Strange Day

My dad continues to get better and may be allowed home early next week which I am sure will make him feel much, much better.

As for me my tooth episode continues albeit it is a lot better today after drugging myself up to the eyeballs. I realised today that I've got some leisure time coming and taking my foot off the gas work wise has exposed me to being able to think a bit more. I find myself very down at the moment - I've been like this for a while but getting tearful watching Les Miserables was a little bit odd I thought and I wonder whether that's letting stuff in at the moment that I managed to block out - Dad dying slowly of cancer - me surviving and not being able to do anything about - being helpless, being human, being angry and useless. Work has kept me busy for 18 months and today I found plenty of work stuff to do but it wasn't work it was me trying to keep occupied and then realising that it will be what it will be, it will take its time and cannot be rushed.

Its time I had some time to myself and did something for myself but I realise quite how raw I am at the moment - sure it must be my dad's situation that is making me feel like this (and my mum of course - she is also taking a battering during this time). Perhaps today I finally admitted to myself about what is coming and some of the brave face stoicism has worn away and at last I'm thinking about life without him. I do hope that all this effort in the hospital has bought him some time and that he'll be able to have some sort of comfortable time now.

As for me - I know these signs and I have friends who I can turn to if I need it, I also need to get to bed as it is 1 in the morning! Doh!

Ouch

Whatever I did to my tooth (the one I had root canal on a year ago) hurt like hell tonight, gave me a headache and numbed the side of my face. I think I must have bitten down on something hard that didn't give - OUCH!!!! So had some tablets and had a sleep for about an hour in my layback chair and I feel a bit better - just about to do a round of pills again to see if I can get sleep on that overnight.

My last post was pretty much where my head is at at the moment - not sure why that should be but perhaps as I've now gone from working flat out for 18 months to not doing anything but waiting for the phone to go, I've too much time on my hands to think.

Interestingly enough I have another business venture that a friend and I will start soon that I can get my teeth into during the intervening moments. That maybe will help me occupy my time. And time is getting short now as Dad will probably come out of Hospital next week and I'd like to go and see him and suddenly I find that my diary is booked on a number of key weekends leading up to Christmas - I will however sort something out on that as I'd like to get up there at least once if not twice to see him and my mum of course.

I find it quite difficult being miles away but perhaps I can get along to see them in the next few weeks and show my face. My brother and sister in law have had the burden of taking mum to and from the Hospital all the time (mum no longer drives) and also coping with my dad - who hasn't been the easiest of patients although he has, so my brother says, been extremely brave and stood up to this operation extremely well.

The cynic in me then says that no one ever saw me after my operations or treatments except Mrs. F. As you can tell I'm having a bit of a problem balancing this out and fight the guilt of not going up there with something else to control it. That probably isn't healthy but it's what I think sometimes. Of course the only person who expects me to go up to see my dad is me so all I'm doing is beating myself up over it and the problem is always going to be there so I just have to live with it.

Ho hum - the human brain - it can be a real bully sometimes and it's all fighting away inside there :-)

Guilt

It is amazing how you can beat yourself up for so many things:

• Being there too much
• Not being there often enough
• Overreacting
• Under-reacting

We all feel guilty - we all do but I don't actually feel robbed that my parents or my close family never came to see me when I was ill - I feel angry about it but actually having them fuss around me would not have been productive. I may have my "moments" with Mrs. F. but she's been a brick all the time I've been ill and I'd rather have her around than anyone fussing about around me. I'm like my dad so I guess he doesn't want it either.

I'm going to feel bad whatever happens - maybe I can be the bad boy and everyone can blame me and have a go at me when he dies? It is a terrible time at the moment, we aren't good at this dying malarkey at all us humans...

So what is happening?

I wish I knew - and I bet my brother and mum also wished they knew - 4 days since the operation and we don't know what they did to dad. Let's not blame the people but let's blame "the system" that allows that sort of lack of communication to exist. I'm surprised my brother has let it get that far really.

As for me - well I "used" my friends tonight to reassure me that I wasn't being too bad a son as not to be up there suffering the day to day travel, sit by bed, go home existence that my mum, brother and sister in law are doing. Sure I went up to see them and stayed in a Hotel for the privilege and hardly really saw anything of my dad if I'm honest about it (although being there was a good thing and yes I acknowledge that it was so). However at a cost having to stay in a Hotel and all that good stuff too. And again not that you'd begrudge that for your parents either despite your brother having a spare room of course :-)

I don't know I'm confused and somewhat annoyed by the whole thing. I'm not going to Scotland this year - much as I'd love to - much as I'm being asked to go. Shame but in my eyes, my dad will be out of Hospital by the end of the month and I'll try and get myself up there for him coming out and spend some time with him.

