Wednesday 31 August 2011

So long, and thanks for all the fish.................

Well, not really, because I will be back. I thought it was appropriate as I was ending one stage of life to prepare for the next. I just read that John Thaw - Inspector Morse - had oesophageal cancer, the report I read of his death described him as a 'hard drinking smoker'...........yup.............that's about right for me! Only I stopped drinking 19 years ago, at the age of 38 I realised I'd put enough away to last me the rest of my life, and I had a new love (Nina) who would not have stayed around had I carried on. My only regret there was that I put wife number one through the hell of living with a drinker - not a good thing to do. I gave up smoking 8 years ago. I say this because, without attempting to sound pious, if I had still been doing either of those things I would have been dead now. No question. I would have been as dead as if I had come of the motorcycle whilst not wearing a crash helmet. The itty bit of cancer I have is operable only because my lungs still work, and I suppose giving the liver a chance to regrow helped, and, although there is a history of cancer in my family, I am pretty certain I did myself no favours in my previous life by putting anything that burned down my throat!
I am not going to preach and tell you to stop smoking, or drinking like there's no tomorrow - all I will say is, if you get nasty stuff later on in life because of it, take it like a man and accept it's nobody's fault but your own.
I'm in hospital on Sunday evening, with the operation on Monday. 5 days in high dependency unit, and a couple of weeks on the ward, then I should be home. That's when the hard work starts! I do have something to aim for though - but I'll tell you about that in another post! I can assure you that I have no plans to be an 'ex beadweaver'! I am taking my sketchpad in with me, and I have already packed my beady bag in case I'm in longer that I expected! 
I am feeling very positive and rock & roll about this..................can't wait to show off the scars, I have heard of one man who tells people he was bitten by a shark - the scars look exactly like it! 
This is the last blogpost I'm doing before I go in, although I'm still on Facebook, and I'll probably be doing some Skypeing on Saturday, so take care everyone............and I'll see you when I get out! 
peter x


13 comments:

  1. ...Perhaps you could request a shark bite scar... now that would be impressive!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. PS... I want some of whatever the cat's having!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will be right here waiting for you and your next blogpost!
    Go for it!!!!
    All best
    Sabine

    ReplyDelete
  4. All the best for a speedy recovery... I love that you have packed your beading bag to take to hospital!

    Take care,
    Karyn
    Australia

    ReplyDelete
  5. Will this surgery effect your voice at all? Just wondering. Is Nina's To Do list done yet? O, bet you left a few things undone...just to reassure Nina that you'll be back.

    Seriously..Best Wishes for a quiet recovery.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you all! No, it shouldn't affect my voice Carol, it's a lot further down the pipeline - about 1cm from the join with the stomach. I won't be singing along with anyone for a while, but that isn't a bad thing!
    Robynne..........I don't think I'll need to request one, I think I get one anyway! :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shark bite scar afterwards...? When you can tell me that you got to do the stitching up with extra sparkly bits, then I will be impressed!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Rock and Roll, dear friend........xxx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tell them to use Fireline with some sparkles when they suture you up again. It will make a good talking point. Good luck. See you here soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good luck, Peter! I'll be thinking about you and waiting for you to start blogging again when you can. Maybe you can teach some of the nurses on the ward how to do beadweaving while you're recouperating? Gotta keep teaching, don't ya know! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Peter,
    I've been thinking of you. Hope all is well.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Welcome back mon amour. I knew you will return. Just Because.
    xxxxxxxxx
    Nefer aka IB <3

    ReplyDelete