephens, Belrose.

COSBOA conference and last tablet

2010-07-09T13:34:00.001+10:00

About seven months ago I was diagnosed with Hodgkins cancer but had a day to wait to see a specialist in hospital. That Wednesday in November I flew to Melbourne's Victoria University Law School to give a paper on small corporations law and governance.

Well on Thursday 8 July 2010 in Brisbane, at the COSBOA (Council of Small Businesses) annual conference, I gave a version of the same paper - my first in that time. Chris Bowen (Minister for Small Business); Tony Abbot (Opposition Leader) and Wayne Swan (Deputy PM & Cth Treasurer) were also speakers!

All went well, but very tiring trip. The Gala Dinner (where awards were given out to small businesses) was also shown on channel 7 "Sunrise show" as David Koch was the MC and supports the awards. A good night.

The other important thing was I took my last Valtrex tablet, which means I have gone from 15 tablets per day to one on Mondays and Thursdays (bactrum) - this finishes at the end of July!

Some quick reflections - my own independence day 5th July

2010-07-06T13:35:00.003+10:00

How life and timeframes can change so quickly. 12 months ago, I was running the ALTA annual conference at UWS. My brother, Rob and Christine, flew in on Rob's birthday and I spoke to him, but did not see him, as I was at the conference dinner. Instead, Rob, Chris, Melissa, Lucy and Jessica went to the opening of the "Hannah Montana" movie. The next night, Rob and Christ joined me (and 250 others) for a night at the races (ALTA conference dinner at Rosehill race course). A few days later we all flew to Alice Springs for our trip to Uluru, King's Canyon and sleeping in swags! Later that month, Lucy and I flew to the UK, but returning before her 17th birthday.

I had no idea that the Hodgkins lymphoma cancer was slowly (actually quite quickly) growing inside my body. In August and September I was running three times a week and completing 10-15km races.. until that day in November when I was diagnosed.

Last night, the emotional numbness was replaced with some real joy. Melinda and Hayley had been out to the airport to pick up Vanessa and Sam, on their return from the soccer World Cup in South Africa. They all came here for dinner and celebration. Michelle from UWS had kindly given me a bottle of Moet champagne to celebrate the "all clear" and last night was the right time top "crack it open".

We declared it my own "independence day" - 5th July 2010.

Hodgkins cancer has gone

2010-07-05T12:27:00.002+10:00

It has been a hard few weeks waiting to know the success of the chemotherapy on the Hodgkins lymphoma cancer.

As noted in the Blog, last week was full of tests. Today, I saw the specialist consultant and he said my bloods were nearly back to normal and there was an "excellent result" the Hodgkins cancer has gone.

I will need to have check ups every three months for the next year, but can eat and exercise as before the treatment started 217 days ago.

I am feeling a little numb, tired and emotionally exhausted, as you can imagine.

Thank you all for your support, encouargement and prayers over the last seven months. What a journey it has been!

Frost turns pool black and last blood test

2010-07-01T16:06:00.005+10:00

As mentioned yesterday, Sydney has had its coldest days in 60 years. Downtown Frenchs Forest actually had a frost. This was not a real problem except we looked out the window to see the swimming pool had turned BLACK! This is because the solar heating pipes on the roof are made of rubber and the frost had made them more brittle. Bits of the rubber had travelled through the water pipes and ended in the pool, making it black. To remedy the pool is a real pain, but no permanent damage should have occurred.

On the health side of things, my final blood test happened this morning at RNS Private. I then went over for a coffee with my friend Dr John N at the College of Law. The rest of the day zoomed by and I was excited to see an article I had written in November 2009 has been published in the Journal of Business Systems, Governance and Ethics (JBSGE) (LINK). This article was originally a paper delivered in Melbourne the day after I was diagnosed with cancer, but before I entered into hospital. The article is entitled "20 year snap-shot of the developments in the regulation of small corporations" - very exciting to read! LINK

Launch of new business website

2010-06-30T16:46:00.002+10:00

Today I went to the launch of a new website Winning Business Online, which is a joint venture between BEC (Business Enterprise Centres - LINK), UWS and Business Builders (LINK). It was funded by the Commonwealth Government to help small businesses get online with websites and internet resources.

