Back After A Long Break

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Gosh I have been away much longer than I thought. Thank you to everyone for messages of concern and worry for me. Initially I drifted away as there was very little traffic on Mylot, and in fact there still isn’t really. The lockdown measures then curtailed much going out, quite necessarily given the threat from the virus. My diary pages would have amounted to stayed in, or went shopping,, wearing the appropriate masks of course. . As you know I post many images of pubs but they are closed due to the pandemic. I had little to do but stay in and read. Then in August, disaster struck and I found that I’d caught he big C. No, not Covid, the other one, Cancer, bowel cancer to be precise. I was getting short of breath even after short shopping trips. I put it aside as a temporary blip for weeks until I ended up sat on a bench yards from home unable to walk further without gasping for air. It was pouring with rain but I couldn’t move for a while. I got home and called my doctor who saw me a few days later. While I was convinced it was my lungs he seemed more worried about my bowels. Yes, I hadn’t used the loo much for a while but my appetite was fine. He told me that bowel cancer chews up blood cells vital to oxygenating the blood, so my breathing was just taking in a lot of empty air. I notified family and friends, and went through many tests, including X-Rays, CAT scans, a Colonoscopy, a test of my breathing involving an exercise bike, several blood tests and Covid tests before my big operation on December 2nd. I was warned that the op itself was life threatening but without it I was as good as dead so I consented. It seemed to go well, and I was put in intensive care for close monitoring but a few days later they found that some of my interna stitching was coming apart so I had to have a second operation. This time I came round with an operation entry wound the size of a Magnum 44 bullet exit point and a stoma bag as the route to my rectum normally taken by my body waste was now dammed. It took eight weeks of drip feeds, endless tests and immobility with occasional walks round the ward (followed by nurses holding my drip feeds). I was in way past Xmas and New Year and got out on January 18th. I now have my wound dressing changed daily by district nurses. The stomas are changed by me but I’m limited in what I can do. Many people helped me enormously. There were a few idiots along the way too, even in the NHS but most of them were exceptionally helpful. Also a great deal of support from neighbours, friends, family and the online community. I hope now to get back to some semblance of normality and posting on here too. Thank you for missing me. As to the Covid, stay safe wherever you are. Arthur Chappell