Last Supper

I'm seriously hoping that sushi will stay on-limits after the operation. Its great, the amount you eat is dependant on your appetite at the time.
The picture reveals a JOINT (Claudia and Pete) effort, rather than a unilateral attempt to eat half my body weight in raw fish.

Tonight (mon) will be the last night in my own bed for a while.
If all goes to NHS-plan, i will be admitted on Tuesday, mid-afternoon (3.30pm) at the Bristol Royal Infirmary. Which ward, visiting times, operation time etc are all yet to be revealed.

The operation itself will be on Wednesday.

I will try and keep things going on the blog during my stay. Claudia will cover when i'm not able.
A picture of me in intensive care may well appear - be warned!

As far as my feelings are concerned, i guess i did the majority of my crying in Germany. That was the low point.
I'm getting more skittish now. I used to get like this on the last day of the holidays before returning to school. It weirded my mum out.

I'm also trying to see the operation as the removal of cancer from my body, rather than the debilitating changes that may result from it. There are still, however, loads of holes in my knowledge regarding life downwind of the operation - diet, recovery time, chronic pain etc.
Being Mastermind Champion on the subject was never my intention.

I have been revisiting Psalm 27 in the past few days -
v5 "For in the day of trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling"
will hopefully be on my mind as the anaesthetic goes to work on me.

I'm often good at prescribing what God should be doing in situations. As if he needs my help!
While still (partly) hanging on for my "burning bush" deliverance from the surgeon's knife, it challenges me to remember how Jesus dealt with his eleventh-hour anxieties after the Last Supper and before his crucifixion..
"Father, may this cup of suffering be taken away from me. But not as i will, as YOU will" (Matthew 26:39).

Jesus' subsequent death and then rising to new life are the two most monumental events in human history. The ultimate example of the best coming out of the worst of situations.
Jesus' trust in his Father was total. My calling is the same. To trust that God's plan for my life is perfect and that good will somehow flood out of this horrible time. Even if i have to have the operation. Even if i'm struggling with complications afterwards.