A New Life

Hello to all my very good friends from a very humble recipient of all the love and caring I have been getting lately, being ill is pretty much a new sensation for me as I have been blessed with good health all my life.

I felt it might be an opportune time to jot down a few of my feelings and thoughts, these will be in random order as they occur to me rather than an orderly list... much like my life has been.

The obvious first thing is the mix of fears and emotions that the news that the bowel obstruction you have is "Cancer", still in my mind more of a sentence than a word, and it would take a braver man than I to hear this without "fear" being a part of what you felt.

I'll repeat.... my health has always been good and until this last 10 days I had never spent a night in hospital, if you chose to you could say that translated into "I had never before been totally humiliated" I was pushed and prodded in places that should remain sacred, I had tubes, digits and various pieces of equipment inserted into these same areas, one of these insertions was enough to clear the obstruction (Cancer??) in my bowel which in turn led to the worst night of humiliation of my life, during that night I managed to soil myself 13 times creating an unofficial Nambour Hospital record!!!!

The other side of hospital culture which I knew nothing about was the absolute dedication and caring so generously given by all the staff members that I came into contact with.

Then there was the strength and cheerful acceptance of their lot by long term patients who had been through more in their sometimes short lives than it seems anyone should have to.

As the last few paragraphs should show this has been a learning experience for me and while its true to say I would very much have preferred not to have been here it has been a strengthening process that will be of a long term benefit.

Then there was the humor!!! from Cleaners, Wards men, Nurses both male and female, in short from almost everyone you contacted, made you smile or often laugh out loud at a time in your life when you felt less inclined to laugh, especially after abdominal surgery!!!

Above all else has been the love and devotion shown by my family and friends, how can you say thank you for love like this??

The preparation and treatment period begins early next week and I have no idea whether this will leave me inclined to more posts about the progress I'm making or not... time will tell.

Again I thank you for your concerns, well wishes and prayers.

Peter.