Another Operation

Yes I know it's been a while since we last conversed despite my promises of regular updates. My only excuse is that I've been in and out of hospital as an in patient and day patient for past few weeks. This was in order to get topped up with fluids as I was becoming dehydrated due to the after effects of the chemo and my stoma being over productive. This has caused me to be incredibly tired and not in any condition to write my blog or much else besides.

The good news is that my wonderful oncologist Dr McLean has spoken to my surgeon Mr Speake and following a successful contrast scan I'm going into hospital on Wednesday to have my stoma reversed. The operation will be on Thursday morning first thing. This is one of the best pieces of news I've had for a long time and I hope signals my entry into the final straight of my treatment. Let's hope so anyway. The final hurdle will be in November, of course, when I have my MRI scan. But I remain quietly confident for that.

This will mean that I will miss most of the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe Festival. Fortunately I had not bought any tickets in advance, even though there are a few performances which I would like to see. Hopefully I will be out of hospital, and fit enough, in time to catch a play or two before the end of August.

I've just watched Rory McIlroy win the Open and congratulations to him. He seems a fine young man and a credit to his family. His father and some of his mates put a bet on when Rory was 15 that he would win the Open by the time he was 26. They got £100 on at odds of 500 to 1. That's a nice little bet. Guess the boys will be having a few little whiskies tonight.

On other sporting fronts it was nice to see Germany win the world cup after a great tournament, which I seem to have watched in its entirety; so thank goodness it was one of the best ever. Now looking forward to the new Premier Leasgue season with our new manager Van Gaal in charge.

You will all be pleased to hear that I can now spell cygnets correctly. I blame spell checker myself and thank you to the eagle eye who spotted spell checks mistake. It won't do it again. The good news is that the cygnets are doing well though we have lost one and are now down to six. One got trapped in some low hanging branches and had to be rescued by RSPCA folk. Maybe it didn't survive the ordeal. The baby coots have all survived. I will post some recent photos from the pond later tonight.