The website can be found at www.winningbusinessonline.com.au and was launched at a lunch at Waterview Convention Centre, Bicentennial Park, Homebush (where the 2000 Olympics was held). David Koch (LINK - Kochie is well known as a TV presenter from the TV channel 7 show "Sunrise") was the MC and the keynote speaker was the Minister for Small Business, Hon Dr Chris Emerson MP (LINK) and the head of Google Australia. It was very professional and a really good resource for any SME business.

It was the coldest day in 61 years and our pool has turned black (caused by the frost on the solar heating rubber pipes on the roof)!

Final scans for cancer

2010-06-29T20:14:00.002+10:00

Today and yesterday have been the final two scans of my chest to see if the cancer has completely gone. On Thursday, I have a full blood count test to check there are no other signs and then all the reports get sent to Dr Matthew (consultant specialist) for Monday (5th July - my own Independence Day) meeting.

Monday was a CT (computed tomography) scan at RNS Private (the CT scanner looks like this LINK). Other than the odd blood test, I have not been to RNS hospital for about a month! That is a good feeling and I certainly did not miss the carpark. The appointment was 10.15am - you have to fast for two hours and drink a litre of water. The CT scanner at RNS Private is very new and very quick. Another patient was having her first scan and looked very nervous. I was not expecting to have a cannula put in and injected with contrast (type of dye, which makes the pictures clearer). The radiographer was quite funny, as he knew it was a final checking scan, said he would like to "photoshop" out any cancer colour marks on the pictures to make sure it was clear for me - this was before the scan, so he would have no idea if they are clear or not. We are confident that the cancer has gone, but will obviously be very glad to get all the results next Monday. It took a while (about an hour) for the films to come through, but time for a nice coffee and cheese & ham croissant.

Today, was a longer trip to Liverpool Hospital for the PET (positron emission tomography - LINK) scan. My appointment was for 9am and thus needed to leave home about 7.30am. The first shock was that Sydney had it's coldest day in 27 years - the car showed an outside temperature of 2c - we actually saw frost on cars and the grass at Lindfield - Liverpool (on the news) was stated to be -2c. Anyway, the new Ford Mondeo Titanium has heated leather seats and so we felt very warm (until you touched the windscreen or side-windows). The last time I had a PET scan at Liverpool was on 7 January - thus little traffic about as summer school holidays and later in the morning appointment. Today it was full rush hour period and just getting to the M2 (motorway) took 45 minutes. Once on the M2 you zoom along until the M7 (another toll way rather than a freeway or motorway) and keep on going until you see the Liverpool Hospital signs. We arrived about 15 minutes late, but at least the carpark is much easier to use and costs a third of the price of RNS.

The staff of Nuclear Medicine at Liverpool are excellent and was quickly shown by a nurse to a room. They explain the procedure (exactly same as two previous times and still costs $5,000, but paid by Medicare - Government) and put another cannula in my arm. Then a registrar doctor comes along and checks the records and has a look at yesterdays CT scans and authorises the nurse to inject. You are then taken into a single room, lay down and they inject you with a sugar-radioactive substance. For an hour the substance rushes around your body looking for fast-growing cells (cancer cells grow - split very fast - hence show up brightly). Then you are rushed into a scanner room (it looks like two CT machines) and lay down with your hands above your head. You are not allowed to move and breath lightly for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes your arms start to ache, as the machine moves in and out.

Finally, it is over and you get ushered into another room, where a sandwich and juices is waiting (you have been fasting since the night before). Melissa had also made a nice sandwich and went to get a short black (expresso) coffee. After about 30 minutes, the nurse comes back with your report and pictures (sealed) and we were out of that hospital.

Felt really tired, but had a good sleep all afternoon and now wait for the final blood test and the reports.

