P. D. Clifton

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…

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!’…

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…

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…

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 –…

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…

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…

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,’…

The Omicron variant of Covid continues to rip through the land. And Boris Johnson has only just stopped dithering about whether to go into any kind of Christmas lockdown (his conclusion? Damn the consequences, let’s not!). One of his Brexit allies, Lord Frost, has just resigned at the very thought of it. What is it…

Today I’m feeling guilty. What if I’m exploiting Lizzie’s illness – to give me the material to write a blog? Am I? Maybe. Probably. And anyway… who’s even going to want to read it? What am I bringing to the “cancer literature” party? Well, there is one thing which might make this ‘memoir’ slightly different.…