Life

[June 2021]

By way of explanation for the lack of recent content, back in June, the date of the last post, we received devastating news – the love of my life was diagnosed with cancer. An inoperable cholangiocarcinoma. No matter how far we’ve come in terms of dealing with this vile disease, the great and the good of our national health service have only been able to offer palliative care. Six months, eight cycles, of chemotherapy. Cycle seven starts this week.

We’ve always valued life, made the most of it in our own way, it’s sheer fragility now brought into sharp focus. One moment you feel you’re making and living the perfect life, the next you’re dealt a blow so painful you feel you’ll never come to terms with it (suspect we never will).. The diagnosis conversation you’ve seen and heard so many times before, but not often one you are a part of. The reality of the conversation only brought home by the deterioration of physical ability and the pain of the cancer itself.

In its truest sense the last six months have been a voyage of discovery, one you would not wish on anyone. It could generate vast reams of conversation, from how the NHS appears to be destroying itself through its focus on process rather than effective nursing care, how true friends and relatives “stand up to be counted”, when they say they’ll be there for you, they really are. The effect of the media on our everyday lives and how avoiding it can be good for you. How the best employers can create a balance between work and home that benefits the organisation and employee. Did James Bond simply speak too much in the latest release and how the industry self promotes way beyond a level that could be deemed acceptable. Why the cost of building materials has gone through the proverbial roof.

These subjects, and many many others, are for other threads, here, we’ll focus (mainly) on the build.