It's Jennifer's funeral today and I am not looking forward to it - does anyone? In addition my brother (with a different mother) Tom has gone after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was the first black man to move into Cotgrave which was quite a brave move to Cotgrave in the seventies. He made his mark in more ways than one - and he and his family integrated well in a new community not well known for racial tolerance. So it will be goodbye to Tom next week. I got blacked up for a Carribean night with dreadlock wig (not very politically correct!) but Tom lapped it up. Irene wasn't happy when I got home much regretting the circumstances and there were black handprints on the walls and a black impression of me in the bed akin to the Turin shroud. There was a photograph of us that he sent all over the world to his family of him and his "bro". I have still got it on a disk drive but can't find it at the moment.
Yesterday I went to my six monthly oncology review yesterday - I met the only Chinese doctor who didn't insist that I had sleep apnoea. Apparently all is well in the Wilkie abdomen in spite of my two rupture bulges, Lauren and Hardy. So it's another six months to my next onco appointment and three to my surgeon's. Margaret, the phlebotomist in the cancer centre ushered me in and said that it was nice to see me again - normally I go to another treatment centre at the Queens - she didn't get to see many after a while and often wondered what happened to us.
It was fairly quiet for the oncology unit at City but there was one elderly man who was in a bad way and seemed to be on his own. Very sad.
So I ended 2009 not expecting to live and have got through 2010 in relatively good health. Just goes to show - keep the faith and when the going gets tough the tough gets going. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start again.......
and finally
Keep smiling. Lang may yer lum reek!
Love
Drew
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