7.15 a.m. I am about to have breakfast and then walk Skipper. It was spicy mackerel on toast today. Yes my big day has arrived finally. I will be holding this blog back until this afternoon so that I can keep you up to date with my news. I woke several times during the night. At around 5am the rooks were making one hell of a din. I discovered later that a baby rook had fallen in to the Silverburn River and the rooks were all encouraging the baby rook back to the bank and eventually to safety. We have witnessed this type of behaviour before with the rooks, when a baby falls out of a nest. It is not just the baby rooks immediate family that come to the rescue, it is every rook in the area, hence the din at 5 this morning. In this case, the action taken by the rooks failed, and the baby rook drowned and floated on down the Silverburn. My wife Barbara rescued another baby rook which was also in the river and unable to get out. She put it on the bank and hopefully its parents will have guided to safety. I will complete this blog later today when I am back safely in the tree once again.

Since I began blogging back in February, my life sometimes seems like a soap opera. Sometimes I have to remind myself that this is for real. The script is written by the boss, and there are no guarantees of a happy ending or for that matter a new beginning. However, life has generally been wonderful to me, still is, and who is to say that the sun won’t still be shining tomorrow. I have now walked Skipper. It is 9 a.m. I shall now have a cup of coffee. Then I shall get ready to go to the hospital, and by the time I return to this blog. I will have finally parted those cancer clouds.

Well, it is now 1.10pm. I have just arrived back from the hospital. I firstly want to thank everyone who sent me those text messages and emails this morning. I hope I have now replied to you all. Now to the news! Well we have parted the cancer clouds, or at least made a huge dent in them. My cancer has been reduced by 90 per cent. To try and rid me of the remaining 10 per cent they are packing me off to Clatterbridge for radiotherapy. This will be for a three week period and probably in about a month’s time. I am hoping that we will find a way of blogging from there; our camper van is not up to blogging from it as yet. However, we might have a different one by then. Anyway people thank you all so very much for your support and good wishes. The war is not quite won yet but we have another battle to our credit, and the resistance is now little more than a token gesture.

So, unlike the baby rook that drowned in the river this morning, I am back and safe in the tree once again.

Until tomorrow then, this is Tom Glassey with News at 1.15, on the banks of the Silverburn River.