Sad news

I've just received news that Henri, a friend of ours has passed away in St Richard's Hospice.  She was a lovely woman and will be sadly missed by all of us, particularly of course her family; made all the more poignant as she leaves behind three children who are still of school age.  The irony is that she had a similar cancer to me, but tragically it was more invasive and harder to treat.  When I was beginning to have symptoms I was doing some decorating at her house, and I told her I was having problems with getting a diagnosis as the consultant I had seen decided because I was relatively young, didn't smoke and had a pretty healthy lifestyle that I wasn't at any great risk.  It was clear that my symptoms matched those of Henri's, who was by then very ill, and she urged me to pay privately for an endoscopy; something she said she wished she had done herself.  She was really emphatic, but when I enquired as to how much it would cost, we simply didn't have the funds, so instead I rang the hospital and constantly hassled them for a cancellation; my persistence paid off, thank God, and consequently I was seen earlier than I would have been.  As soon as I had the endoscopy I was told that I had a tumour, then I had to ring again and hassle for a cancellation for a CT scan.  A couple of weeks after that I went under the knife, and thankfully my consultant (in spite of being so stubborn about seeing me) was an excellent surgeon, and the hospital care in the 'surgical high dependency ward' was very professional and compassionate.  It's so important to get an early diagnosis, and therefore it was alarming that I had to battle so hard to get one for myself.  And I guess I was spurred on by Henri, who in spite of her own struggle seemed somehow to have room in her heart to think of me too.  Just before I went into hospital I sent her some photographs of a holiday we shared when a load of us went camping at a rock festival: faces grinning at the camera - herself, her husband, her kids and the rest of us caught up in the moment, just chilling and enjoying the music, the sunshine and each other.  I hope it made her smile; we were all smiling that weekend, smiling and laughing... we are all so frail.