'In the good old days, when I was in love with Hayley Mills (unrequited to this day I fear), I went to see her in a film called Pollyanna. Pollyanna was a nauseating little girl with a remorseless line in good cheer. I remember only two things from
the film. The first was the occasion when, visiting a curmudgeonly old invalid, she cheered her up by dismantling the chandelier, and hanging all the glass prisms in the sunshine (which I suspect Pollyanna of having made earlier) so that they cast rainbows
on the wall. Lucky we didn’t have a chandelier when I were a lad, since I might well have gone home and tried it.
The second thing was that she introduced the old curmudgeon to the Glad Game. This consists of analysing everything
that happens to you, and finding Something to be Glad About. Despite that fact that in reality the curmudgeon would have vomited noisily in a corner and forbidden Pollyanna ever to visit again, in the film it transformed her into sweetness and light incarnate
(thus rendering Pollyanna redundant – but the film did not acknowledge this).'
Thus wrote Richard in his 2012 Christmas letter, followed by the many reasons we had to be 'glad' in 2012. Of course I lack his inimitable style,
but at this really very difficult stage of our journey, I just feel the need to put my thoughts on paper.....and playing the glad game will be good for me I think. I hope, too, that you will find it a useful way to keep up to date with how things are going
here. It doesn't mean I don't want your texts, e-mails, phone calls. I need them now more than ever.
So the 'elephant in the room' ....though I expect most of my readers will know this by the time they find me.......is that Richard's melanoma has finally
spread to the lining of his stomach, and though there is a last ditch drug to try, worst case scenario gives him 3 months to live. Since the diagnosis, he has been extremely uncomfortable with a distended stomach, shortness of breath, a fast pulse, zero appetite....I
could go on.
But today I am so glad of our lovely GP who spent an hour or so with us this morning and to the hospice and Royal Preston who both phoned with a date for Richard to have a scan and possibly some liquid drained from the stomach. We are hoping
this will make him lots more comfortable.
And the house is full of daffodils from our wonderful neighbour. There's sunshine outside (though it's still bitterly cold), and inside thanks to a certain Rufus who lights up every day with his cheerful and
quirky personality and his two year old chatter. It's so lovely to have him and Ellie here with us for a while.
So hospice here we come tomorrow. And til then I'll love ya and leave ya.