It’s been a couple of days since I last posted, on the whole thankfully my more positive frame of mind has continued. I must admit, I have zero Christmas spirit this year, but if I’m honest I’ve not really been ‘a fan’ since the kids stopped believing in the jolly red fat bastard. (I’m guessing this is ok to say, as there won’t be any kids reading this, I certainly hope not anyway 
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Although, I have promised Gabby Bear, I will do my annual battle with our Tesco build it yourself Christmas tree, later today. So doubtless my daughters will learn more interesting swear word combinations from their father, as I fight the damn thing into something resembling an evergreen tree, from the pile of bits in the now very battered box. So there’s something to look forward to I guess. 
I think everyone is now coming to terms with how the next few months are going to be now. Teenagers can be hard to read at the best of times, but my daughters, although still very worried for me, now appear to be calmer about my recent news, which as you can imagine is a huge relief. Susie appears to be taking this all in her stride, as she has done for so many other things we’ve had to deal with as a family over the years.
Finances are very tight this year, but through the power of Aldi no one is going to starve and we’ve managed to get the kids a few small bits to go under the tree, so all will be festive come the big day.
Besides they’ve done pretty well in previous years, so having less this time round won’t do them any harm and may even encourage part time employment to be sought. (I gave up nagging about this ages ago 
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I spoke to Lee my boss yesterday, who has very much put my mind at rest regarding my employment. As you will have no doubt realised, I have been stressing a lot about what Cyril’s ‘upgraded status’ would mean to my own employment status.
Lee and I spoke at length and now have a plan in place, which means I can resume work in the second week of January. I have sent an email to Doctor Stacpoole, to ask what I can and can’t do on the ‘DIY Front’ after I receive the dos and don’ts from her, Lee can then allocate me work on our projects accordingly.
This was a huge relief, as I means I’ll be back to earning my proper wages, rather than just getting SSP as I am at the moment, which will take a lot of pressure off.
I know when I go in for the operation in April, I’m going to be off work for a good six to eight weeks and I’ll then be doing a ‘phased’ return to work, but hopefully, I’ll have built back up some savings, ready to cope with just having SSP again for that time.
It was really nice to chat to Lee, his kind nature and genuine concern for my well being and also how Susie and the girls are coping with all of this, is as my wife described ‘very sweet’.
I also woke up to a message this morning from Paula, Lee’s wife. She is another one of the wonderful and long suffering band of folks, who work for the NHS.
Paula is an A&E nurse, she’s actually on shift this weekend bless her, she messaged to offer both her support to us all and to some very valuable advice. Which we will be following, although I’ve already sent her a message to say this, thank you so much Paula, I really appreciated you taking the time to message me. 
Many other folks have taken time out of their day to send me messages, to check I’m doing ok or offer advice and encouragement. So the following most recent ones gets you all a mention in dispatches, as it were. Thanks to Mick, Kate, James, Tucky and the merciless piss taking I receive from Tony, I really do appreciate you all taking the time to message me privately, its really very kind.
I think I’ll sign off for today, as my youngest daughter is threatening mutiny if I don’t put this tree up.
She already let me know last night, when I attempted to use Cyril as an excuse for not doing something. That she won’t be letting me get away with such behaviour ‘yeah, yeah Dad you’ve got brain cancer, doesn’t mean your arms don’t work, now pass me the TV remote or else’. Now, anyone who thought I was in for an easy time with some members of my family, dream on.
(Oh and cancer hopefully won’t kill me off, but if Gabby finds out I’ve used this picture of her, from a Daddy Daughter trip to London a couple of years ago, you’ll all know why the blog entries suddenly stopped )
