I really wasn’t convinced that this blog would survive to the beginning of October. Chris had paid for the web hosting service until the end of September, and the company concerned is the one I’ve had the most trouble with, when trying to get things moved into my name. The email traffic, phone calls and faxes (faxes! so 20th century!) bounced backwards and forwards for at least 6 weeks and I still wasn’t sure that they’d done what was needed. I’ve been taking dumps of the blog in case I needed to restore it at a later date, and a friend of ours, it turns out, has been taking regular backups on my behalf for many months. So all would not have been lost, but I was still highly relieved that the blog survived into October.
My parents have also taken matters into their own hands, and made a more permanent record of the blog. My father turned it “upside down”, i.e. starting last Christmas and ending at the funeral, to tell the story in chronological order, and had a few copies printed out and bound as an A4-sized book for the family to keep. I’ve got a copy, and it’s gripping to browse through (though somewhat emotional as I know how it ends). I’ve also donated a copy to the hospice to use as “resource material”. I spoke to Rod (the chaplain who took the funeral service) about it, and he said that they would find it helpful to use as training material for the junior doctors who are seconded to the hospice as part of their rotations whilst training. The doctors generally only see things from one side of the consulting-room desk, and Rod thought it would be good for them to see the events from the patient’s point of view. I’m not sure that Chris was a particularly typical cancer patient, but he was certainly articulate – and if his blog can help others at a difficult time then I’m all for it, as would he have been.
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I think the book is a wonderful idea and I agree with Rod that it will be of great benefit to the doctors and also possibly other patients or their families.
So many people have drawn strength and understanding from the posts you both made probably far more than you realise,
I’m glad the blog is still here, and that new chapters are being written! 🙂 I love the idea of the book. The donated hard copies will help the doctors and patients, as this blog has helped your readers.
Should you decide to release ‘A Mammoth Undertaking’ to a wider audience (in book form, that is), it would definitely benefit lots more people. This blog, from last December to now, has been like actor Jim Beaver’s ‘Life’s That Way’ (a published compilation of his emails written during his wife’s battle with terminal lung cancer), but from two points of view – yours and Christopher’s. (I apologize if I’m getting ahead of myself with this book talk. I personally would love to purchase a copy, if such a purchase existed. :-))
Hi Gillian,
What about a PDF version for download from here? Happily do the file conversion for you.
Best,
Neil.
I think I need to consider in slower time what to do about the blog. I like Ryan’s idea of a book, but I wonder whether the market would justify that? Perhaps I ought to look into lulu?
What a tremendous gift to pass on to others. The insight that the blog has given is immense and to be able to provide that to the junior doctors will be of immeasurable benefit to them and their patients.