Category: Uncategorized
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25: THERMOMETER SCANDAL!
It’s the late afternoon and I walk into the bedroom. Lizzie’s lying on the bed (as she does a lot more now than she used to). She gives me one of her intense I’m going to tell you something important now and you’d better listen ‘cause there’ll be a test afterwards looks. She holds up…
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24: DOWN THERE
A few days ago, I noticed a lump down there. Just below my waist. Actually, it’s not so much a lump. It’s more… a bulge. On the right-hand side of my lower abdomen, right under where my belt goes. A bulge which isn’t normally there. No matter what the circumstances. I’m immediately thrown into a…
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23: BOX SETS
Lizzie’s lying in bed watching box sets. She’s being doing a lot of this since she got diagnosed. ‘I want to lie in bed and watch box sets!’ I announce. ‘You have to get cancer,’ says Lizzie. ‘OK!’ I reply. ‘If that’s what it takes!’ ‘You’re already sicker than I am,’ sighs Lizzie. Maybe she’s…
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22: SMART LACE
I walk into the bedroom. Lizzie’s sitting on the bed, bald as the day she was born. There’s a box on the floor… a small cardboard box, with a tasteful design on it. On the box, in fancy writing, are the words ‘Smart Lace’. ‘Smart Lace?’ I say. ‘Sounds like some kinky kind of underwear!’…
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21: CORPSE DONKEY
Even though Lizzie has now thankfully recovered from Covid, her sister H. – one of the two sisters who took her to Daylesford Covid (I mean Organic) Market in the Cotswolds – is feeling contrite. To attempt to make amends for the Daylesford disaster (despite the fact it really wasn’t H.’s fault that Lizzie caught…
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20: FEELING STRESSED HIGHWAY
Whilst we’re on the subject of my anxiety/panic attack issues (as we were in the post ‘Bulls’ below), there’s also this to say: on the face of it, I’m probably a terrible person to have as a partner if you suddenly get cancer. Not only do I suffer from anxiety (OK, nearly everyone suffers from…
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19: BULLS
It’s Boxing Day and we’ve decided to go on a walk in the Cotswolds (or, rather, Lizzie and I have. The kids have done their utmost to make it clear they don’t want to go – it’s taking away from valuable lying around/gaming/eating chocolate time). I’ve organised the walk. It’s one we’ve done before –…
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18: WHY I WANTED TO WRITE THIS BLOG
So, just to expand on some of the comments I made at the end of the ‘RECAP’ post… … here’s a short section explaining ‘WHY I WANTED TO WRITE THIS BOOK.’ I guess I wanted to show that when something bad happens to you or someone you care about – like cancer – life doesn’t…
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17: RECAP
I didn’t actually start writing this journal when Lizzie was first diagnosed with cancer. I started writing it a couple of months later. To be honest, when Lizzie was first diagnosed with cancer, writing about it was the very last thing on my mind. Things were way too upsetting and stressful! She found out about…
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16: WE’RE ALL ALONE
Whilst we’ve been having lunch (without the kids – they’re both out), Lizzie has been listening in to an online seminar – about nutrition for cancer sufferers. We eat our butternut squash (again) soup in silence and eventually the seminar ends. Lizzie shuts the lid on her laptop with a grave face. ‘Everything’s so contradictory,’…
P. D. Clifton 