After another phone call by Olga my treatment programme is being worked on and we have an appointment at Carlisle next Tuesday which will hopefully be the last one before treatment actually starts.
Olga is much better than me at dealing with people on the phone because with her Russian/Ukrainian manner she is not afraid to be pushy or emotional whereas I am too polite and unwilling to seem to be a nuisance or, as she puts it, too English.
11 August - The riots
When I was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer I decided to give up the political blogging and the ranting because it felt like a waste of precious time on things that didn't seem to matter so much any more. But over the last few days here in England we have had scenes of rioting and looting that are unprecedented. I could not let these go by without making comment, especially as I believe the cause of the rioting is down to many of the things I was ranting about.
These riots are not about the accidental killing by police of an allegedly innocent black man in east London that most of the rioters never even knew or heard of. They are an expression of anger by a sector of the population that feels ignored and betrayed by the political class that rules this country. There are a lot of us who feel that way. The main difference is, we rant, they riot.
Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday that "there is a section of our society that is not just broken, but sick." He was right. And in order to see that section of society Mr Cameron and his Westminster colleagues need look no further than the nearest mirror. Because the problem in this country is we have a political class that is completely out of touch with the rest of the population. Politicians of all main parties today take decisions based on their own self interest and those of their counterparts in other countries, at the expense of the people who earn the money to pay the taxes that fund those decisions.
Politics is sick and broken in this country. How else could politicians think they have a moral authority to tell looters how to behave, when only a couple of years ago most of those same politicians were being exposed in the press for having their hands in the till, fiddling their parliamentary expenses?
I read that in one part of London where the trouble first started, four out of the eight youth clubs had closed because of the cuts, while youth unemployment was rocketing. What respect do our politicians think they deserve to be accorded when they cut services to people who need them and destroy their job prospects in order to save rich financial institutions from the consequences of their own greed?
A few days ago, in a discussion about what the financial crisis in the Eurozone would mean to us, a pundit stated that vastly more money would be needed to bail out countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy, and that as a consequence there would have to be deeper cuts and less money to spend on things like healthcare and education. How much respect do you suppose I and others in my situation should have for a political class that deems it more important to use British taxes to pay the debts of foreign countries in order to try to prop up the failing, flawed EU project, than to provide life-saving healthcare for the people who paid those taxes in the first place?
Should I and others needing expensive medical treatment be allowed to die to save the Euro? Should a youth from south London face years of unemployment to avoid a bank going bankrupt?
I don't condone the violence or the looting, but only because the victims are people and businesses that are in no way to blame for the things that the rioters are angry about. But if it makes more people start to think more critically about our government and its policies, if it could even bring down the coalition and force a general election, perhaps some good may come of it.
No amount of stern headmasterly admonishment from Mr David Cameron is going to change anything. The causes of discontent are not going to go away without a complete change of policy that puts people before international politics.If that doesn't happen then one thing is for sure, this won't be the last you hear of riots in English cities.
These riots are not about the accidental killing by police of an allegedly innocent black man in east London that most of the rioters never even knew or heard of. They are an expression of anger by a sector of the population that feels ignored and betrayed by the political class that rules this country. There are a lot of us who feel that way. The main difference is, we rant, they riot.
Prime Minister David Cameron said yesterday that "there is a section of our society that is not just broken, but sick." He was right. And in order to see that section of society Mr Cameron and his Westminster colleagues need look no further than the nearest mirror. Because the problem in this country is we have a political class that is completely out of touch with the rest of the population. Politicians of all main parties today take decisions based on their own self interest and those of their counterparts in other countries, at the expense of the people who earn the money to pay the taxes that fund those decisions.
Politics is sick and broken in this country. How else could politicians think they have a moral authority to tell looters how to behave, when only a couple of years ago most of those same politicians were being exposed in the press for having their hands in the till, fiddling their parliamentary expenses?
I read that in one part of London where the trouble first started, four out of the eight youth clubs had closed because of the cuts, while youth unemployment was rocketing. What respect do our politicians think they deserve to be accorded when they cut services to people who need them and destroy their job prospects in order to save rich financial institutions from the consequences of their own greed?
A few days ago, in a discussion about what the financial crisis in the Eurozone would mean to us, a pundit stated that vastly more money would be needed to bail out countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy, and that as a consequence there would have to be deeper cuts and less money to spend on things like healthcare and education. How much respect do you suppose I and others in my situation should have for a political class that deems it more important to use British taxes to pay the debts of foreign countries in order to try to prop up the failing, flawed EU project, than to provide life-saving healthcare for the people who paid those taxes in the first place?
Should I and others needing expensive medical treatment be allowed to die to save the Euro? Should a youth from south London face years of unemployment to avoid a bank going bankrupt?
I don't condone the violence or the looting, but only because the victims are people and businesses that are in no way to blame for the things that the rioters are angry about. But if it makes more people start to think more critically about our government and its policies, if it could even bring down the coalition and force a general election, perhaps some good may come of it.
No amount of stern headmasterly admonishment from Mr David Cameron is going to change anything. The causes of discontent are not going to go away without a complete change of policy that puts people before international politics.If that doesn't happen then one thing is for sure, this won't be the last you hear of riots in English cities.