My 3 school chums all lost their fathers. One earlier this year, one 18 months ago and the other just when I was diagnosed 5 1/2 years ago so they have their own views. Spending time with your dad before he dies - well sure of course, will I regret not doing that? Should I spend much more time there now that he is dying than I have for the past 30+ years that I haven't lived there? You see - it's not been a bad relationship at all. He and I are always pleased to see each other but he is so similar to me in so many ways. We are pragmatic, self reliant people. His duty to me finished when I was a young guy but he helped me when I needed assistance when I was first starting out - decorating the house, tidying the garden and he was involved in all that but he was a great granddad to the children he did all the right things (whether he needed or wanted to or not). They think the world of him but like me, there is no ownership of my children and he doesn't own me or owe me anything and he doesn't expect me to owe him anything other than those things he deserves - respect being the main thing in my mind.

What I'm saying may be completely against many people's experience and belief but we have never been a "close" family - that's my particular relationship. I get on fine with my Mum - always have done and I get on fine with my dad but in a totally different way....... That is that - that's how it has always been - my dad has ruled his roost and the upshot of that is that I'm not close to him in the way that I imagine a lot of people would be. My friend would go to lunch with his dad every week and of course when his dad died suddenly (in my view the best way to go BTW) it was a terrible blow to him. I speak to my dad once a month maybe and see him twice a year if I'm lucky so the relationship is very different. I have no doubt that I will feel differently when this episode plays out and I have no doubt that it will strain family relationships because I'm not up there whilst my mum and my brother and sister in law cover off these extended periods in hospital for my dad but - just what DO they want from me? I tried to explain to my brother - who reminded me he took a pay cut bigger than my whole year's salary 2 years ago what it means for me to have 2 children at University and for 18 months for me not to be earning anything and then to have to stay in a Hotel whilst I'm up with the family.

I'm afraid that only I see the irony in it all. I find that I beat myself up for not being there for everyone (OK I call everyday and do all those good things). I argue with myself that I can't possibly move up there whilst all this is happening and that no one, not one of them, came to see me in 5 - yes FIVE - years I was ill. Not even once did they come down to see me. Now I'm only saying that because I don't think I'm being hard or "paying them back" - in fact I've been up there twice now and A has also been to see them - to me though it's just a matter of what CAN I do? What difference will I make? Along with many of these questions and actions - it just doesn't make sense for me to be there just sitting at the old man's bedside at this particular point - I didn't expect it of him or my mum or my brother - I certainly hope they don't expect it of me?

Anyway, my guilt is going around in circles and it probably will for the rest of my life. Whatever I do won;t be enough it will be too much or too little and that's the problem.

Blur of a weekend

Dad go through his operation and he was down a long time so it was quite some procedure. He's connected to lots of stuff and catheterised which I know all about - he's got back to planet earth after being drilled full of drugs for pain and goodness knows what else. He's hopefully going back into a ward (coming out of HDU - Intensive Care) later today.

It's been a emotional weekend. I find Remembrance Sunday very moving and a very sad and yet uplifting thing too. It's one of those times when you should reflect on the sacrifice that built this land (and many others).

I realise that I'm doing a fair amount of straight talking and must remember that it isn't to everyone's taste or their own way of dealing with things. So I perhaps need to tone down the way that I speak about my dad's illness mainly.

In all the excitement - I need to also be mindful of a major milestone in completing out project so far and being ready to go to investors. That will be an interesting journey. I ought to spend the short hiatus in proceedings and tidy the place up and sort myself out. It could be some time before we get some interest and some time before we will be in a position to move forward. However, we don't give ourselves much credit - certainly we deserve some. I find it most amusing that those who haven't actually taken a business to market can mysteriously come up with a load of old regurgitated stuff about what you should and shouldn't do or presuppose that I haven't done my homework or that I'm some sort of numpty that doesn't actually know how these things work. PRATTS the lot of them, I don't know one of them who has setup and successfully launched their own business. Everyone's a sodding expert aren't they? :-)

8 hours to go and

Dad goes down for his Operation. He is expected to be 1.5 to 2 hours dependent on what they find and realises that the next 4 days are going to be "not nice" but there you go - perhaps with this it will enable him to have sufficient quality of life for however long he will have. I guess once they open him up they will also be able to see how far things have spread and be able to update on that.

