![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
work and worries
Aug. 17th, 2013 10:59 amI have a week off work, hooray!
Work has been a bit subdued over the last couple of weeks, partly because a lot of people are on holiday so it's very quiet, but also because we're all very worried about a dearly beloved colleague of ours. John E has been with the department for over 30 years, he's one of our old-timers, a real stalwart and an absolute sweetheart, everyone loves him. About four weeks ago he took a holiday in Ireland - he went with a friend who wanted to re-trace his parents' honyemoon journey; the friend was on a motorbike and John followed in his car. During that trip, John noticed that he kept clipping the curb and misjudging distances, so when he got home he went to the optician to have his eyes tested. They found nothing wrong so he went to his GP. He was in work that week, three weeks ago - I had meetings with him and he seemed his usual self, friendly and cheerful and very much on-the-ball, he's the guy you go to if you want to be sure something will be done, always efficient, always willing to help. But he was already starting to have migraines that week, bad ones - had to be sent home from work one day it was so bad. And that was the last any of us saw of him. The GP referred him to the hospital for tests and the scan showed up two tumours in the brain. Two weeks later, he's lost the sight in one eye, has gaps in his memory, and it is terrifying to think how rapidly those symptoms have progressed, that three weeks ago he was sat alongside me in a meeting chatting away about everything and nothing as if he hadn't a care in the world, and now he's in Velindre, the cancer hospital, being treated for these frighteningly aggressive brain tumours. Everyone loves John. We're desperately worried about him.
The worst thing is that he was due to retire at the end of September and if anyone deserves a long, happy, healthy retirement, it's John. I just hope his treatment is successful and he'll get to have it.
Work has been a bit subdued over the last couple of weeks, partly because a lot of people are on holiday so it's very quiet, but also because we're all very worried about a dearly beloved colleague of ours. John E has been with the department for over 30 years, he's one of our old-timers, a real stalwart and an absolute sweetheart, everyone loves him. About four weeks ago he took a holiday in Ireland - he went with a friend who wanted to re-trace his parents' honyemoon journey; the friend was on a motorbike and John followed in his car. During that trip, John noticed that he kept clipping the curb and misjudging distances, so when he got home he went to the optician to have his eyes tested. They found nothing wrong so he went to his GP. He was in work that week, three weeks ago - I had meetings with him and he seemed his usual self, friendly and cheerful and very much on-the-ball, he's the guy you go to if you want to be sure something will be done, always efficient, always willing to help. But he was already starting to have migraines that week, bad ones - had to be sent home from work one day it was so bad. And that was the last any of us saw of him. The GP referred him to the hospital for tests and the scan showed up two tumours in the brain. Two weeks later, he's lost the sight in one eye, has gaps in his memory, and it is terrifying to think how rapidly those symptoms have progressed, that three weeks ago he was sat alongside me in a meeting chatting away about everything and nothing as if he hadn't a care in the world, and now he's in Velindre, the cancer hospital, being treated for these frighteningly aggressive brain tumours. Everyone loves John. We're desperately worried about him.
The worst thing is that he was due to retire at the end of September and if anyone deserves a long, happy, healthy retirement, it's John. I just hope his treatment is successful and he'll get to have it.