9 August - Waiting for treatment
Still feeling OK, but a little frustrated about the length of time it is taking to begin treatment. Given that what I was told I had by one doctor at Newcastle was a "fast growing" tumour, you might think that there would be a bit of urgency about treating it before it grows back to what it was originally.
Last night I expressed this thought to Olga, which was a bad idea as she then spent a sleepless night worrying about it. This morning she telephoned the radiology department at Carlisle to find out what was going on. She was told that the consultant hadn't looked at my scan yet so he had not been able to start to plan my treatment. And there we were believing that the reason it was taking so long was because planning the treatment was complicated!
It seems to me that being a patient means you have to be patient! I assume that the doctors know what they are doing and the reason for the delay is not simply complacency or lack or resources. But nobody tells you anything. Perhaps this is what we get for living in the back of beyond. If we had lived in Newcastle, where I had the brain surgery, or another major city, would I have been receiving treatment by now, nearly 7 weeks after the operation?
Still, we are where we are and we don't have any other options. It would be impractical and even more stressful to try to speed things up by selling all our assets in order to have such expensive treatment privately. It might not make a difference anyway. And it would be a foolish thing to do, since Olga has to be able to survive this financially even if I don't and she is left without a breadwinner.
So we continue to sit and wait for the good old National Health Service to crank into action.
Last night I expressed this thought to Olga, which was a bad idea as she then spent a sleepless night worrying about it. This morning she telephoned the radiology department at Carlisle to find out what was going on. She was told that the consultant hadn't looked at my scan yet so he had not been able to start to plan my treatment. And there we were believing that the reason it was taking so long was because planning the treatment was complicated!
It seems to me that being a patient means you have to be patient! I assume that the doctors know what they are doing and the reason for the delay is not simply complacency or lack or resources. But nobody tells you anything. Perhaps this is what we get for living in the back of beyond. If we had lived in Newcastle, where I had the brain surgery, or another major city, would I have been receiving treatment by now, nearly 7 weeks after the operation?
Still, we are where we are and we don't have any other options. It would be impractical and even more stressful to try to speed things up by selling all our assets in order to have such expensive treatment privately. It might not make a difference anyway. And it would be a foolish thing to do, since Olga has to be able to survive this financially even if I don't and she is left without a breadwinner.
So we continue to sit and wait for the good old National Health Service to crank into action.
8 August - Exercise helps
Cancer patients should do two and a half hours of moderate physical exercise a week, recommends Macmillan Cancer Support which has today launched a campaign called Move More. Taking it easy after treatment is now considered an outdated idea. New research shows that exercise can reduce the risk of dying from cancer and help minimize the side effects of treatment.
Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much of a benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long term health, in some cases reducing their chances of having to go through the gruelling ordeal of treatment all over again. It doesn't need to be anything too strenuous, doing the gardening, going for a brisk walk or a swim, all count."
Well they don't need to tell me. I have been keen to exercise just for the sense of well-being and wanting to be able to do as much as possible what I could do before. If it helps to beat the cancer as well then so much the better.
Enough for now - I'm off to the garage / gym to do a few kilometres on the exercise bike.
Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Cancer patients would be shocked if they knew just how much of a benefit physical activity could have on their recovery and long term health, in some cases reducing their chances of having to go through the gruelling ordeal of treatment all over again. It doesn't need to be anything too strenuous, doing the gardening, going for a brisk walk or a swim, all count."
Well they don't need to tell me. I have been keen to exercise just for the sense of well-being and wanting to be able to do as much as possible what I could do before. If it helps to beat the cancer as well then so much the better.
Enough for now - I'm off to the garage / gym to do a few kilometres on the exercise bike.
5 August - Some improvements
Not much to report. I have been sleeping a little better the last few nights and there have been improvements in physical fitness and general well-being, though some days are better than others. I am able to use the desktop computer now but it doesn't do my eyes any good so I am limiting use of it as much as possible. I use my smartphone for most things and the computer for tasks where the big screen and keyboard are a positive advantage like using eBay or composing longer blog posts.
Still no news of my next appointment to begin the treatment.
Living one day at a time is liberating in a sense, in that one is no longer much concerned about the future. Like most people my age who do not have the luxury of a final salary based pension backed by an employer to retire on I have savings for retirement that are invested in stock market based funds. I would now be feeling extremely anxious about the falls in stock values brought about by the US deficit problem, concerns about the Eurozone and other matters. Now, there seems no point in worrying about it as whatever happens I'll probably never get to spend most of it anyway.
One paper I read recently suggested that there could be a link between stress and cancer. I wonder whether we would live longer and be happier if we all led simpler lives and were more self-sufficient instead of being slaves to work worrying about money, status and possessions?
Still no news of my next appointment to begin the treatment.
Living one day at a time is liberating in a sense, in that one is no longer much concerned about the future. Like most people my age who do not have the luxury of a final salary based pension backed by an employer to retire on I have savings for retirement that are invested in stock market based funds. I would now be feeling extremely anxious about the falls in stock values brought about by the US deficit problem, concerns about the Eurozone and other matters. Now, there seems no point in worrying about it as whatever happens I'll probably never get to spend most of it anyway.
One paper I read recently suggested that there could be a link between stress and cancer. I wonder whether we would live longer and be happier if we all led simpler lives and were more self-sufficient instead of being slaves to work worrying about money, status and possessions?
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