Mum and T are going in early to be with him as he goes down to Theatre - I know what that is like, I prefer to go on my own although the first time Mrs. F. was there for me as I was pretty much carved up by it all. They've given dad some sedatives so he is as calm as you can be given the circumstances.

Tomorrow is the 11th November and I'm guessing he will come out of surgery as we mark 2 minutes silence. Let's hope that things go well for him. It's been a complicated road so far and I do hope that they can give him or buy him that little extra time but more importantly to make him as well as he can be.

Quiet day

Wow - so this is what it is like to slow down. I populated the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system with all the names and firms we are going to approach and added biographies and information about them into it. This took much of the day then at 7pm we had a team conference call :-) Having said that, the pressure was actually off a bit as we won't have the starting gun go off until Friday morning when we speak to one of our lawyers about strategy. Once that is over we can rock 'n' roll :-)

It has been nice to look back at what we have achieved though and to take a little breather and now get ready to move on. That's the real challenge, some may have thought the hard work has all been done - well it has in terms of research and planning. Executing those plans will be the really challenging bit.

In other news, the blog I've been keeping an eye on for years has gone a bit strange of late and now you can only go see what is happening by appointment which is a bit disappointing. Well, no problemo, I've just taken it off of my viewing list and off my favourites. I suppose I ought to consider how much I post to this blog as there isn't much to say between reviews and now I'm on a 6 monthly (due sometime in December) observations things have settled down a bit. I've to sort myself out in the next few weeks anyway into a new set of habits as I have now almost got over my back twinges and should get back to exercising again to lose some of the weight I've put on. It's been a real struggle to lose weight without exercising - I've lost a few pounds but without doing some exercise I doubt it will go on its own.

My Dad continues to do well in hospital - bored stupid of course as he is pretty well but they operate on Friday and let's hope they can sort this out for him. I'm hopeful that they can at least give him some quality time in the coming months although this operation is (or could be) quite a serious thing. If it works it means that he should be able to eat a bit better and also for the bile duct to be diverted so that he may be able to stay jaundice free. He's eating well enough and so there's some hope that he will hold on for a little longer. After Christmas would be better - I've had a number of December funerals in the past and it over shadows what amounts to the only real family time many of us get in these days.

Investor Ready Day

Didn't go off without a hitch. I feel quite low in fact as my business partner has been laid low with a rotten cold and we were due out to a concert to see a band called Blackfoot - a really good old Rock 'N' Roll band from Florida (I think) certainly the southern states of America. It was a sort of reward for the work we have put in during the past 18 months. He couldn't make it and so in a way it wasn't the end of term party we wanted. It was a good night but I couldn't enjoy it without him and it was hot, stuffy and crowded which didn't help me much I have to say so I let my friends go to the front whilst I hung back.

The band were very good and I enjoyed myself but it was tinged with a certain sadness really that we hadn't celebrated the end of this piece of work. Mind you, at 5 pm I found a problem with the document at the very last minute requiring me to make an 11th hour change. We made the change and everything is now done. we have finished our work. The amazing stats are:

The initial work comprised 909 days at a cost of £526,785 and the work my partner and I have done comprises 760 days at a cost of £470,046. That was a bit of a shock I have to say :-)

We are now at a new stage and looking for finance (at last). If we get that - the hard work will only just have begun!

Actually went out for a day

On Sunday - I actually went out for the day - it was a Christmas present for the guys from the girls in the "holiday gang" as we are collectively known. These are friends we got to know whilst the children were growing up and a nice bunch. We went to Chapel Down Winery and then for Sunday Lunch in the Peacock Inn near Cranbrook. A nice few pints added to the wine tasting meant a nice snooze at around tea time :-)

My Dad continues to be watched over in Hospital - didn't have the heart to tell them that an acquaintance of mine died on Saturday of Prostate Cancer that had gotten into his bones. He was talking to a friend of mine only a week or so ago that the radio therapy had failed and he was going into a Hospice. A sad state of affairs. My dad is beginning to get quite "would up" about the operation coming up this Friday (as is my brother who keeps posting moronic shit on Facebook to prove it). Different people deal with things differently - that's not to say that I'm not affected of course I am. However, my father is a very private man and posting stuff on Facebook (of all places) would be the last thing he would want and I at least try to respect his privacy and his wishes.

