Sensitivity

Back to the hospital yesterday for a check up and test results.

The most important thing is that the results were good. Again. But surgeons and consultants sometimes have a lot to answer for. In attempting to say everything is fine he ended up getting himself into a right mess and scaring the hell out of my wife.

The message she brought home with her was not “you are doing well” but “this is a bad cancer to have had, you need to check yourself very carefully every week or two and never, ever put yourself at risk in the sunshine again and, by the way, did I tell you that this really is a nasty type of cancer?”

He realised his mistake and tried hard to over-compensate, but as we all know, the more you dig the bigger the hole becomes. He ended up taking her hands in his and trying to convince her that things are not so bad, but maybe it was a case of too little, too late.

She appears to have taken it well. I made sure we were out last night and we had a good time with some of the kids and friends. I suspect that some damage has been done but time will tell. We all have the best of intentions at sensitive times like this but it is so important to think not just about the message you have to share but also how you share it.