It’s always something

The Big C

For those of you that have read my book, My Life as a Potter, you know that my health has been an issue. Becoming ill at age 30 was a shock both to me and the people in my life. I was known to have a strong body, well suited to being a potter. I exude energy and vitality and the excitement I have around my creative life has often been described as electrifying.

As the years went by, I slowly improved and dove head on into my creativity, elated that I could work again.

Now here I am, 35 years later and the big C has come calling, talk about an unwelcome guest. Last September I had surgery to remove cancerous tumours from my bladder, that was unpleasant! But, I was lucky, it hadn’t moved into the bladder wall yet and they were able to get it all. I was told that quarterly cystoscopes would be needed to see if it returned. I sailed through the first two and didn’t have any concerns when I went for my third, that’s an optimist for you. 

 It came as a surprise to hear the surgeon say that it was back and would I like to take a look? And there they were, some flat, others like a spiky cauliflower, yikes. I heard the surgeon say, we’ll book you for surgery and shock started to settle in. I hadn’t seen this coming and all I could think at that point was that I didn’t want to tell my ever supportive sister, Angelika, this news.

Later that evening as things started to sink in I decided to open a bottle of Pinot Noir from Unsworth winery that I had been saving for a special occasion. If ever there was a time to open the good wine, this was it. I poured myself a glass and the dogs and I settled in for a night of mindless tv.

My surgery is booked for August 14th and will mean weeks of recovery time.
The pottery will be open as usual with apprentice Sabrina at the helm till I can be back in action. I should be able to pop down and have short conversations with my visitors fairly early on in the healing process but other than that it will be the couch for me.

As my dear old dad used to say to me, “growing old isn’t for the weak of heart” to which I would say, “ I don’t know about that, you’re looking pretty good to me” and that’s how I will continue to approach this latest chapter, by looking good!