The MS stuff sounds nasty. Hope you keep it under control. No wonder you've stopped drinking.
I stopped drinking 'cos like you I had an invite for a medical check-up which came through in the December when I was about the same age as when you had yours. Which I hid at the bottom of a drawer.
'Course the ever-astute Hazel found the letter and booked me in.
"Aaargh! That's my Christmas ruined. No more drink for me! Thanks, Hazel!" I screamed. I was booked in for Jan 6 of the new year. Such a shame as every wine rack was loaded ~ even ones out in our garden shed. You see Hazel had taken a part time job at Chapeldown Wines when all our shows kept being cancelled due to hoof 'n' mouth, floods, Sars disease, you name it! We ended up with all these award-winning sparklers, reds, whites, the lot from the winery. All our liquid stash got given over the subsequent months to tradesmen and so on.
Anyway, I passed with flying colours. The nurse asked if I did any exercise and I told her about my cross-country running. (I jogged around four steep fields at the last house we lived in.) She said whatever you're doing, keep on doing it!
....Interruptions just now: your addendum about your other sites which I know all about ~ and notification from the gallery of a Gold Hill sale (yippee!).....
Right back to my MS/syrinx. You won't remember but when I worked with you on the Euston Road one morning I'd run up several flights of Euston Station escalators in my trusty cowboy boots perfectly ok then I tripped over some cobbles just as you leave the station. Then at lunchtime that same day I tripped over some raised bits of concrete in the centre of the carriageway.
Thought nothing more of it but my urinary frequency was becoming noticeable. The GP sent me to the Conquest for a DRI and flow test. Which again I passed.
Then I was booked in privately for an MRI scan of my brain and spine. Ninety minutes. The chap who tested me said I wouldn't need a pee. (I had one after 45 mins just to be on the safe side.)
Weeks later the result revealed a little white blip. The Conquest chap said it was a syrinx but the Salisbury Hospital female doc thought it was MS. "Benign?" I asked 'cos by then I knew all the lingo. She then booked me for several blood tests. Lotsa needles sticking out my arm. Like Jack Osbourne I'd had optic neuritis at twenty-five and then a few years later my left leg went stiff with acute pins and needles. A GP at Brasted (we lived nr Sevenoaks then) said it was a trapped nerve. Again I thought nothing more of it.
The main thing is I take Vit D and still quaff a glass of V8 every day and keep active ~ which is what it's all about. Hazel cleverly kept all the letters from the hospital and claimed a blue badge from them. Well done, Hazel. I ~ as you can imagine ~ didn't want one. Had big arguments about it. It's humiliating, I told her. I'll end up really disabled. But then I saw how a fellow stallholder who flogs plants has turned out with MND. Just click/tap here and scroll down. OMG! He could outrun me any time in his heyday. Only our age. Now that is a truly terrible affliction.
As for your prostate, Alan Clark kept seeing his top class private doctor who thought Alan had the same problems as his brother who died from prostate cancer. But his wife, Jane, booked him into the Ashford Hospital and a nice NHS Indian doctor discovered that his problems were nowhere near his prostate: he'd contracted a brain tumour which soon killed him.
I've tracked Katherine down from your FB account. Seen the wedding shots and everything. Nothing's private once you get on social media. Yes, it seems you've raised a v bright brood!
There's an eighty-year-old artist called Peter at our gallery with two new knees. He says they wear out with time. So I reckon Ros is all right for a good few years yet.
Good to see you're still going for it. It's your Protestant work ethic. 💥🚀
On Fri, 30 Dec 2022 at 10:39, Terence Ross wrote:
Hi Gren,
Sorry for the delay in replying. Try to shut mail and social media out for a few days…. Clients expect you to answer questions on Christmas day!!!
The MS stuff sounds nasty. Hope you keep it under control. No wonder you've stopped drinking.
I had Prostrate Cancer. Or rather I didn't. No symptoms, no problems what-so-ever. Had my normal yearly MOT when I was 56. Doc asked if I had ever had a PSA check. 'Nope' said I. 24 hours after the blood test I got the "we need to talk" call from the doctor!
So had Bracky therapy (Can't remember the correct spelling) Where they pop a few radio-active seeds into your prostrate. Job done. Just have a yearly check. PSA level last time checked was 0.05….. Had an interesting 18 months after the procedure due to the fact I'd have to be fairly close to a loo… Sadly two friends went down with exactly the same problem at similar times to me. One is now not around anymore, and the other had a close shave, had his prostrate removed but now has a clean bill of health. So that's me. Ros now has two new knees…. Apart from that we are roughly the same as when we last saw you.
Good to see you are keeping busy with the gallery and H is in control. You now live in Shaftesbury, or close by? Shame about Cyril. Knew Terry was a Coke head but didn't realise it went back to his early teens. How the hell did he carry on???
Katherine now teaches art. Lives in Yorkshire. Has a 6 year old daughter. Rebecca decided art collage wasn't her thing. So went off and trained as a lawyer instead! She had a little girl three months ago. So can't complain about how things have turned out for us. Got a couple of friends who have retired and moved down to the west country so we do venture in your direction now and then.
As for work, can't stop…. In the blood! So do Goodwood, this year might only do the Revival. Get invited to Pebble Beach and Retromobile in Paris all the time. But due to the fact my stuff is all sculpture, it costs lots to move it around. When I sell to clients abroad, custom built foam lined crates are the norm. So things get expensive. Not too sure about 2023…. Might take it a little easier, but why I feel like a 35 year old, I don't see any reason to stop.
Apart from playing with my cars…. But that's another story!
Catch you sometime. Probably scare the life out of each other!
Terry.
