January 2017 Update 

After the Christmas and New Year break it was back to work, although not for very long as I’d only been back for a fortnight when I had to take another week off to go to hospital for patch testing and light testing to see what was causing my skin to flare up!

This meant a whole week of going back and forth to the hospital which unfortunately was about an hour’s drive from me in Southampton!

Day one involved them putting about 100 little chambers over my back all with different substances in to see if I was allergic to anything.

Patch testing on Garry's back
Patch testing on Garry’s back

Once these were on I wasn’t allowed to have a bath or shower for the entire week! (Normal week then!?!) I was also not allowed to exercise (like I do anyway!!) which meant not being able to ride! It was all because they didn’t want the chambers falling off because of sweat or water!

Once they’d covered my back with plasters to hold the little chambers in place I was allowed to go home under the above restrictions.

The next day which was the Tuesday I was back at the hospital this time for light testing, to see if it was the sun I was allergic to!

All marked up like a bingo card after light testing
All marked up like a bingo card after light testing

This was a new machine to the hospital and I was only the second person to use it, because of this it was all a bit of trial and error with the nurse’s that were using it. But it was all ok as I was pre-warned beforehand and I thought that the nurses done really well.

Basically, the machine tested different wavelengths and doses of light, I came away from that session looking like a bingo card!

Luckily there’s enough room on me these days to be able to do all these tests at the same time!

On the third day, I went back to get the results from the light testing, which thankfully came back as ok. It was a bit of a relief to know that it wasn’t the sun causing it as I think that that could have really been a problem and could have potentially ended my cycling! They also took the plasters off my back and marked where they were so they could see what if anything I was allergic to.

Thursday was a welcome day off although I couldn’t do too much as I was still under instruction not to sweat!

I got a bit bored the week of my hospital visits so I made this video! I also put some odd videos on my Facebook page

Friday was result day where I would find out what could possibly be causing my skin to flare up. That all turned out to be a bit of a damp squib as I don’t seem to be allergic to anything!

Not too sure whether all this is good news or not! If I’m not allergic to any substances and it’s not the sun that’s been causing it, what is it then? Maybe its work!! Whatever it was hopefully it’s not going to reoccur!

My van went had to go into the garage for the day so I was going to use my car for work, but unfortunately that broke down the day before and had to also go into the garage, so it left me with no option but to go out on a bike ride! (As if I need an excuse!)

Brighton seafront with the old West pier and the new i360
Brighton seafront with the old West pier and the new i360

My bike ride took me to Brighton, a ride of about 60 miles, I didn’t do anything once I got there, I just took a couple of photos then turned around and cycled back home!

A deserted Brighton beach
A deserted Brighton beach

That’s about the only cycling I’ve done and not really done much else either this month, January’s never a very good month weather wise, but at least it’s now out of the way! Just need to get February out of the way then it’s March and things will definitely be on the up!

To mark reaching 50,000 miles cycled on Passepartout I put a collection of pictures from my past eight years of touring onto my Facebook page.

 

2 Replies to “January 2017 Update ”

  1. Hi Garry! I can’t believe you can just get on a bike and do 60 miles. My bike is put aside for the winter but I have bought a kick scooter – trouble is it’s no good up hill. What about the back? Have you had any diagnosis for that?

    1. Hi Malcolm, that just seems to be one of those strange things about me, I can just jump on a bike and pedal for miles!
      I don’t even bother asking about the back anymore ever since they said there’s nothing they can do! But it has definitely improved, it’s just because it’s so gradual I don’t notice it. But when I look back to how I was a year or so ago I can see improvements.
      Hope you’re keeping well and not getting too wet on the Isle of Wight!

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