Weekend flew by - Day 210 of treatment

2010-06-27T14:44:00.002+10:00

This weekend seems to have flown by and as I was writing in my journal, it is Day 210 of treatment. 1st December 2009 seems to have been a life-time ago in some ways and only a short time in others. Hard to believe it is nearly July 2010!

A highlight of Saturday was going to the first evening of Gospel Live (LINK) - a new Christian venue for musicians. It had three artists playing - first Zoe Elliot who was on Hope103.2 radio recently (LINK) and her her first CD out. She was excellent and we bought the CD. Then Ben Grace with a band, which was great. But the highlight was hearing Geoff Bullock (LINK) - he is a famous Australian Christian song-writer and performer. His music influenced us heavily in the mid-1990s and we had never heard him live. He was part of the original Hills Song Church (before that a cameraman for ABC TV on "Play School") where he led worship.

A really good night and was recorded for radio for re-broadcast on 25th July on Northern Beaches Radio - more details to follow. This venue in Manly hosts a new musicians night once a month and the Christian musicians night will now follow once a month as well - we wish them well.

Amazing day

2010-06-25T15:32:00.001+10:00

Well what can we say, but to start the day with Hon Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister and by the end of the day to have Prime Minister Julia Gillard. I was very surprised, but it will make the Federal election much more interesting.

Great to have a female Prime Minister and Governor-General at the Commonwealth (federal) level and also a State Premier and Governor, who are all female.

This week has been ok - with some rolling ups and downs. I will be glad to start medical tests and scans next week.

I did get some work done at UWS on campus on Friday. A highlight was a lunch at Surfer cafe (North Narrabeen) where the food and coffee were excellent plus a bargain price.

Good weekend & Blog stats

2010-06-22T11:12:00.003+10:00

This weekend, Sydney turned on a lovely period of winter weather - clear blue sky - dry - about 18c in the day and 10c at night. Lucy had an intensive HSC history class on at Sydney University, so we decide to head to Centennial Park (LINK). This is a lovely park, build to celebrate the first 100 years of the founding of Australia in 1788. In 1988 (the year I came to Australia) they built Bicentennial Park (LINK) at Homebush (home of the 2000 Olympic Games).

It was great to walk around (last time was with my brother - Rob & Christine - at Easter 2010) and see how the flowers and garden beds had changed. The Pavilion Restaurant and Cafe has changed hands and name ("Centennial Parklands Restaurant & cafe"), but the quality of the coffee was still excellent.

Sunday, was also a lovely day and so after church a good walk along Dee Why beach, followed by a great cup of tea at Wendy & Matthew's place at Collaroy Plateau. Also, this weekend would be remembered because I cooked two family meals - 'sassy chicken' (an old favourite from when Lucy was born 17 years ago) and 'sausage & barley casserole' from the TV show "Better Homes & Gardens". Both were very yummy and produced clean plates from everybody - a very good sign indeed.

Healthwise - I am resting and things are going well. All the tests and scans, start next week!

The blog stats from 28 December 2009 are:

* Unique visitors stand at 1,824 and they have made 6,526

* Pages visited totals 21,301

* People from 76 different countries

* 55% go directly to the Blog and 33% via a search engine (mostly Google)

A night with the Governor-General of Australia

2010-06-18T12:13:00.002+10:00

Last night (17 June) I had the privilege of attending a reception of the Australian Academy of Law (LINK) hosted by the Governor-General of Australia (LINK). The G-G is the Queen of Australia (HM Elizabeth II) representative in Australia. Her main official residence is Government House in Canberra, but in Sydney she has "Admiralty House" at Kirrabilli. The G-G is currently Her Excellency Quentin Bryce AC and her husband, Michael Bryce AM. She was a lawyer and then taught at the University of Queensland and then held number of roles, including state Governor of Queensland, before becoming Governor-General of Australia.

The reception had about 50 members of the legal profession, from former Chief Justices of the High Court, former and current State & Federal judges, plus Queen's Counsel & Senior Counsel plus a few academics (mostly dean's of law schools, like myself). I briefly spoke to G-G and had a longer conversation with her husband.

