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