Treasure the fragments.

When I woke up this morning one thing came to mind - "My God, it's the last day of 2020...". At that I felt as though I should write something. But what could possibly be said after a year like this?.. I mean, it's hard enough attempting to make sense and give voice to the …

“Well done.”

In my teens and into my very early 20s, I was really quite a shy person, quite cripplingly shy actually. In any social situation a voice in my head would taunt my every action 'You're too quiet, say something. Why'd you say that? You're not funny. You're not interesting. They don't like you. You look …

Cancer treatment – A hope and a plan.

It's not possible to consider the end, the worst, it's just not. That's why, when we hit rock bottom, when the worst comes to the worst and options begin to disappear, we find ourselves considering the beginning instead. How to start again, from the ground up. Essentially, how to survive.   No matter how bad …

Cancer treatment – The worst news.

I'll be honest - When I was first told I had Cancer, and the situation was explained to me in full, I always thought the odds were stacked against me. I just did. Knowing it was Melanoma - one of the worst kinds of Cancer, a Cancer that's distinctly aggressive, distinctly difficult to treat because …

I won’t suffer for them.

Dealing with a serious disease that's causing your body to fail in unpredictable ways is a pretty lonely experience at the best of times. But having to deal with side effects and problems while unable to see family and friends during this lockdown, especially considering my base response to stress has always been to spend …

Nope. Not today.

I'd decided to take a week off from writing something new last Sunday, but instead of enjoying that break I found myself ready to re-post an older blog post. You see, during the week before that Sunday, news had broken in regards to how corrosive our politics was becoming, brought to light by a very …

Normal feels great.

So I've a bit of a ritual - Every Friday, for lunch, I make myself boiled eggs and toast (don't judge me, it's the best I can do!) while listening to tunes through my headphones, appreciating every beat and every word. It's something I look forward to doing, miming the words and nodding my head …

How to survive.

I don't know if it's just me but I often find myself imagining differing situations and then wondering whether I could survive them. Could I survive in a medieval situation? No, glasses didn't exist then, I'd be the blind pauper stumbling around in the mud. Could I survive in a desert island situation? No, if …

Take a breath, slow your thoughts…

"A definite reduction in the volume of the disease behind the eye."   When existing in a world of uncertainty brought on by the boot of Cancer, reminders of your situation can be found everywhere. You absolutely can't escape it. These reminders don't necessarily effect you, but they exist. You could see something advertised on …

Make us immortal.

Well, it approaches again. The results to the latest once-every-3-months scan I have to go through as part of my Cancer treatment will be revealed to me next Friday. And it's during the days before what 'could' be life altering, even ending, information is revealed that all sorts of thoughts start creeping through your mind. …