At the end of the day it isn't my wish for him to die but that's what is happening and it can only happen in the way it be and being a pratt in public isn't helping much. Posting it up on Facebook - you might as well have it splashed on a Red Top newspaper FFS. Of course, this blog is doing something similar perhaps :-) So I may be a little hypocritical there.

Milestone 1

That's the first management meeting out of the way. Next to go get some capital and that was fun trying to work out a strategy to do that! Things now start to get real and have a meaning.

Of course in the interim my dad ended up back in hospital yesterday and I also handed over to my successor in London Lunchtimers. So yesterday was full on and I didn't feel particularly great I was suffering with stomach pains - possibly a little stress but that would be unlike me - but you never know.

I still haven't gotten over how downright rude and disrespectful people are. What right people have to pre-judge what you are doing and tell you how to do it properly is beyond me. I'll happily accept constructive criticism but to lecture me on something I've been doing for some years and that I've worked on full time for 18 months is a bit rich as he neither saw the plans or listened long enough to entirely get it.

Suddenly everyone's a bloody expert and that's where I'm hoping we will find that there will be a difference. We are looking for people to work with us not to ball us out or give us grief - nothing is going to get done like that is it?

Anger Management

Well I had a disturbed night and luckily my business partner was all ears to me this morning whilst I F'd this and B'd that and let off steam about these people who haven't actually done much in their lives telling me how I should do this and that. FFS I've just dedicated 18 months of my life and my life savings to this venture do you think, do you really really think that I hadn't thought this through. These guys used to service my need for resources when I was running multi million global projects in Banks and they think that they know more than me??? This without ever seeing the idea, seeing the figures, the research and all the other stuff we've been through. If I'd been sat on my arse for 18 months doing nothing I could perhaps understand the attack I came under but these people (not just the guy last night) must think I'm some sort of thicko or I'm doing this an hour a night or something. What a bunch of utter low lifes up their own arse cocks they are :-)

That felt a lot better. :-)

I just find these people have no firm footing in the reality of the situation. If I was raising a couple of tens of thousands maybe but I'm raising (or want to) tens of millions. I know what I need the money for and how we will spend it and what value we will build with that money. These jerks think that somehow I've got to "sell it" and "Pitch" for it. With a 150 page business plan, 6 page summary and 12 slide overview - I'd have to ask whether or not any of them actually understood the complexity of the business or the reliance on multiple revenue and cost streams and variables that meant we spent months and months developing a multi dimensional model.

The sad part of all of this is that TV has dumbed down VC money (Dragon's Den) a more worthless waste of video tape I've yet to see. Anyone who's seen it is suddenly an expert, a sophisticated investor who knows that the idea needs to be expressed in terms a 3 year old understands in 20 seconds.

It drives me absolutely crackers and annoys the hell out of me. I am going to be so pleased to meet people who will "get" the business and who will understand the lengths we have gone to to get it right for the size of opportunity.

I'm not normally like this but I'd love to get this funding so that the least I could do is "give the finger" to anyone of the idiots who "advised" us what they think we should be doing!

My Past catches up with me

The last time I saw this guy I ended up calling Mrs. F. to come and get me from some far flung station - I couldn't get home (last train) had gone way past my stop, no taxis (or a long line of them) and I was utterly Distraught. The reason I was so upset? Well I'd had a few drinks but generally I can hold my drink. no it was this guy who've I've known for years and years told me that I was a bit of a failure and wasn't supporting my family and stuff to that end.

So did I smack him in the face or anything? No, I listened to and believed what he told me and just melted on the way home. Amazing what someone can say to you. When Mrs. F. picked me up I wasn't in good shape - I recollect it and I recollect that she was just massively annoyed with me. She completely exploded when I told her why I was the way I was and told me that she would be the judge of that and that basically the guy was talking bollocks...

So I met him tonight after 6 or maybe 7 years. He's a born again Christian and that was OK by me. He'd changed his ways. That too was OK by me. He then went on to completely slag my new business, my ideas and so on. I have to say, he isn't the first one who has listened to part of the story and made up some "idea" about what we are doing and then proceeded to tell me for many hours what I am doing wrong or to ask me questions that I barely am able to elucidate before giving me some other lump of advice.