Admiralty House was amazing. It is full of antiques, as you can imagine, plus wonderful furniture and perfect views of the harbour and directly opposite the Opera House (across the water). A small navy band played in the background and there were two roaring fires burning in the "sitting room", where the event took place. The G-G gave a nice short speech at 6pm and a vote of thanks was given by the Hon Justice Robert Nicholson AO, former Federal Court judge.

Tuesday after long weekend

2010-06-15T15:53:00.002+10:00

A highlight of the long weekend was catching up with the Balgowlah bandits (baseball team) at the Warringah Acquatic Centre baseball diamonds - especially after the last four weeks have stopped play, due to the rain! The bandits played very well (much better than the socceroos - Australia's world cup soccer team, who lost 4 nil to Germany in Durban, South Africa!) It was nice to see the whole team, including new members, which will make it harder for me to get back into the team next year, when I am fit enough to play again....

Today, I did feel tired, even though a very relaxing and quite quiet long weekend - the trip to the Rocks to see the Vivid Festival was excellent. My friend from UTS and co-author, Jason, called over and we went to lunch at Dee Why. It was nice to take the new car for a spin and also walk along the beach front. Lunch was excellent and we chatted about corporate law issues, academic issues and putting the world to right - always fun.

Fire Water in The Rocks

2010-06-15T15:43:00.002+10:00

The City of Sydney and the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority put on a arts festival called Vivid each year, which is an amazing light-show in and around the Rocks (oldest area of Sydney). LINK

This year, for the Queen's Birthday weekend, they added a show on the harbour at Campbell's Cove (opposite the Opera House) called "Fire Water" (LINK). This was a show of a bollywood style production of an 11 year old Indian-Australian girl talking about her great-great grandfather coming to Australia. It was very cleverly done and although cold, well worth seeing. The Rocks had night markets and was full of people.

Then we drove down Macquarie Street, where each public building (Library, Parliament House, the Barracks and St Mary's cathedral are all lite up by projectors to tell a story LINK) - called Macquarie Visions. Really amazing.

2010-06-15T15:41:00.000+10:00

I took delivery of my new UWS car this long weekend. I have enjoyed the two Toyota Camry "Grande" I have had since 2007 (we change cars every 40,000km), but wanted a change. I test drove a few cars, including the Subaru Liberty 2.5i (which was excellent) but really liked the Mondeo. The "Titanium" is the top of the range and thus full of gadgets, including a 'smart key' (which opens the door when you are a metre away and you start the engine with a button - weird). It is a 2 litre turbo diesel - which does over 1,000km per tank of gas.

A very nice way to start the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

Cold is a relative term and PJs are great

2010-06-10T19:26:00.003+10:00

I have had a few comments about me mentioning "winter" in Sydney - well officially winter in Australia starts on 1st June each year. It has felt very cool and tomorrow it is expected to drop to 5c - which by European and North American experiences is not even frost nor freezing standard. Our own Canberra (Federal Capital of Australia and its own Territory - the ACT) is dropping to -1C tonight.

However, my point, was that since my chemo, I have lost my own internal thermostat. This is a side-effect of the white blood cells being killed off in large numbers. Now during summer, this was quite good, as being a "POM" I did suffer from sweating (sorry horses sweat, men perspire and women glow), particularly if it was humid. But even on Sydney's sunniest day, I felt nicely cool.

Now the down-side in winter, is that I feel constantly cold and our houses are not really very efficient for keeping heat in (a lot of Australian houses have lots of glass and wood rather than UK styled double-brick with double-glazed windows and central heating). Winter lasts for a relatively short period and having gas heaters are good at warming the lounge/dining room and downstairs games/TV room, as necessary and oil heaters in the bedrooms.

But, for me, I needed something more.... so for the first time since childhood, I invested in flannelette pyjamas (PJs) - they look pretty daggy with stripes, but they are so warm at night - making it all worthwhile. The cost of this new purchase was a staggering $A15 - isn't that amazing?

