Day +11 - Sunday

Well, at least I CAN spell Sunday (unlike what I did to "Saturady" yesterday).

I had just booted up my laptop this morning to check emails and update the blog and was pleasantly surprised when Greg (one of the old 'gang of four' room mates from my hospital stay 2 years ago) bounded into the room with a basket of all sorts of goodies. As I had just started meeting with Leanne (Haemotologist), we had to put Greg off for a few minutes. She is now even toying with the idea of an even earlier release - maybe Wednesday.

Greg then comes back in and we chatted briefly, before Richard (gang of four) rolls in. Then, not to be outdone, Suresh (gang of four) and his lovely wife (no gang affiliations).

We had a really great time catching up and chewing the fat together: world cup soccer; why vuvuzelas can only drone a B flat; what we've been up to since our last reunion about a year ago; how health issues affect life in general; politics; sport; overheating BMW issues etc. It was a talkfest any government department would have been proud to put on the card. Thanks so much, guys, for making the effort to do that. Enjoy your Kinloch holiday Richard. You'll be there by now! Golfing with your sons sounds like a great idea!

For those wondering about the Gang of Four: this loose but strong association was formed haphazardly two years ago in the orthopaedic ward of this very same hospital. Greg had been severely injured in a car smash and was on the slow road back to even getting to walk again. Suresh had just had his first hip replacement surgery. Richard had exploded his knee playing soccer, and I was in because of infection in the leg site of my original biopsy.

We each had very different backgrounds and stories to tell. Suresh's ones were easily the most likely to be made into a movie - he owned a major bus company in Zambia through some pretty troubled years. He only 'fessed up' after hearing Greg & I comparing notes on South Africa. Greg went over there years ago to play rugby, be a lifeguard and run Mitsubishi vehicle operation in Durban. We figured that he would have been there in 1981 when we visited there during our 6 weeks in SA with the Garratts.

When Richard arrived in the room, we asked him what he did - "I'm in the cleaning business", he replied. He is a business trouble-shooter, consultant, motivator, cleaner-uperer etc. Any way, there was (and remains) an interesting chemistry between us all. We had some great laughs and discussions about just about anything and everything. In fact, one night the nursing staff came in to evict the rowdy visitors still in the ward, only to find it was just us! A couple of days later, our quartet was forcibly dismantled in a none-too-gracious way, unfortunately. But I won't go into that here and now.

Again, a good reminder of the accuracy of the timeless truth of Proverbs 17:22 - A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Well, that is probably plenty from me today...
Cheers
Bruce