Lawns & cancer news

The Fox actually managed to cut the lawns yesterday. It’s been so wet of late, he hasn’t been able to do so for weeks, maybe months. Even now he hasn’t been able to cut it too short as the mower tended to get clogged up in the wetter patches. Still it’s good to see something that resembles lawns rather than abandoned grassy patches. Now I’ve just got to find a dry spell to tidy round the edges. It will not be today as it is raining once again.

It never ceases to surprise me as to just how many people are affected by cancer. We were talking to the barman at our village pub, when I mentioned about the broken needle of earlier this week, & my hope that next week’s hospital trip isn’t as bad. We’ve known him for years. He used to work at the pub before its revamp last winter. He hadn’t realised I had cancer, or rather (I hope), had had it. His mother has just had her 5 year review after her operation for breast cancer – all’s well.

It’s strange how when you mention cancer, you suddenly discover how much there is about. We’re aware I had had it before, many family members have been treated for it or died from it. Now I discover how many friends & acquaintances have had it but seem okay now. The secret I am sure is to get it early.

It is also a sign of how much progress there has been in the treatment of cancer. At one time the only conclusion would have been death. Certainly that was the case when I was young, even when my mother died in the 1970s. Now, with screening tests & the use of chemotherapy & radiotherapy, many survive to live many years more. I myself, at one time, would have been dead when they found my first cancer in 2001. These days the screening often shows up early stage tumours, long before you feel pain or lumps. It is often still treatable then. My advice to anyone is to take any such tests offered to you. With luck if you have cancer it will still be treatable. Putting your head in the sand for fear of cancer will probably mean it’s too late before you get to the hospital for anything to cure it or at least prolong your life.

Three cheers. The post has just arrived. My mammogram was a success. No sign of any cancer. Maybe now the time has come to celebrate. And arrange a holiday break. A great weight has been lifted.