My Friends, I Could Not Do Without You

I have been asked by a few people over the last couple of days as to how I manage, being on my own most of the time, saying that they would be the other way and surround themselves with friends all the time. It was a hard decision to make, I must admit, probably even harder than it was to make the decision to come off the mind numbing medication.

However, until you have been in the situation where you see a certain look in a friends eyes, not pity, not fear, not panic but something in between all of these, can you honestly make that decision. What you need are people who come in and out of your life, while getting on with their own. People who can be there for you when you really need them but treat you no differently just because you are having a bad day or the pain is a little worse.

One of the things my best friend thinks she wants, is the knowledge of what signs to look for if my condition worsens but I know, that once she is fully armed with that information, she will spend any of the time we get together, looking for these signs rather than just enjoying the friendship, having a laugh and putting the world to rights. I also don't want to be on some timetable, ignorance is bliss after all. My supposed consultant obviously feels the same, as the next available appointment is 18th March or I could go on a daily cancellation list. Um, the hospital is in Middlesex and they expect me to answer a telephone call and make my way down there. Don't think so!!

On the health front, I agreed to go back on muscle relaxants but after a few weeks I have decided to discontinue them, as my mind was starting to cloud again, muscles that I did not want to relax decided they would and my sleep patterns were awful. On the positive side, if it is the muscle relaxants that make me like that, I might be able to try pain killers on their own, something I will discuss.

Away from health, as many of you know, I have decided to make some Taste of Love Valentine chocolates, mainly to compensate the costs of replacing the damaged items by City Link, who admitted they were at fault but have said they will not compensate !! If you are interested in some of these totally unique chocolates, I need orders in by the 9th February. You get 16 handmade chocolates that taste of love plus 2 melting chocolates, filled with essential oils that, well, TASTE of LOVE :)

I have still had no contact with my daughter, not through want of trying on my part, but did see a recent photo on a family members facebook page, so if it is okay with you all, I will leave you with that, as the hope of some sort of reconciliation is still one of the main things that keep me going.

Another company that just does not care

As everyone who has bought my taste of  Christmas chocolates is aware, the reason for me knocking myself out has been to buy my daughter a final Christmas present and portrait, something she will be able to keep forever and something to help her with her exams (a laptop).  I would like to thank you from the bottom a dying father’s heart.

However, this has been seriously blighted due to the Courier company City Link and the middleman, Interparcel. I sent a large shipment with them, thinking they were one of the biggest names. Unfortunately, the goods were severly damaged in transit and I have had to use some of the monies raised to replace the goods damaged by City Link. To top it off, after having the parcel of 21 boxes of chocolates for almost a month, they tried to send some (8) of the boxes back to me in a plastic bag!!

Some of you may be aware that the chocolates were due to be received by Homeless Beanies, part of Inn Churches in Bradford and supported by the Archbishop of York.

Now neither company is willing to accept responsibility for this despite explaining to City Link and Interparcel about my illness and forwarding on to them the reasons. It would seem that City Link should rename themselves Grinch and Scrooge and I hope that all you small business out there that use them as your couriers of choice, will seriously reconsider this, giving their appalling customer service, never mind the fact that they damaged goods clearly labelled fragile.

I am sending this to the press as well, as this companies, City Link and Interparcel, have ruined my last ever Christmas and would rather be jobsworths than show a heart. Please remember this when you want to use a courier in future and if you would like to email the company yourselves, as people who have searched your own hearts in purchasing the chocolates in the first place

I am so sorry that I have had to write this and publish this but you have a very broken father who did nothing but try his best.

David Lewis

Sometimes it is good to go back

Some of you will have noticed that I have not put up a blog for the last two weeks. This has been a mixture of not really feeling up to it and the fact that I was not happy with the way my blogs came across on Wordpress, something that I changed when I linked it to the website. I have made the decision to go back to blogger, hope it is not too confusing for people but the idea in the first place was to get my blog out to as many people as possible and this, for me, is the best way of doing so.

It has been a very hard few days, firstly with the death of Roger Lloyd Pack (Trigger) of pancreatic cancer (something which was kept very quiet by his family). Here is one of the most recognisable actors of the last 20 years and I am sure everyone will have watched him in either Only Fools and Horses or Vicar of Dibley. It is a sad loss to the acting world and an even sadder one for his family.

Then we have the ongoing Coronation Street story, something that I have refused to watch, but on Monday we have the 'assisted suicide' culmination, a decision taken as Hayley does not want her loved ones to see the pain she would have been in if her character was to be shown living with the effects. I can truly understand that and know many people with terminal illness would choose to take this course of action. I have been there and I am sure I will revisit.

One of the main things I need to avoid is stress, as it will speed up my illness. try telling that to City Link and Interparcels, who between them managed to damage beyond repair, 21 boxes of chocolates that was going to Homeless Beanies. Neither company will accept that they are at fault, blaming each other, blaming Christmas, blaming ME !!! So much so, the senior manager at Interparcel freely admits that he has not done enough for his customer (me) and has no intention of doing so!!!! Apart from the financial implication to myself, as in I am having to replace all of these chocolates, the stress these two companies have caused is immense.

Add to that, yet another set of rejections from my daughter and you can quickly see that it has been a tough time.

However, there has many good things as well and this culminated today in finally meeting one of my best twitter friends and her husband. We had a lovely lunch out and the company was excellent. It is moments like this that make me realise just how much friends mean to me and that I could not have gone on for so long without their support.