Many of you are aware the other side-effect,which will be around for a few more months, is my feet feeling like blocks of ice. Now they actually (in reality) do not feel cold to the touch. But the poor circulation caused by one of the chemicals in BEACOPP therapy has this known side-effect. A friend from church, who is a cancer survivor, told me pure Merino sheep wool socks help. Well they do. After buying one pair, they were so much more comfortable, I went back to David Jones department store (which has a sale on, thus 30% off RRP) and bought three more pairs! The final purchase was a pair of Blundstone boots (LINK) - Blundstone have been making leather boots in Australia since 1870. Close fitting shoes have been most uncomfortable for longer periods of time and even light-weight sports shoes (like my ASIC runners) felt most uncomfortable after a few hours - but the Blundstone boots are amazingly comfy and warm and water-proof.

Business books for winter

2010-06-08T17:05:00.002+10:00

These last couple of days, winter has settled into Sydney. I have taken the opportunity to read and re-read some interesting business books given to me by friends. I was always interested in history and as a corporate lawyer, some companies that have lasted for a century are worth examining as to why? Modern corporate governance has a lot to do with sustainability rather than complying with current corporate laws.

I really enjoyed Jim Collins "Good to great" about companies that had been hugely successful over their peers, examples include Gillette, Kimberly-Clark and Pitney-Bowes. Interesting after the book was published in 2001, Fannie Mae and Wells Fargo got into serios problems during the global financial crisis (GFC). Collins has a focus on a transition point where the good companies (over a 15 year period) become great. This can be compared with Malcolm Gladwell "The Tipping Point" which came out in 2000, which has a broader concept of turning points in life (business and personal).

I have been interested to read the various reasons for the GFC and Andrew Ross Sorkin's "Too big to fall: inside the battle to save Wall Street" in 2009. It is a huge book at 600 pages, but gives a valuable insight into the American approach. It does not explain the current fallout in Greece and other European nations.

But two books given to me by my friend Chris C (see his great law website at http://clarklaw.info/ LINK) which deal with companies over time and their great leaders. The first was Ian Bradley's "Enlightened entrepreneurs: business ethics in Victorian Britain" (1987) and Jonathan Mantle's "Companies that changed the world" (2008). Both books have an overlap in that William Lever and Unilever are both covered. I love the story of George Cadbury (1839-1922) and the establishment of Cadbury-Schweppes (now owned by Kraft) as it is today. Also, Jesse Boot (1850-1931) who founded Boots the Chemist - still a landmark in the UK high street and subject of a famous contract case on unilateral offers (Boots case).

In respect of great companies that changed the world, its starts with the Honourable East India Company in the UK in 1600. As a side note, registered companies only came into effect in 1844 and limited liability in 1855. Companies before that date were by Royal Charter. DuPont in the USA in 1802 changed fabrics and dyes (as well as paint and plastics) and Reuters in 1851 revolutionised news and information. Just a few years later, Levi Strauss, changed the humble jeans to what we know today. Manchester United Football Club as a company started in 1878 and Eastman Kodak in 1881 and Coco-Cola in 1885 and Johnson & Johnson (1887 - a favourite of mine for ethical reasons) and IBM in 1889. Toyota started in Japan in 1937 (34 years after Ford) but a year before the German Volswagenwerk. Ikea followed in Sweden in 1943 and stills go strong around the world and Sony started in 1946.

Coming to more modern companies which changed the world, what about Nokia for phones in Finland (1967) and a year later Intel in the USA. Microsoft came into being in the USA in 1975 and Apple a year later (which has just surpassed MS in market capital in 2010). The Swiss plastic watch maker Swatch in 1983 revolutionised watches, as did the French 1987 company Eurotunnel for transport. Endemol in the Netherlands in 1994 brought the world "reality TV" in the form of Big Brother and its various spin-offs and eBay arrived a year later. The final company in the book, which has dramatically changed the world is Google, founded in 1998 in the USA but has changed the way we search for information on the internet.

What will be the key companies for the 21st century?

