Chronic Illness
I work (for now), I love, I live, I have fun. Just with wheelchairs and drugs and spasms and stuff...
5 March 2018
I try to stay positive, really I do. And most of the time I manage it. ‘Life is good, just different’ is one of the many throwaway lines I have to describe my (our) weird existence outside the normal. We still have fun, we still laugh, we still seek out special experiences and try to give the children adventures and giggles. Mrs W works especially hard on that front, selflessly supported by our local beaches and Domino’s Pizza deliveries. I know I have a chronic, incurable disease that is usually progressive, and certainly is with me. After all, I’ve moved from diagnosis of an invisible illness 11 years ago, to a lurching left foot six or seven years ago, (I […]
14 February 2018
‘Be one of the good guys’. That’s one of only two life rules I give our young sons, (the other being ‘work hard’. Not sure how good I was at that when school age). ‘Be one of the good guys’ plays well I think as an overall philosophy, but also as a parent, it works suitably loosely when I need to haul them over the coals for any – rare of course – transgressions. These two rules might not make them rich, but I’m hoping it will make them, and others, happy. Far more important in my book. Yesterday, on Valentine’s Day Eve, I received a fabulous note, via a stranger on LinkedIn of all places, reminding me of a […]
2 February 2018
Phew! Yesterday was my first day out of work in decades and I’ve survived. Coffee and pastry in bed courtesy of my gorgeous, hard-pressed wife. Bit of aimless internet browsing. Ordered some mouthwash and a boxed DVD set. A lot of chat and ‘wowness’ reacting to the overwhelming tide of support and love flooding in from social media. Twitter, Facebook both busy. LinkedIn bonkers, absolutely bonkers. 450,000 views when I last looked, and I only posted two days ago. Lovely, lovely comments to warm my confused and doubting heart. Confused and doubting because even yesterday, I really wasn’t sure I had done the right thing. For me or for the family. More coffee by the sea to reflect and breathe. […]
13 November 2017
I went to my (huge, brilliant) company conference this week. I don’t tend to go any more. Long journey, long day, too much noise, too much going on, wheelchair kerfuffle, loo shenagigans, solo hotel scariness. Everything. But this year I suddenly felt conscious I might never attend again, for all the above reasons and more. I have known lots of lovely people from across the business for up to eleven or twelve years now. And even if I wasn’t saying goodbye, it felt like that to me. So I girded my tired loins, dusted a suit down, and resolved to go. (I confess I also knew I could massage my fragile ego with a cameo in a ‘people’ film due […]