I'm very pleased that I didn't rise too much to it - he should know me by now but then he has probably forgotten the early days of our friendship and the fact that even today - I'm still the customer.

Next Morning: Just to add to things - I actually think that it was not far from me being diagnosed actually when I came home all messed up - makes sense now when I look back at it. Cannot remember if it was before or after, however, I probably wasn't in good shape. People are just strange aren't they?

Done

Well the accounts are completed and we have had a real difficult time with the accounts but this friend of mine has been absolutely brilliant and sorted it out for me - it is amazing stuff and I was chatting away to my daughter L, the one at Cambridge who was home for the weekend when she started quoting accruals and stuff at me. Perhaps I should have asked her.

Dad is fine, now has his operation on the 11th November and let's hope it is successful to relieve his problems. I doubt he fancies having 2 weeks in hospital but there you go. I will see if I can get up to see him when he gets out or perhaps go and visit him.

I'm feeling good and up and down again - it's the final week of our project and it all culminates in a meeting on Thursday night to establish an end point and allow us to put a milestone in place for the 8th November - our investor ready day. Then we will see if our ideas have wings or not. There's a certain amount of trepidation about the amount of work we have done and its impact and whether anyone will invest in it or not. It is also a bust week with many meetings and chats happening too.

Bloody Accounts

I'm doing some accounts and the problem with them is that I took these over and the last lot were bad enough as I had to back track over a years worth of accounts with no real notes to see where money had arrived in from or indeed where some of it went. A kind friend and very good accountant was able to easily see where the problems were and we ended up with a set of accounts I could work away from. Needless to say, the way thinks work for me, that hasn't been plain sailing as we handed over after the first meeting so I have pristine books for most of the year but the earliest part of the year is a bit different and it is when everyone pays their subscriptions. Anyone who paid by cheque or online I can see, anyone who paid by cash isn't easy as there is just a lump sum paid in.

I feel that I may need to call on my friend one more time to see if we can settle it.

My daughter A popped in to see my folks yesterday she needed to complete a set of photographs she started taking some 6 years ago and whilst she was up there managed to grab some lunch with them - I imagine that was a nice interlude for Mum and Dad to see her - she is a lovely girl and I imagine that she would have cheered them up. My "hugs" cushions arrived too which is nice. I thought it would just remind them that we are a fair way away but think of them.

Back of my mind

I've been going through this song again and again. It is the most bizarre thing - I love the arpeggio way it is sung and it is so "un-Genesis" of all their work. It mesmerises me - here are the lyrics:

When you're asleep they may show you

Aerial views of the ground,

Freudian slumber empty of sound.

Over the rooftops and houses,

Lost as it tries to be seen,

Fields of incentive covered with green.

Mesmerised children are playing,

Meant to be seen but not heard,

"Stop me from dreaming!"

"Don't be absurd!"

"Well if we can help you we will,

You're looking tired and ill.

As I count backwards

Your eyes become heavier still.

Sleep, won't you allow yourself fall?

Nothing can hurt you at all.

With your consent

I can experiment further still."

Madrigal music is playing,

Voices can faintly be heard,

"Please leave this patient undisturbed."

Sentenced to drift far away now,

Nothing is quite what it seems,

Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.

"Well, if we can help you we will,

Soon as you're tired and ill.

With your consent

We can experiment further still.

Well, thanks to our kindness and skill

You'll have no trouble until

You catch your breath

And the nurse will present you the bill!"

Here is the live version ->>

A Bit Better

Dad is feeling a lot better a lot happier mum sound brighter and things are quiet and settled down for now - he has plenty of pills to keep him well enough to operate on and hopefully that will be pretty soon and will sort him out for a while, maybe enough to get past Christmas - let's hope so.

I'm feeling a wee bit better today than I was yesterday - I don't like being ill but I hate other people being ill - I feel bad for them :-)

My Nephew - bless him - is on his way over to buy me a beer which is just what I could do with tonight - get out of the house and have a few beers and a laugh.

I feel sad right now

I'm glad my dad is home, he told me a few jokes tonight - so that's good. Both he and mum can get some well needed sleep and hopefully build up his strength ready for his forthcoming operation. Somehow, tonight I just have a bit of a sinking feeling and I'm probably feeling sorry for him - operations aren't great, hospitals aren't either and he's had his fill of them and now the minor operation has turned to a major one - he'll be in for two weeks - that's the longest I've ever been in and that when I was a kid...