Good weekend - HSC & Careers Expo

2010-06-06T15:43:00.002+10:00

This weekend the rain finally ceased and glimpses of winter sunshine returned to Sydney. Jess was away on a church youth camp near Wollongong, so we took Lucy to a HSC and Career Expo (LINK) at Randwick race course, Kensington, Sydney. It was a big show of help for HSC (final school year exams) and tertiary sector providers (universities, technical colleges, art schools, etc). Lucy went to a seminar on biology and then English. We walked around all the stands and got lots of ideas. I enjoyed being a "dad" rather than a "professor". UWS had a great stand, which I spent some time saying "hi" while Lucy was in the seminar! Very impressed with the enthusiasm of the students at Macquarie Uni and UTS, that we spoke to about various degrees, as we walked around.

The Expo was excellent and after some lunch we returned for Lucy to study and for me to sleep. In the evening Melissa and Lucy watched "Pride and Prejudice" was Neil and I went for a game of snooker at the local RSL.

Day 200 - why me? Why not me!

2010-06-04T16:34:00.002+10:00

Today is actually Day 200 since I have known I had Hodgkin's cancer. A few people have asked me whether I have thought "why me?" especially as my family has no history of cancer and I did not have any of the ordinary contributory factors (do not smoke, drink excessively etc).

The answer is why not me - Hodgkin's lymphoma is detected in about 1 in 100,000 people and I happen to be one of those people. More importantly, modern medicine and faith, have made the journey so much better and after six months of treatment I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

All I need in the short term is for Sydney to stop having all this rain, as that would cheer me up. Then again I think of the poor families hit by the tornedo up at Lennox Head (near border of NSW/QLD) and the victims of the shooter in Cumbria, UK - maybe a drop of rain is not too bad!

Hope 103.2FM radio interview

2010-06-03T16:02:00.003+10:00

The alarm went off at 6am this morning and it was dark, cold and wet. But we had to get up to leave by 7am for the radio studios of Hope FM at Seven Hills (about 45 minutes from home). Hope 103.2 is a Christian radio station (LINK) we listen to in the morning - the Aaron and Dan breakfast show. I have called in to them a few times to explain legal problems in the news and they wanted "honorary doctorates". I called in and explained who gets such awards and how they could be made Adjunct Fellows and I would give them a free UWS Law School baseball cap.

Anyway they invited us into the "Den" (studio) this morning and I awarded them Adjunct Ambassador certificates, the baseball caps and a conference/laptop back-pack from last years ALTA-UWS conference (LINK). Then they invited me to talk about my journey with cancer - this was more of a challenge, but worth sharing.

It was fun watching them operate the studio and joke in between music tracks, adverts and pre-recorded material. Afterwards we went for a coffee and a longer chat. As we drove home I received a number of emails and txts from people who had heard the interview - which was so encouraging.

Picking up a cold

2010-06-02T14:00:00.002+10:00

I think it is amazing that the four Adams have managed to avoid colds, flu etc for the last six months. The moment I finished chemo, Lucy and Jess, both managed to have colds. So last night, I started coughing at 2am, 4am and 6am - very disturbing. It is only a cold - sore throat and coughs, but still a worry.

I called RNS hospital about blood tests and the cough/cold. They seemed ok and believed my immunity system would cope, but watch-out for a fever (above 38c).

Girls went off to school and Melissa to work. I had a slow start as over-tired, but did get down to Narrabeen and had a nice coffee with Mark F (who has a new iPad - very cool indeed) at a cafe called "Narrow Bean".

Then home for lunch and a little bit of work - mixing up my English powerpoints with those in Mandarin - long story! Helps pass the time and have come in handy over the years.

Lucy has "parent-teacher meeting" tonight - hope I feel well enough to go!

Day 182 - cold and wet

2010-05-31T13:38:00.002+10:00

After a nice relaxing weekend, it was funny to get up to help the girls get off to school and work, and then go back to bed!

