15 days, but I would have preferred longer

It's been a difficult week. It started well enough, with a trip to Auckland on Monday to speak at an international innovation conference, and a highly entertaining working lunch in Wellington hosted by Trade Minister Tim Groser in honour of some European investment bankers. Luminaries present included the Treasury Secretary and the Chair of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund. It seemed that they needed a scientist to add some unpredictability to the occasion. I managed the soup and soft fish. On Wednesday evening Miang and I were at the black tie Engineering awards dinner where I had to speak and present to some winners. I'm not sure if it was the asparagus tips, relentlessly chewed, or the soft brownie which I ate for dessert, all of course under Miang's strict supervision, but the next morning, while sitting in the sunshine at Karanga clinic connected to a vitamin C IV line, I felt the unmistakable pangs which are the precursor to a bowel blockage. I had gone 15 days, a record since these obstructions started in mid-September, but a desperate disappointment nonetheless.

I was due to fly to Auckland the next day for another speaking engagement, at a Competitiveness conference, and with the PM speaking in the same session. I relished the chance to lay out some of the paradoxes of New Zealand's innovation sector, but it was pointless to even think of it. I rang and pulled out as the periodic pain grew greater during the afternoon. The obstruction finally passed about 2 am. I stayed at home and recuperated the next day.

Cancelling engagements is now becoming a regular business. I was supposed to go to Australia from Tuesday to Thursday to present a Young Investigator Award at the ANZMAG (Australian-New Zealand Magnetic Resonance) conference held at Torquay near Melbourne. Anticipating the very problems which did indeed eventuate, I pulled out of that meeting a couple of weeks ago. What I didn't realise was that they would name the medal and prize after me. Petrik Galvosas made the presentation on my behalf.

This is becoming bizarre. We now have two medals in my name, after the RSNZ award to Peter Gluckman. Now the Wellington Rotary Club has instituted a Prize in my name to be awarded to secondary school science students and the MacDiarmid Institute is talking about a "Callaghan Fellowship." I blame Heretaunga College who started this madness back in March when they named a new science building after me.

All the recognition carries with it a surreal sense that I should be looking down on events post mortem. I have no eagerness to acquire this state but have had little encouraging medical news to the contrary. My physicians believe that the repeated obstructions indicate disease (cancer) around the small intestine and the discomfort I now feel within does nothing to dispel that diagnosis. A PET-CT scan in early January will provide some insight. Whether that leads to further surgery or chemotherapy is a matter to be determined.

Still, the week finished well with a visit from Rod and Joan Lambert, and a meeting, at their Wellington hotel, with Joanna and Kerry Lawson who were down from Auckland for the weekend. Jo is in her late 40s, has had metastatic bowel cancer for four years, two peritonectomies, and is still surviving well despite elevated CEA and apparent ongoing disease. She is an inspiration to me.