from an email to an old hippie friend from 1969
It took 3 1/2 months but I finally got a report from my surgeon last week. So far as I can tell, the operation was a success and I feel the best I have in several years. The downside of our medical system is the long waiting period caused by some miscommunication and the very short updates. The "good" news is that the tumor in my colon was a grade 2 (believe that's relatively small) with stage 2 cancer. In the very brief report from the surgeon, he said I could potentially live several more decades now. I have to go for a colonoscopy done by him in about 3 weeks time, and there may be some small "buds" which will need removal. Our health care system continues to be overwhelmed by the lack of funding compounded by the ongoing covid pandemic, and as you noted, I was lucky to get the quick life saving response when I went to the nearest emergency ward in early June. The emerg might not be open these days as it has closed several times since my admission.
Crazy stuff going on with Brit politiks. I've been reading The Guardian almost every evening, so I'm pretty up-to-date on BoJo and Liz Truss and the wacky machinations of the Conservative Party.
It's been an earlier, colder and wetter fall than usual here. Often October is a very pleasant month, with the leaves changing and the temperature gradually getting colder but invigorating. The weather is becoming increasingly unsettled locally, and we had the devastating dericho wind storm in the spring and then a tornado swept through the countryside just north of Marmora about 5 weeks ago, causing hundreds, likely thousands, of tree downings and also major damage to several farms. Hydro crews had to work many weeks to clear up downed power lines and fallen trees blocking roads.
We've got municipal elections next week, but the local candidates are mostly a disheartening bunch. Several of them have platforms promising to resurrect the zombie pumped energy storage scheme from a decade ago. It's a Rube Goldberg boondoggle to pump water up from the old flooded iron mine to a new reservoir at the top of the slag heap, and then use gravity to generate hydro power when the water is released back down. The scheme has been conjured up to try to make profits off the unused mine site which is held by a large corporation. The reservoir would be poised above the village like a threatening "dormant volacano" : (
Again, I hope your health is OK and that you're feeling well. I believe you and I are some of the oldest of the dwindling survivors from Eel Pie Island Commune days.