For Sydney, it is cold (12c) and jolly wet. A nice day to be indoors, until all electricity gave up the ghost. We quickly forget how dependent we are on electricity!

So have found some light by the window and boiled water on gas for a cup of tea and can read until electric comes back.

Australian Thanksgiving weekend

2010-05-30T13:20:00.002+10:00

This weekend is the Australian national thanksgiving weekend - LINK

It is a good time to give thanks for all the people and things in our lives. Obviously for the Adams family, it has been a tough six months, but actually there has been a lot to be thankful for from the staff at the RNS Hospital, to our church, to our family here in Australia and UK and our friends in many countries.

I have been amazed at the interest and care of so many people, including our newsagents at Forestway (Patrick), who always asks how we are doing and when he can stops to have a coffee/tea with us, just to catch up on the latest developments.

I hope you are having a great weekend and a big "thank-you" for all the readers of my Blog, for your encouragement and support and prayers. There is a positive light at the end of this part of the journey and then I feel a new stage of the journey begins. Roll on 5th July when we have all the results of the various tests.

Friday felt "normal"

2010-05-29T12:04:00.002+10:00

What is it about the word "normal" which is distinct from being "average"?

On Friday, I felt really good health-wise and thus I wanted to be "normal" in a work sense. After dropping girls at school/work, I met with my good friend Chris C at Gloria Jeans at Chatswood. Chris had bumped into a mutual lawyer friend, Ian D; so we called up with him as well. Chris kindly gave me a book on leading companies through history from the East India Co to Google - amazing. Next thing I knew it was 11am and I was on my way to UWS Parramatta campus.

It was so nice to be in my lovely office. I had not been there long and one of my junior staff, who is about to be married, took a call from the USA to say her dad had passed away. Her colleagues were able to provide comfort and practical help to facilitate her quick flight out of Sydney to be with her Mum and sister - but a very tough time ahead.

I managed to catch up with a number of people and get some Australian Research Council work done, which was time critical (I am late that means with some reports!) By the time I got home, i was tired, so had a sleep. Melissa then drove Jess to her youth group, so we went to a local curry house (Balu's in Belrose - LINK) and had onion bahjis starter, lamb rogan josh and chicken tikka masla, as mains - YUM for under $50.

Biggest morning tea - Cancer Council

2010-05-29T11:56:00.002+10:00

This week has been a big fundraiser for the Cancer Council by way of the "Biggest Morning Tea". The high school Melissa worked at made $348 and I helped at a stall at Forestville shops and we made $579 - so if this was copied throughout the country, I assume the Cancer Council did well - which helps support research.

From our fundraising efforts I popped over to UTS Kuring-gai campus to help Emeritus Professor Dave Barker AM. Dave has a number of great academic papers which have yet to be published. But they are buried in his computer. I offered to use some search engine technology to find four good papers and convert them in to the necessary format for the ALTA Law Research Series (ALRS - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/ALRS/recent.html).

Australian National Sorry Day - 26th May

2010-05-26T15:31:00.002+10:00

Each year National Reconciliation Week celebrates the rich culture and history of Australian Indigenous Peoples. 26th May is marked out as National Sorry Day.

One of the first thing I did as UWS Provost of Parramatta Campus (February 2008 until October 2009) was to be responsible for the Sorry Day on Campus. Also, as the photo shows put up the Australian and Aboriginal and TI flags on campus. This picture was taken when Prime Minister Rudd gave his first "Apology to Australia's Indigenous Peoples" (LINK) in the Commonwealth Parliament on 13 February 2008. I then gave a speech to staff and students on behalf of the VC in the Library to say "sorry".

Google analytics tool - Blog site data five months

2010-05-25T16:52:00.002+10:00

I have just been looking at Google analytics after five months of the Blog.

Here are the results:

* Unique visitors equal 1,491

* 5,493 visits have been made to the Blog

* Viewed pages now equals 18,187

* Homepage most popular at 9,780 (to be expected) followed by Salomon case, D v S case and PET scan

* Visitors from 66 different countries

* 57% go directly to the Blog and 31% via search engine.