Its 7-35 a.m. I have been awake since around 2-30. Don’t know why, just one of those things. I’m on my 2^nd day of my 2nd course of chemo now. It went well yesterday, however, my hair is now falling out in droves and my skin is starting to dry up. I think I might shave all my hair off today and get it over with in one swoop. I’m not bothered about losing my hair. It will grow again and is a very small price to pay towards my recovery.

On Monday night I received a phone call from a man called Tony and his wife who live in Derbyshire. They visited the Island 11 years ago and stayed in the Bay hotel in Port St. Mary. At that time Barbara and I lived in Port St. Mary. Apparently Barbara and I met Tony and his wife in the Bay one night and gave them a lift back to the airport the following day. Tony is now suffering from cancer and somehow or other has come across this blog. He is not very computer savvy, in fact he has not yet perfected emailing. None-the-less he has managed to find our blog and follow my progress each day. Tony attended his first chemo session in Derbyshire yesterday. I hope it went well for you Tony and I will be calling you later. Isn’t it absolutely amazing how just sitting down with a couple of total strangers, having a beer and making a simple gesture like giving them a lift to the airport, remains in their memory for 11 years. It took me quite a while to figure out who Tony and his wife were when they called and I still can’t remember wife’s name. I do remember she worked in a lollypop factory though. I also heard from my old friend Mousey Christian, the former landlord of the Swan in Ramsey yesterday. Hearing from old friends when you are battling with cancer is a real tonic. Mousey is one of those guys who are absolutely genuine. Never there to trip you up or get into your hair so to speak, but always there when they are needed and, sometimes your friends are a better judge than you as to when they are needed. I also heard from Gordon Lowey a former Malew footballer. What a great character Gordy was and is. All you Manx football followers who were supporting your teams in the 60’s and 70-s will remember Gordy. I swallowed many a pint after the match with Gordy and the Malew boys. The article regarding my present situation in the Examiner this week has seems to have tracked down many of my old pals from years gone by. I was a bit apprehensive at first about going ahead with the article in the Examiner, however, I had already started the blog and it didn’t make any sense now to put a stop on any further publicity. Cancer is a disease that has been hidden away for far too long in the past. It has been an unspoken word. We have referred to it as the big C and so on. If we are going to stand half a chance of conquering cancer we need to refer to it directly. Call it by its name and recognize for what it is and what it does. I have just broken off from writing this blog to take Skipper to the beach with Barbara. We walked from Hango Hill back to the promenade steps into a stiff south-westerly, about force 6. The tide is out and the lone voice of a curlew called out across the bay. Skippers bark could also be heard as he chased the gulls across the sand, and, so far he hasn’t caught a plane or a gull, however, he is still undeterred. Every plane and gull gets chased across the sand until they have flown to far out to sea and can be a threat no longer, whatever Skippers perception of a threat is. Just like I am chasing my cancer cells away until my perception is that they too no longer pose a threat. After 3 short weeks of chemo therapy I am walking on the beach again. I can hear the curlew calling out across the bay, the rising tide, the oyster catchers and feel the sweet pure South-westerly wind blowing in from the Atlantic on my face. A few weeks ago, I thought this was all behind me. Soon I will step onboard my newly acquired boat “Silverburn” and feel her gently rise and fall as she slowly makes her way across the bay. Well, it was all behind me but, it’s all ahead of me now. Of that I’m sure. We have now crossed that ocean of despair. We have rounded Cape of Hope and are now sailing across the sea of promise.

Until tomorrow then, this is Tom Glassey, News at 9.23 on the banks of the Silverburn.