I try not to beat myself up all the time about this - I shouldn't I know I shouldn't and yet I regularly wonder to myself whether I'm doing the right thing. Of course, I can look back to 5 years of no one making the effort to come and see me at all - but two wrongs don't make a right. I've been up twice in the past 6 weeks and whether or not I go with Mrs. F & A when they go up there later this or next month remains to be seen. It isn't my fault (Good Will Hunting! :-) that they moved as did my brother, to a most inaccessible place and I'm guessing when they made that decision the consequences were weighed out by them. I had no part in the decision process and I've done my bit, gone up regularly even when I was ill to see them. Does it matter whether I'm there or not. My mum and I have had this conversation and it's all OK - but is it? I'm a stupid sod sometimes I really am not sure. Perhaps I'll just end up playing the power house and the voice of reason and sanity - now I'm rambling so I'll stop there.

It is funny, writing this I feel a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach - I can't do anything about it - I'm sure it will be a "welcome gesture" if I go up and see them but perhaps it is best to wait until he comes home from the operation rather than try and get to see them next week. Who am I kidding I have booked stuff up next week and the week after and the business hits a major target next week and on the 8th November this phase is officially finished. I can hope to get funding or go back and try and find myself a job after all of that!

Little gestures

I've sent off a couple of Hugs to my folks - these are pillows with arms on them you can wrap around yourself - if I can't be there then these will be a gesture. Also sent off my badge from when I was ill that my friend bought me it says "Be gentle with me I'm poorly" and is in the shape of a hot water bottle - hopefully that will arrive tomorrow.

Dad should be home this afternoon from the Hospital and may even have the date for his operation. It is going to be a bigger one than they said but it may just make things that more comfortable for him. Let's hope so, he really could do with a couple of months of "me" time without all this sickness going on as well. I've no idea what they will do to him but to be in for two weeks sounds a bit "heavy".

I've got to press on with my stuff I suppose. L is home from Cambridge this weekend - she always cheers me up :-) I've a week full of things next week to keep me occupied and then we are ready to rock n roll and get things moving at last - what a long journey that has been.

Maybe I'll try and get up to see my folks later in November after he has had his operation and is back home. Now to build him up and hope that he keeps well enough to have the operation.

I feel quite bad tonight

Finally I begin to feel bad about things - I can hear it in my mums voice as it she contemplates the inevitable and my brother as he just sounds exhausted and tired. I've not had to live the day to day and it does affect me not being there, of course it does, it's inevitable that it would. Timing is pants too as I'm right on the cusp of getting things with the business sorted. We are on the last lap the home run and on the 8th November we will be "Investor Ready".

It's an interesting time as we will also be having a meeting next week with the whole team - which is a first I have to say.... Everyone in one room together for the first time in ages. It should be a good day as we will have completed the plans and everything. For my business partner and I it will be the culmination of quite a journey and we are celebrating by going off to a rock concert on the 8th :-) We need that.

I need that - I need to raise my game here. I will probably be OK in the morning but for now I just feel for my dad - all the crap he is going through and of course my mum and brother (and his family) who are dealing with it day to day. I don't think it was wrong to suggest that it would be nice for him to go to sleep after a nice day and then not to wake up - it may be better for him as it is just one thing after another at the moment. It will hurt like hell of course for us but you know you never want your loved ones to suffer and this, although he isn't in pain, is very painful. It's painful for me to hear about let alone for those who are there.

Back tomorrow

He's going through it my dad. Out again tomorrow and home this time they are sending him home with the tablets they should have sent him home with last time!! Come on guys wake up! It was just crazy that they didn't so he ended up back after 6 days. Now he will have his operation either Friday week or Saturday fortnight. The crazy thing is that they've left it too long to do minor surgery and now have to perform something far worse which means two weeks in hospital. That's serious stuff and just so annoying.

At least they managed to get the drippy nurse out of the way and get someone with a bit of gumption to sort out some useful information for mum today so she can feed dad properly and try and stop any more loss of weight as dad is now 3 stone lighter.

My brother sounds drained with the strain of it all - he doesn't do this stuff well and probably hasn't had to handle it quite at this level of intensity.

I actually feel very heavy about it tonight - first time since I heard he was ill that it's weighed this heavily on me. Not a lot I can do - of course I'm about to beat myself up about not being up there but once again what can I do?