an update

[ips]

Wishing you well (as can be) my friend

[WGD]

This is to say thankyou to those of you that bothered to read this. I got a letter from the hospital this morning telling me the results of my CT scan a few weeks ago. Apparently two of the disease thingies inside my lungs have been held in check by all the antibiotics I now get every day, several times a day.....but...... the third thing is a good sized tumour that is definitely not going away or being held in check.

I've to get another CT scan done then see the specialist doctor again. The other things that are wrong with me both inside and outside my lungs make it impossible for the tumour to be operated on. ------- Other than that I'm fine !

Wullie

Once a man has trained cockers anything else is a breeze

Keep on making the best of it Bill

[Debs]

Dear Wullie
As someone who rarely posts,I just want to say how sorry I am to read your news.Over quite a few years now,I have avidly followed the posts of your dogs and stories of yesteryear , all told with great humour.
I don’t think you realise how you have brightened up a grey day,especially whilst Cocker training.As a complete novice I have learnt quite a bit via Billy,Dax and Charlie et al.
I wish you and “The Soupdragon” all the best.
Debs

[Rascal]

So sorry to read that Bill, there certainly isn’t much cheer about at the minute. Thinking of you both with my fondest thoughts...Had to smile about the inimitable Charlie though, hoping he can keep both your spirits up..xxx

[h&t]

Dear Wullie
As someone who rarely posts,I just want to say how sorry I am to read your news.Over quite a few years now,I have avidly followed the posts of your dogs and stories of yesteryear , all told with great humour.
I don’t think you realise how you have brightened up a grey day,especially whilst Cocker training.As a complete novice I have learnt quite a bit via Billy,Dax and Charlie et al.
I wish you and “The Soupdragon” all the best.
Debs

+1 couldn't have said it better

I hope to hear from Bill soon.

[crackerd]

You and I'd wager the great majority of folk here, h&t (good to see yourself making the rounds, too, BTW).

Been a month or more, has any'uns heard from wullie since he last updated we hoi polloi?

Here's hoping he's still oot and aboot ruffling feathers and pushing all the "best" distaff buttons!

MG

[trekmoor]

Thanks for taking an interest. I haven't been anywhere except to hospitals and I feel too tired to go fishing although I did go over to Fife last week in an attempt to fish. My wife went with me but I just didn't feel up to actually fishing. My wife took the dogs for a walk along the sea shore and then we went home.

My wife seems to be getting better after the cancer op. and the chemotherapy. All her hair came out but it has now grown again to about half an inch in length. The vain auld bugger is hoping it comes back in the same red colour as before......I'd be happy if my own hair just came back in with any colour ......except maybe for ginge. I draw the line at ginge . One must maintain at least a few standards .

That reminds me......when my grandaughter was born my son was at the birth. He , just for fun, yelled out, " It's a ginge !" as the baby's head appeared. His poor wife, who knows of course that his mother is ginger, nearly sucked it back in with the shock !

That grandaughter , now 11 years old, continues to amuse me. Her latest "thing" was a maths exam at school . She got 95 out of a hundred and would have been fairly happy with that .....but.....a boy beat her by one or two points. She was not a happy bunny ! - - - - Oh the shame of it being beaten by a mere boy ! She's used to winning at everything she does no matter who the other "contestants" are. She now describes the poor boy as a being a "maths nerd." Sounds like very soor grapes to me.

I.M.O. this experience will do her good. At the very least it will make her try harder......if you are not 1st then you might as well be last ! That's what I felt every time I lost in field trials....which was a hell of a lot of the time !

Wullie

[Judy]

I feel a new thread coming on - 'Granddaughter's Gripes' perhaps? Or should it be ' What I Learned from Grandad'?

[crackerd]

I could go for that; glad to get any dispatches from wullie - and awfully good hearing from him again.

MG

[trekmoor]

Merry Xmas folks. We had a slight mishap on Xmas day when the results of both of my wife's spawnings plus their families turned up here at the same time. Not what Wee Spud Heid (Sturgeon) wanted at all, at all ! Waste not want not.....we had a riotous hour or two "mingling."

My grandson is a fairly quiet lad of 15 but my granddaughter is a very self confident 12 year old with a mind of her own. I fink she takes after my wife while I am a non-loquacious, temperamentally quiet type like my grandson .

She ....the granddaughter, not my wife, completed her kick boxing instructors course just before Wee Spud Heid clamped down hard again on contact sports and gyms . I was a bit surprised to hear that in addition to being examined on fighting techniques and wot-not, she also had to satisfactorily complete the following.

A run of six miles while carrying (in her case) a 40lbs weight rucksack. A log carry done with another student (I don't know the distance of the carry.) Finally she had to fight two adult male blackbelts whose job it was to punch and kick her . I'm told the idea is to see how much fighting spirit a person has and how much determination not to cave in when hurt.

Apparently , this fight is normally done sort of "strike and move" fashion by the would be future instructors. My granddaughter had her own ideas about that ! She ferociously attacked just one of the black belts and her attack was so unexpected (they probably expected defence tactics) that she drove the man right out of the arena leaving her with only one opponent to deal with. She collected a lot of punches and the following day was a mass of bruises from head to toe....but she passed ! Her method of dealing with an attack by two skillful black belted, adult males was deemed unusual but did demonstrate her willingness to fight on when under considerable pressure.

That is some going for a 12 years old girl even if she is already 5 feet , 5 inches tall and very fit , fast and agile. She is damned good at school too except that one boy, much to her annoyance ,can beat her at mathematics !

Healthwise I continue to get worse but my wife is recovering very well from her cancer op and chemotherapy. One of my friends has just got herself a G.S.P. puppy...... I am very envious....wish I could still train dogs.

Wullie