Some news

Dear Friends and Family,



Today I decided to purchase an English newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph. Although it is very expensive, I used to read the Telegraph when I lived in England. In the News Review and Comment section, there is series of diary extracts from a GP who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and subsequently died at just 47 years old. It is a deeply moving article and the diary extracts are very honest. It was a particular section in his extracts which prompted my blog,



"The hospice director has said the most useful thing so far in any of the conversations I have had since this whole cancer thing started: slow down. In the first month following the diagnosis, my wife and I had chased around seeing solicitors, financial advisers, even a cemetery, as though my death was imminent. Of course the pressure was all from me. I needed desperately to know that things were sorted out, and unable to sort out any of the big things, like undoing the cancer, I needed to settle for the mundane. The consequence of this was that I was exhausted and hadn't given myself space simply to be and start to experience the feelings, the enormity, despair, that my life had become."


In this man's diary, I really related to his desire to tie up all the loose ends before he dies. I have had prostate cancer for several years now and up until last week, it had been kept under control or at least prevented from spreading. I am now told that it has spread to other major organs. It is strange because I do not feel any different. I have been given various medical options but being the age that I am, those options are relatively limited. I have decided that I am going to use this blog to tie up my own loose ends and I will leave it in my will for my family to read once I am gone. There are a few areas of my life which are 'grey patches' so to speak. I would like to clear up those 'grey patches' as I know that a great weight will be lifted not only for myself but for my family also.

Guten Tag